| SOFTBALL TIPS |
|
|
|
| SITE STUFF |
|
|
|
|
ARCHIVES
|
| • |
June 26, 2005 |
| • |
July 03, 2005 |
| • |
July 10, 2005 |
| • |
July 17, 2005 |
| • |
July 24, 2005 |
| • |
July 31, 2005 |
| • |
August 07, 2005 |
| • |
August 14, 2005 |
| • |
August 21, 2005 |
| • |
August 28, 2005 |
| • |
September 11, 2005 |
| • |
October 02, 2005 |
| • |
October 09, 2005 |
| • |
October 23, 2005 |
| • |
October 30, 2005 |
| • |
November 06, 2005 |
| • |
November 13, 2005 |
| • |
December 04, 2005 |
| • |
December 18, 2005 |
| • |
December 25, 2005 |
| • |
January 08, 2006 |
| • |
January 15, 2006 |
| • |
January 29, 2006 |
| • |
February 05, 2006 |
| • |
February 12, 2006 |
| • |
February 19, 2006 |
| • |
February 26, 2006 |
| • |
March 05, 2006 |
| • |
March 12, 2006 |
| • |
March 19, 2006 |
| • |
March 26, 2006 |
| • |
April 02, 2006 |
| • |
April 09, 2006 |
| • |
April 16, 2006 |
| • |
April 23, 2006 |
| • |
April 30, 2006 |
| • |
May 07, 2006 |
| • |
May 14, 2006 |
| • |
May 21, 2006 |
| • |
May 28, 2006 |
| • |
June 04, 2006 |
| • |
June 11, 2006 |
| • |
June 18, 2006 |
| • |
June 25, 2006 |
| • |
July 09, 2006 |
| • |
July 16, 2006 |
| • |
July 23, 2006 |
| • |
July 30, 2006 |
| • |
August 13, 2006 |
| • |
August 20, 2006 |
| • |
September 03, 2006 |
| • |
September 10, 2006 |
| • |
September 17, 2006 |
| • |
September 24, 2006 |
| • |
October 01, 2006 |
| • |
October 08, 2006 |
| • |
October 15, 2006 |
| • |
October 22, 2006 |
| • |
November 12, 2006 |
| • |
November 26, 2006 |
| • |
December 31, 2006 |
| • |
January 14, 2007 |
| • |
January 21, 2007 |
| • |
January 28, 2007 |
| • |
February 04, 2007 |
| • |
February 11, 2007 |
| • |
February 18, 2007 |
| • |
February 25, 2007 |
| • |
March 04, 2007 |
| • |
March 11, 2007 |
| • |
March 18, 2007 |
| • |
April 01, 2007 |
| • |
April 08, 2007 |
| • |
April 15, 2007 |
| • |
April 22, 2007 |
| • |
April 29, 2007 |
| • |
May 06, 2007 |
| • |
May 13, 2007 |
| • |
May 20, 2007 |
| • |
May 27, 2007 |
| • |
June 03, 2007 |
| • |
June 10, 2007 |
| • |
June 17, 2007 |
| • |
June 24, 2007 |
| • |
July 01, 2007 |
| • |
July 22, 2007 |
| • |
July 29, 2007 |
| • |
August 12, 2007 |
| • |
August 19, 2007 |
| • |
September 02, 2007 |
| • |
September 16, 2007 |
| • |
September 30, 2007 |
| • |
October 07, 2007 |
| • |
October 14, 2007 |
| • |
October 21, 2007 |
| • |
November 04, 2007 |
| • |
November 18, 2007 |
| • |
November 25, 2007 |
| • |
December 02, 2007 |
| • |
December 09, 2007 |
| • |
December 16, 2007 |
| • |
January 13, 2008 |
| • |
February 17, 2008 |
| • |
February 24, 2008 |
| • |
March 02, 2008 |
| • |
March 09, 2008 |
| • |
March 30, 2008 |
| • |
April 06, 2008 |
| • |
April 13, 2008 |
| • |
April 20, 2008 |
| • |
April 27, 2008 |
| • |
May 04, 2008 |
| • |
May 11, 2008 |
| • |
May 18, 2008 |
| • |
May 25, 2008 |
| • |
June 01, 2008 |
| • |
June 15, 2008 |
| • |
June 22, 2008 |
| • |
June 29, 2008 |
| • |
July 06, 2008 |
| • |
July 13, 2008 |
| • |
July 20, 2008 |
| • |
August 03, 2008 |
| • |
August 10, 2008 |
| • |
August 17, 2008 |
| • |
August 24, 2008 |
| • |
August 31, 2008 |
| • |
September 07, 2008 |
| • |
September 14, 2008 |
| • |
September 21, 2008 |
| • |
September 28, 2008 |
| • |
October 05, 2008 |
| • |
October 12, 2008 |
| • |
October 19, 2008 |
| • |
October 26, 2008 |
| • |
November 02, 2008 |
| • |
November 09, 2008 |
| • |
November 16, 2008 |
| • |
November 30, 2008 |
| • |
December 07, 2008 |
| • |
December 21, 2008 |
| • |
December 28, 2008 |
| • |
February 15, 2009 |
| • |
February 22, 2009 |
| • |
April 12, 2009 |
| • |
April 19, 2009 |
| • |
April 26, 2009 |
| • |
May 03, 2009 |
| • |
May 10, 2009 |
| • |
May 17, 2009 |
| • |
May 24, 2009 |
| • |
May 31, 2009 |
| • |
June 07, 2009 |
| • |
June 14, 2009 |
| • |
June 21, 2009 |
| • |
July 05, 2009 |
| • |
July 12, 2009 |
| • |
July 19, 2009 |
| • |
August 02, 2009 |
| • |
August 30, 2009 |
| • |
September 06, 2009 |
| • |
September 20, 2009 |
| • |
October 04, 2009 |
| • |
October 11, 2009 |
| • |
October 18, 2009 |
| • |
November 08, 2009 |
| • |
November 15, 2009 |
| • |
November 22, 2009 |
| • |
November 29, 2009 |
| • |
December 27, 2009 |
| • |
January 03, 2010 |
| • |
January 10, 2010 |
| • |
January 17, 2010 |
| • |
January 24, 2010 |
| • |
January 31, 2010 |
| • |
March 14, 2010 |
| • |
March 21, 2010 |
| • |
March 28, 2010 |
| • |
April 04, 2010 |
| • |
April 18, 2010 |
| • |
April 25, 2010 |
|
|
| SOFTBALL LINKS |
|
|
|
Broader Perspectives
by Dave
Monday, March 29, 2010
As children head to that date with destiny, college, most of us get sick when we hear or read reports of just how much a college education costs these days. Is it up to a million bucks yet? Don't tell me when it reaches that height. I don't want to know about it. I'll be in the bathroom all day vomiting. I heard a story about a girl, a softball player, who is headed off to school at the end of the summer. The reason I am discussing it today is because she was not able to take the "usual" way many softball parents think their kids will attempt. She had a broader perspective on the college issue and it looks as if it is going to work very nicely for her.
I'm not going to go chapter and verse about how this girl did what she did because that is not relevant for my discussion today. To set the stage, let me say that the girl is a fine athlete but not the greatest softball player I have seen. Don't take me the wrong way. She is quite good. But she is not at a level that would get her substantial money at a top 100 softball school.
This girl is also quite bright but she is not going to get a 100% academic deal at a top 100 academic institution. Again, don't take me the wrong way. We're not talking about a strong B average here but we're also not talking straight A+s in a full slate of honors courses. She is a good, mature, responsible student.
This girl had neither the desire nor the financing to go play 5 to 8 softball showcases across the country. She played ball on a decent A level team rather than gold. She played some smaller showcases, here and there. And at a point in time, late as it turns out, she did do a little traveling with a showcase/Gold team. But she had already made significant contacts with the college of her choice and was already more than well on their radar. Had she not played Gold ball, she would still have had the same deal but I'm getting ahead of myself.
This girl's approach was to decide what she wanted to do: the type and size of school, play or not play, etc. She then contacted the school and eventually found a way whereby the coach could watch her play. I've made it sound simple because I can't go into all the details and from 20,000 feet, this is basically what she did. She chose a D-3 school, not a softball powerhouse. And this is the direction I want to open up for your consideration.
Wikipedia tells me that there are: just under 350 D-1, about 280 D-2, and almost 450 D-3 schools, making D-3 the largest division. D-1s include the sports powerhouses with which any fan should be familiar as well as those "mid-majors" the basketball pundits talk about during their March fever, and many institutions which are not powerhouses and do not often get into the televised circuit with their athletic teams. D-2s are usually (but not always) smaller than D-1s and include public and private schools. By me, many D-3s are public institutions but in places not very far away there are a bunch of smaller private schools.
I'm going to guess that you already know that, in terms of college athletic scholarship, D-1s are permitted the highest number of scholarships, D-2s have them but fewer are permitted, and D-3s do not offer any athletic money. But, not all D-1s offer the full number. Many conferences limit these further than the NCAA. It isn't just the Ivies with their prohibition of purely athletic money. Many D-1 schools themselves do not fund their athletic programs quite as much. So a D-1 school might be permitted to 12 full equivalents by the NCAA, limited to 10.5 in their conference, yet only provide 6 because of the way things work at the particular school. I am not giving actual data for a school but giving you some general principles.
Further, while D-2s have athletic scholarships, many times, their cost, particularly if they are public schools, can be far less. If a kid can qualify for both academic and financial aid, it may cost very little to attend the school regardless of any athletic money.
