Tales of Colorado

[fastpitchdad05]

Has TCS Fireworks equaled or even surpassed Boulder IDT as the top tourney for getting seen?

What triggered your question?

The 14U Power Pool posts are about Sparkler Jr, which I believe is the top 14U CO event.

The 16U/18U Power Pools and Super Brackets are co-branded Fireworks / Sparkler. TCS created them from what was the pre-TCS Fireworks, which left Fireworks with the leftovers. It's unclear to me how TCS places teams between Fireworks and Sparkler. Anyone know?

I don't see how TCS Fireworks could compare favorably to Boulder IDT. Please rephrase your question if that isn't what you meant to ask.

My question was raised because I saw a couple different posts about the Power Pools at Erie and the number of high-profile coaches that were spotted there, while there were no such posts regarding Boulder for this year.

My DD played in the Sparkler for two summers at 18U and then last year played at the Boulder IDT.

I never saw the number of high-profile coaches mentioned in the Fireworks Erie posts at either of those, but Boulder came a lot closer to that than the Sparkler. This could have to do with the teams DD played with and just timing I suppose.

BTW...the one place I saw a group of coaches that rivaled the Erie posts was during one of our games 3 years ago at PGF Premier 16U in Fountain Valley when DD picked up with So Cal Choppers-Moore with her regular 18U team's consent.

My DD didn't go to Colorado this year and so I'm asking for opinions of those that did. In fact she plays her first travel game of the summer tomorrow morning at the Surf City Summer Showcase 18U in Huntington Beach with the team she has picked up with for the summer.

[JerrysKids]

I think you need to be in the power pool in order to be seen.
We were in the gold bracket and didn't see any scouts.
All in all it was a fun trip for the girls, but if you went for the recruiting aspect you need to be in the power pool.
my 2 cents

[PDad]

My question was raised because I saw a couple different posts about the Power Pools at Erie and the number of high-profile coaches that were spotted there, while there were no such posts regarding Boulder for this year.

My DD played in the Sparkler for two summers at 18U and then last year played at the Boulder IDT.

I never saw the number of high-profile coaches mentioned in the Fireworks Erie posts at either of those, but Boulder came a lot closer to that than the Sparkler. This could have to do with the teams DD played with and just timing I suppose.

BTW...the one place I saw a group of coaches that rivaled the Erie posts was during one of our games 3 years ago at PGF Premier 16U in Fountain Valley when DD picked up with So Cal Choppers-Moore with her regular 18U team's consent.

My DD didn't go to Colorado this year and so I'm asking for opinions of those that did.

Erie was 14U Sparkler Jr. For the coaches mentioned, they're doing more recruiting at 14U than 18U and Erie was the top spot for 14U. I think you're right about your experiences at Boulder being due to the teams she was on not having many P5 commits and possibly bad timing when you played teams with them at Boulder. Similarly, I suspect only a portion of the teams at Erie had those coaches at a lot of their games.

Did anyone see a similar assortment of coaches at another venue?

[Ed Hill]

My question was raised because I saw a couple different posts about the Power Pools at Erie and the number of high-profile coaches that were spotted there, while there were no such posts regarding Boulder for this year.

My DD played in the Sparkler for two summers at 18U and then last year played at the Boulder IDT.

I never saw the number of high-profile coaches mentioned in the Fireworks Erie posts at either of those, but Boulder came a lot closer to that than the Sparkler. This could have to do with the teams DD played with and just timing I suppose.

BTW...the one place I saw a group of coaches that rivaled the Erie posts was during one of our games 3 years ago at PGF Premier 16U in Fountain Valley when DD picked up with So Cal Choppers-Moore with her regular 18U team's consent.

My DD didn't go to Colorado this year and so I'm asking for opinions of those that did.

Erie was 14U Sparkler Jr. For the coaches mentioned, they're doing more recruiting at 14U than 18U and Erie was the top spot for 14U. I think you're right about your experiences at Boulder being due to the teams she was on not having many P5 commits and possibly bad timing when you played teams with them at Boulder. Similarly, I suspect only a portion of the teams at Erie had those coaches at a lot of their games.

