Question about joining show Case team

Play where you have the most fun...

 

My daughter is a rising 9th grader and is playing her second year with a showcase team. We questioned her ability and dealing with things we didn't want her dealing with yet. She has had a great deal of success on the field. The older girls have been great with her. Her biggest fans are some of the dads on the team. Sometimes she has sat when we felt she should have played, but her time is coming. The instruction and competition have been great for her. You have to weigh it for your daughter.

 

I agree. For every 1 girl found at showcase tournaments 100 are found this way.

 

Uninformed and WRONG!

What an complete and uninformed statement. I believe you have your numbers reversed!

 

I wasnt going to post again on this b/c its the same tired ole arguments i have seen on here for the last two years.

Listen,,,, if you dont have the money to play showcase its no crime!.. especially in this horrible economy.

BUT to deny its the best way to get the most and best exposure is ridiculous. If you are new to this journey play showcase if you can. DO NOT risk the possibility of finding that one coach who appreciated what your DD brings to the table. If you cannot for whatever reason try one of the alternate routes mentioned.

 

Choosing a Team

"Would like to hear some advice, from some people that have allready crossed this bridge."

Have crossed the bridge and offer this...Be very careful on the team you choose. This is a BIG step toward your DD's goal toward College. There are still "Showcase" Coaches out there that can talk the talk, but when it comes to the end, they are more worried on how good they can make themselves look. Very little worry about their young ladies. On the other side, there are some very good Coaches and organizations that will do everything they can to get your DD seen and recruited. Do plenty of research on the team you may be looking at. Ask around at tournaments to other coaches or parents about the team or Coach you are considering.
Last, if you are on a team, watch and see what is going on. Do not sit back and think everything is going alright. Ask question and keep yourselves informed on your teams goals and progress. As one said, Enjoy the ride, because it is over way to quick...

 

Your first step is to sit down with your daughter and ask her what type of college she wants to attend. She may not know exactly which one but most know if they want to go to a large school or a smaller school and how far from home she wants to go. Determine a mile radius. You also need to make sure that her grades are good enough to get in the school she is interested in. This will save you a whole lot time and possibly narrow your search a little more. You also need to realistically evaluate your daughter's talent level. If the talent is not there, there is not a showcase organization anywhere that can get her a D1 or D2 scholarship and you will be out a whole lot of money learning that lesson. If your daughter wants to stay relatively close to home contact the coaches of the schools within your mileage radius and ask them to come watch her play wherever she is and whatever team she is playing on. I have found that they will come. If she is good enough to attract their interest they will probably come to her next tournament and things will progress from there. Now if she wants to go farther from home and has the talent and the grades to do so, I would suggest looking into one of the showcase organizations that go on tour. Some might want you to think that your daughter cannot play in college unless she plays on a showcase team, but it is simply not true. Every girl's situation is different so it is not a cut and dry answer that she must play on a showcase team.

 

I'm not scared......

.....of saying on TBR what folks want to say.......so I'll say it ....Damn Tater, give it a rest!

I love your emotion and dedication to the the kids and the game, but slinging snot ain't helping right now friend!

....and with respect, I agree with you on some things and don't agree on others but I stay with you either way because we at TBR need nutheads like you and me to rock the boat.

Fishpal

 

This is very important....but who is doing the evaluating? The parent? I don't think so. A coach? Maybe, but they are usually going to sugarcoat it. Most people aren't going to risk alienating a friendship or cause a rift. Not even a college coach is going to enter that conversation.

To me, unless your DD is a sure "blue chipper", this is the most difficult question to ask. And if you try to "project" a young player, it's even more difficult, The 14-15 yo, that is clearly talented for her class, may not improve for a variety of reasons. Then you find that the young DD, that didn't catch your eye at 15, worked hard to improve her skills and grew stronger during the next year. It's rarely talent alone that gets a DD to the next level....the talent must be coupled with a commitment to get better because her competition is doing that.

There is no surefire blueprint in how one gets recruited because there are many paths one can take. But to get to any of the paths, one must start with talent.....and it's been my experience that most parents really have no idea the level of talent of their DD.

Someone brought up college camps. This is an excellent source to get good feedback and what level of interest a school has: But it's "buyer beware." You must do your homework by asking around others their experience in attending a particular school. Some schools treat their camps as a moneymaker for their assistant(s). At some schools the head coach is not there at the camp. That doesn't mean they aren't getting feedback, but it's a plus to attend one that the head coach is attending. To expand on this a little more, recently some schools have discovered the camps to be an excellent revenue resource and have scheduled additional camps. Often times it confuses families believing the schools have interest because they invited you back...ask specific questions of what their interest is with your DD...and listen carefully.

 

The best way is to take hitting lessons for 5 years from a really really good knowledgable college coach, let him/her see you contribute by advancing runners with sacrifices, (always putting the ball in play with very few if any strike outs) and hit balls in the grass at showcase tournaments against some excellent pitching, play as much as you can against top knotch pitching no matter how good the team you play on is, and keep your National Honor Society GPA above 4.0. This way you can play and stay close to home in a bad economy without it costing a fortune to do it. If your DD can advance runners and hit some balls in the grass, coaches are going to see it