The same is true of D-3s, except they have zero athletic money. Sometimes the amount of academic aid at a D-3 can far exceed that offered at either a comparable D-1 or 2 school. The bottom line in all this is you want to balance the final cost of a school with your ability to meet that obligation along with the academic benefit of going there. It isn't about one school giving $20,000 athletic, $3,000 academic and $3,000 needs based aid vs. another giving $5,000, $2,000, and $2,000. If the big spender costs $20,000 more than the smaller school, you are still ahead of the game going to the latter, assuming the educations are comparable.
I watched some of the D-3 WCWS last year because it was held within driving distance of my home. It is impossible to compare the level of play within the 3 divisions without making a bunch of caveats, qualifying everything I say, and listing too many schools at differing levels within each division. Let just say that, at the WCWS level - the top 8 schools at each division, D-2 and D-3 is not all that similar to D-1. However, at lower quality levels of D-1, many of those teams do not remotely compare to the WCWS teams either. Someone once suggested to me that the best D-3 schools can fairly easily beat the worst D-1 schools. I don't know that this is true so I won't even bother. I'll give you something better than that sort of comparison. Who really cares?
Oh, if you want to be on TV, I suppose you might prefer a D-1 school, perhaps in the PAC-10, SEC, Big Ten, etc. I know many of those schools have their games broadcast on ESPN, Fox Sports Network, a conference cable channel or some such. Heck, it would be nice for one's friends to be able to watch a kid play some games via the cable or satellite hook-up. But what's the likelihood of that ever actually happening? And what real difference is it going to make to anyone's life?
The fact is, getting a quality college education at an institution well suited for the student trumps any other consideration. It is not as if playing top 25 D-1, assuming one is able to get there and make the starting team, is going to open other doors later in life. There are no million dollar signing bonuses and salaries for professional softball players, unless you add up every player currently on a roster! I do n0ot begrudge a girl for dreaming about one day playing softball as a first career after college. But she will not be able to make a living at just that. She will certainly enjoy playing if she is actually that good but it isn't a means by which to make her way in the world.
Heck, there are a million other ways to make a life in softball which do not require an on-TV experience. A kid go become a teacher and eventually find a coaching slot for a high school or middle school team. She could hang around her college, obtain her masters, and help out with softball team coaching as a volunteer assistant in order to build a coaching resume. She could try to get a job with an equipment manufacturer. There are many ways to skin the cat but not very many careers are otherwise available to even the kid who gets a clutch base hit in the D-1 WCWS aired live on ESPN. The college education is the more important consideration than the quality of softball team one would like to play for.
Let me be clear that many D-1 schools, even the softball powerhouses do, in fact, provide marvelous educational experiences. But athletes can be precluded from pursuing certain majors due to the rigorous training, practice and game schedules. D-1s often play in conferences which require significant travel. They also play the largest amount of games. I do not have first hand information about the rigors of training schedules at each school in each division, but I am sure some D-2s and 3s have extreme training throughout the year. There is no question that some D-1s are not like the others - do little real travel and do not put the girls through a training vise. And some of the "lower" divisions do travel quite a bit. But, in general, in the grand scheme of things, one is more likely to find a school with a less rigorous training and travel schedule while providing a superior educational experience in the "lower" divisions.
I know of one D-1 school which in years past, did not have much off-season training and what little there was, was not policed strictly. Many of the players did whatever they felt like, including skipping training almost completely, without any measure of punishment. Players were not in any way deprived of that good ole college life. The team was pretty bad. And, most importantly, the academic side of things was not much better.
By contrast, I have heard here and there about kids who went off to what amounted to better schools academically speaking, worked regularly and pretty darn hard at both athletics and academics, but had great times and loved the non-D1 institutions they attended.
It is also of particular importance to note that one girl's father told me that she had been interested in a very good academic D-1 school, and they interested in her, but she could not pursue the major she wanted due to the game schedule. At a D-3, she was able to both pursue that major and play softball. The coaches noted to her before she came that several girls on the team were also in that major and she could talk to them about how they balanced athletics with their academics, if she liked. She did and was happily convinced to go to the D-3 school. I should add that both the D-1 and D-3 schools she was considering were top of the line in her chosen major. Both had wonderful reputations and great facilities for the major. But, for whatever reason, the D-3's athletic facilities were actually better than the D-1s! Her decision was a no brainer.
The girl I mentioned first in this piece, the one headed to school next year, chose her D-3 school for reasons to which I am not privy. But I can tell you that the school has an excellent academic rep. She will major in her chosen field. She'll play softball which she is not yet willing to give up! The school is quite small which perfectly suited to her personality. I envy her, not merely because she is young, beautiful, and headed to her very first year of college soon but because she is getting just about a perfect start in life!
You know, this is a D-3 school and it probably occurs to you that D-3s do not have athletic scholarships, like I said above. I told you she did not have the financial resources to play top level ball. How is she gonna afford the tuition? The fact of the matter is the girl's recruitment included some help in obtaining money. She will get about half her costs covered. If I'm not mistaken, that is before she gets any local scholarship money or loans and things of that sort. So, her family can swing it.
A mistake that many people make is assuming that the absence of athletic money means certain schools will cost more than those that give fulls and partials. That is by no means true. Even the Ivies spend significant amounts of money to recruit athletes. It just isn't in the form of athletic scholarship money. Some D-1s and many 2s and 3s (probably more 3s) give out all kinds of aid that is not directly tied into sports recruiting but which is more available to recruits. I know of an Ivy League athlete who pays less than the cost of a junior college. Some D-3 athletes pay nothing because they have a nice marriage of athletic and academic ability.
Additionally, I should tell you that even many D-1s do not recruit purely on the basis of one's athletic prowess. Some D-1s are less interested in batting average and ERA than they are in GPA, ACT, and SAT. Some D-1s may be an outstanding softball recruit's absolute first choice but her academics do not meet the measure of what that school is looking for. All schools are very interested in grades because they demonstrate seriousness and maturity. But some schools, including D-1s, are more interested in their softball roster's grades in their school than they are about the team's winning percentage.
I suspect that parents as well as children know most of the very successful athletic schools. I'd be willing to bet that certain schools are more well known to students because their peers talk about them. Parents may, at least initially, fall victim to the televised game syndrome in which they first think of the very well known schools. All potential college students and their parents need to do more research into the vast number of schools, their academic reputations, and all that they have to offer. The fact that you have never heard of a school means almost nothing. I'd bet that I can rattle off some schools which are either generally great academically or outstanding for certain majors which you have never heard the names of before. You need to look at the entire list of colleges within the geographic area you desire. You need to consider what they do and do not offer. You need to understand where you might be standing on the date of your graduation, as well as the time between then and now.
If you go to a D-2 or 3, you will not ever play in the D-1 WCWS. Just a few of these players will ever make it onto ESPN. Most will never see more than hand-held digital or web cams at their games. Some won't even see those. But at the end of days, college days, none of that is going to matter. If a girl wants to play ball in college, then she should work hard to play ball. If a girl wants to get a college education, she should work hard academically. If she really wants both, she should work hard at both and broaden her perspectives to not merely pursue and consider only the schools whose names are most familiar.Labels: college, showcase
Permanent Link: Broader Perspectives
 
Set Sights, Do The Work
by Dave
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Today I want to switch gears a little and talk about college softball recruiting a bit rather than discussing mechanical and practice issues, or getting into some arcane rule interpretation. In order to do that, I need to dispel some myths, correct what I see as mistaken impressions of a few friends, and throw some stuff at you second hand that I picked up as a result of discussions I had with people I believe to be in the know. My hopes are not that I will offer a thorough education of the process in its entirety. Rather, I hope to shoot enough buckshot at the wall to give you something you don't know, to correct a mistaken view or dispel a myth propagated by those who pretend to be in the know. I'm gonna stick to what I believe is the beaten path. I may repeat items I have written about in the past. OK, enough of that. Here goes.
Note that I refer to college recruiting not college scholarships. That is because college softball recruiting is about more than just scholarships. College recruiting is about playing college ball whether there is athletic money involved or not. Scholarships alone is a too limited view and I'll explain why in a moment. I will also state some obvious things about playing in college in order to explain why I am discuss recruiting generally and not merely focused on scholarships.
There are a finite number of college scholarships out there for softball players. D1 schools have up to 12 of these to offer. D2s have less but a fair number. D3s do not offer athletic scholarships. There are other scholarships available from junior colleges and schools not in the NCAA. But the total number is fixed and it is not a huge one when compared to the number of kids playing ball at fairly high levels and who aspire to play in college. Also note that if a school has 12 scholarships to give, it gives those to all four classes. So in any given year, a school with 12 has an average of 3 available, excluding obviously the renewal of existing ones.
Also, college athletic scholarships are often split into equivalency pieces. For example, one "scholarship" might actually be split into two or more partials, one kid getting 50%, another receiving 30% and still another getting 20%. Top, top players may get full rides but most others get partials of some percentage. I know of a baseball player who received something like 60% and then was able to cover another 10% with academic money. His family must pay 30% of the cost of attending that university. That's a far cry from 100% but each family knows what it can and cannot spend on education.
A very good softball player I know of received an offer of 50%. Often folks talk, and I know I have mentioned this before, about colleges spending their money first up the middle - pitcher, catcher, SS, CF. But that does not mean these four positions should expect full rides while the others should expect partials. That may, on the hole, represent the average but I know of players up the middle who got partials, sometimes small partials, and others not up the middle who received full or large percentage scholarships.
