Is This a Joke or What?

[txfastpitch]

Texas Elite Gold Bell - did not qualify 18U Gold
Texas Elite Gold Baker - did not qualify 18U Gold
Texas Elite Gold Harrison - did not qualify 18U Gold
Texas Elite Gold Bancroft - did not qualify 18U Gold
Texas Elite Whitby - did not qualify 16U, now trying to field another Elite Gold program
Texas Elite Floyd - did not qualify 14U, now trying to field another Elite Gold program

How many Gold teams does a organization need. This is exactly what is wrong with N Texas Gold program. Why not keep these younger players in their prospective age groups instead of trying to put them into a enviroment were they will not be successful.

Do these teams really think the college coaches are going to come watch them play just because they say they are a Gold team? These colleges want to be able to watch competitive games with top talent on each team. It is a crying shame that good Gold teams have to play against these weaker team.

I know Elite is not the only program that has this issue, but everytime you look at the VTD we have a new younger Gold team forming in N Texas. What is the logic, if you can't compete with the other players in your own age group what makes you believe you will be succesful at Gold.

What a joke.

[onedownonetogo]

Qualfying for ASA Gold Nationals is not the standard for judging whether a team should be playing gold. The Texas Elite Baker and Bancroft were both very competitive this year at Gold qualifiers. Both got lots of college looks. Bell has most of his team signed. Why wouldn't they play Gold?

The answer to whether college coaches will come watch is definitely yes! No college coach will watch a single 16u ASA qualifying tournament and only ocassionally go watch a 16u team playing in a showcase. Any sophomore in North Texas who plays 16u is limiting their chance to get recruited at the Division I level. Sorry, but that is the way it is. Until ASA or the NCAA changes the way college recruiting takes place, you will continue to have more and more Gold teams.

Maybe the solution is to have teams have to go through a qualifying process for Gold. like California or limit each "organization" to two Gold teams.

[txfastpitch]

That is absolutely false that you won't see college coaches at a 16U qualifiers. This year alone there were more than a few at the 16U National Qualifier in Whictia Falls, as well as the 16U regionals.

Also explain to me then why I have been a various showcase tournament in N Texas and even the RM in Houston to see various teams playing with no coaches in the stands. Not just D1 coaches either no coaches at all.

It is the job of the college coaches to find the most talented players possible that will help their programs strive in the future. I highly doubt they care to watch a bunch of teams full of players that can't compete at their own age group play a few games. Thus this is why they do not attend these games.

I understand that every parent and TB coach wants to get their players seen, and apparently I am in the minority, but I believe that ASA Gold is supposed to be a level of the BEST players in the country. Not just some showcase circuit. Maybe they should have teams go through a qualifing process for Gold, so it could be restricted to the best of the best and allow the other to play 18U were they belong. This may keep the other division competitive as they should be.

I honestly have no problem with the players that have to play in the division due to age playing, but it seems crazy to me to have 13-14 and even 15 year old girls playing Gold that couldn't beat a average 16U/14U team.

[onedownonetogo]

You clearly don't have a clue. ASA 16u Regionals had possibly three or four college coaches total of which most were JUCOs and none were Div. I. ASA 16u Ronald McDonald will not have a single college coach there. ASA 16u is for 8th graders and freshmen. Everyone else needs to be playing Gold.

The showcase games and Gold qualifiers where no coaches are watching doesn't have anything to do with the "age" of the players on the teams playing it has to do with the "talent" of the teams playing. Sorry, you may not like the process that Gold qualifiers have become but it is the process ASA and the NCAA created.

[the1fan]

If your team does not have a legitimate chance to qualify for Gold Nationals, then your team is better off playing 18A. Coaches and managers of these BOGUS Gold teams are wasting parents' money to go 2 or 3 games and out at these Gold Qualifiers. They are kidding themselves if they think this is the best way to get college exposure for their girls.

This is why the Invitational out of California will be the REAL best of the best Nationals next year.

