Woodstock-The Festival 2010

State Bragging Rights

Who will win more of these....the East or the West teams? Wait till you see the COOL engraving!!

 

I was talking to one of the coaches participating. We ordered 15 shirts per team, which is a lot of players for one 7 inning game. But he gets it!

He's bringing 18 players, even though they have only 15 shirts. Why would he do that? And why would his players want to come even though some are not playing? Because they realize it's an event. They want to be a part of the excitement. They realize they may never be involved in something like this again and want to take advantage of the opportunity. They don't care if they only play one inning or not at all. They want to be there.

That was the best compliment that we could receive, because that is the sentiment we have tried to induce. Yes, there will be a lot of scouts. Yes, the players will get a chance to "showcase", but what they will really receive is the opportunity to play baseball in front of a huge crowd with the music blasting, great food being eaten and Wingate University rockin'. The atmosphere will be electric, as the players get introduced in their cool tie dyed jersey's. Most coaches and families are staying all day and night because they want to enjoy the festival and watch some great baseball.

Some may have thought I was kidding, but we encourage people to bring blankets, chairs and camp out on the 3rd base hills. Lay back under the stars and listen to some cool music while watching the games.....others are bringing their dancing shoes and are ready to party.

Regardless of what people want to do, the one thing that I can say with confidence, the players participating will be part of something they have never witnessed before. It's not about a 4 game weekend---everyone has done that. No..the players understand that this is an event. Something they may never have the opportunity to do again.

My hats off to the Lake Monster's and to Ray Allen...they get it.

 

Another great idea from a team

Jason Harris and the Charlotte Heat team is going to tailgate before their game and have a good family time together. This is what this event is all about. FUN in the SUN with friends.

 

Fun in the Sun and Stars under the Stars

 

What shape will you be in after Woodstock?

All players and siblings in attendance will receive a cool gift made by this company!

 

Woodstock!

What a great event Woodstock was! It has to become an annual rite of passage for Showcase Players across NC. Thanks to Braves and TBR for putting on the funnest Showcase event I've ever attended.

 

What a Festival

Scores:

Charlotte Heat 3 Wilson Bulldogs 2
Canes 16u 10 South Charlotte Panthers 16u 3
On Deck O's 9 Lake Monsters 5
CBC Diamond Rats 8 CC Prospects Anglers 0
Canes 17u 4 South Charlotte Panthers 3 (Josh Tobias 2 home runs all 4 rbi's)

Seeing over 150 fans and a dozen scouts at the Midnight game was cool.

Pictures and more info to follow this week.

Note: Work starts today on the planning of the the following events as a follow up to Woodstock:

In 2011 Hall of Fame Throw Back Jerseys Showcase
In 2012 Beach Blast Showcase
In 2013 Hip Hop Snoop Dogg Showcase
In 2014 Mardi Gras Masquerade Showcase
In 2015 Super Bowl Showcase

 

Braves, Stretchy,and Coach Gregory, We had a ball! It was wilder than I thought it was going to be, and I knew it was going to be different. We hit all 12 pos. guys, and got to throw 6 pitchers. We had planned on hitting 13, but we had a football injury the night before. The guys enjoyed the atmosphere, and loved the shirts. I heard 2 say they were wearing it to school Monday. We hit well, but you can't make mistakes against a team like the O's, and they made us pay in the end. We'll bounce back and be ready for next years event!! We're going to figure out how to get to play the midnight game! May take a couple of years! Thanks for having us and it will be something we'll never forget!

 

Most Valuable Players at Woodstock

The following players were named MVP's in their respective game and received a specially made Woodstock colored wood bat made by Derek Shoe of East Coast Bat Company.

Cody Strickland-Hopewell HS, CBC Diamond Rats
Josh Tobias-SE Guilford HS, Canes 17u (2 home runs 4 rbi's)
Kyle Whitman-Nation Ford HS, SC Panthers 16u
Hayden Hendry-Clover HS, SC Panthers 17u
Connor Patterson-Ardrey Kell HS, On Deck O's (3 hits 4 rbi's)
Dustin Murphy-North Davidson HS, Charlotte Heat
Parker Lamm-Hunt HS, Wilson Bulldogs (2 run home run)
Jesse Sykes-Holly Springs HS, Lake Monsters
Dylan Raymond-Giles HS, Canes 16u
Michael Deese-Forest Hills HS, CC Prospects

 

this event was downright awesome. Braves and Stretchy did an amazing job for something that got started in a chatroom. My wife and I made the trip down and were really in shock with how everything was set up. The campus was beautiful, the bands were awesome, the fans were great, the baseball was bigtime, etc. I could go on and on. The best thing about it all was as much as I love baseball and live music... My wife enjoyed it just as much as I did. That was worth the long drive right there alone.

Braves -- I want everyone to read this. There's no finer person out there than you. Every participant in this thing should consider themselves extremely lucky to have someone like you who worked so hard for their pleasure. You didn't have to do any of this, but the fact that you did was awesome. You're a true friend and I can't wait to get started on the next event.

Also big hats off to Coach Gregory and his Wingate ballteam, they were great hosts.