If you are not playing softball for one of the top 20 or so teams in the country, chances are very good that you will not obtain a full ride to play ball at Arizona, UCLA, Florida or one of the other perennial members of the top 25 D1 club. When I say top 20 teams, I mean Gold level national powerhouses. If you are playing for one of the teams in the next tier and are an impact player, you have a shot. but if your level has nothing to do with Gold, high level showcase ball, or some other recruiting animal that has a track record of placing their kids at the top schools on full ride, you have to either get yourself up into this upper echelon or set your sights on something else. If you are the number two shortstop on an ASA B team, in all likelihood, AZ is not going to be picking you up on their radar.
Secondly, if you are not really looking to get a full ride or any athletic scholarship money at all at a top 25 NCAA D1 school, if you are not even looking at D1 or D2, the field is fairly wide open but you need to set your sights and do quite a bit of work. If your goal is merely to play somewhere, you still need to look into this recruiting thing. I would not advise you to ignore the college recruiting world, choose your school, get accepted and then plan to walk on and make the team once you arrive. That is much harder than it would otherwise seem. And if, by chance, you do make the team, chances are not that great you'll ever get onto the field or up to the plate during actual games.
To prove the point about merely walking on vs. being recruited though offered no scholarship money, consider that someone who is asked to come to a party stands in at least a little better shoes than someone who invites themselves. If say a college coach with no money to offer but at a small school that has an impeccable academic record wants to field a reasonably competitive team, which most do. She has to find herself players at each of the nine positions who can actually play the game pretty well. She will attend the showcases and other recruiting events in order to find said players. She knows that her two best pitchers, catchers, or outfielders are graduating in 2010. She will attempt to entice the players she needs to fill those roles. If you happen to walk on at such a school and, for example, you are a catcher the year the school has two incoming freshman for that position, lets just say that the only icing of your catching hand you can plan on, if you are very lucky, is out in the bullpen or after practices. Besides, if a coach were to recruit kids while offering no scholarship money and then play some walk-on of approximately equal talent in front of a recruited kid, her other recruiting efforts would likely begin to shoot blanks as word of this began to spread.
I'm not saying that a college coach has a moral or other obligation to keep or play a recruited kid. I'm simply stating the obvious which is that people act in their own best interests and that includes a college coach with no money to offer who recruits kids to play on her softball team. I once had to listen to the complaints of a parent whose son tried to walk onto the baseball team at a D3 school. He was a good player. He had a good tryout. He estimated that he was better than all the other walk-ons (non-scholarship players). He didn't even get looked at. His father angrily told me that the results of the tryout had been pre-ordained. The coach knew who he was going to take before tryouts began. These were all freshman. How did the coach know about them before the tryout?!
So, recruiting is about playing, not merely about scholarships, not merely about D1 and 2, and not merely about going to those big name schools everybody with a TV set knows about. Recruiting is about playing just about any level of college ball. Recruiting is about a bigger world.
Next, college coaches do not cold call at high school games. I know I have told you this before but I find I need to mention it again because I heard someone recently claim I was wrong about this. I couldn't disabuse him of the notion so I need to vent again. Let's agree that from time to time, though rarely, a college coach will actually go watch a high school game. Chances are that such a coach will not be coming to watch your .500 team play a non-conference game against another .500 team on a cold, rainy day in May. They may go to watch a team play when a kid they are already recruiting is pitching, catching or playing SS in the state playoffs against some undefeated team who has an ace pitcher that is going to a rival school next year. In such instances, it is also likely that the college coach is visiting a sick Aunt who lives in the vicinity of your school field because she happens to be in town for a game at a nearby college tomorrow and she happens to have nothing else to do. It is conceivable that she will be impressed by a freshman catcher who throws everybody out and hits three homeruns during that game. She may make some inquiries. But she is not there to look at all the players and see if she can find a few recruits who just don't happen to play travel ball.
It is also extremely unlikely that any college coach is going to come prospect at your 16U PONY tournament in June after her team has put down their uniforms for the year. She will not be at the ASA B tournament that draws in the best town teams from at least 15 miles away. She probably won't be at the "showcase" event featuring teams from two states which occurs the same weekend something really big occurs someplace else.
As a side note, there is a fairly common misconception that kids who fly to the west coast, Florida, Colorado, etc. to play showcases are looking for full rides to PAC10, SEC, ACC, Big 10 or Big 12 schools. The assumption being that the local coaches within driving distance of my area wouldn't go out there to recruit kids. Aside from the fact that some small school located far from these showcases has an impact player from California, Florida, Texas or some other softball haven, coaches from all over the country populate these events. I know many kids who went or are going to various schools within 4 hours drive from their homes and would not have ever met them nor been recruited if they didn't make 4hour flights to be seen by the local college coach.
I have been to a few recruiting events here and there. I have seen smallish northeast schools in California and Florida, junior colleges from the deep south in New Jersey, etc., etc. I know from reviewing tournaments and showcases that there are small colleges from upstate NY who have been to big events more than a thousand miles from their schools. There are D3s from all over the country at Florida's Rising Stars showcases. There are noon-NCAA schools from the Midwest at California showcases. The point is, if you are seeking to be recruited by a small local school that does not give athletic scholarships, you may still have to travel far from home in order to get their attention. They do not restrict their recruiting efforts to an area within 4 hours drive of their schools.
To drive home the point, let's say that the best pitchers come from California or Florida. Now, assume that at a large showcase featuring 100 or more of the best teams in the country, there are 300 or more pitchers. All the D1 and 2 schools in the country cannot hope to absorb all these pitchers. But somebody will likely have some of these girls on their team. If a school of solid (decent to great) academic reputation but no athletic scholarship money can draw in one of these kids who happens to be better than anyone else pitching in their conference, do you think they might pick up such a scrap? Is that made more evident if you consider the kid needs no financial assistance and is looking to major in a subject for which the school is one of the best? What if, such a kid finds the school through her own efforts, writes to the coach requesting that she come watch her play while also telling the coach how much she wants to go to her school and why? Coaches at many and varied schools attend the big showcases. It is not merely the top 25 D1 schools who are out shopping in California, Florida, Texas, etc.
Well, that discussion involves a lot about some showcases and I don't want to go deeply into the general subject of showcase ball. I do want to firmly state that college coaches are not out watching high school games on cold calling visits looking to find prospects. They are also not just staying close to home. If you limit yourself to local high school ball or travel ball on the middle range, they are not going to find you no matter how good of a game, month, or season you have.
I think the contrary mythology has developed because, when you visit a college's web site and view news or profiles of incoming freshman and existing players, the girls' high school accomplishments are often listed while not much from travel ball is. Also, here and there folks will claim to have seen a college coach at their high school or B travel game. Many times the supposed college coach is some guy who nobody knows that came to watch his relative or friend's kid play while wearing clothing from his alma mater or a college team he follows.
I know a fellow who likes to go to local college games in various sports. When he goes, he gets "geared up" with sweatpants, sweat or t-shirt and cap sporting the school's logo. Sometimes he leaves the college event to go watch his daughter's high school sporting event. He does not change his clothes between events! He and I often have a good chuckle about how people give him the eye and watch everything he does in such instances. I sometimes find myself in these situations too! This fellow and I have joked many times about how one day we are going to put a stopwatch and clipboard, maybe radar gun, into our cars so that when this happens, we can really look like college coaches!!
I once noted some guy I was sure was from Providence (RI school) at a high school game. I knew a girl on one team playing had already verballed to that school and assumed this was the coach coming to see her play. Then later I saw him again so I asked the girl's father. He laughed and told me the man was some other kid's father and "he just loves Providence, especially their men's basketball team." On yet another occasion, I was watching some 18U travel games and saw somebody wearing college garb. I asked a parent who he was and they told me he was the uncle of one of the girls who had signed with that school. . He was so proud she had obtained a scholarship that he purchased all their clothing and wore it everywhere!
Enough about that. Now let's talk some more specific stuff for girls who are not top players for top teams playing a grueling showcase schedule against other top teams in front of huge throngs of college coaches. When you go to see showcases, clinics, etc., one thing should strike you. Some of these girls are absolutely unbelievable athletes. The remainder are pretty good but nothing all that spectacular. There are the best and then there are all the rest.
The best and all the rest principle is true at every level of play. It is true at top showcases, lower level ones, and clinics put on by colleges or others. It is pretty much true no matter where you go in the softball world. I really don't know how it is possible to distinguish between many of these kids in terms of playing abilities once you get past the obviously great players. Yet, some of the rest will get full rides to some schools. Others will get partials. Still others will be recruited and get campus jobs more easily than the rest of the kids or perhaps find certain arcane kinds of financial aid is available to them but not everyone at the school. Some will get into institutions they might not otherwise be able to achieve. Some will go to schools of their choice that provide no assistance whatsoever and become the third pitcher or back-up CF ahead of other kids of equal ability who tried to walk on without having been recruited.
So how did these kids get recruited when they do not stand out from the "all the rest" crowd? That's pretty easy, at least in concept. They figured out where they wanted to go, learned what they needed to do to gain favor, and then did the work necessary to go there while being recruited.
The first part of the equation involves choosing schools to target. When I was in high school, I had no idea where I wanted to college or what I wanted to do once I got there. That was truie right until the day I graduated and walked away from childhood. Kids need help narrowing the very large list of possible colleges because not only must they accomplish the task, it is better if they do it in say the freshman or sophomore years so they have more time to target the softball coaches.
What I would do to begin the narrowing process is to list a kid's academic strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, and potential areas for several possible careers utilizing her strengths. If you are strong in history and English comp, you should probably not target schools known mostly for their engineering programs. If a kid is very strong in math but says she wants to teach high school or something along those lines, you don't want to target Ivies or other schools that have no programs in her areas of interest.