Did anyone see a similar assortment of coaches at another venue?

I saw several coaches (D1, D3 & JUCO) during various times of the day at both Spazio and East Mapleton in Boulder watching niece's 18U games. Her organization also had a 16U team playing IDT at Garden Acres in Longmont. Went there one day to watch them play and saw numerous coaches (D1, D2, D3, JUCO and NAIA) walking around watching games during the time that I was there. I will say that by the end of the week, the number of coaches I saw walking around had decreased by a large amount.

[Dugoutdirt]

We saw quite a few high profile coaches at the 16U Power Pool games at the Sparkler on Tues/Wed/Thurs but everyone was gone by Fri/Sat/Sun. A great experience and great exposure for our players overall. Several coaches coming to see their already committed players I noticed, (at least on our team.)

Shockingly, didn't see any coaches at my DD's 12U games out in Loveland

[McK2021]

There was an assistant from an SEC school at Barnes on Thursday watching a 12U game.......

[crashsdaddy]

Last year at IDT, DD's team had about 7-10 schools per game show up.

This year she played at TCS Fireworks. She played at a complex where the grass was so long you couldn't see the girls feet. Ground balls didn't roll very far as you might guess. Played at another complex where the grass was literally mowed just before our 8AM game so at least the grass wasn't too long; we just had to deal with clumps of wet grass all over the outfield that would stick to the ball. Then there was the complex that didn't have any permanent restrooms, just a half dozen port-a-potties. Played a pick up game on a field so tilted that the ground at the outfield fence was probably 2-3 feet higher than home plate. We played at a complex where the entire lighting system would just randomly shut off. Aurora Sport Complex was really nice though. Had a concession stand worker there try to refuse to provide ice for an injured player.

A quality experience all the way around.

Did I mention we had about 7-10 schools show up all week? DD is already committed so it wasn't a big deal for her but for the girls who aren't yet committed, it felt like a total bust of a trip.

[BAM2]

Having 2 girls playing in Colorado, 1 in the 14u Power Pool and 1 in the 18u IDT. I can say that their were colleges at both fields. Their was definitely more at the 14U Erie Fields, and We went to visit friends at a 16u Game and saw quiet a few there. At the 16u I know that the committed girls had there colleges supporting them and looking also.
14U Erie, I believe who was playing had a lot to do with who showed up and when. We were involved 2 big games and had 10 to 15 watching at each if not more, and when our game was complete, they turned around and was watching 2 other big teams/Org. We had friends on other teams in the power pool, which barely drew 1 or 2 coaches.
18u IDT, Saw quite a few, but i'm sure just checking up on their commits. I know for my 2 , they were there supporting, and they got the game times from coaches and us emailing game times.
Saturday was sparse, Sunday might have been 1 or 2, and we played in a final and semifinal games, in both divisions.

[Dugout Dad]

Maybe things have changed over the past few years, but having several coaches at the games was the norm. College coaches would follow us late Sat or on Sun waiting for us to lose the last game so they could meet the players they had interest in and present offers or invite them for official visits. I couldn't imagine doing the Colorado trip and not coming away with a handful of offers for the girls.

[jonriv]

I guess the question I have for those parents/players disappointed with the amount of coaches at their games is this: Did you contact any coaches beforehand to let them know where you would be, your team, your number etc...? Going to any showcase withe the expectation of being "discovered" without pre-contact is tremendously lowering your chances of being seen by a college coach. Coaches have limited time and budgets to recruit- the are going to spend their time on 1) Current recruits 2) Current verbals 3)Top teams You are counting on luck if they might get a glance at you while doing this??? It used to always baffle me how parents would complain about coach attendance at a showcase while the the vast majority of coaches my DD contacted came to see her if they were at that Showcase. Do your homework, pre-work and legwork. Coaches will not know your DD is there unless she lets them know.