Midland Magic Exposure..?

[jag1]

We were curious about some other perspectives on the Midland tournaments held in Springfield, IL....? Our initial impression was, they should call it "The Exposure tournament for Midland Magic and selected friends", with 40 other teams playing and paying..! The host team (and 3-4 others from the locale) literally stood guard at the gate and sequestered the college coaches in regards to where and when their teams were playing as they entered the ballpark..........we did finally get some looks in our last game of the weekend, against the Midland Magic '94... ...some input would be appreciated.!

[bucketboy]

I can appreciate where you are coming from, but I guess my question would be how many emails did your players send out to college coaches in the past couple of weeks letting those that were coming know when and where they were playing?

If a player expresses interest in a particular school and they are going to attend a showcase event your team is playing in generally they will give the kid a look. It is not the responisbilily of the tournament director to get the coaches there it the responisbility of the players to get them there.

In our case I took 25 team bios with me this weekend and have 6 left so our 4 games were very well attended by coaches even though we didn't have the best game times for this past weekend. Rained out at the 8:30 time slot Friday, Played at 3:30 and 8 Saturday and 3:30 and 5 yesterday, but we actually had 4 or 5 coaches watching the last game of the day so all in all it was a great weekend for our uncommitted players.

Is your team playing this coming weekend in St. Louis or Murfreesboro, TN and if so make sure the players are sending out emails to coaches to let them know when their game times are.

[Blind Squirrel]

We were curious about some other perspectives on the Midland tournaments held in Springfield, IL....? Our initial impression was, they should call it "The Exposure tournament for Midland Magic and selected friends", with 40 other teams playing and paying..! The host team (and 3-4 others from the locale) literally stood guard at the gate and sequestered the college coaches in regards to where and when their teams were playing as they entered the ballpark..........we did finally get some looks in our last game of the weekend, against the Midland Magic '94... ...some input would be appreciated.!

They sequestered or suggested? Did they physically lead the coaches to the host team's games and try to ensure they stayed put? What incentives were given to the coaches to watch only the host team's games? I see absolutely nothing wrong with the coaches being given the host team's schedules and any other related info about only the host team.

Once again put yourself in the college coaches shoes. In most cases you go to an exposure tournament to see an array of players that you may be interested in recruiting. What could be done at the gate that would significantly alter your plans to the extent that you spend the entire weekend watching one team play game after game?

I keep seeing posts complaining about kids not being seen because they don't play for one of the "chosen" teams. Do such kids get as many looks as those on the top or chosen teams? Probably not, on average. But unless things have recently changed radically, it is absolutely not the case that kids on lesser teams are powerless victims with no reason to hope. While playing at a quite remote location at the Colorado showcase where the second tier teams were relegated, I vividly remember seeing the coaches from Stanford, Ohio State and many others from that level on down. If a college coach thinks a player is worthy of a look, is it not logical that they will take the steps needed to see the player if they are both at the same tournament, even if it means driving a bit to do so? The trick is getting the coaches interested in giving your kid a look. How much interest is needed for them to drive an extra 30 minutes over the course of 2 days? I doubt that you need the stature of LeBron James for that to happen.

John

[slapperdad]

I saw a fat guy wearing an Ohio State sweatshirt watching us play, since my DD's only 13, I was pleased.

[Six'sDad]

I saw him too standing in 4 ft of water!!!! That's still funny even on Monday!

[slugger]

We were really pleased with the number of college coaches we had at our games. I didn't notice the Midland Magic coaches doing anything that would resemble harrassing the college coaches. I actually had the tournament director come up and introduce himself to me on Sunday morning (while warming up for an 8am game) and tell me that a Div I school has specifically asked when our game times were so that she could come see us play. I appreciated him telling me this. I was able to speak with the coach between games and talk about some of my players that might fit her needs.

I thought the tournament was a success. WIth it being the first year for the event, they had lost of colleges present and with everyone playing at one complex, you couldn't complain about not being at the "main complex". We got more exposure last weekend than we did the previous weekend at the Sparks tournament simply b/c our game times at the Sparks corresponded to terrible weather. My players sent out lots of emails and with many of them being 2012's it was a good start to their recruiting.

I intend to return next year to this event. I think they'll have more "top level" teams next year and some of the "B" Teams won't be included which will make it even better. It was also a great date to have it...between the Sparks and the St. Louis/Murfreesboro.

The other factor in this is that colleges have a list of summer ball programs that they want to come watch each summer b/c they traditionally have kids that are top level kids. Not saying you have to play on one of these teams to get recruited, but the facts are what they are.