Here is what's wrong with Texas Teams

[Fastpitch360]

Fastbitch

Grave's BB group truly is a bunch of average players that have no business playing (or calling themselves) Gold. In fact, my experience w/ him (them) has been the worst. You see, my older DD played for a BB team and graduated from a Big 12 D1 playing softball...all because of one of those crappy BB teams. 8 of her 12 teammates did the same. My younger DD just committed to one of those nasty D1's...another scrub from a BB team. 5 others from her team have also committed. God almighty....those BB teams suck!

Ken and Matt Tuggey (Southlake TD) run one of the best college showcases in Texas. Limited to 24 teams and with a registration fee of $150, I don't think anyone can accuse them of "doing it for the money". The participation of college coaches at this years' event was unheard of. My understanding is that Southlake and BB will dedicate all funds from this showcase to ovarian cancer reseach beginning in 2009. Not a dime will go to Ken, Matt, BB's or Southlake.

...Man, I hate those Batbusters!!!

Uhh ok but what does this have to do with the fact that if a organization waters its own talent down by adding and adding more teams. Ken and Matt Merry Christmas..This isn't a hate post this is just something I just think needs to stop in order for the best of the best to play and compete at the Gold Level and do well.

Joe please let us know who you are because I don't think I know two sisters from the BB team that has had that type of success.

[TEXASGLORY]

Merry Christmas to everyone!

First of all I am not speaking for Ken Graves or any of the Batbuster folks. I have known Ken Graves for about 10 years now and have nothing but respect for him and what he does for our sport. He and Matt run an awesome tournament at the lowest price point in the state. They donate the money to a very worthy cause and the Batbuster teams do a tremendous job of running the concessions and making sure the fields are in top shape for every game.

I was out of pocket for almost a year but in coming back along with Ken, he started a new gold team which he is coaching. We played them 4-5 times this fall and every game was a battle. I think he has a fine team and will contend for one of the gold spots at gold nationals this year.

If Ken is guilty of anything it is the same as me, we have tried to make sure that there was always a place to play for those that wanted to be in the organization. Sure, over the years we (Texas Glory) have watered down some of our age groups by having too many teams competing with one another. You can look at the 18-U or Gold division of Texas Glory and see that we currently have Adkins, Shelton, Beard, Lutz, Weddle and Combs...5 teams all in the same age group. Yes, we have not won 18-Gold Nationals but we do have 113 kids playing or committed to play college softball today including 43 players in the 2009 class. Yes, we could have likely combined teams into one team, this would have sent a lot of players away that wanted to wear the Texas Glory uniform.

Batbusters and Texas Glory have all carried a lot of teams through the years but it has always been in the spirit of finding a place for young ladies to play softball. There are many routes one can follow to a destination, Ken Graves will always be one of the positive ones.

Dan Adkins

[Fastpitch360]

I also have respect for not only Ken and what he has done for the sport but also the other people and what they have done. But if this select ball is all about exposure and getting the girls recruited I guess there is nothing wrong with Texas teams because we have these teams all they do is advertise how much exposure they can get your DD. I personally would rather have quality rather than quantity in North Texas.

I don't know for sure but I don't even think south Texas with their organizations water it down as much as we do. As a matter of fact I think only north Texas is the only ones which has anything like this. Out of those 113 girls you were able to get into college how many actually could had made it to college with out being put through a softball asembly line.

If what your saying Texas Glory all about helping all these girls get to College wouldn't it be better to prepare them to succeed at College by playing at the highest level you possibly can. I know with out a doubt if your able to put 5 Gold Teams on the field imagine taking those teams and only taking the best 18 girls and making a run in OK City. Thats what I thought select ball was maybe we should rename it exposure ball.

If all we want to be is good for exposure for a lot of girls we are doing everything right but I would love to see someone in the top 10 at the Gold Nationals.

[onedownonetogo]

Fastpitch360, you make some good points, but let me ask you:

(1) what is the population in Southern California vs the population in North Texas;
(2) what is the total number of 18u eligible players in Southern Californai vs the number of Gold teams in Southern California;
(3) what is the number of Gold-level players in Southern California vs. the number of Gold teams in Southern California, and
(4) what is the number of 18u "A" teams in Southern California vs the number of Gold teams.

That ought to keep you busy for the holidays . . . because in my mind, if you can't answer some of these types of questions, your opinions don't count for much in my mind.

You talk about "watered-down" teams without any real basis that even if you combined the best of the best from Shelton, Graves, Bancroft, Adkins, Bell, Marks, etc. that a North Texas team would still break the top five at Gold Nationals.

Frankly, it sounds to me like you live in the 12u or 14u world of softball. When you get to 18 Gold, you'll regret some of these posts of yours.

[Fastpitch360]

Without trying to offend anyone but, let me give you some homework. How many Gold Teams do some of the major organizations have in the Houston area…I think you will be hard pressed to find any? It is common practice in North Texas to do this. WHY??

So I ask you, why would I have to figure all that out when you can look in our own state a realize if Houston don’t do this then why does North Texas.

Please take this as just discussion, not meaning to offend anyone

[TEXASGLORY]

FP360, I think the easiest way to sum up your observation is that North Texas is a different place than Houston. Parents feel differently, players do as well and we as coaches have to adapt our styles to the market in which we live. I live in Georgia now and can assure you that things here drive me crazy, but again, it is different market with different ways of doing things. I am in the food business and the regional tastes vary greatly. Softball is no different.

