Tales of Colorado

[PuraVida]

A couple of bits of advice:

1) Try spell check(ie collage, meat etc....)

Oh dude you Got me/ you know what they say about people in glass houses.
You might want to practice what you preach. disquised rumor inuendo. persistance


2) Thinly disquised attacks on me

This is not about me or my dd. We are a private family and do not share her stories on a public blog./quote] are kind of weak. I use these stories to show how and what I base my thoughts on. To show that the are derived from reality and not just rumor an inuendo.

Don’t flatter yourself. You’re not worth an attack. I based my statements of first-hand accounting of others and through observation. I listen more than I speak

3) Dense- perhaps a glance in the mirror is in order? I simply present an alternative idea(based on experience) that you seem to reject whole heartedly. I never disagreed that distance and logistics play a role, but I do suggest that they are not the only reason[quote"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

Your hole premises has been based on what a player needs to do, Not once have I disagreed or dismissed the importance of a player/family take a proactive role in their recruiting endeavour. That is step 1
What I do dismiss is your claim that players in the satellite field did not get the coaches there due to their lack prospecting. Buyer or seller, no matter what business you need to know your market. Players need to understand what limitations a coach might be dealing with. She/he who understand/researches their markets, closes the deal.
A player understanding that in CO the SP & FW a coach might/ will deal with limitations is in a much better position to close the deal


My daughter was not a blue chip player. She was a very good player and a top notch self-promoter/communicator. I think sometimes through sheer will and persistance she got coaches to come see her play. This was often at the same time parents of teammates were complaining about "lack of coaches" and "waste of time" PuraVida, believe what you want, but only a fool does not take in consideration different ideas.[/quote]


I am happy for your dd, this however, is not about her or my kid. What I do see is a fool without any first-hand knowledge of the Sp/FW, which has been provide first hand accounting by others who have been there still refusing to accept the facts; I am not referring to myself as I am just a dad with a check book with no regrets. It has been great experience for us as a family and for my dd. Who in the process became very savvy in the art negotiating

[PDad]

Caches will go were 80% of their prospects are to be found. If 80% are at the satellite fields then that were they will be. This is based on prior research a well laid out plan. Nothing random no robo-emails

The talent pool in SP/FW/IDT. Is comparable. There are some degrees at each end, however I would venture that 80% of those participant in these 3 events possess comparable skill set. (we have different definitions of "comparable") Maybe the power pools and possibly Bolder would fit in to your narrative. (yes) Thant is a very small piece of pie. IDT is a small venue in comparison to SP & FW and games are played on one location (wrong) So that leaves SP/FW with one main field for each were a coach can see/prospect 80% of their database. So we are back to 80/20 quandary.

We agree on the recruiting process from a player prospective. However, your implication that coaches were not at their game is due to their recruiting process or lack thereof is BS. Logistic and the coaches’ time constraint are a huge factor in CO. (true) If you are not in the main fields in SP or FW, CO is a waste of money.

To simply put this on the player as not doing what they need to do is BS and a copout.

I pushed back at JR for putting it on players for not contacting coaches because I know coaches can't make it everywhere in CO. However, I've also known lots of players that either didn't reach out to coaches; did so in an ineffective manner and/or mistargeted schools.

The fields are an important factor and they're aligned with the hierarchy.

Power Pool 18U at Aurora (12 fields in 3 quads)
Power Pool 16U FW at Aurora (4 of 12)
Power Pool 16U SP at Christopher (4)

Supp PP 18U FW at Aurora (8 of 12)
Supp PP 18U SP at Pioneer (4)

FW Open 18U at Highline (5), Arapahoe LL (4), Olympic (4), Horseshoe (2)
FW Open 16U at Highline (5), Arapahoe LL (4), Olympic (4), Horseshoe (2)

SP Open 18U at Northern Lights (6), Waddell (4), Carroll (4) and Westfield (2)
SP Supp 16U at Lutz (4 of 7)
SP Open 16U at Lutz (3 of 7), Northern Lts (6), Clement (6), Schaefer (6) and 7 others

SP Kennedy 18U at Kennedy (8)
SP Kennedy 16U at Kennedy (8)

Aurora certainly is a main field. What other field(s) do you consider to be main?

IDT is played at 5 different parks and they draw well.
IDT 18U Boulder rotates teams between Stazio (7 fields) and East Mapleton (3)
IDT 18U Louisville has 4 fields
IDT 16U Longmont rotates teams between Garden Acres (4) and Centennial (3)

[PDad]

Off the top of my head Temple and Vermont have dropped softball in the past few years. I am certain there are more

BFD, there are also some that have added softball. Regardless, it is an insignificant change compared to the large increase in TB teams in the past 5-10 years.

[jonriv]

Off the top of my head Temple and Vermont have dropped softball in the past few years. I am certain there are more

BFD, there are also some that have added softball. Regardless, it is an insignificant change compared to the large increase in TB teams in the past 5-10 years.

Damn, I was supporting your arguement

[as the world turns]

In a nut shell:
Suzy not good enough to make it on a known TB team;
Daddy therefore starts own TB team and gathers other Suzy's;
Daddy tells other Suzy parents, we'll show them and buys into a Colorado showcase;
they get to Colorado, no coach shows up;
They conclude it's the tournament's fault.

[CheckWriter]

For anybody that cares about this old thread, my opinion is that JR is significantly closer to reality than PV.

Having played in CO either 4 or 5 years in both Fireworks and Independence Day (didn't bother going back to my Quicken to check) including the year we put over a thousand miles on the rental car in 7 days because the two DDs played in two different tournaments, I can tell you the biggest positive for younger DD was the fact that she relentlessly and systematically emailed her whereabouts to many coaches.

DD #2 wanted to join DD #1 and DD #1's coaching staff blew so much smoke up DD #2's ass that I am surprised she didn't get sued by the EPA for polluting the air! End of Jr year comes around and all of a sudden it is: "Please apply through the regular application process, we would love to have you as a walk on." Guess too many recruits decided they wanted that school. We, including her, are not deluded so her enthusiasm for that institution waned.

Coaches came out of the woodwork that summer in CO. The coach for the school she ended up graduating from contacted us during the week and her TB coach's cell phone lit up when they got knocked out of the tournament asking for us to wait until they could get to our field to talk to DD. Even though there had been barely an acknowledgement that she was sending the emails over the previous 2 - 3 years to most of these schools, that day they all thanked her for being "such an excellent communicator" and had been watching her at showcases and following her high school performance on MaxPreps.

If your DDs don't have the superior genetic heritage that DV bestowed on his kids and thereby don't have all the P5 schools kissing their feet, I would seriously consider continuing to send your transcripts every semester, DD's highs and lows of her high school experience (both softball and community service) and detailed TB schedules (locations, days, times and fields) to the coaches. I think it is reasonable to gradually reduce the number of schools you communicate with as DD matures and has a better idea of what she might want to do with her life (DD #2 was still sending regular emails to about 15 schools toward the end of her Jr year even though things seemed very promising with "the" school).

A side note, if mom and dad are going to help with some of the boiler plate TB schedule emails (which we did), don't do it during school hours, the coaches notice that stuff. Also, DD needs to periodically sit down and compose a personal email, in her own words. Especially during college season, DDs would check the school web site and send emails that included comments on how the team did that week. Stuff like tough loss or awesome comeback.

The school that pulled the rug out from under DD #2, in retrospect, did here a HUGE favor and the fact that she continued to communicate with numerous schools even after we were all fairly sure things were a "done deal" paid big time dividends.

Just my $0.02