18G in the San Francisco bay area ???

[milpitas99]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a
quality 18G team in the San Francisco bay
area; strong coach, ethics, good instuction,
good knowledge of the college recruiting
process, etc.

Regards,

milpitas99

[GoldTBfan]

Last years 18G ASA National Champion Sorcerer is located in Concord (East Bay); they have good coaching, exposure to all the top collegiete programs. San Jose Sting & Strike Zone (South Bay). There are others but this will start the list. Be sure to check out each program; tryouts start next month.

[milpitas99]

GoldTBFan... thanks for the info. Sorcerers appears to be "the team" but it looks like they have a full load of players. I am in the southbay and Diablo Valley College is about 2 hours away in commute traffic (ouch!). It still might be worth it and a player definitely won't get on the team if they don't try out. So, what the heck. Sting and Strike Zone are, as you noted, other options but I don't have much info on them. So is the Lady Sharks Piper team somewhere over near Los Gatos (I think). Beyond that, things sort of look a bit "thin" but I am not an expert in the area...

Thanks

[NCal123]

In the South Bay:

SJ Sting - Two teams, Joe Gron is one and Debie Smith the other. Both are good teams and go to all the right tournaments. Org has a college recruiter that is fairly proactive and accessible.

San Jose Lady Sharks - Two teams, Reeves/Barrera and King. Both go to all the big recruiting tournaments. College recruitment help is apparently handled by the coaches but must work because they have several players signed.

Lady Sharks Piper - They are a seperate org from SJ Lady Sharks. Piper has a great reputation for getting players signed, although they dont always have the strongest teams. But that does not matter unless your trying to go to Gold Nationals. Piper was practicing at DeAnza College but that may change now that he has joined forces with the South Bay Stars who have a training facility in Downtown SJ.

StrikeZone - Two teams, Ford and Yee. Know several players that used to play for them but left. Ford qualified for Nationals this summer so he still has something strong going. The website is not updated much since 2007 so it is hard to see how many players have gone on to college since the orgs heyday several years back when Vicky Galindo played for them.

Strikkers - Two teams, Garcia and Silva. Silve just came over from bieng the Sunnyvale Shockers. Both have signed players. Both go to all the right tournaments. Recruitment is mostly handled by the pres, Ernie Garcia.

NorCal Legends - New Org that came up about a year ago. Has some good players, played at 18A this first year but also went to all the showcase tournaments. Ricketts dad is thier college recruitment guy but have not heard if that resulted in anything. Work out at Santa Teresa High and are going to be the least expensive of all those listed.

[fasterpitch92701]

Be a bit skeptical when it comes to reading lists of 18G players signed by a travel ball team. Quite often the signing had nothing to do with that specific Gold team. Web sites will use these lists as a promotional tool, luring potential players under the guise or premise of "play with us and we will get you a scholarship". 95% of the time, IMHO, it doesn't work that way. Few 18G coaches aggressively promote their players, many just go through a few of the motions for show and many do nothing. It's up to the player and parents to take this on themselves and be their own best advocate. Kudos to coaches or organizations to do promote their players, however, those coaches or organizations are the exception. That doesn't stop the marginal folks from splashing all over their web site that "Susie signed with UCLA" or Arizona or Washington or Oklahoma, implying that the organization actually did something to bring that situation to fruition. Unfortunately, many lists of signed players are nothing more than self serving, fabricated promotional tools. If you end up in a conversation with a prospective coach about joining a team and he/she uses Susie's signing as a prop, ask exactly what the coach did to make this happen. Don't let the coach pick the player in question. Pick a couple yourself off their promotion list and ask for exact details. If the coach ducks the question or is not straightforward with specifics... well... that tells you something. If the coach can actually answer the question then you may have found a winner. Of course, asking the players on the list what their coach did to get them recruited is also very revealing, especially, how much of that effort can be attributed to the player/parent and how much to the coach.

Again, a "thanks" to those coaches who actually support and promote their players with colleges. It is not an easy task but their are folks who can and do a good job at it. Just don't take "the lists" at simple face value.

Good luck!

[NCal123]

Absolutely....Thanks for mentioning that FasterPitch. Most players who get signed actually initiate the interest to begin with and they and the parents do the majority of the leg work the majority of the time.

When it comes down to it, I think one of the most important things to consider about a team when looking for exposure is will the team go to the right tournaments to get seen and once there are they well known enough by the TD to get on the fields or main complex where the most of the college coaches will be. Then do you have a coach or representative that will go and market the players and engage the college coaches. I have seen this many times where where one team will coaches/reps talking to all the coaches, handing out team profiles and finding out what they are looking for. Then there is the other team, coaches all into the game and no rep in the stands. What a wasted opportunity for any girl on that team with hopes of getting her name and profile out there.

[fasterpitch92701]

NCAL123... 100% correct.

Another marginal situation is when a TB coach approaches college coaches... but only those that he/she knows well and are "easy sells". In NorCal... and no offense to anyone at any institution in any way, shape or form... there is a difference between being able to talk with a coach from Cal State East Bay (Cal State Hayward) or DeAnza as compared to Oregon or UCSB or Cal or Virginia or xyz or other more well established schools. Some coaches just can't or won't talk, or don't want to talk, with the bigger boys. There is a spot for everyone, including Cal State Hayward and local community colleges and for many it is a perfect fit and wonderful for their future. But if you are a 1930 SAT's, in the top 5% of your HS class, 3.87 GPA taking AP courses in Physics, Math and Biology then your focus may be at other venues. Again, go for a best fit. But if the coach either won't, can't or doesn't approach those "other" schools because they are not part of the comfort zone and personal good 'ol girl/boy network, well... but, the coach can say "hey, I talked with a coach about you". Ok, fine, thank you. Again, apologies to those I have irked but no offense to anyone is intended.

Organizations that will actively and substantively help with the recruiting process are in the minority but greatly appreciated by those girls who have been substantively assisted in the college process. And, yes, it's a shame when the team is at a venue with college scouts and no one from the organization is willing to speak with them for whatever reason.

The bottom line is that there is a reason people recommend Aradi's book.

thanks for posting and good luck in Milpitas !!