New way to recruit talent for your tb team?

Very interesting. I personally have never recruited a player that was playing on another TB team without them contacted me first. Once they show an interest in our team then I believe I owe it to them to tell them about our team. I never really took offense to another coach attempting to recruit our players because I somewhat expected it from some. Now, I didn't like it, but I didn't lose sleep over it either. I guess the reason it didn't bother me too bad is because we didn't lose any of the players.

Now, for travel ball coaches to take player profiles and brochures from a tent at a showcase is really pushing the limits of acting ethical. I am not saying it is unethical, but it just doesn't seem right. Those brochures are meant for college coaches and they should be left for the college coaches. I would hate to see a team run out of them because TB coaches had taken them instead of college coaches. If a TB coach just has the need to recruit for his team that hard he/she should just write the info down and leave the brochure on the table.

I can see where an 18U coach was watching a 14/16U player on another team and perhaps asking them would they be interested in joining his team next year if that team was not going to stay together or did not have an 18U team to rise up to. How about a 14U/16U kid that is very good and would like to play college softball, but the team they were presently on did not play any of the big showcases such as the Dynamites, Hot Times, Cardinals stuff...etc??? Somebody should inform that coach he may lose some of his players if he doesn't put them in front of coaches. Hey, I am not condoning recruiting other team's players...it should not be done.

I do not believe TB coaches should take brochures from the table at showcase events during the tournament, but late on Sunday would be the time to do it if one just had to do it.

 

Very Sad and Desperate

Ed this is one of the things that angers me the most about travel ball. In my 10 years of coaching TB, I have had a couple of instances where coaches from other teams contacted my players to recruit them away. When this happened, the parents would tell me about it and I would ask them if they were looking. They would not be. I would then get on the phone and give the coach a call and let him know how I felt about his lowly tactics. I know i have angered a couple of coaches over the years doing this, but if I didn't make the call, IMO not calling them would be just like saying it was OK to recruit players who were not looking to make a move.

Now if a player is looking for a change, i don't care what coach they talk to. But my parents know if they are looking, to let me know and I will help them find another team. But if I find out they are looking while on my team and haven't told me, I immediately dismiss them.

All of this is discussed each year during our preseason parent meeting.

As for TB coaches using the player profile forms to recruit players, I know at all the Cardinal Showcase tournaments, we always have someone working the tent where this teams profiles are kept. The instructions are only to give the profiles to college coaches, but I know that some TB coaches do take a couple. I think most use them for comparison to what they have for the college coaches, but there are those who use them to recruit players. And in my opinion, that's shameful.

If your TB program is run correctly,players are treated fairly and you play in the best tournaments you can get into so to get your players seen, and also promote your players to college coaches, you don't have to recruit players from other teams. The players will come to your program on their own.

There are plenty of reputable TB programs in NC who have been around for a LONG time. Teams like the Cardinals, Blues, Wildcats, Triangle Lightning, Sun devils, Dazzle, Catawba Valley Storm (and some others) who have been around this long for a reason. There are also some newer teams that are doing things the right way and understand it takes time to build a program and are willing to experience those "growing pains" while doing things the right way.

However, there are those programs that are always looking for a short cut. They are always trophy hunting, think the coach is the most important part of the team, they recruit players, make promises they never plan to keep and add players to a team until the lesser talented ones (they made the same promises to) get fed up and quit, that make things hard for the teams that try to things the right way.

If I offended some out there, then good. This is just how I feel when it comes to coaches who recruit players from other teams.

 

I would bet that 95 out of a hundred people in our business feel like we do. Coaches should not recruit another team's players period.

 

it would seem to me that if a team wanted new players, they would have a tryout. If they want better talent than what they presently have then they would make even the present players tryout, along with the new players, and then keep just the best 11-12 girls.

That would be the honest way to do things.

 

Heard it happened last year at my tournament

I have a very good friend with a really good, reputable team, have his players contacted after my tournament in Rock Hill last year.
Someone got one of the college coach handouts.
Trust me, it won't happen again.
If I catch them, the team will be kicked out of my tournament and I will see that they don't get into the other Cardinal tournaments as well.
Not only unethical, downright sneaky!

 

Major Props Ray!

Out of all of the travel ball teams and organizations, Ray Chandler's Cardinal organization is the standard that all others should strive for. They have always ran an organization for the girls and nothing else. If these teams are sanctioned by certain organizations, then maybe those sanctioning bodies should step in and protect rostered players. But once again, Ray, like I told you Saturday in Rock Hill, I appreciate everything that you have ever done for the ladies of this sport, and even though my daughter never played for you organization, we did play in your tournaments and received the benefits that come with associating with class individuals as yourself and your wife.
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!!
Sincerely,
Randy