High School Coaches ????

How responsible should they be in promoting their players?

Who are some of the coaches that do a good job in this area?

 

I don't know who is good at it currently, but there are mixed feelings here IMO on this. If you have a coach with no credibility (previous bad recommendations), then you don't want him promoting you. If your coach has legit ties, then of course you want him to pick up the phone. A high school coach should worry about kids getting to class and winning, and promoting last. If you can play, you will be found. There are too many scouts for college and pro out there for you to slip by. Remember recruiting is alot of politics. If parents have ties to schools thru family, friends, or co workers, that should be utilized too.

If I had a son who was good, I would go to a pro scout, intoduce myself, and ask if he could make a call for me to where I want to play, and he will tell you if you have the talent for a South Carolina or Gardner Webb.

sidenote: don't the club team (crooks) "gaurantee" you will be promoted in exchange for your $2500 per year?

 

sidenote: don't the club team (crooks) "gaurantee" you will be promoted in exchange for your $2500 per year?

Curious....what , IYO, is a club team (crooks) ?

 

Metro ... I think you missed the target on this one..... missed it badly.

 

why?

 

the crooks are people attempting to charge thousands of dollars in exchange to train and condition your kids like many of the local club/AAU teams. You should not have to pay 2-3000k to play organized ball. I know many of you here play on these teams or coach them, but you are all mislead. School ball, and Legion ball is all that is needed. These year round high dollar club teams are profit centers that I disagree with that hide behind the "non profit" tax status. I coached on one of these teams and was disgusted with it rather quickly. They promise to make connections and scare you into playing. ya know "you have to play AAU/club ball to be seen" BS. It is preying on the ignorant and young. If you have talent, you will be found.

NCBballfan, you can have your opinion, but I disagree with you on this one.

 

Metro:

Like most sweeping generalizations, your comments invite people like me to come back and say that there are a number of excellent exceptions to your assertions.

Are there expensive travel teams that aren't worth the money? Of course...and I'm sorry that you seem to have gotten hooked up with one.

But, fortunately, there are also several programs in our region that offer top-flight coaching, along with the opportunity to play against the best teams in the country. Those programs play in venues that are recruited and scouted very heavily because of the calibre player they attract. In these situations, there's no question that the player is introduced to a range of recruiters and scouts that greatly exceed the number who attend legion games.

That leads me to your other assertion: that if you're good, "they'll" find you. As I've said on here before, if you don't care who "they" are, you're probably right. Someone will find you.

However, if it matters who "they" are, then you'd better find out where the recruiters from the schools that are of interest to you are recruiting, and then find a way to play in front of them.

Leaving one's visibility up solely to high school and legion games in these days and times suffices only for the player who hardly cares who sees him. If he's interested in something more than that, then he'd better take the time and effort to make sure that he's playing where people who are important to him are watching.

 

Metro ....

Like anything in life, there are people out there who are out to make a quick buck. They make sweeping generalizations and guarantees. But your blanket statement is wrong. If you had a bad experience with one organization, you can't blame all organizations for that experience.

We submitted this very question to Austin Alexander, who is the recruiting co-ordinator for Elon. I'm going to copy his response here:

Metro ... times have changed and you have to keep up with the changes. As much as you would like for it to remain the same it isn't going to happen. As Austin said: it "...doesn't make much sense anymore."

Can you be seen playing legion?? You betcha !!! Are your odds better playing on a showcase team?? you betcha !!!

Let's go back to the example of Jupiter, Florida and the World Wood Bat Tourney in late October. There will be 600 of the best H.S. players from all over the nation there. There will be about 500-600 scouts, representing every major university and baseball playing college and every pro team. There will be cross-checkers ... there will be area scouts and scouting directors. People will be there reviewing the players and talking baseball, trading observations all weekend. You want to be seen? Like "Up and In" said in another thread, find a way to get to Jupiter.

 

Metro, I disagree. My son played high school and Legion ball. Until this Legion season, you could about count the number of games I missed on one hand. If he had counted on being seen at a Legion or high school game to get him into college, he would be at CPCC playing table tennis. I have traditionally seen more scouts and college coaches at the Jack Sink Easter tournament than I have at all of the regular school games combined. As for Legion, the scouts who do show up are there to look at (or cross check) one or maybe two players in particular. My son did not play showcase ball for one of the big 4 here in Charlotte. Rather he played on a team put together by an ex-player and two scouts. It cost me less than $300 plus travel expenses for him to play on the best team he had ever played on. The instruction was wonderful, as well as unbiased, honest appraisals of his ability and college playing level. A lot has changed in the last 10 years.

 

I completely agree with yall that the showcase method is more popular now and you get exposure. my point is that it is still unethical. gonzo, your situation ($300) sounds reasonable, but my point is that all these club/aau teams are hiding behind a "non profit" status and trying to make a living of charging parents up to $3000 a year for instruction, and doing it by scaring kids and parents that if you don't play with them, you wont be seen, and I don't like it a bit. and yes, they are crooks. Its not one experience I've had, but I know how 3 of these unnamed organizations around here work. The sad fact is Legion has not adapted in some way to showcase its best players to put the AAU teams out of "business" literally. I hear you on the Jupiter deal, but you are kidding yourselves if you think you have to be there. If you have physical talent and dominate your high school league, major D1 schools will be on you. That will never change. If you are borderline and did not produce in high school, and have suspect athletic ability, then you need to be in Jupiter so you have a chance that someone sees you. The way I see it, if you don't dominate high school ball, you don't deserve to play beyond high school anyway. As for 500-600 scouts, that is bullshit. There are 320 division one schools and about 30 major league teams. I seriously doubt every team sends 2 people. Maybe if you include all the panzy "birddogs" there are 600.