Organization Teams

Rken15

Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2015
Messages
166
Reaction score
7
Points
18
I will say as head of a nonprofit organization with no paid coaches or board members, it is nice sharing the responsibility among the group, working together on fundraising, and building a strong culture.
 

Long Baller

Active Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2014
Messages
194
Reaction score
142
Points
43
So you are saying, and correct me if I am wrong here.. Hawks, Outlaws, & Lasers just to name a few are NO NAME Ohio Organizations? Again just trying to figure this out. Not wanting to argue but get more educated on this subject.

In no particular order I think those are probably the top 3 exposure organizations in Ohio right now. Based out of Ohio.
No, I do not think that the Hawks, Outlaws and Lasers are "No Name" organizations. After rereading what I had posted, I can see how someone can infer that is what I was saying. For that, I apologize to anyone that took it that way. I would say that those are the "Big Three" in Ohio softball.

However, I stick to the claim in my fictional scenario that, if your DD is looking to play at the highest collegiate level, then the name on her jersey absolutely does matter.
 

PaintTheBlack

New Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2019
Messages
6
Reaction score
9
Points
3
However, I stick to the claim in my fictional scenario that, if your DD is looking to play at the highest collegiate level, then the name on her jersey absolutely does matter.

Agree Long Baller, but I think Ohio Hawks-Gold has a better reputation then Batbusters Illinois or Firecrackers Ohio. Plenty of girls from Ohio, Outlaws (1 team) Hawks (4 teams) are participating in PGF Nationals in California and this is arguably the best of the best. There are more teams that participated in the JO Cup which is also highly regarded.

Question is do the top college coaches care more who you play for or where you are playing?
 

Daddy Gurl

Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Messages
77
Reaction score
6
Points
8
I only ask cause of how many teams are in my dd organization. It’s crazy and the coach/manager says they don’t even get into the tournaments (own) free so that comes out the teams budget. FYI make sure you contact teams to get in the director says. All about those Benjamin’s $$
 

tjsmize3

Active Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2014
Messages
397
Reaction score
78
Points
28
Question is do the top college coaches care more who you play for or where you are playing?

You understand that's a really loaded question right???... lol. To a large degree they kind of go hand-in-hand.
I think the shortest version possible to answer your question is this:
Most colleges could care less about the logo on your jersey... truly
They do care a great deal about watching you play competition consistently at the level THEY play at however.
So if you are asking about the "top college coaches" then they only care if you play for a team/org that can get into those "top-level" elite tournaments that they will be attending. In other words, the event is certainly more important than any given team/org for sure.
The trick is being able to get in to the tournaments where the coaches you want to audition for are regularly attending.
 

wahoochief

Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2017
Messages
41
Reaction score
5
Points
8
I agree with most of this. My only issue with travel ball today is its way to watered down. New teams pop up everyday. Organizations from out West coming here doesn’t help the situation. Heck we all got to see first hand what happened last fall when an organization from Cali tried to start up an 05 team here. It folded within 2 months. Some people worry more about status and keeping up with the Jones’ rather than building what we already have here in this wonderful state. It’s just a name. Why give our money to someone out west that isn’t here to oversee and make sure the organization is ran like it is out there. If an ohio organization tried to charge a team fee then a monthly fee to their players every month for our kids to wear the logo the organization would get bashed and probably have to close up shop.

Sorry I got way off topic on this rant. But this is a great conversation and I hope it continues.
Hmmmm… but its ok to charge a team fee + basically a yearly membership fee to be part of an organization. Interesting
 

tjsmize3

Active Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2014
Messages
397
Reaction score
78
Points
28
...the organizational support, will open doors for the players that Ohio orgs can't provide.

If she is on a successful Firecracker's team, and has the recruiting support from the head of the org, that would be her best path to get there. That school won't look at a kid wearing a no name Ohio uniform. That's why the Ohio kids with big college aspirations wear uniforms from out of state Org's.

On your first statement I would have agreed with you about 5-6 years ago, however, I think if you take a look at any major publication covering softball, the committed player list from Ohio club teams has started to produce a lot more players in the power 5 ranks. If you take the time to do the research you can see which orgs are the most successful at getting their players recruited to this level. So I think there is a case to be made that some Ohio orgs can provide excellent support in this day and age.

On your second point I do not really agree. I probably talk to 30-40 college coaches every weekend for 6 weeks in the summer and 6 weeks in the fall. There are some really BAD teams wearing Bullets, Firecrackers, Glory jerseys etc... I think just about everybody realizes that. It has absolutely nothing to do with the org, just the person running the individual team. I rather doubt you are going to get Cal to come out to some random Ohio event just because you wear a jersey that says "Firecrackers." I think the college coaches are a little smarter than that. I also doubt that Tony Rico is going to have an open door policy for a random kid playing for the "Arkansas Firecrackers" to go play PGF Premier in CA with his Firecrackers teams. 99 percent of the CA players can't get on that team!
 

klinder

Active Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Messages
230
Reaction score
76
Points
28
If you are an Ohio kid wanting to go to school in California, you need to find a good California team in California and then go play for that team. Then a California college coach will see you play. You then need to out perform the west coast talent. Very few west coach schools recruit Ohio based talent unless they see a kid over and over out perform the west coast talent. The power 5 coaches are watching the best high level teams in the country at the big tournaments. They are not watching a PA or OH based Firecracker or Bat Buster team unless they are playing against a top level Cali team and then out perform them. You might get noticed then but not necessarily recruited. Now if you play on a California team they might see you in more than one tournament and consider you.

Bottom line very few coaches offer scholarships to kids they see play 1 time. Doesn't happen. They want to see repeated excellence and why would the west coast schools come to the east coast repeatedly to watch a kid when they have the same talent in their back yard? Taryn, Jenna, and Alex were rare exceptions because they were on Chicago Bandits. Alex got their by way of South Carolina. Until the Ohio based big name teams can go beat the west coast big name teams over and over the big time coaches aren't coming to watch them.

It was always a waste of my time to go to California to watch the third and fourth level Batbuster teams because those teams were not as good as the best Ohio teams. College coaches can see that very quickly. Takes 5 minutes at a field to tell this is not their high level team. This is their money making team. Why would I recruit lower level California talent over top level Oh talent when top level Oh talent beats lower level Cal talent? So why would a California coach recruit an Oh kid when they are getting the top level talent in California? Very few of the Power 5 schools on the west coast have kids on their rosters east of Arizona or Texas. They don't need to travel to find talent.
 

Similar threads

Top