Try to be as honest with yourselves as possible and narrow the list of schools down to the ones which might be the best fit academically, socially and otherwise. Some kids need to be at a relatively smaller school because that's her personality. When I jumped to college from high school, my HS graduating class was just over 400. The college I chose had class size of about 2,000. That was a good fit for me. My brother graduated from the same high school but he was unintimidated by large throngs. He went to a much larger school that had, I think, 10,000 or more per class. I have heard stories and seen personal instances of kids who do much better in very small setting but who went off to large state institutions and then had to leave because they just could not take it. It takes more than brains top make it at Princeton. You kinda, sorta have to fit in to the kind of people who typically go there. Very large institutions where they get 100,000 at home football games are not necessarily well suited to kids from high schools having class sizes of 100 or less. An extremely bright, borderline genius kid may not like a teaching college despite the significant athloetic money thrown at her.
There are more types of colleges than there are flavors of ice cream or ways to cook shrimp (ha, yet another Gump reference!). There are many schools out there that are possible success stories for your kid but you must pare it down to a reasonable figure focusing on schools that seem like a good fit. Once you do that, you can look to see if they have softball teams. Create a list of your schools and the reasons why they seem like a good fit.
As an aside, I would try to list out schools which are in reasonable proximity of you. You know whether you and your child enjoy 8 hour rides or not. You know if you should cross off this school or that because she does not want to commute under any circumstances and it would be silly to enroll at a school around the corner from you if she is adamant about staying on campus. By contrast, a school as close as 30 miles can still be OK for staying on campus if they provide housing for kids that close.
Choose schools that will accommodate a kid who wants to change her major from English to Biology if your kid is strong in all subjects and is perplexed about whether she wants to write the great American novel or cure cancer. If your child is strong in science but may want to be a science teacher, make sure the colleges you choose have that available.
Also, be aware of the approximate cost and available, non-athletic aid at each school on your pared down list. Add a field for these figures noting the date on which you made the note because these kinds of things can change. Some schools' costs increase more rapidly than others. Some may lose or have lost a good portion of their endowments due to bad financial times. They very possibly may cut aid in the future. You'll want to re-verify your figures as time moves forward. Generally having these figures to reference will be a good aid to your decision making process but you will need to update them next year.
Now that you have your list of schools, the reason you (your child) would like to attend each one, whether they have softball or not, and the costs associated with each, start contacting the ones which do have softball. If you are a freshman trying to get recruited for softball, there isn't much reason to contact schools that don't have the sport, at least not until you are a junior. Don't drop them off your list but there's no reason for a freshman to contact a college so early except for the purposes we are discussing.
The best ways to contact college coaches at your schools of choice are via e-mails but before you start doing this, do the following:
1) Get registered with the NCAA Clearing House at NCAA.org
2) Look for, complete and file any prospective athlete questionnaire the ionsitution has online. If you don't find such a document after much effort, go ahead and contact the coach bec ause they will probably send you one.
3) Create some sort of record-keeping method via spreadsheet or written page on which to note dates and responses of your college contacts and keep it updated as the process moves forwards.
You most likely can find an e-mail address for most of the coaches you need to contact on the University's web site. Some few have forms to use in order to e-mail coaches. &n bsp; You can write your message offline and then use the form once you are ready.
Before you send an e-mail, it would be a good idea to not see this like texting or your other e-mail correspondence. Write out what you want to say as if you are writing an essay for school. The student-athlete should write the message but parents must review the writing before it goes out. Parents who write such e-mails should go over them with their daughters and allow her to change word choice to something she is more comfortable with. The coach knows he or she is dealing with a 14 or 15 year old kid. They do not expect advanced legalize from high school kids. And they are looking to connect with the kid, not the parent. They are also seeking kids who are mature enough to handle tasks like this.
Your first e-mail communication should tell the coach some things about yourself like why you want to attend their school. You are selling (I guess almost recruiting) them. Don't simply tell them that they have a wonderful softball program or you like their logo or mascot name. Tell them you want to go there because of their academic record and the fact that they are strong in the majors you are considering. Tell them that you expect to be able to have your application for admission accepted when it comes time for that because you fit their student profile. If you have a 100 average in honors mathematics or took the PSAT early and scored very high, you can tell them that, if you think it is important to establish your bona fides academically because this school has such high standards. As I understand things, Ivy League schools will not consider girls who have not yet taken the SATs. But many softball programs obviously will actively recruit kids who seem to have their academic houses in order long before they sit for entrance exams.
If you are going to play some showcases and suspect that the college coaches you are writing to may be in attendance, I strongly suggest that either in this first e-mail or in another sent shortly thereafter, you draw attention to the coach that you will be playing. Provide them with more than your name, the team name, and your uniform number. If you have a copy of your schedule, send them that, including times, places, and opponents. Let them know if your coach is amenable to putting girls into the lineup to allow college coaches the opportunity to see them. Some coaches are not and I suggest you get away from them since showcase ball is about, um, showcasing, not winning. If your coach finds it perfectly acceptable to be asked to put a player in just for the coaches, invite the coach to inquire if he or she does not see you on the field.
As an aside, I am rather serious about getting away from showcase coaches who won't put you in, maybe even get offended, when college coaches ask to see you. This is no way to coach a showcase team. Folks who cannot accommodate such requests should find another hobby. I recognize that there are many coaches out there who are like this. I just don't understand it. There are times when a team must show that it can play competitively to remain in a showcase in following years or to hold onto good field placement. But coaches on teams charging perhaps thousands of dollars, which deprive you of the opportunity of being seen when college coaches ask, should be avoided. Better yet, make sure everyone in your area knows that the ultra-expensive team repeatedly turned down college requests. They soon won't have a team to play and that should open the field up for another, more well run one.
At this particular juncture, I would like to raise a subject which relates to the topic and which I found rather interesting. I recently attended a brief recruiting seminar conducted by an organization promoting a new tool for aspiring college softball recruits. When I first heard about the tool, I must admit that I was not optimistic. I felt it was just a web site for putting video tapes and opther information online at a cost, a cost I was not willing to pay. I believed it was put together by some local coaches in order to make money from college softball recruiting. My understanding, if you can call it that, was corrected at the seminar.
The web site is Fastpitch Online Showcase (http://fastpitchonlineshowcase.com). The organization which runs the site held a "college showcase" event which was run like many of the camps and combines. Players performed certain drills, pitchers pitched under the radar gun, catchers popped under the stopwatch, hitters hit, all while being videotaped. The tape of the "showcase" in its entirety is being placed online for college coaches to view for the next month. Folks involved in the showcase suggested, though never stated, that a bunch of college coaches would be in attendance. I signed my daughter up purely to get the experience of participating in a combine setting, not to get in front of college coaches. Some folks made public inquiries as to whether there would be coaches actually in attendance or not. They rightly suspected that there would be few. I believe there were 4 or 5 actually on site.
But this thing was not some local get-rich-quick or fundraising scheme. And it was not intended to draw in tons of coaches. It was really intended as a sort of introduction to this new service. And, at least on the surface, these service, the web site, and the costs associated with it, would appear to be very reasonable. The idea in everything we have said up to this point is, most of the girls aspiring to be recruited for softball need to make connection with coaches and get the coaches out to see them play. This service is designed for that purpose. They have a database of schools and the e-mail contact info for those schools' coaches. The site itself offers up space to hold and present a fixed number of videos to use in order to draw the coaches in. They provide guidance on how to go about making connections with the coaches. They also can videotape players to make recruiting tapes to place on the web site.
I'm going to leave it at that because i want you to do your own homework on http://fastpitchonlineshowcase.com. As of this writing, I am not subscribed to the service and I am not making any sort of income from mentioning it. I merely came upon it and want to bring it to your attention for further investigation. if you do subscribe and have positive or negative feedback, I invite you share it with me.
So the idea is to develop a list of schools and then contact the college coaches. make this a personal message. Don't write some canned message and then personalize it with a "Go Fightin' Randoms" phrase thrown in to convince the coach that you have school spirit. if they have a beautiful campus and everybody knows that, tell the coach that you know that. if their engineering program is world renowned let the coach know that is why you want to go there. A college professor once told me that everybody has some one thing good about themselves. At times, with certain people, I have come to doubt that. But when one is courting another, it is customary to offer a compliment or flattery of reasonable measure in order to win them over. On the other hand, canned "lines" usually end up getting you soaked by a thrown drink. Be smart. Otherwise, maybe college is not for you!
If you have a video, I suppose you could mail it to the coach. Video is a great way to show your skill level. But the guy or gal making the decisions usually does not view every softball tape that the school receives. If someone is viewing it, it is probably an assistant chosen to screen such things before the head coach wastes their time. Your tape may very well end up in a box on the floor. The actual physical videos can be rather expensive when you have to send out 20 or more of them. It may be unproductive and inefficient to send hard copies. Instead, many kids today put their vids on Youtube or other types of web sites. That can be much more efficient assuming you can get coaches to go and watch it. That is really what the previously mentioned web site is all about and I agree with their premises on this. They believe it would be far more productive to place your vid where other softballers have theirs. It is hard to refute that logic.
