ASA/USA colleges attending?

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Was wondering from those that have attended ASA/USA last year how many college coaches were in attendance for pool play games and bracket play at the 14u, 16u and 18u level? Anyone have some input on this?

 

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At 16's in Chattanooga last year there were college coaches all over the place for pool play and bracket games. How many, I don't know. If you want them to watch your players, your best bet is to have them in communication with the coaches ahead of time and give them game times and locations. Also, have someone designated as the liaison to talk to the coaches about players.

 

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Would say more at 18U and 16U then 14U. JMHO

 

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quite a few at 14U in Midland last year....HC from UGA, UofL, Oregon, Assts from UK, TX A&M just to name a few that I saw one day....I was a bit surprised by the level and amount of coaches present being that it was 14U and 3 hours past the Middle of Nowhere, USA.....I know 16U will be crawling this year......players have to have the lines of communication open and use them....coaches are there to see the players they know exist....hard to stand out in a crowd of a couple thousand players if you haven't given a heads up.

 

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The vast majority of college coaches at ANY tournament are there to watch specific players that have contacted them - period. They are not just leisurely wandering around looking for a diamond in the rough, like an uninvited wolf at a chicken farm. It's almost guaranteed that a DI coach watching a game is there because a certain player in that game has sent them correspondence indicating interest in their university softball program.

The number of coaches at any given tournament is directly proportional to the number of quality athletes who have corresponded with those coaches. Sure, they will go browse a 14u game with KNOWN top players (usually pitchers), but they are just getting a head start IN CASE that player contacts them in the future. At that point, they have "history" on that player, and know if it's worth spending any more time on them if a contact is made at a later date.

 

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For sure, Sammy ... the year my DD's 16-U team went to Souix Falls, we were sitting in the bleachers right before our game and there was Carol Hutchins of UM a couple rows below us, and Sue Enquist of UCLA the row above, and quite a few other coaches I didn't recognize watching a team from Cali in the game before ours. Our girls were all excited at the prospect of them maybe watching our game vs. some team from Colorado. Of course when that game was over, they all left and I don't think anyone was left but parents!

 

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I know for a fact Marty McDaniels, pitching and asst. coach of TN is going to Sioux Falls. We were at the camp Monday and Tuesday, and he is flying out. The Weeklys are going to Montgomery.

 

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Last year at 18u ASA/USA in Normal, ILL, I probably seen less then 10-15 schools the entire week........

 

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Have been to USA/ASA the last 3 years with daughter, once she was 14U, the other two 16U. A solid representation at 14U, mostly assistants, but a lot of colleges. 16U was amazing, Mostly head coaches every where you looked from all the major conferences down. I remember one game there were 2-3 PAC 10 coaches, 3-4 Big 12 coaches and at least one SEC coach there to watch a pitcher and a catcher from Oklahoma who were playing my daughters team. That was cool. However I think it will be interesting to see how or if this is affected by the growth of Premiere and their nationals.
Also definitely agree with everything Sammy said, they are there to watch specific players who have been in contact with them, not just roaming around. They have a schedule of where they want to be and when.

 

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Most 18U tourneys have very few college coaches attending and we've been to Sparks, Compuware, ASA States, ASA qualifiers etc.

 

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16u ASA/USA has more coaches then 14u?