Why do parents....?

football

braves, I actually have noticed the opposite............."travel / showcase" baseball now is so popular and oriented to year-round play that I actually see where a sport like football suffers from a trend by quality athletes that choose to go with baseball and skip out on football. I know several kids that were very good to outstanding middle school football players that have gotten seriously involved in year-round travel baseball and have not continued in football on the HS level.

 

Y showcase?

Excellent discussion here. But, I haven't seen this mentioned (or failed to see it)-NCAA recruiting rules and restrictions. The NCAA has limited the time coaches have to "legally" visit/view players. These events provide coaches a venue for maximizing their recruiting within the limitations the NCAA imposes on them. Also, baseball is not the $$ for colleges, so their budgets suffer comparably, which makes coaches have to "innovate" on the recruiting front (and combined with greater restrictions makes showcases a wonderful place to seek out talent). The rise of showcases and the imposition of recruiting restrictions by the NCAA mirror one another quite well. The days of a HS coach calling a D1 coach and getting him to come by are over, the calls now consist of the HS coach letting the D1 coach know where his players will be showcasing and who he needs to watch out for.

 

Docotrbuzz is right. The most efficient way to see two hundred kids in a weekend is a good tournament. I think the one thing parents should be aware of before and after they spend thier hard earned money is in a showcase with ten teams there may be only five players there who are stand out individuals. What I mean by stand out is they are obvious and any person would notice them. these are the players colleges are looking for. Alot of coaches are a little lazy and may not even notice that quality second tier player.


I've also got some good news for some parents. Many HS coaches are still very good at getting their players names out there. Specifically in the Charlotte area are coaches hignight, simmons, bagwell, lee, McNeely. Coach Pope at West Forsyth sends out recruiting info on all his juniors and seniors several times a year. These are off the top of my head. I am probably forgetting ten more coaches who do a great job of getting their kids names out there.

 

info

 

I think for everyone the reason is different

My son simply enjoys playing sports and wants to be the best he can be. On the baseball side of things it started with AAU/USSSA ball. he liked the competition, he enjoyed playing aginst kids from all over and he felt it helped make him a better player for HS ball. I am convinced it helped although proper training will get you farther but still, we believe it helped.

He got in to showcase for some of the same reasons but he also wants to play after high school.

I think my son's goals may be different than others. he doesn't necessarily dream of playing pro ball. he tends to be realistic and live in the moment. However he thinks he knows what he wants to do for a vocation and playing a college sport would help greatly.

Neither he nor I are terribly concerned with a scholarship. I realize that maybe i should not say that here but it's the truth. Neither he nor I need that for ego purposes. He realizes he needs a good education first and foremost. He does have a lot of schools he likes. Unfortuantely many are private and very expensive. He will need some aid of some kind to go to those schools for financial reasons only. However if a nice opportunity came along at a good public school he nor I would not care so much about the money. If he is on the team and has a shot we really don't care about the money. For instance, the 10-12k tuition at a state school with no scholarship money is much less that the 35-40K tuition at a public school with only a third scholarship. My son dearly wants to play but education will come first.

NCSU82 raises an excellent point. I don't think we want to know how much money we have spent. However at the same time, both my son's and I have had some wonderful memories together. Even just the conversations in the car. Maybe we would have had these times doing something else, maybe not. But we have no regrets. They are my best friends. I wouldn't trade these times for anything.

 

Bingo!! Couldn't have said it better. I our case, the showcasing was doubly important because my son was a 5-10 155 lb kid that struggled to break 80 on a radar gun. There was absolutely nothing to market except the fact that really good hitters have a very hard time hitting him. That's why I made up my mind at an early age that I would keep advancing him until he found a level that his talent peaked and he couldn't compete. Happily, he's a D-1 player and he can compete.

 

I love to watch him play.

I get to spend time with him. We hang out together. We travel to different ball parks. We get to see a little bit of the state. Hey its just plane fun.
If he gets to play at the next level fine. If not fine also.

I would rather have him doing what we are doing than running around town here and getting into trouble!

 

Mine did

While in HS my 04 never made all anything, hardly played actually.

2 years at BRCC, with a scholarship
52 innings 4-1, 2.25 era 53k to 13bb as a freshman,
93 innings 9-5, 4.23 era 68k to 27bb as a sophomore... 2nd team all con region X, pitcher of the week 1x

Mars Hill, with a scholarship
61 innings 4-3, 3.61 era 44k to 11bb
53 Innings 3-3, 4.72 era 46k to 17bb

Played collegiate summer ball 2 years with the Asheville Redbirds, final summer in Hawaii with the Oahu Paddlers

Just because you are not all conference in HS, don't let people say you can't play. Work hard, suck it up if need be, get it done in the classroom, and make the most of any shot you get.

Most we ever paid for HS summer ball was $150.00 fee, then meals, hotels, and gas. Went to 1 of Andy's showcases, couple local college camps.

 

Sad to say but for some parents, its a chance for them to walk around and brag about their son getting a scholarship. It means more for the parents than the player because some parents are into sports for the wrong reason instead of the enjoyment of seeing their son or daughter do what they enjoy.

 

I don't know about everyone else, but...

My son played showcase ball last summer and fall to get looks. It seemed to us that his hs coach didn't do a lot to help in the recruiting process. In fact, we got more help, advice, and a word out to college coaches,etc. from coaches on opposing teams. Several coaches asked about colleges recruitng our son, and wanted to help, including coachevans...thanks for that by the way!!!
The best thing about showcase ball for us was that it really improved our son's game. He had an awesome senior season, tripled his stats from last year, and is going to play at the next level, and get an education in the process. He's playing showcase ball again to continue to improve his game.
We don't really have a lot of money to spend, but we pair up with other players and share gas, eat from the dollar menu, and make great memories. I believe that any money spent having teenagers participate in organized and supervised activities is money well spent. I am a high school administrator, and see first hand what kids with nothing to do can get into.