Winter Tournaments

[Danible]

no real surprise there, the last time we played the Gators at the Zone, it seemed like they definitely had home field advantage ( not to mention ALOT of roster latitude..!) We didn't play in any tourneys there this winter, hopefully my kid is done playing there for good..!

You are not kidding. It's the Gator-Zone for sure. Our girls get a kick out them and there Indian screams. I wont say what else they say about them...

[Justathought1]

no real surprise there, the last time we played the Gators at the Zone, it seemed like they definitely had home field advantage ( not to mention ALOT of roster latitude..!) We didn't play in any tourneys there this winter, hopefully my kid is done playing there for good..!

Jag1-
You must be a real piece of work. You get beat by a good team and all you have done for the past year is complain and bicker about how the Gators play ball. I have been with the Gators since the very first year. Yes there has been several times during a game the coaching staff has had to bench a young lady that has said something or acted unsporstman like in the heat of battle, but no more than I have seen in the last 6 years of travel. The games that this team plays is astronomical for most and would not work for some but it does for this set of girls. Our girls play with a lot of energy, they do a lot of screaming and cheering but that is exciting. If it doesn't work for you then that is your choice, but these young ladies do not need to see some parent that is just sore, bash them for all the hard work they put into this sport and you can take this to the bank- The Gators Gold team has never used an illegal player nor a "roster lattitude"was ever needed. The gators have kept this team strictly together with only a handful of players added since day 1, and that is a new organization that had started from scrap. And on a side note, their coach is a PAID coach that has no daughter on the team. And as any good coach knows, they cannot pay him enough for what he does. He goes above and beyond most coaches. My daughter played for a good organization (Dreams), they are still a good organization. Bucketboy can tell you first hand how when a team starts to have a little success their are plenty of Jag1's out there. It does not bother me, but before you throw out dirty laundry you might want to ask around and get more first hand knowledge of the hard work that coaches and girls alike have put in. Also since you are quick to judge, what do you think about the food rally they held for the wheelers mission. You need to be ashamed of yourself.

[Danible]

No roster latitude, I believe so. I saw 2 tournaments ago at the ZONE you had playing 2nd base a player from Dreams Gold team (I saw her hit a home run for you guys when you couldnt push a runner over the plate). I also saw playing right field was the 16u Shockwaves pitcher. Those are only ones I DID recognize. I know for a fact that the Shockwaves pitcher has played ASA with her team. So riddle me this. How is it possible to play for two teams in the same age class with in the same sanction in the same calender year without having roster "latitude".

What do you call the Indian Screams, or the grenade throwing and army rolls before the game. Or the gathering at the pitchers mound. The point being, you are good team, you don't need to do all the antics to draw attention. The old saying, act like you have been there. It does get a little rediculous at times. The chants during the game slowly fade away after they get behind, so they don't really bother us.

Also, do you ever wonder why the really good teams don't play at the zone from Indiana? Aside from the porch turf. Gator-Zone is alive and well. Gators does not equal Dreams. Mark does not equal Brad. Sorry... Contracts on the Food drive. We work with the Special olympics. Every kid needs to volunteer their time.

Congrats to Richards and verballing to IUPUI.

[patches]

hey danible

just a quick note the dreams gold player is one of my kids she is playing for us this year . i did have a kid from the shockwaves black that played for me she is one of our highschool kids. i wasnt trying to cheat her team wasnt playing and i was giving her some innings the sportzone doesnt lock you in due to all the sports going on . i want you to look at my team i have eight original gators out of twelve as to your comment about ex gators everywhere how many ex dreams or shockwaves do you see ? as to my teams antics i thought we could have fun the kids seem to enjoy playing and having fun so i will try to get my kids to enjoy the game a little less. hey the next time you want to talk about my coaching skills make sure you are taking care of your people also the comment [ i wont tell you what else they say about them] that would almost be taken as you incourage that kind of behavior. i hope your team has a great year

thanks
mark

[jag1]

The Gators are a very talented team, I bet they do well in some of the big tournaments this year..!

[bucketboy]

Don't take the bait Mark, you don't need to justify anything to anybody except for the kids and parents that are on your team. Been there done that and got the t shirt and so do you.

Yes, we (not I) started something from ground zero many moons ago and it was and still is very successful. We did alot of things right, and a bunch of things wrong, but looking back I would do it all over again and why?

