Sc HotTimes Tournament ( not recommended )

I haven't been to this tournament for the past 3 years as my dd has been playing in college for the last 2 seasons. In my past experience as the recruiting coordinator for her former travel team, I can say first hand there were very few college coaches that came to this tournament. Not sure if there was a different tournament that was going on the same weekend that was more appealing for coaches but...... for the money that it cost to enter this tournament, TB coaches should expect to see more than just a few coaches. Yes, the young ladies should do their part with communicating with prospective coaches BUT the TD director should be not only be promoting to just TB coaches but to the college coaches as well. Not saying he didn't, but one can only think not much effort was put in if the same thing is still happening 3 years later

 

This tournament has faced its fair share of detractors over the years. One year it was the gate fees -- which were ridiculous. Another year it was the ban on bringing your own food and drinks -- also ridiculous IMO as I believe in feeding a player healthy and using a very careful mix of proteins, carbs and potassium all of which are not offered at the snack bar. One year torrential rains turned the fields into lakes, people sat for more than 6 hours to play only to have their games cancelled ... and none of that fee returned.

Are there ever a ton of college coaches at it? Not that I have ever seen. But I have always written that off to the fact that Florence in the blazing heat, with the intense humidity may not be a "hot spot" for coaches to hit. Keep in mind, too, that at this time of the year many coaches have just journeyed out to the west for the Sparkler/Fireworks, state tournaments, national qualifier have just wrapped up and these coaches may just need some downtime before everything starts heating up again shortly down the road.

End of the day: You want college coaches there, your players need to contact them and even then, whether or not a coach comes may depend entirely upon whether or not that player fills a spot he feels he needs ... or not.

Don't fault the organization that puts this on. They try and they put the monies raised to good use getting their girls the exposure that may allow them to live their dream.

 

A decade ago . . . .

This was a real good tournament with several dozen coaches at games featuring marquee pitchers. Soon after that though the location, bad field conditions, gate fees, bad umpiring and competition from other venues began to eat away at both quality team and coach attendance.

There are just better places to play now.