Daddy Mommy Ball teams and Playing College Softball

[LETHAL WEAPON 25]

Uhhhmm.....Im not saying you guys are all wrong. However, we are not an "organization" and I suppose our team could be considered a daddy ball team because it is coached by the father of our 2nd baseman.(He does Have 7 national baseball titles with his son and 3 with our team though.) We have 9 Freshman and 3 8th graders all born in 97. In the last week, we have had 2 Division 1 contacts regarding a couple of our freshman players. In both cases the contacts were based on recommendations by other travel ball coaches who have seen them play. I have personally spoken with a D-1 coach who has gotten his team to OKC the last 2 years and asked him point blank what is the best way to get his attention. His response? Well he didnt say play for a big organization and he didnt say verbal early, in fact, he didnt even say run all over the country chasing exposure tournaments. He did say, send my recruiting coordinator your information and ......... COME TO MY CAMP!!! He said at camp, I get to spend a week with you, at a tournament Im watching you for 15 minutes because I have 30 other kids to see. He also said it helps to be realistic in your choices and consider factors like in state tuition vs out of state tuition. Oh and for him the first statistic he looks at......The GPA. If its not high enough to get some Academic money then he's probably moving on to someones who is.

[SoftballG]

LW, you make some good points but please stop throwing your so called national championships out there it's really not that relevant to this discussion..

[LETHAL WEAPON 25]

LW, you make some good points but please stop throwing your so called national championships out there it's really not that relevant to this discussion..

I apologize sir. I only brought them up to emphasize that fact that not all "Daddy Ball" coaches are inexperienced or dont know what they are doing.

[doittoit]

GAMETIME STARS 97 (OKC)
2009 USSSA 11U NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2010 USFA 12U-A WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
2011 USSSA 14-U WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS

LW,

Where is ASA accomplishments?

[joemcq51]

I love HB. It doesn't matter what side of the fence you are on. You are going to get bashed either way.

[as the world turns]

LW, you make some good points but please stop throwing your so called national championships out there it's really not that relevant to this discussion..

SG, USSSA and USFA are not relevant in any discussion.

Btw, LW, COME TO MY CAMP!!! translates to: my softball program needs the money.

[taking2]

LW, you make some good points but please stop throwing your so called national championships out there it's really not that relevant to this discussion..

SG, USSSA and USFA are not relevant in any discussion.

Btw, LW, COME TO MY CAMP!!! translates to: my softball program needs the money.

So I guess if you play anything but Asa you should not play at all. Give me an f ing break.

Asa may be the option of choice for some of you non-playing, non-coaching dads...but please do not bring down the accomplishments of any of the athletes, regardless of who sanctioned the tournament.

I have also heard the same recommendation about attending camps...it is one of the recruiting loopholes.

[93players]

I agree that there will be some exceptions to the general idea that it is very hard to be recruited from a parent coached team. As the impact gold postings show, once a college finds a player on a lesser team they often press the parents and player to go to a more competitive team. I have seen that with excellent players on a parent coached team.

There are also a few examples of parent coached teams that are really select teams. North Florida is an example. The head coach had 3 players go through that organization and two are at U. Florida and one will go there soon. If you are from the Lethal Weapon that was in San Diego, I was not referring to a parent coached team that qualified for a major national tournament. You are the exception where coaches will look at your players.

There was a survey on the main board here a while back asking college coaches about the most important factor in getting recruited. The top factor was the organization that the player is playing with. Now, the other factors mentioned, grades, test scores, positions, speed, power, etc are important, but what makes a coach identify a player to follow -- that is where the organization is important.

Someone mentioned camps. Most camps are for fund raising and for community relations. There are some camps that are recruiting focused and, if your school offers one, you need to go. But there is a third category of camp -- where players are segregated into groups and the coaches only follow one or two groups. Players in those select groups are often invited directly or indirectly through select coaches. In this category of camp, few parent coached players ever make it to the top groups and even if they show up few will be watched by the head coach. Now the player who can crank 3-4 balls over the fence will be noticed. But of the 20 or so D1 recruits we personally know, only 3 attended a school's camp where they ended up

[LETHAL WEAPON 25]

GAMETIME STARS 97 (OKC)
2009 USSSA 11U NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2010 USFA 12U-A WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
2011 USSSA 14-U WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS

LW,

Where is ASA accomplishments?

Well since you asked, I guess I'd have to say the only ASA accomplishment was finishing 2nd to the Georgia Impact at last years Hall of Fame. A tournament where we beat some VERY GOOD Texas teams who I have alot of respect for. You see im not gonna get on here and bash because you guys are narrow minded and believe there is only 1 path to the end of the rainbow. I just believe different. If you guys want to continue to believe that its better to go finish 17th at ASA nationals in 12u and 14u then go ahead. I know this we have pre-registered or made contact for many exposures already and NOT ONE has denied us entry because we didnt play ASA Nationals. I also know that the 2 colleges I spoke to last week about 2 of my players NEVER asked what associations we had been playing. Finaly, I have always said that once you get to 2nd yr. 14U and up that yes, you probably need to switch to ASA or now Premier, but up to that point, IT IS NOT NECCESSARY!!

[Battle]

Hello... if your kid hasn't verbaled by the end of her 8th grade year...then she probably won't make it.

You can't be serious. When did your dd verbal?

you folks make me sick

A little dramatic, don't you think?