Either in your first e-mail correspondence with the coach or in subsequent ones, it would be good to send along a link to your videos. This way the coach can quickly determine if there is any chance that you are a prospect. They probably won't come right out and say anything since their communication to you is very limited. Don't take it one way or the other if you don't hear back from them regarding your video. Instead, keep reminding them of it and you by e-mailing them once every month or something like that. An remember that the objective is to get them out to see you in person. So, if you are going to attend a showcase, one of the NFCA recruitment camps, or some such, write them with your schedule, etc., invite them to come watch you, and remind them about your video. If they come out and see you, you have succeeded. If they don't, ask again next time. You aren't badgering them unless they have somehow communicated that you are wasting your time. E-mails are easy to delete. Addresses can be presorted into junk or other folders. It is not as if you are calling them each day as they walk into their office or get up to leave for lunch. It is just an e-mail. It can be removed with one click of the mouse. And, if you are e-mailing a link to your video, you are not junking up their small office or desk area with something which merely collects dust and must be cleaned after they get over their bout with the swine flu.
In summary, evaluate your station in life - your place on the rungs of the softball ladder. Select a list of schools that fit you on a number of levels. Contact the coaches and do so repeatedly, preferably by e-mail. Get them to come out and see you. Be on your best behavior and show them what sort of person, student, and teammate you are. And once you have done this successfully, be wide awake for any clues as to interest level they provide you.
If you have asked a coach to come and watch you, she does, and she invites you to a clinic, go to it. If you invite her and she comes and then you invite her again and she comes, there's a good chance she saw something in you - assuming there is not some other kid doing the same and she is really there to see them. If she invites you to a clinic, there are 80 other kids there all of whom play your position, two of these are called over to a station where the coach watches them closely while you are not, most likely she is not interested. That doesn't mean you should stop recruiting her. But it may be your clue that perhaps you should not get your hopes up and perhaps should look in other directions. In some cases, coaches at these clinics will tell a kid outright that she does not fit the profile they are looking for. In many cases in which kids are singled out for closer looks, coaches do not communicate their interest immediately or directly. You have to read between the lines some. The process can be disconcerting but that's the way the real world is. You can try directly communicating with the coach and asking outright whether she has any interest. But I'm not sure this is the right way to go about things.
The one thing perhaps you should avoid once you begin walking the path is any direct questions about athletic scholarships. You should already know whether the school gives any athletic money. You should also have gained an understanding of the sort of kids they recruit. If you are likely to merely be a pre-arranged "walk-on," you probably can gauge that for yourself. You can ask coaches about financial aid questions without bringing up athletic money. They may or may not respond with direct answers to your direct questions. Everybody is different. But as with courtship, the idea is to engender interest before we get down to prenups.
OK, so that's what I have to tell you today. I hope there is something in it which you have not considered before. When I take the time to go to a tournament or seminar, my hopes are that one thing stands out as a take-away. I threw a lot of stuff up in order to hopefully get you one thing you didn;t know or correct something you had wrong. I'm not an expert. I am merely a person like you who is interested in sharing what I learn. I hope you got something out of this. If you already heard everything I had to say, sorry to have wasted your time. If you have something to add, write me. Just please don;ty write me stories about how some kid got discovered and erose to be the ace pitcher for Arizona when the coach there read about her in the paper or saw her at a high school game. I don't want anecdotal exceptions. I want some principles others can follow.Labels: college, parents, showcase
Permanent Link: Set Sights, Do The Work
California Dreamin
by Dave
Monday, November 09, 2009
I'm not really sure what I expected when we recently made our way across the country so that my daughter could guest pitch with a Gold team at a showcase in California. For my daughter, I wanted her to dip her toes into the vast ocean of high level softball as well as the relatively icy Pacific. For myself, I wanted to compare the OC Batbusters Early Thanksgiving college showcase tournament with others I have seen. In the end, I suppose we could have been anywhere in the country doing the same thing. She would have experienced about the same level of play. I most likely would have learned the same lessons. Yet, it was somehow better that this was in California, the epicenter of fastpitch softball on planet Earth.
For my daughter, the experience was invaluable. She is a high school freshman and the team for which she played was a couple sophomores, mostly juniors and one or two seniors. She knew one of the girls on the team and had played in years past against a few of the others. But she felt really alone for the most part. That is an experience in itself but she's been on enough teams made up of strangers to overcome any anxiety caused by the situation.
My daughter has pitched against high schoolers here and there for several years, since she was 12. So the idea of pitching against high schoolers was not particularly intimidating per se. But these hitters, these teams were some of the best in the country. There were serious college coaches coming to keep tabs on many of these kids. Some will undoubtedly play for some of the top 50 D-1 teams in the country. Now that should intimidate anyone heading into the circle. But she survived despite making a bad pitch or two. Her very first pitch was met with a determined swing that drove the ball sharply into left center for a clean single. Her second pitch was swatted to the left side of the infield and played smartly into a 6- (or 5-) 4-3 double play by a teammate at 2B whose college scholarship is signed and sealed. The next batter popped out or grounded one back to her. Inhale deeply!
In my daughter's second inning of work, she was much more relaxed. She walked a kid after recording one out and then got the next two without much happening. Her first GOLD outing was over with no runs allowed. She was a much more confident kid. I won't bore you with the details of her entire showcase pitching experience but I do want to share one little piece of it with you before getting to the heart of what I really have to say today. In her second outing, she retired the first 3 batters she faced and then got up 0-2 on the next hitter. She threw a pitch that was fouled off and then tried to get the kid on a drop curve. That was her first mistake pitch! I do not believe they have yet found the ball. The last I saw of it, it was going over the fence about a millisecond after it came out of my daughter's hand and caught the fat part of the plate about 6 inches above where it should have been.
That's what happens at these kinds of tournaments. A pitcher who has never given up a homerun before (my daughter has - that is not a new experience for her), can make one mistake and only watch helplessly as it clears the fence. There are often 9 good hitters arrayed against you at this level. I have heard the various pitching coaches talk about working lineups and throwing certain pitches to the 3, 4, and 5 hitters while going right after the 7 and 8, etc. You cannot do that when you are a rookie playing showcase ball against Gold teams. The guy with the book might just as well say "this is their number 4 hitter" before each and every kid comes to the plate.
I don't think my kid was mentally prepared for the speed of the players at this level. That is a difficult adjustment to make. I did tell her that this would be the case but it is difficult for anyone to expect speed to that degree. You have to experience it for yourself. When a ball was hit back to my kid and it bounced off her shin, she hustled to pick it up and make a throw to first but I think the kid beat it, though the ump exclaimed "out." She did not have the same degree of sense of urgency which the other kids who have previously played this level had. My hope is that she now knows what I meant when I said the kids are faster.
But enough of my daughter's experience. I can't speak for her. What I can tell you is my experiences were many and varied.
First of all, the reason to play showcase ball is not really to compete at the highest level. This is the business side of the equation and the business is college recruiting. There is competition to be sure but there is no tournament winner or loser. There was no bracket play, just pool games. And a team's result and record do not count nearly as much for anything as do the individual players' exposure to college coaches. The results of game play are more about team pride and, I suppose, about who does and does not get to play on premier fields in future events.
As I said earlier, my kid is but a freshman and we weren't very much concerned that she get tremendous college exposure. We understand how the process works. But all we were after was an opportunity to dip her feet into this level of play and see how she likes it. Not everybody who gets involved with Gold or showcase ball gets such an opportunity to test the waters. We were very fortunate to have the chance.
As we were planning to fly out to CA, we decided that we should fake it until we make it - go ahead and contact college coaches to see if any would come to watch her play. I expect that not everyone understands this so I'll go ahead and explain. When one seeks out college exposure, it is not enough to merely play or play well at some recruiting venue. College coaches do not roam these things looking to cold prospect. They don't watch a game, pick out the one or two or three best players in it and then contact them to offer full rides plus meals, dry cleaning and a car, if those players will deign to come to their institutions. Generally the way it works is a kid will 1) register with the NCAA clearing house, join a team that plays important showcases, sign up for NFCA recru8itment camps or some such, pick out a number of schools to target, fill out prospective athlete recruit questionnaires, make some sort of contact with the softball coach, and keep them apprised of any big tournaments they are playing. This is done with an eye towards getting the coaches' attention, making a favorable impression and hopefully being "followed" by that coach for a while afterwards. I've been told that many coaches will follow a kid for a year or two before making up their minds.
I have also been told that coaches will take a look at any unsigned seniors briefly, are really interested in any juniors they have been following, and will pay a good deal of attention to sophomores from whom they may find the new talent to follow over the next year. They are not particularly interested in freshman unless those freshman happen to be six feet two 70 mph throwers with great movement and impeccable command. They would also be interested in freshman who hit numerous homeruns or demonstrate gold glove level defensive skills. But I have overheard a college coach complain about some 8th or 9th grader being too good for her program because everyone else at bigger programs is likely to grab her too.
So we sent out e-mails to about 4 coaches expecting about a normal response rate - 0%. Typically, you need to send out dozens of contacts to get a few responses. And we went to our first game looking to see where coaches were from and never expecting to see anyone we had contacted. We were shocked speechless when at our first true game, there was one of the coaches we had contacted and he was asking about our daughter by name.
There are a couple lessons in this experience. You need to contact coaches if you are heading down this path. If you didn't know that before, now you do. You should target schools in which you are really interested - those that offer the sort of academic programs you want. And you should not be completely amazed when they show up to watch you / your kid play. If you are paying thousands of dollars for your kid to play showcases, you should not place all your chips on the remote possibility that some coach from UCLA or Arizona will just happen to walk up to the field as your kid rounds the bases after going yard.