[heybuckethead]

If your team does not have a legitimate chance to qualify for Gold Nationals, then your team is better off playing 18A. Coaches and managers of these BOGUS Gold teams are wasting parents' money to go 2 or 3 games and out at these Gold Qualifiers. They are kidding themselves if they think this is the best way to get college exposure for their girls.

This is why the Invitational out of California will be the REAL best of the best Nationals next year.

Curious what you think the "best way to get college exposure" is for kids is?

What do you consider the cutoff for a team that has a "legitimate chance" to qualify. Those that finish in the top 10, 25, etc. Since only three teams qualified for Gold Nationals out of North Texas this year, are you saying that only 5-10 teams in North Texas should be playing Gold qualifiers at all, and everyone else should be playing 18u "A"?

Your kidding right because I don't see many North Texas sophomores or juniors getting recruited by any level college off of 18u "A" or 16u teams.

[the1fan]

There is no legit 16U anymore. This is why I didnt mention them.

And 18A Nationals is a lot better than 2 or 3 and out at a Gold Qualifier. Ask ANY college coach. Most of these teams are out before the college coaches even arrive! They should play 18A qualifiers and concentrate on college exposure tournaments.

To be considered "Gold", teams should have to qualify (like the good ol days). NOT just slap Gold on your chest. This, again, is why the best of the best will be playing in the California invitational next year and NOT ASA Gold Nats. Watch and see...

These so called "Gold" teams do not get exposure, they get exposed!

[onedownonetogo]

At every Gold qualifier that I've ever been too, EVERY college coach arrives bright and early for 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Friday games and most stay at least to the final game Saturday night. The hardest working stay until the final game on Sunday. According to the ASA 18u "A" National website, the list of college coaches in attendance looks like a second-tier showcase in the fall, and I'll bet you half of these coaches were hitting the casinos by dinner time. And what I know for certain is that not a single college coach will show up for an 18u "A" qualifier.

[the1fan]

It is not a matter of whether or not college coaches are present at Gold Qualifiers or not. That is obvious. Coaches will be where they believe the most concentrated potential talent is. Fact-they are at Gold qualifiers. The issue is whether or not you are getting your kids the right exposure by going 2 or 3 and out at a tournament and showing you cannot compete with the best of the best. You are showing every college coach out there that you are not good enough to make it more than the required two games and you go home.

Come Gold Nationals, there is no undiscovered talent in most of these college coaches minds. If they show up they know that 90% of those kids are signed, recruited, or committed. 16U and 14U ball is a viable option. A college coach I know personally came down to the Ronald McDonald and told me she was ONLY recruiting Freshman as recruiting has started to much earlier. If parents would quit pushing their kids to go "GOLD" in 9th grade, and encourage a strong competitive 16U to return to the Texas Arena, then it would make the game better, and allow kids to showcase their talent without sitting the bench on some team waiting to get their 3 innings that year and learn nothing.

If you do the leg work and your kid is good enough they are getting a college scholarship whether you go to a fake Gold team or let your kid play 18A or 16U. The stuff going on in California next year is California softball saying “this bogus crap of slapping Gold on your chest and pretending your good enough” is not going to fly. Good luck getting EXPOSED on your team that goes three in out, I’m sure that is EXACTLY what the college coaches came to see.

[ru4u]

Auburn Southern Miss UCF Utah St. Oklahoma Samford
Arizona state ULL Arizona Stephen F Austin UCLA Ball State
Stanford University of Utah Texas Tennessee Texas A&M Austin Peay
Georgia Belmont LSU Louisville Kentucky University of Illinois of Chicago
Houston Oregon State Arkansas Florida International University
Kansas Virginia Tech Wichita State University of Alabama at Birmingham
Iowa University of Northern Iowa Alabama Iowa State Florida
Cal State Fullerton Mississippi State Penn University Ole Miss UNLV
St. Mary’s (Ca.) University Of Tennessee at Chattanooga North Texas
All these schools have watched our 16u team play 16u tournaments this Summer.
The problem with you young Gold teams is that you are fool's gold. College coaches are not dumb, they know fool's gold when they see it!