Premier Qualifier - Indy - Great teams coming

[clayface74]

Since it's come up, let me throw this out to the veterans, I'm just fumbling my way thru this for the first time,... seriously my DD is a soph, in 6-7 years when she's trying to find a job, nobody's really going to care where she finished when she went to nationals. Am I missing something?

+1

[backstop13]

Since it's come up, let me throw this out to the veterans, I'm just fumbling my way thru this for the first time. Our goal was originally to make a run at 16 ASA next year when we're 16's. But we have two kids who are 94 birthdays. So if we're going to do it, it has to be this year. That being said, my thoughts are this:
A. In the grand scheme of things, we don't have kids on our team that are going to the west coast or top 20 type programs, so is being at ASA nationals really that big of a deal?
B. I think the goals have changed somewhat, at this stage of the game, I really have no interest in adding trophies to the shelf, the goal is to get my kid a college education. Does going to ASA nationals, or any nationals serve that purpose?
C. I get the best of the best crap, but seriously my DD is a soph, in 6-7 years when she's trying to find a job, nobody's really going to care where she finished when she went to nationals. Am I missing something?

These are my questions exactly. To answer these you have to really look AT THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS. We all have egos that want us to face the best, but does that have anything to do with the end game, playing college softball if that kid so chooses. After that, isn't it all about the memories your child has playing this game?

[afastpitchfanatic]

to what slapperdad and backstop13 posted:


APPLAUSE!!

Encore! Encore!

My DD is only in her 4th year of travel, so I look to this forum for insight and wisdom. Even though my DD dreams of playing in college, I always tell her to enjoy the ride. I can't even begin to tell you how refreshing it is to read the previous posts.

[gunshy]

Great questions and good thought train. Being one that has chosen the ASA route, and knowing that it is not right for everyone, I will attempt to reason it out from my perspective.
Getting seen is paramount to getting the opportunity to play in college for any kid and by far the largest group of coaches I have seen in one place at the same time is 16u USA/ASA Nationals. I understand that not every team is full of players wanting to attend UCLA, Tennessee or Florida and you might think that these are the coaches at Nationals, but that is not true. Small D-1, D-2, NAIA, etc, from all regions are there in force, too. BUT, this is not the only good exposure event where coaches congregate, as there are several mentioned in other posts/forums. The issue is getting your team ACCEPTED in these other large exposure events without the team having an ASA history or background of success. The best Exposure events limit their tournaments to a smaller number of teams and screen them carefully to maintain a competitive balance that will keep the college coaches watching. Common questions on these tournament's applications are: Last year's finish at ASA Nationals, Previous years finishes at ASA Nationals, Finish at this year's ASA State Tournament........see a pattern here? If your answer is Didn't attend, Didn't attend, Didn't attend, but we did finish 5th at USSSA Nationals 2 years ago.....you are not getting into the other Exposure events because your team doesn't the have credentials or resume. That is the problem with not going ASA. There are other ways of getting seen that are also very important, especially individual college camps, but none have been better for the whole team than the ASA National route.

[backstop13]

Gunshy...thank you for the response. That is the information I was looking for. Some people will degrade a team for not playing against the big boys at USA/ASA, but the perspective you present holds more water with me and actually goes to the point of getting these girls in front of college scouts. If I may ask you to continue with your experiences...what would you say are the top 5 showcase/exposure tournaments for getting looks from Midwest schools (big or small)?

[4theluvofdagame]

Gunshy, I also would like to thank you for your response. I agree with #13, please continue.....

[gunshy]

Backstop, I really liked the Independence Tournament in Longmont, Co. You'll say "that is not Midwest", but LOTS of midwest coaches attend the 3 large colorado tournaments over the July 4th weekend. Judging by the teams at the Independence....it is the best one. The coaches are there mainly for the practice and pool games during the week and head home for the weekend. The DeMarini Classic in Chicago was outstanding last year. It was well run, well attended and drew big name coaches as well as regional coaches. Good teams draw each other and also draw the coaches. The Sparks Tournament was the same week as the DeMarini and had a nice draw on it's own, but benefitted by being just down the road from DeMarini at the same time. I heard last year's Premier was very good, so we jumped on that one for this year. Looking at the teams coming to Indy for this year's Premier....it will be very well attended by the college coaches. The Stingray is a good tournament, but always seemed to fall on ASA State weekend. I asked lots of questions of the coaches we saw and was never afraid to ask where they were spending their summer; we tailored our summer and our overall plan on what the coaches were doing.

[slapperdad]

Gunshy, good response. We have run into exactly what you're talking about with showcases. Actually a few guys who have "cred" have helped us out getting us in some of the exposure tournaments. We had a decent fall and hopefully gained some credibility. We'll see if we can manage a ASA berth or not this summer. St. Louis last fall for instance would not let us in based on our lack of ASA history, apparently they were unimpressed with our 13th place finish in ASA North nationals last year!

[RiseballCoach]

Backstop, I really liked the Independence Tournament in Longmont, Co. You'll say "that is not Midwest", but LOTS of midwest coaches attend the 3 large colorado tournaments over the July 4th weekend. Judging by the teams at the Independence....it is the best one. The coaches are there mainly for the practice and pool games during the week and head home for the weekend. The DeMarini Classic in Chicago was outstanding last year. It was well run, well attended and drew big name coaches as well as regional coaches. Good teams draw each other and also draw the coaches. The Sparks Tournament was the same week as the DeMarini and had a nice draw on it's own, but benefitted by being just down the road from DeMarini at the same time. I heard last year's Premier was very good, so we jumped on that one for this year. Looking at the teams coming to Indy for this year's Premier....it will be very well attended by the college coaches. The Stingray is a good tournament, but always seemed to fall on ASA State weekend. I asked lots of questions of the coaches we saw and was never afraid to ask where they were spending their summer; we tailored our summer and our overall plan on what the coaches were doing.

IMO, the fall recruiting season is by fall the most important for the player, as it leads to the camps in the winter.

Be very careful as to the Colorado Tournaments, as there is only one that is well attended. The other two tournaments benefit from the lack of due diligence by travel teams. Who think they are attending some great tournaments. (this could change in the future with merger)

The Demarini in July is a tremendous tournament. Only a couple from Indiana will get in. So you need to look else where.

I would also assume the Southern Force Demarini's in the fall will be well attended. Both in Illinois and Georgia. Again, only a couple get in.

Stingrays - not as well attended as the reputation would lead you to believe.

_______

For the normal travel teams looking for exposure: But remember that all showcases have a talent criteria that Gunshy talked about.

Homer Hawks
Midland Magic
Tennessee Exposure
Sparks Showcases
St. Louis (although if you are not a very good/known team, you could get lost with 160 teams attending.)
Tanel TOP 50
Stingrays


One thing that is never talked about, is the politicalness (not sure if that is a word) of getting into the tournaments. Sometimes its not about how good you are, but who you know. And the older you get the more important the "Connections" are. JMO (Game times, diamond location, opponent, etc..)

[slapperdad]

Politics....in Softball.....huh, I never made the connection.