Colorado Fireworks, Sparkler or Louiville Slugger(Boulder)?

[coachsbt]

I've noticed that there are very good teams in each of the tournaments. If you have a very high-level team, how do you decide which tournament to attend?

[AnotherDad]

I think it depends on where you can get in really. Boulder is an invitational. Very hard to get into boulder. And to some extent, Fireworks is also selective based on the amount of TCS tournaments you have entered and how you place. I think Sparkler is if you can't get into Fireworks. Only a few high profile teams probably can really choose where they want to go.

Just from my experience (Boulder only). Boulder appears to draw a lot of the big programs (and not so big ones). SEC - PAC 12 - Big 10 - ACC, etc. One college coach of a D1 (not as competitive conference) mentioned to me that its hard to find new recruits at Stazio (the main boulder complex) because lots of those kids are already committed so she goes to Louisville (I believe you have to win at Louisville to get invited to Boulder).

From what I have heard Fireworks has lots of coaches there. Sparkler too if the players email the coaches to come.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Ask a college coach what they think.

The coaches I spoke with have a hard time with the Fireworks and the Sparkler due to the space and distance between fields. They felt that too much time was needed to drive between facilities and as one coach said, "If it doesn't happen at the main facility, I won't see it". Boulder is preferred simply because it is more compact and less road time is spent going from place to place. So I've been told.

[AlwaysImprove]

The big teams are all in Boulder. Have been for years. They are going to draw the bigger name colleges.

They will also go over to Fireworks. But usually more to see specific recruits. So if you happen to be on a field where someone is getting recruited by a lot of teams, you will definitely see coaches at Fireworks.

At Boulder, the chances of being on a field with someone getting heavily recruited are quite a bit higher. Since the field of teams is more restricted, you are not going to be in a pool with 6 teams that have little drawing power. You are going to be in a pool with high quality teams that will also help you draw.

[CheckWriter]

They felt that too much time was needed to drive between facilities

One year had one DD in Aurora (Sparkler) and the other in Longmont (16s verion of Boulder). Put just over 1k miles on the rental car in 7 days driving back & forth with DW & I going back & forth trying to both watch games where there were not conflicts and have one at each place when there was. That's not counting the occasional rides we got from team mates' parents.

[hit4power]

The coaches I spoke with have a hard time with the Fireworks and the Sparkler due to the space and distance between fields. They felt that too much time was needed to drive between facilities and as one coach said, "If it doesn't happen at the main facility, I won't see it". Boulder is preferred simply because it is more compact and less road time is spent going from place to place. So I've been told.

Heard the same from more than one coach. DD played once in Fireworks, twice in Sparkler, and once in Boulder. No question that Boulder had the most coaches in attendance. Not uncommon to be on the remote Sparkler fields with zero coaches present. Also heard from a couple of coaches that they don't generally go to Sparkler pool games. Prefer to wait until bracket play starts and then focus only on the top two brackets - perception (reality?) that the lower bracketed teams just don't have enough players with the desired talent level.