One other thing almost slipped my mind. Our team played a couple "practice games" on the day before the tournament officially opened. Most big showcases afford the opportunity for teams to sign up to request such practice games for a charge which is about what umpires fees would be. If you are in a position to consider going to such a tournament a day early and playing "practice games," do it. Maybe not all the college coaches have arrived by the time you take the field but I can guarantee you some have. We saw as many coaches at our "practice games" as we did the regularly scheduled, official ones. Basically, so-called practice games are actually additional showcase games. If you're gonna throw a couple hundred bucks down for flights plus a hotel room, you would be well advised to go for an extra day just to get a little more exposure.
The most important lessons I took home from the left coast are more general in nature. I have watched elite, Gold level CA teams on numerous occassions before. But I have never seen so many all in one place at one time as I did at the Batbusters showcase. In years past I have had the opportunity to watch the Batbusters, San Diego Renegades, and several other top flight CA teams play showcases. This time I saw countless teams I had never heard of before. That was worth the price of admission (and flights, food, housing, etc.).
The teams we played and those I watched were not the absolute best ones in all of softball in general or CA in particular. They were merely good teams, with tons of experience, and with many bona fide college prospects filling a good portion of their ranks. The level of individuals' play was not anything new to me. I have watched the Shamrocks, great Texas teams, Gold Coast Hurricanes, and many top 10, 20, or 64 ASA Gold teams play in person before. The teams we saw at Batbusters were more of the run-of-the-mill CA showcase teams (if that's not too much of a contradiction in terms for you). They had good players and somewhat weaker ones. They made good plays and bad ones. They all shared certain characteristics which any team at this level shares. It was very interesting and worth going over in some detail.
The pitching was of particular interest to me going in. I was not overly impressed with it. CA pitchers are not mechanically superior to pitchers I have seen from Ohio, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, or anywhere else. They do not throw harder. Their pitches do not have more movement on them. But what was evident was pitchers with apparently more experience, better command, and the ability to grind through when they did not seem to have their best stuff. I saw one kid who threw no more than 50. I saw a few harder throwing types but nothing I have not seen elsewhere. I did not see many very good rise ballers. Most pitchers threw a lot of drops and curves. As I said, they had good command of almost eveyrthing they threw, aside from the rises which frequently struck the backstop. Most of all, and I want to give this as much emphasis as possible, almost every CA pitcher I saw had an above average change-up she was not afraid to throw and was able to throw for strikes.
I know I have tried to impress you with this before but I'll say it again at this juncture because I do not believe enough have heard me. The best pitch in softball is the change. I do not believe enough pitchers give it enough of a working in their throwing sessions. The most effective windmill pitchers have good, effective change-ups. If you do not spend as much time working on this pitch as you do on trying to break the 60 mph barrier, you're making a critical mistake. And, finally, if you want to be a successful pitcher, the correct pathway is via command.
You have to throw hard. You have to have good movement. You have to have a good change. And you have to be able to hit spots - spots, not approximate areas.
I have been told that CA pitchers are good because they face CA hitters all the time. I am sure that the pitchers from CA face good hitters a lot. As I said, these pitchers seemed to be more experienced than their age would predict. But I remain unconvinced that they benefit from facing all those great CA hitters because, quite honestly, I did not see many of those.
The hitting was fine but it was not anything which stood out to me. We saw perhaps the same percentage of well hit balls as we have seen in many other venues. There was not a single team which had a monstrous lineup of powerful hitters. A few teams had a couple very good hitters. But the average hitter was an average gold hitter, good but nothing to write home about.
What I did notice was, of the non-slappers, most of the kids hit rotationally. What I mean by "rotationally" is via the Ted Williams style. I d0o not merely mean girls who use their hips by "rotating" them. Almost every decent hitter does that. Ted Williams allowed his hips to fly open early in his swing. So-called "rotational hitters" open their hips before their hands come forwards. They also tend to drop the head of the bat as well as making a couple of other characteristic movements which can be fairly easily traced to Williams. The CA hitters I saw at Batbusters almost all used this technique.
I have to admit a bit of surprise at seeing so many rotationally trained hitters. When, in the past, I have watched top level CA teams play, I certainly have seen some rotational hitters but not a high percentage. There are certain weaknesses to the swing and top level hitters employ parts of it but are not easily characterized as "rotational." At Batbusters, I saw only two kinds of swings, rotational and slapping.
One major difference between the typical rotational hitter I saw in CA was all these girls crowded the plate tightly. I suppose the biggest weakness a rotational hitter has that can be exploiited is down and moving away - like a drop curve or outside drop. The CA hitters cover this weakness by going toes to the line and beyond. This allows them to see an outside, dropping pitch like one over the heart of the plate or even inside. One thing you do not want to do is pitch a rotational hitter inside and low or over the middle of the plate and down. Ofxcourse, this leaves them vulnerable to an inside and up screw but I did not see many, if any, girls who could do this. I have heard Gold coaches speak at length about going high and tight. Now I understand why. If you are going to be effective against these hitters, you must go up and in.
I think I also understand why pitching coaches continue to emphasize the riseball despite the movement down of the strike zone to the solar plexus from its historical upper location at the armpits. It is very difficult to develop a good riseball. Many lay claim to it but few can actually execute on the claim. Among the few who have a legitmate rise, even fewer can throw the thing for a strike under the old strike zone, let alone the new one. But umps at large do not seem to have altered their perceptions to conform with the rule change. Pitches above the plexus and at or slightly above the armpits continue to be called for strikes. If rotational hitters are taking away the down and out, coming up is the next best way to get them out. It is nearly impossible to hit even an average rise ball above the belly button with the bat head held beneath the hands as rotational hitters generally try to do. Rise balls can be dangerous as a bad one travels a great distance. But pitching coaches still consider the pitch to be the Cadillac because it gets rotational hitters out.
Now as a final commentary on CA hitters, oh the slappers, oh the slappers! I saw more well-schooled slappers in CA than I have ever seen in a single place before. In order to discuss this, I mus first define what I mean by a good slapper.
I have seen a high number of kids who hit with a style I would call "tapping" or "tap hitting." &nbsop; This is a technique where a kid who is fast but struggling at the plate, moves to the left side and tries to just tap the ball into play. I see this a lot in high school ball and at the younger ages of travel where the kids are just learning to slap hit. A girl takes up position deep in the box, runs forward as the pitch is delivered and sticks the bat out to make contact as she exits the batter's box. To me, this is not slap hitting. That is why I call it "tap hitting."
Good slappers strike the ball after just a few steps which are taken to build momentum in their run to first. The best ones are quite capable of hitting the ball beyond the infielders. The very best are able to hit the ball to the wall or over it. When good slappers come to the plate, the infield is usually shifted around with one or both middle infielders coming forwards to about the same distance from the plate as the pitcher. There are a variety of other changed fielder alignments so I won;t go into detail. But suffice it to say that if the outfield is pulled in too far, good slappers can take advantage of that but putting the ball over their heads.
The vast majority of CA slappers I saw were very good. In fact, most runs scored as a result of the efforts of the teams' slappers. There were only a handful of well hit balls, hit by non-slap hitters in several games. There were easily double that number in slap-hits of all varieties. What was worse was each team had more than two girls who could slap hit effectively. Some teams had as many as four kids in the lineup who were well-schooled slappers. That's a nightmare for most teams to defense against.
One result of so many teams having so many slappers was that the CA teams seemed much more capable of defending against the slap. Infielders, particularly middle ones, were Kobata quick. They fielded slaps on the ground or bounced and made quick throws to the bases. I'm a huge fan of defensive softball. These infielders played it flawlessly on the slap. My guess is that there are so many slappers in CA that players and teams simply must learn to defense against it. The result is the kind of defensive infield play I saw. And that is the major difference between teams from CA and those from outside the state.
To wrap up, going to CA was a great experience for my kid and for my entire family of softball crazies. We saw some pretty good play and learned a bit about the college recruitment process. We saw some average players including pitchers. We did not see the "great hitters" we expected but the slappers were well above what you see elsewhere. Pitchers had command but were otherwise indistinguishable from their counterparts around the country. Oufielding skills were also about what you see anywhere at this level. The catchers were no more impressive than those from other places. But the rest of the infield was very good. My guess is that when you see slappers all the time, you either learn to deal with them or take up soccer.
As an additional comment, going into CA, we were told that the umpires there favored teams from the state over those from outside it. I saw some pretty bad umpiring. My kid did not experience any sort of negative calls made against her. Actually, to be quite honest, I think she benefitted from most of the bad calls when she was pitching. Some pitches that were clearly out of the zone were called strikes. But I watched a lot of games and I have to say that the theory I heard going in held true. There were bad calls made for and against all teams but the worst ones I witnessed and those which made a difference in the outcome of games were those made against out of state teams. I never saw any game changing calls made against CA teams.
What's worse is there are certain bad calls you have to live with. There is no point to arguing balls and strikes, ever. The ump is not going to change the call and he or she is not going to change the zone. But it is hard to watch one pitch to an area be called a ball and another to the identical place called a strike. There was no strike zone to speak of with most of the CA umps.
Further, while certain plays require a call whether the ump sees it or not, certain others require a call only when the ump sees something affirmatively. For example, if a plate ump blinks on a pitch and does not see it, he still must make a call. He will call ball or strike based on what his gut tells him. Similarly, if there is a play at first, the field ump will call safe or out regardless of whether he is actually convinced one way or the other. He has to make a call. But umps should never make a call on other types of plays unless they see something absolutely. For example, if a runner tags up on a flyball and the ump is not sure he saw her leave the base early, he should not call her out on appeal. That is a seeing sort of call, not a required call where the gut will do. Similarly, an ump should not call a baserunner out for leaving too early unless he actually sees this occur. Also, an ump should not call a base runner out because the base coach touched her unless he actually sees the contact. He cannot think that very possibly these things happened so "I'll go ahead and make the call." He has to actually see the thing happen. In CA, we saw umps make many phantom calls. I say "phantom" because the acts called did not happen. That is rather unforgiveable.