In 2003, we assembled what we thought would be the top team in North Texas. We won the Colorado Fireworks tournament, placed top 10 at ASA 16-U Nationals and then in 2007 went to ASA Gold for our second run. We finished 13th which is the highest (tied) of any North Texas team to ever finish at gold. We had 15 D1 top tier players and played as well as we could ever have played. We felt like we could have won one more game to get into the top 10 but in the end, our best wasn't as good as Tony Rico's firecrackers team. Trust me, I would love to win gold nationals, we will take another run at it this summer and hope for the best. Will it be good enough? We'll see soon enough.

The journey is a lot of fun. I have gone from 10-U through 18-Gold and NOTHING is more rewarding than watching the young ladies sign a national letter of intent. It is the single most rewarding thing I have experienced as a coach. It is not all about showcase tournaments, this summer it will be putting the best players in the position to qualify and go deep at gold nationals. However, in the fall I am totally into showcase mode and selling the ability of these young ladies. If you haven't experienced it yet, give me a call and I will welcome you into our dugout to get to know these young ladies and then you tell me once the deals are signed what you feel is most important.

Lastly, Houston has just as many watered down teams trying to qualify as does North Texas. They just all wear different uniforms that you may have never heard of. The top clubs in Houston, Impact Gold, Storm Demarini, Eclipse, Intruders, Hawks and Power usually get first pick of athletes. There are many other teams below them that are watered down but just don't get the recognition. The process is complex, it is great that we are talking about it. I am for anything that can improve our sport and my team so please keep it coming.

Merry Christmas!

Dan Adkins

[onedownonetogo]

So I ask you, why would I have to figure all that out when you can look in our own state a realize if Houston don’t do this then why does North Texas.

Your observations reveal that you have a North Texas 12u or 14u cursory knowledge of the Texas landscape. Houston is no different than North Texas. First, Houston has twice as many girls and about the same number of "top" Gold teams and "top" organizatons. And yet, have come no where near winning at Gold National title. Also, the Houston Power and Texas Hawks have two 18 Gold teams, the Texas Storm have had two Gold teams in the past. The MC Elite field mutliple gold teams. In other words, you don't know what you are talking about. . . just for discussion.

[Fastpitch360]

So I ask you, why would I have to figure all that out when you can look in our own state a realize if Houston don’t do this then why does North Texas.

Your observations reveal that you have a North Texas 12u or 14u cursory knowledge of the Texas landscape. Houston is no different than North Texas. First, Houston has twice as many girls and about the same number of "top" Gold teams and "top" organizatons. And yet, have come no where near winning at Gold National title. Also, the Houston Power and Texas Hawks have two 18 Gold teams, the Texas Storm have had two Gold teams in the past. The MC Elite field mutliple gold teams. In other words, you don't know what you are talking about. . . just for discussion.

Thanks Dan….but I still don’t understand….it might be the grass is always greener in my mind but I don’t think so.

Now for you One I don’t think I claimed to know everything just almost everything. I sure wouldn’t had wrote Houston has twice as many girls in ASA as does the metroplex, do you have proof. Also to be fair in this conversation I think we only talk about the Organizations that has made it to Gold Nationals. That still doesn’t explain to me why if this is about putting the best players why does Organizations compete against each other for the strongest talent. Houston Power does have 2 Gold teams but they don’t have 5. In my 12 and 14 mentality I would think if Houston has more girls then why they don’t have the mega organizations like North Texas…

Dan, Coach Wooden of UCLA had a tremendous graduation rate and was very proud of this fact but Coach Wooden also had many titles also. Let me ask you this Dan there are many coaches out there that have high graduation rates but they can’t win or even get by the first round in the dance and then they get fired. Do you know the name of the coach that has the highest graduation rate?? Me neither. But I know Coach Wooden, hell it could have been him. Dan I’m just trying to draw parallel lines here about how proud you are of the fact of helping the girls get into college. I know this isn’t about you and you could care less about yourself but this Select ball is about winning and developing girls how to win right?? If Glory was just another team with little or no success no one would care less. So it has to be about winning. So that’s what I’m talking about putting the best possible team on the field for the Glory organization and competing with that team in order to place high consistently at Gold Nationals. If your going to go to a gun fight bring all your bullets. Right

P.S. I also want the playoff system in College Football. I bet TU does too.

[soreshins]

I guess it depends on what you want. If you want an "organization" that has teams at all or most age levels that "feeds" into a gold team, it is going to effect player decisions. The younger girls believe that when they are 14 or 15 they on going to be on the gold squad. If they are not good enough to be on a top tier gold team, do you cut them loose or do you put them on a gold squad anyway? Many of the organizations in Dallas and in Houston have great teams at lower age groups and only average gold teams. The "organization" is the focus rather than the gold squad.

The Impact Gold, Eclipse and Storm do not have feeder programs. They try to recruit the best players for their gold squad because the gold team is their focus. They don't have to decide whether to keep a player who has been playing in their organization since she was 10. While there are "Impact" teams and "Storm" teams at lower classifications they are not affiliated with the gold teams.

There is no question that the talent base in Texas is diluted. We have too many teams (at all levels) and not enough good players to go around. There is also question that our girls can compete with California teams. We just need to concentrate our talent into fewer teams.

[heybuckethead]

Also to be fair in this conversation I think we only talk about the Organizations that has made it to Gold Nationals. . . I would think if Houston has more girls then why they don’t have the mega organizations like North Texas . . .

It sounds to me like you really don't know much about Houston teams. The Power, MC Elite, Texas Storm, Hawks, etc. are all Gold contenders year after year. The Impact Gold is the queen of Texas softball. They get pretty much whoever they want (most already committed to Div. I schools) from all over Texas. They haven't come close to winning Gold nationals. If the Impact Gold can't win Gold nationals, it will take a special player like Cat Osterman before a Texas team wins Gold regardless of the system used to get there.