Define "GOLD TEAM" ????

GOLD

Do these GOLD PLAYERS wear a STAR or an ARM BAND when they get to college so people can tell .Just play what is right for you.Play the major ASA scedule(Cardinal Schedule) face it the Cardinals are the measuring stick and stay in contact with the schools of choice and if that college has a spot and you are good enough you will be recruited.

 

I must say that even though this is a controversial topic; in the past this would have gotten really ugly. One thing I have learned is that people are passionate about softball, their teams and their DD's playing it. That's a good thing!!!!!!

But I really do appreciate the tone that most posts used to disagree with each other. Even though passion can lead to extreme emotions, I thought everybody explained their positions well without the past bickering (especially in a potential troubling thread).

I understand everybody's position and I believe everybody is correct with their positions. There are 100's of schollys offered yearly in our region, so obviously they offer those to players from many teams. I'm sure the players from the "Gold" team(s) had a great experience as well as players on teams that chose a different route.

It's really about the opportunites just to play...and to create relationships along the way. That, my friends, you can not put a price tag on.

Let's just agree to disagree on some points and move on...and let me sincerely thank everyone for keeping this civil.

 

Question

Apparently my DD will never have the opportunity to play "GOLD" for reasons I care not to discuss or have control over, but for those of us that will not play "GOLD" what do we do to get recruited or are our chances slim ??? Don't start emailing CHEEZE this is a legit question>>> GURU

 

Its not about the money

So many of you continue to refer to the expense of playing ASA Gold. the cost of a weekend is not that much different than the cost of the Florence Showcase event this weekend. The biggest difference will be gas.

If there were more teams to play that level it is possible to get a sector qualifier here in our back yard. We always have to travel to GA or Illinois or Texas because there teams show a deeper passion to play the best.

Too many of us around here are happy playing local ball. In my oppinion the Larger Showcase events that are not representative of any status such as GOLD is where the expense comes in. Boulder,CO, New Jersey, Dynamite, Music City Hits, Ronald Mcdonald, Surf City, Rising Stars. These events hurt the pocket more that a qualifier. More teams, more days, more days, more hotels, airfare, miss work, or maybe even school. Do the math.

If a team wants to put there hat in the Gold arena, who has the right to tell them they can't. Too many people in our area want to talk about there teams and not support others. I know this is the Lady Blues, Cardinals, Cobras, Sundevils, Message board but there are more teams that can compete with all of them. Its time for everyone to support everyone not be envious of others. Make your opportunities count and stop knocking people down and instead pick each other up for there efforts to help there kids. I don't know any coaches that are in this for the money. At least I am not.

I know personally this summer was a great experience for us and our players have a lot of great opportunities that I hope you all get to hear about. But for us it is about playing the best competition we can be in front of because locally there is just too many politics. It is almost worse than HS Softball. Let the teams play and show there stuff.

Pick up people, don't knock them just because it doesn't fit your profile.
We have had 1st hand contact with such colleges as;
UNC, Va Tech, Ga Tech, Maryland, Virginia, FSU, East Tenn State, Tenn Tech, Univ of Penn, George Mason, Iowa, Iowa State, Bowling Green, Wisconsin, Syracuse, Mississippi State, Florida, Kentucky, Univ of Tenn, Wright State, Northwestern, UNC-G, USC Upstate, Spartanburg Methodist, Florence-Darlington, Wingate, Louisburg, Lynchburg, Hofstra, USC Aiken, South Carolina,Elon, Auburn, Liberty, Lipscomb, Mars Hill, Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue, Pfeiffer, Tusculum, UNCW, University of West Virginia,Charelston..etc.......

And it was because we chose the road verses playing at home. I pray that our kids will appreciate the experiences they have and never have to ask themselves could I really compete at the highest level.

What would be the difference between going to Texas, South Dakota, or OK City financially, nothing. But to know you played the best to get there will be priceless. I congratulate to Lady Blues on making it to Ok City, but if some of the others would have played we may could have had more representatives and a better State reputation for putting out great players.

This is not ment to be negative, because I appreciate the teams that have paved the way for me and showed me the ropes, but why do we always have to have an excuse for not doing something when we could say "Why not do it". What the worst thing that can happen, you really know where you measure up?

Thank you to everyone that supports our decision to play ASA GOLD and I hope that others will follow.

Coach John
NC Lady Lightning
TEAM COMBAT

 

My DD's team decided to play local showcases, because most wanted to go to in-state schools in NC/SC. We did alot of talking to people who had been through the showcase circuit prior, took some of their advice, & played a very competitive schedule. Had a very successful year, & got plenty of looks from lots of schools. Anyone can play Gold, all you have to do is register as a Gold team. I would make sure I was ready before I jumped in the ring, 2 and out won't cut it.

 

Where do you want to go?

A lot of this discussion really comes down to where do you want to go to school?

Anybody playing at any level can get recruited by someone. It all just depends on where you want to go.

If you live in NC/SC and want to go to a major school in one of the 6 BCS conferences, you need to play on a team that will play in some major showcases (Plantation, Colorado, Texas or California) or a Gold Team that will get a lot of attention anywhere it goes or a strong 16U team that goes to the national tournament (I'm sure a lot of the contacts the NC Lady Lightning made were from the national tournament...but you can correct me if I'm assuming too much).

With recruiting starting earlier and earlier, most major colleges put together their lists of kids from what they see at the 16U national tournament. They also put look at kids from long established programs with a history of strong coaching and strong selling. If a team has a reputation of sending quality kids (both on and off the field) to colleges, more college coaches are going to look at those programs. Also, we coaches do our homework too. We all know the strongest teams that regularly produce the best players but we also look for strong players on teams that might not get as much recognition. We look at the kids that send us stuff and make decisions based on what is best for our program.

If you want to stay closer to home and play in one of the schools around here, then there is no need to play Gold since most of us smaller school coaches aren't going to those tournaments because usually we can't get kids off of those teams so we don't waste our time. BUT, if your goal is to play at a major school and all you do is play the local ASA/NSA circuit around here, you more than likely won't get noticed by those major schools because they are not going to come to a tournament where most of the kids playing can't play at their level. Unless they REALLY want a kid, they are going to get more bang for their recruiting buck and time (they only have so many days a year to be out recruiting) going to the big showcases that have a history of showcasing the best talent.

One of the other things playing Gold can do, and I think I read this on another post, is to sometimes price a kid out of the smaller school's recruiting plan. Meaning, when a kid plays gold, they DO get more looks from the major programs and if those major programs, or even more Div I schools start talking to a kid and making offers, they stop looking at Div II and Div III schools, even though some of the Div II schools around NC/SC/GA are better than some of the smaller Div I's.

So it all comes down to what do you want.........

Major school - 18 Gold, Major Showcases, ASA 18U A Nationals, ASA 16U A Nationals, go to their camp

Mid-Major/Div II, Div III - Showcases, ASA state, go to their camp

I'm open for any questions....

Steve Johnson
Head Softball Coach
The University of North Carolina at Pembroke

 

Basically ???

It appears that those of us that do not have the means financially will be at a lesser advantage to play " GOLD", meaning all the travelling expensives,and other ETC... that you that are more affluent have an edge on us that are living from pay check to pay check. I know I can't afford to go to Colorado,California, or other western states for any extended amount of time ,and don't have the means to get the cash.I guess I should have studied harder in school---LOL---then we could have played at a higher level..I always wanted to know how it was to not have any worries like Paris Hilton, even though she brings her own troubles to herself. So I feel like "GOLD" isn't so much a decision, because deciding to play "GOLD" sure want make money all of a sudden end up in my pocket to support this endeavor.




<------- GURU