Well that's it. I advocate showcase ball but planes, trains, automobiles, and hotel rooms are expensive. I suppose there are a few other ways to skin the cat of college recruiting but showcases are the best way to make contact and gain a following. CA showcases draw a high number of college coaches as do the NFCA recruitment camps, the Rising Stars stuff in Florida, the tourneys in Colorado, Texas etc. On the other hand, I suppose one's softball experience cannot be complete without hitting CA at this level at least once.Labels: coaching, college, parenting, showcase, Tournaments
Permanent Link: California Dreamin
For Love Of The Game
by Dave
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
There's a bunch of girls heading to recruiting combines and showcase tournaments, or otherwise stressing out over their college softball prospects right this very moment. They'll be poked and prodded, measured and remeasured. They'll get great hits, strikeout, look good, look really bad, make great plays and throws, and completely fall apart on routine flys and grounders. Some few will impress coaches from great programs. Some will have lines drawn through their names. And you know what? None of this matters! Why? Because they'll still be just playing softball.
That's right. My message to all the girls with high aspirations on the diamond this week, next, and the one after that is to remember what you are doing. You're just playing softball. I know it is stressful to think that if you botch this pop-up coming at you right now, the coach for whom you really, really want to play might form some very bad opinions about you. I know that you feel you really must get at least one hit against this pitcher. I know you want to get a great jump as you attempt to steal this base. I think we all know all about the stress you are about to go through. But if it is meant to be, it will be.
Instead of staying awake late tonight because that coach you have been e-mailing is going to be watching your game tomorrow against the Shamrocks or whomever, try thinking about what it was like to play this game when you were 8, 10, 12 years old. There was no big deal about who was watching you then. All that mattered was you were going to pitch or catch and get some at bats. You were going to feel the wind whip through your batting helmet as you raced around the bases. You were gonna make some great plays in the field. You were gonna throw out some runners. You were gonna strike out some batters. You were gonna spend time with your friends. You were gonna have fun. That's why you play this game to begin with, to have fun. It is fun. It is great fun.
So as you get into bed tonight, as you climb into the car tomorrow, as you work your way towards the fields, as you stand there waiting for your turn to get up and impress, what I want you to think about is how much fun this game is and how much fun it has been for years. Don't focus on anything mechanical. Don't worry or stress out over anything you have been working on for the past 6 months or 6 years. Don't gfet into any heavy visualization exercises. Instead, think of this as just another game day. Think of this as yet another in a long line of experiences.
The truth is you play better when you are relaxed. You play better when you are having fun. When you get up to bat and you are focused on the fun of hitting the ball, you hit better. When you just love the feel of running around the bases, you run better. When you go all out to catch a line drive simply because going all out and catching a line drive happens to be about the most fun thing in the world, you make great plays. When you just love the way making a great throw feels, you make great throws.
You have been working just about your whole life to be a really great player.
You have fielded tens of thousands of grounders and flys. You have taken more swings of the bat than a human has capacity to count. You've done speed and agility to the point that it takes you months to improve your times on courses by even a hundredth of a second. You have built muscle memory to the point that your brain cannot remember anymore. You've done what you can and there is no more time for study. Now it is time to put a cap on all that work by letting it hang out.
If you weren't good, you wouldn't be going to these events. There are a ton of girls who you have passed by over the years. Still, there are a ton of girls who may be better than you for whatever reason. It doesn't matter. All that matters is you do what you can and do what you want to do, play ball. Prep time is over and now all there is to do is play the game you have been playing since you were allowed to play it. Just play ball. It is only just softball and you do know how to play it.
Bottom line is, this is all about love of the game. If you didn't love it, you wouldn't play it. If you didn't love it, you wouldn't want to continue playing it into college. If you didn't love playing this game, you wouldn't be stressed right now about your college prospects. You would just go and relax because nothing you did would ever matter. Your love of the game is the reason you are stressed but stress has nothing to do with playing the way you know how to play. So go out there, get dirty, dive around a little, drive the ball, run cause its fun to run, throw cause its fun to throw, and just have a blast.Labels: college, relaxation
Permanent Link: For Love Of The Game
Thor, The Viking Bandit - part 2
by Dave
Sunday, June 21, 2009
This is part two of our multi-part interview with Chicago Bandits pitcher extraordinaire, Kristina Thorson. In part 1, we discussed rec play through high school. In this section, we focus on Thor's experience as a college pitcher from recruitment to WCWS participant and runner-up, with a little thrown in about general college softball life.
Q:It is my understanding that the recruiting game has changed quite a bit from what it once was. You would have been playing HS ball and being recruited by colleges at about the point things were changing. How did you approach the recruiting process - did you play showcases or were your travel teams just involved in national ASA competitions and the coaches found you without you looking for them?
A: "I actually got recruited before things really started to change. I didn't start getting recruited until my senior year in high school. I got on a great summer team that went to all the big recruiting tournaments and we managed to get on good fields at those tournaments which helped. But the only reason coaches came to watch me, a scrawny nobody from Seattle (aka softball Siberia at the time), was because my dad and I sent out hundreds of emails to dozens of coaches around the country. We sent out email after email, not letting coaches forget my name, so that they would put me on their list of players to watch. And from there, everything just fell into place."
Q:One would expect a Gatorade Player of the Year to garner a lot of attention. Did college coaches charge hard for you? At what point did it become obvious to you that numerous coaches wanted you to come to their institutions? Was that a positive experience or did it wear you out?
A: "Recruiting is a very stressful and tiring process, but definitely worth every second once you sign with a school. Being from Seattle, no one ever really recruited up there. So it wasn't until after my junior year, with my summer teams that coaches started to notice me and pay attention. The height of it was definitely in the fall of my senior year in high school, during all the showcase tournaments. For being from Seattle, I actually got a lot of attention from colleges, especially schools back east. But I was set on the PAC10, and I'll be the first to admit that I got really lucky to be able to play for Cal."
Q:What were the qualities of the school and/or softball program which made you choose Cal over other Pac-10 schools? Did schools outside the Pac-10 and/or outside your area try to coax you into choosing them? What made you stick to Cal?
A: "Growing up as a kid, my dream was to always play for a PAC10 school. Specifically, I wanted to play for Stanford. I actually went on a trip to Stanford, and then found out afterwards that the school wasn't going to admit me. When I was looking at colleges, I wanted to go to a school that had great academics, as well as a top 25 caliber softball team. That's what was so attractive about Cal - they are the #1 public institution in America, and their softball was a perennial top 25 program.
There were definitely schools other than Cal that wanted me, that offered me 100% full rides and all the bells and whistles, but their softball programs were up and coming. I wanted to come into an established program where I would have to earn a spot as a starter, rather than just be handed the ball. Plus, softball doesn't get any better than the PAC10, and nothing was going to get in my way of playing in that conference."
Q:You played in the Division I Women's College World Series (WCWS) which, to many, is the most well recognized level in the game. That must have been a huge thrill. Was it a whirlwind experience? Did everything happen very fast and you found yourself heading home wondering what hit you? Or were you able to enjoy and covet the experience?
A: "The WCWS was an amazing experience each time I was there. The first two times I made it to the series, Cal made it to the championship game, and lost both times to UCLA. It stung like crazy to lose in the championship. The experience was a whirlwind, but not so much that I couldn't sit back and enjoy it. The last time I went, my junior year, we lost our first two games (to UCLA and Arizona), and were out of there really quick. That was a hard trip to enjoy because it went by so fast. Even still, it was amazing. The atmosphere there and the fan support is out of this world."
Q:When I think of the various stages of my life, high school seemed to drag on forever but college was over in a flash. What are your observations of college life? Did it fly by more quickly than you would have liked? Did playing softball at such a high level put demands on you which diminished the overall college experience?
A: "College definitely flew by. When it was done, it felt like it had flown by in the blink of an eye. But while I was there, there were times where it seemed to drag on forever. I would have loved another couple of years playing for Cal, but at the same time, I'm glad that I've been able to play in Europe and play in the NPF for as long as I have.
Playing ball didn't dimish the college experience in the least - if anything, it made my experience! Without my team, I wouldn't have had a family away from home, I would have missed out on awesome camaraderie, wouldn't have learned tons of life lessons, and I wouldn't be the person I am today. No I didn't have a typical social life, but I loved the life that I lived in college. I had great friends that I had to see every day, and we created bonds that non-athletes can't create."
Q:Many younger girls believe they would like to play college ball because they have difficulty ever seeing themselves putting their gloves and bats away in the closet, permanently. Yet they have no idea of the commitment level required to play college ball. They have no idea about the time constraints under which a D-1 college athlete lives. They've never had to get up at 6 AM to go run or lift weights. They don't know what exam studying pressure is when you have a game to play, a roadtrip to conference championships, or some other softball activity which limits your ability to prepare for a subject in which perhaps you are having a little trouble. They don't know what it feels like to know all your friends are heading off to some frat/sorority party or college mixer while you make sure you get to bed early so you can pitch or play well in an important game tomorrow.
What advice can you give to girls who aspire to play college ball?
