Is This a Joke or What?

[the1fan]

In response you you heybuckethead

I think they should go back to when Gold ball originally started. They had A ball, and everyone had to play it. Gold ball came along and a team had to compete in Tournaments and EARN enough points to put Gold on their chest and Compete in that Arena. That was when There was really only: Hawks Gold, Intruders Gold, Katy Cruisers Gold, etc, around the time Kat and the Cruisers won Gold Nationals in St. Louis, MO. I think that once you have that Gold distinction you are ALLOWED to go to Gold qualifiers, and not until then.

Now you asked if I was kidding about where to get your kid recruited. NO IM NOT KIDDING. If you made it hard to go Gold, LIKE IT SHOULD BE, then you would see people get recruited off of 18A and 16U teams because SOME WOULD EXSIST instead of this weak Gold ball going on now. People will go Gold just to say it, it is no different than A ball for most of the teams out there. Teams like the Impact Gold have a proven track record of KICKING BUTT in the Gold Arena, and I bet we don't see them playing ASA Gold next year.....bet they are in CALI where the real talent will be.

[the1fan]

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!

HECK YAH! That is what I have been saying this whole time and I love your post, LOVE IT!

[comeon!]

txfastpitch, et al, you are right on!! This week at Gold Nationals the OC Batbusters - Hanning, threw two incoming sophomores (2012 Grads) and really struggled considering their normal or expected performance. Now, both of these players are fine pitchers and no doubt, barring injury, will become D1 pitchers and have quite a bit of success. They are top talents and prospects, the team itself is a little younger than normal and this years results speak for themselves. They struggled with teams of 2009's and returning 2008's. In no way is this a knock on the OC Batbusters, I have the utmost respect for their program and many others on the West Coast, but demonstrates how experience and growth impacts the game regardless of fundamental talent or projected talent.

But to your point, the maturity, player development and growth from 13-16 is vitally important, and the teams in North Texas, who are behind the West Coast and Southeast programs as it stands, have no business rushing young players. The parents who buy into this philosophy are just kidding themselves, they are not playing Gold, they are playing sub-Gold with "Gold" or "18U" on the title of the tournament or event.

You picked the Elite based on some recent registerasa.com postings, but this is a problem that plagues the North Texas area and has destroyed healthy competition in the 14U/16U ranks where the game is perfected, which in turn is ruining the "18U Gold" ranks in this area ... the 18U level in this area is played at an equivalent 14U/16 level because that is the talent used in most of these rosters. The true "Gold" caliber teams are few and far between in North Texas, they do not see real Gold level talent without distant travels prior to the qualification process.

Why this is a problem in North Texas? You guys should debate that, but just keep in mind, if a player does their homework, remains persistent, has the appropriate talent, refines and builds skills out of the talent, and has the right mental approach, they will be considered recruitable, there is nothing magical about the process.

[txfastpitch]

comeon, way to reference back to the OC Batbusters I will agree they do have some very young talent on the roster and personally have seen both pitchers you speak of. They both will have bright futures.

As for N Texas maybe we are starting to see a turn around in how things will be done. I noticed Fusion and Texas Glory Shelton are starting to take the approach of fielding older 16U teams and getting their players in front of the college coaches at the higher profile showcases, and know for a fact that many of their players could play on any of these so called Gold teams here in N Texas. I hope it works out for them.

[TXfastpitchsoftball]

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!

There are only two or three Texas 16u teams that could legitimately claim that lineup of coaches "watched" them play. How many of those schools only were standing behind the screen and didn't have a clue who they were "watching." So I'm betting a California team. I'll also bet your 16u team was one of the lucky few who played both Boulder Independence Day and went to 16u ASA Nationals. Regardless, that looks like a linup of colleges that will watch an average California or Texas 18u Gold team that does its homework.

[IDigress]

In response you you heybuckethead

I think they should go back to when Gold ball originally started. They had A ball, and everyone had to play it. Gold ball came along and a team had to compete in Tournaments and EARN enough points to put Gold on their chest and Compete in that Arena. That was when There was really only: Hawks Gold, Intruders Gold, Katy Cruisers Gold, etc, around the time Kat and the Cruisers won Gold Nationals in St. Louis, MO. I think that once you have that Gold distinction you are ALLOWED to go to Gold qualifiers, and not until then.

Please give more detail on how Gold teams "used" to be determined. My daughter was only 10 at the time of the change, 2 years too young to compete with some of the now "gold" teams. Was everyone 18A but given the chance to be gold based on your finish in a series of tournaments? Everyone else who didn't receive that recognition continued on as 18A?

[sonofapitch]

I always laugh when I hear people say they know what the college scouts are doing.

[Softballguru]

There are the 2 16U teams in Texas that would have such a list of college coaches watching them. It's quite obvious they have talented kids, plus a well run organization! This team had every one of these coaches watching them, believe me, they knew exactly who they were watching! These kids were followed all summer! They will continue to be followed. College coaches know the legit organizations, they know who runs them! If an organization has produced quality teams over the the years, colleges will find them. This could team could play at mid-night in a cow pasture; If the the colleges still has recruiting days left, they would be there! No 16U team in texas has accomplished as much as this team in the past two years! The coaching/organization for this team is outstanding! They know what it takes to win at all levels (including gold)!

[TXfastpitchsoftball]

There are the 2 16U teams in Texas that would have such a list of college coaches watching them. It's quite obvious they have talented kids, plus a well run organization! This team had every one of these coaches watching them, believe me, they knew exactly who they were watching! These kids were followed all summer! They will continue to be followed. College coaches know the legit organizations, they know who runs them! If an organization has produced quality teams over the the years, colleges will find them. This could team could play at mid-night in a cow pasture; If the the colleges still has recruiting days left, they would be there! No 16U team in texas has accomplished as much as this team in the past two years! The coaching/organization for this team is outstanding! They know what it takes to win at all levels (including gold)!

I would agree that the Texas Storm Elite, Texas Storm (DeMarini), Texas Eclipse, and Texas Express definitely could have had such a list of colleges. But since I know you were talking about Texas Glory (Naudin), I'll let you have your moment.

The way I see it these schools are schools where they is ANY chance of their player getting recruited, and most all of them would have been at any Gold qualifier. Either of the teams I named would have had these and many, many more watching.

Southern Miss
Oklahoma
ULL
Stephen F Austin
Texas
Texas A&M
Georgia
LSU
Kentucky
Houston
Arkansas
Kansas
Wichita State
Iowa
Alabama
Iowa State
Florida
Mississippi State
Penn University
Ole Miss
North Texas

Then my question is where is Baylor, Oklahoma State, Tulsa, Louisiana State, UL-Monroe, Sam Houston State, Northwestern State, Nicholas State, Texas State, UT-Arlington, UTSA, Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Seems to me someone wasn't doing their job is these Texas Div. I schools weren't in attendance and don't even get started on this program's arrogance and disrepect to Div. II, NAIA, Div. III, and JUCO.

[Softballguru]

Actually I wasn't talking about (Glory) Naudin. We all the talent Naudin had on that team, even though he made it to Nationals, they in my opinion under performed. He finished 5th a the national Qualifier. Glory waited to the last tournament (metro) to qualify for Nationals. Glory had to pull out of the Champions Cup, Irvine Ca. in order to qualify! That team however played to their capabilities in the Independence tournament finishing 2nd!