Showcase Ball

This is not true. They are there, but mainly to watch the kids who have contacted them. As Coach Haning says, "the obvious ones will stand out to anybody". After that, it's the ones that work hard playing and contacting schools, plus the good attitude.

http://sssoftball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=677085

If this link doesn't work, please type it in and listen to the video. The coaches do come, and we appreciate it. Sometimes I wish there was more feedback, but it's a business for them, and they have a lot of rules to follow.

I'm not an expert by any means, but this is info I have sought out and learned from many at different levels of the game.

 

Yes . My daughter was very down on herself after The Boulder Tournment but thanks to the Cobras Coaches they talked to her for hours and she hit .500 in Florence with 1 homer and pitched very very well.

 

CHECK YOUR PM'S

 

I agree...

...that when college coaches go to showcase tourn., they're there to see, 85% or maybe more than that % kids who have emailed, contacted, gone to camps, etc. Its certainly possible that anykid on the field, has a great game, and then some coach opens up her profile list from teams and puts that kid on her radar. Thats a very small %. ....also, in showcase ball, there is the field placement of teams that is very important. The best teams play on the best fields in front of the most coaches. Winning does matter in the long run.

 

I disagree with the field placement comment yes the stronger teams will compete against each other but If a kid contacts a coach and the coach is interested the coach will go to whatever field the player is on. sure you get a concertration of coaches, and spectators, watching the cream of the crop. but most of the girls on those teams are on everyones wish list if not already commited. Bottom line is for players to contact coaches and those coaches will make an effort ot come and see you play.

 

showcase w/ brackets

this is a great thread - truly shows alot of misconceptions which lead to alot of drama.
IMHO it seems that alot of players and parents get themselves into situations that create resentments. Alot of that comes from not knowing what to expect and not asking the right questions up front. Too much assumption on their part. its amazing how some parents have a totally unrealistic view of thier DD's. And, alot of families move up to
Showcase ball and don't realize the purpose is to get players seen! It just makes sense that a rising senior (unsigned) and a rising Junior (after July1) could potentially see more PT than a more gifted Frsh, Soph.

solve the problem, be direct and ask up front as to potential play time,potential is the key word. Be sure of the roster and grad dates.
On the other hand, if you do your homework and send your emails and keep your expecations low, then, you usually end up with a good outlook.

If it's a tournament with a bunch of pool play then brackets, I think that most coaches treat the pool gamess as a showcase and get serious about winning when the brackets start. Personally, I really like that format, seems to be the best of both worlds.

But to finish, recently a coach said something to me about recruiting. "If I know the score of the game, then I'm not doing my job" His point being that he is there to look at players, not "watch a game".

sure is a lot of unecessary drama sometimes....

 

....Hey Dawg....how...

.....can you argue field placement? If you don't win or atleast compete then your team is headed to the "b"field. Bittersweet, this need for winning, but winning does help with your team being grouped with "the best". You did nail it with "contact coaches"!

 

Not sure I completely agree with you there fishman...

I do completely agree the girls need to get the ball rolling by contacting the college coaches and then things will pretty much take care of themselves.

But, IMO, the non-showcase tournaments are/should be for winning and where you establish yourself as a 'good/great' team and/or one to watch. That should then feed into the showcase tournaments where the times and fields are preset for the entire weekend.

My only point is, you can bet your bottom dollar that college coaches are going to go watch the Cobras (just one example, there are plenty others) play no matter what field they are on because they are kicking butt in the non-showcase touraments.

 

Why not just do away with that silly scorekeeping stuff? And play the game long enough for all batters to bat an equal number of times. Maybe even have a quota for defensive plays.

Maybe the coaches should be proactive in explaining playing times, etc. Some probably already are. It's not always easy to know what questions to ask until after the fact. Then it's too late.