Because we provided something that has given many kids the opportunity to live their "Dreams" and go on to play ball in college. Yea there are many ex dreams playing elsewhere for one I folded my team and that meant 12 kids had to go find a new team. Some couldn't handle the expectations we had. Anybody remember us being chastized for putting on our tryout announcements no AAU basketball players back in the 10u/12u days? That got some hate mail on the message boards. Some left for the same reason many kids leave other teams. Every parent wants the best for their kid and if team B offers them more PT than they are getting then they may leave, but I can say that many of them find out the grass is not greener and either ask to come back or do come back at some point in time so those of you reading this that have bounced from team to team be careful not to burn any bridges because you may need to walk back across one of them someday.

If you feel a team is trying to use tactics then use it as a motivation tool that's what we did and if you let it get to you then they have succeeded. If it gets out of line talk to the tournament director and or the UIC and if they deem it is they will take care of the problem trust me.

Thanks for the comments, but I will have to say at this point Mark may be a little better than I because he is still subjecting himself to working with hormonal teenagers, their parents, and the members of his teams fan club, just like every other coach and team that has any kind of success has to deal with.

I made my mistakes and am not afraid to admit them and hopefully by doing so will help some of you so that you don't ruin friendships or burn a bridge so badly that it may cost your daughter the chance of playing for a quality team when it matters during the recruiting years.

Time to get to work so that I can pay for my daughter's expensive softball habit for the next year and a half. Have a great day!!!

[Justathought1]

Vey well said Brad. I concur with your statements. Just a response to danible.

You act like you are in the "know" of all the softball gossip and news so let me straighten your facts out a little bit. 1) The second base player that you saw play for us that hit a home run? She has paid her Gator fee's, a rostered Gator and has played for us now for several tournaments.
2) The right fielder is a Shockwave player that can play 14U still in 2009 but is rostered with Shockwaves black but played for the Gators to fill in for injured Gators and we appreciated all of her work with us. (She is a DC school student and as you probably already "know" she was asked to play because the gators team has at least 1/3 rd. of their team consist of DC High School team, that still complies with IHSAA. On a side note how many successful teams can say that? 3) The Indian Screams? Are you a prejudice person? I for one have never heard an Indian scream. and the Grenade throwing? Let me tell you what that is all about. Someone in the middle of the huddle throws a softball in the air and the girls scramble and dive on the ground to get away from it. This is something fun for the girls to do and it gets them to dive on the groung. The key word here is "dive" on the ground. (That does not seem very malicious to me? 4) The Gators are a decent team that is just trying to work and get better. We don't care what tier Jag1 or anyone else puts us in. We just like to play quality teams so we can get better. Leave us in the basement we are fine with that. We just want to be able to give a game to Shockwaves, Wizards,Dreams, Explosion, Terror, Fire ect. When we get beat we will say good game and see you next week-end.
You or nobody else can say they have seen anyone from the Gators posting on here about how good they have been playing. We have sat here watching all of these post and just took it all in. But when someone like yourself gets comfortable and starts airing wrong negativity about something it is time to set you straight. I personally for one would not permit my young lady to be a part of what you would like most to believe. Anyone that knows me can attest that I like good softball and am straight forward. This message is simply to help clear the air that some have took it upon themselves to make the Gators (coaches, Parents, and Kids) out to look like a bunch of un-sportmanlike kids that disrespect the game. That my friend is the farthest from the truth!!!!!!!
Michael

[ballguy]

Well said jusyathought 1. I have been reading posts to try and see what is going on in softball and to find out who are the good teams. All I have seen here is some board "experts" look at their teams with rose colored glasses. I have seen some of these power teams play and they are good. Just look at their posts and they will tell you!

[da60]

Not sure I've seen the Gators this year...a couple summers ago when we first moved up to 16u we played a Gators team, but I think they were coached by a couple of ladies...not sure if they were from the same organization...all things being equal, winning every tournament at the Sportzone is pretty impressive...at 18u Team Indiana Blue has been the big dog there(we only played in one tournament at SZ and TIB beat us up pretty good in the championship game)would love to play them again in the summer(I've added them to my list along with the Chix)...DC has started to put together a pretty impressive program, with some awfully talented young ladies...sounds like a spirited rivalry going on among the top teams at 16u.

[bucketboy]

Well what do we talk about now that some have their feathers ruffled if somebody says something about how well a team is playing, or how they are perceived to act, or how many ex players from another organization have left, or how there are way too many 16u teams, or how ASA has made teams decide if they want to try and qualify for nationals or just play an exposure schedule as we don't want to offend anyone anymore.

We have even talked about kids that have signed or verballed in 08,09,10 and even an 11 maybe at least there is an offer on the table. Maybe we should go back the subject of high school ball and start bashing the inexperienced high school coaches and share stories of the stupidity that is already going on at workouts. No I'll pass on that as it is a waste of time and besides none of them probably even read this board so what fun would that be.

C'mon all ya'll (see I am learning my proper southern) what do you really think??????????