A: "It's basically the same as in high school. Softball was always a commitment in high school, and it's the same in college. When you're used to balancing school and athletics in high school, I don't think it's a bigger adjustment for athletes to go to college than it is for a regular student. Both parties need to learn how to be accountable, learn how to study, and most importantly learn how to manage their time. If you can keep up grades and play ball, and still have a little bit of extra time for a social life in high school, you can do it in college. Just remember that level of commitment and accountability go up, and more is expected out of you. If you do that, you'll succeed and love every minute of your college experience, and you'll never look back with regrets."
Thor, The Viking Bandit - index page- Part 1 - rec play through high school.
- Part 2 - experiences as a college player
- Part 3 - experiences as a professional pitcher
- Part 4 - future including high school coach, private pitching instructor, and some longer-term possibilities
Labels: college, NPF
Permanent Link: Thor, The Viking Bandit - part 2
Free Market Economics
by Dave
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
I've been watching and listening for any mention of the current administration taking over the softball showcase world. There just does not seem to be anything out there. That means we are all at the mercy of the free market. So it is strictly a buyer beware proposition.
Some months ago, perhaps a year or more, I received disturbing word from a softball acquaintance of mine. This guy's daughter had joined a showcase team to get in front of college coaches. The team was playing a showcase tournament at which there was no elimination round playing to an ultimate champion. The thing was organized purely to get college softball aspiring kids in front of college coaches. The guy's daughter had done her homework, identified several schools she would be interested in, and contacted the coaches to get information and, ultimately, to get them to take a look at her. One of the coaches was in attendance but the girl was not in the lineup for that game.
I'm not sure if I remember this perfectly straight but either the college coach or the kid asked the team's coach if she could be inserted in the lineup for a few innings. The reaction of the showcase team's coach was somewhat odd. That coach informed the kid not only that she would not be inserted into the game, but also that the coach would always make all the decisions about who would play where and how much. He/she did not appreciate being approached to put some player in. The coach said he/she would always play to win and play whomever gave the team the best shot at winning, always, under all conditions!
That is disturbing to me. The best shot at winning a showcase game at a non-competitive tournament? Who is zooming who?
The world of showcase ball is very expensive with kids (parents) paying more to play on these teams than on run of the mill competitive travel teams. Typically, we are talking thousands of dollars before we even look at travel expenses. If you want to participate on a showcase team, you are definitely in for at least a thousand more than other teams and then, once you want to go to the full complement of events, well, by the time you are done, you may be out of pocket as much as ten large. At least one parent told me he had spent closer to 15 one year because he wanted to travel and watch his kid play. That's fine, if you can afford it but, well, you can go to college for less, especially if you get some academic and/or financial aid.
When I refer to "non-competitive" tournaments what I mean is, the world of showcases is varied. There are those with a set schedule at which winning games means absolutely nothing. There are some which conclude with an ultimate champion. There are many others where the only trophy is bragging rights to some sort of best record in bracket title. I suppose you could participate in the ones which end with a champion just like you would any other tournament, that is, try to win the things. I also suppose there is value to an organization which earns the bragging rights for winning a bracket. Perhaps you can earn games on a field where there are actual college coaches next year. Perhaps you will find an easier time recruiting players next year. But the ones which do not have any sort of winner or loser are an entirely a different matter.
When parents go into their pockets to pay for showcase teams, they are looking for exposure. Most of the time, they are choosing a team based on the salesmanship of the coaching staff rather than their technical softball skills. They want guys and gals who are on a first name basis with the college coaches. They want people who schmooze targeted coaches, take them out to dinner, know their kids first names, etc. They want to be on teams with good reputations, good reputations for placing kids. They frequently are not interested in the team's chances to sport an undefeated record or otherwise lay claim to best in state titles.
To be sure, sometimes kids join these teams with an eye towards earning a berth to ASA "A" or Gold nationals, perhaps even competing well once there, if not winning the whole thing. It can be a bit of a fine line. But while ordinary travel ball coaches have an allegiance to the full roster to get the maximum number of games for each and all, showcase coaches have that added duty to get the best possible exposure for all the girls who are paying the freight. Whereas a typical travel coach fields his or her lineup to get as deep into the tournament as possible, the showcase coach must also serve the more important goal.
I remember sitting through my very first showcase game. The pitcher for one team was rolling along nicely. She was truly outstanding, a likely D-1 prospect. I was mesmerized by her skills. Then came the fourth inning and the coach pulled her for a much less impressive kid. The team was in the lead something like 2-0 but the next pitcher quickly yielded some baserunners and then a couple runs. Neither team seemed to take much notice of the pitching change. Nobody seemed very upset or happy about taking or relinquishing the lead. I was dazed and confused. Why had the coach pulled her? Was she hurt? Had she pitched to some pre-arranged number of pitches or innings and now was her time to rest? I didn't know what was going on. But that coach had 4 pitchers to get in and just two games to do it that day. The games were time limited so he pulled his pitcher after 3 and put the next kid in. That's the way the cookie crumbles.
More recently a fellow wrote to me to complain that his daughter had joined what was called a showcase team. The team had brought several pitchers onto a slim roster. They went to their first couple of tournaments and had used just two of these girls. The other pitchers never so much as warmed up. His daughter was one of the "other pitchers." He wondered if he was getting upset over nothing. He wanted some advice. I told him to find another team and leave. But don't just leave and move on. Tell all your softball friends and acquaintances to avoid the team like the plague. Tell them exactly what happened. The rest will take care of itself.
That is the way the showcase world gets policed, by you and me, by buyer beware. The softball world is very small and if a team holds itself out to showcase girls but plays every game as if their reputation demanded victory, well, the next time they conduct tryouts, the talent pool will be significantly reduced. Who, in their right mind, with a full set of facts, is going to join a so-called showcase team which feels no loyalty whatsoever to the goal of actually showcasing their kids?
The truth is, this particular team does not play many true showcases. Rather they play a few real showcases and then mostly compete at run of the mill tournaments which call themselves showcases. These do not draw a lot of college coaches. They do not draw the best possible teams even from the local area. They are showcases in name but they are not showcases for bigger time talent. And the teams which attend are usually pretty petty, choosing to put winning over showing their kids.
A friend of mine told me about how he had his team playing showcases. I tried not to ask the critical questions about which college coaches he saw there. He noted that the teams they had played were very good and his team had done poorly. The second day of the tournament, they were stuck in a bad location due to their poor performance the day before. But I wonder how many college coaches were at the good site and I wonder how many of these teams were just there to fill out there schedule or tune up for the time when they will be playing national qualifiers. This guy's team was very young. And he was new to the very idea of "showcase" tournaments. He had signed up for this one merely because the organization running the tournament had called it a "showcase."
Showcases, like all products, run the full spectrum of quality. There are showcases which are really just dressed up 18U tournaments. They don't really draw any coaches. There are those affiliated with skills assessment camps with throngs of coaches in attendance. There are those which exist purely because they bring in droves of college coaches and the best teams year after year. Before you choose a showcase team and shell out your limited sheckles, you really need to educate yourself on the big, important showcases and learn which of these a particular team plans on attending.
If a team has a schedule made up up Jason's Car City Softball Championship and College Showcase, ASA/NSA/PONY A or B states, PBA softball extravaganza, etc., I would hope you wouldn't be mesmerized by the term "showcase" in their name. I would hope you wouldn't shell out $3,000 to play a bunch of pretty good tournaments within driving distance of your home. if you are going to pay more than regular travel, you;ve got to go to at least 2 to 3 bigger name events.
On the other hand, let's face the fact that many of us do not have the spare cash around to put our 6th graders, no matter how good they are, on a team which plans 6 out of state treks via airplane this summer. For many, a lesser interstate experience is appropriate. But I hope the prices are commensurate with the experience. If on one hand I have a team headed to 3 Gold qualifiers, 4 true big time showcases, and 3 other events, and on the other a team playing mostly dressed up regular tournaments, I would not expect both teams to cost $3,000 before travel expenses. If a team charges you $3 grand to play local showcases with no coaches around, maybe you're being taken.
In any event, if my daughter is involved with a true showcase team, I expect full lines of communication between myself and the team's manager. We all understand that our daughters need to stand up on their own, learn to deal with coaches on their own, and generally make their own way into the real world. But those fine and noble goals go out the window when we are talking about $10 grand for the year and multiple years going forwards.
The kid cannot enter into a legally binding contract. If I'm essentially purchasing an automobile, well, I demand lines of communication. And whereas I would not ever approach a coach to discuss my kid's playing time on a competitive run of the mill travel team, I'll be damned if my dollars are going to go to showcase 9 other kids while my daughter rides the pine and bides her time. Don't tell me that she needs to learn to pay dues and she'll be the beneficiary of other kids doing the same as she ages up. That's not the way it works. Check out your competitors.
In softball, as in other human pursuits, it is buyer beware. Showcase ball is no different. But showcase comes with a higher price tag. So before you buy the horse, look at the teeth. You want to know exactly the tournaments you'll be watching. You want somewhat firm commitments about playing time and an understanding that if a college coach comes around specifically to see your kid, the team's coach will be considerate enough to do what he or she can to get your kid in there.
You want to be able to talk to someone if you are not happy with the situation. Don't tell me parents must stay in the background with respect to this aspect. Yes we need to be neither seen nor heard when the college coaches are around but we have full right to talk to coaches and representatives of the organization about any topic. This isn't the high school team. This isn't 14U NSA ball nor any sort of regular travel team. This is showcase. Lots is riding on the opportunities here. There are alternatives to your team. I'll trust in your expertise but I am an active participant. This is a partnership.Labels: coaching, college, parenting
Permanent Link: Free Market Economics
|
|
|
