Be careful of the promised schedules - Parents and Players

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Be careful of those team on OFC or try-outs the say they are going to play in tournaments that they are not even invited or applided for yet. Most high end showcase tournaments need to be invited or you need to apply and be excepted. Just becuase a team says they are going to "Pennsbury" or "Sparks" or "Stingrays" doesnt mean they will be excepted or invited. Be careful when selecting your teams for 2013-2014. Select whats best for you. I have seen to many teams say they were going here and there and never get invites or acceptance.

 

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My guess would be you're probably preaching to the choir here. Anyone who knows the significance of "Pennsbury" or "Sparks" or "Stingrays" are already going to know to ask whether the team they are considering has been there in the past and have been invited back for the upcoming season. Anyone who doesn't know "Pennsbury" or "Sparks" or "Stingrays" from the South 40 Six Game Guarantee Shootout (entirely mythical - sorry if there really is one!!!) are not going to care where they are playing and they aren't going to have any idea what you are talking about.

 

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Going hand in hand is the tryouts touting the now infamous "college exposure team" tag that go to tournaments or parks that no coaches have ever been seen at.

 

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My guess would be you're probably preaching to the choir here. Anyone who knows the significance of "Pennsbury" or "Sparks" or "Stingrays" are already going to know to ask whether the team they are considering has been there in the past and have been invited back for the upcoming season. Anyone who doesn't know "Pennsbury" or "Sparks" or "Stingrays" from the South 40 Six Game Guarantee Shootout (entirely mythical - sorry if there really is one!!!) are not going to care where they are playing and they aren't going to have any idea what you are talking about.[




I thought you were talking about one of those berliner all sanctions deals .

 

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Going hand in hand is the tryouts touting the now infamous "college exposure team" tag that go to tournaments or parks that no coaches have ever been seen at.

Dont forget 12u college exposure teams!

Spoke with asst coach from Oregon today....he said they look at 14u players but also note that they probably shouldn't due to players rarely knowing what they wanna do when they grow up or what to major in. Was a great discussion.

 

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My guess would be you're probably preaching to the choir here. Anyone who knows the significance of "Pennsbury" or "Sparks" or "Stingrays" are already going to know to ask whether the team they are considering has been there in the past and have been invited back for the upcoming season. Anyone who doesn't know "Pennsbury" or "Sparks" or "Stingrays" from the South 40 Six Game Guarantee Shootout (entirely mythical - sorry if there really is one!!!) are not going to care where they are playing and they aren't going to have any idea what you are talking about.

Yea I guess. But too many of the team in the try-out section are stating these and others and we all know they havent applied and most likly will not get it.

 

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I recently looked at a teams website and was excited to see that on the website it listed players that had signed with different colleges. It listed that one of my former players had signed with a DI school here in Ohio. I thought cool....I called a mutual friend to get their phone number to call and congratulate them. The mutual friend said that she indeed was going to that school but wasn't recruited to play on the regular softball team but rather she was going to play on the rec/club team when she got there! :/

 

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Agree with much of the above ... we all know just because you want to play in certain tournaments doesn't mean you are going to get in ... unless a team has a history of getting in to them, you have to assume the likelihood is that they're not going to get into in the future either. As for organizations lying/exaggerating about how many of their kids went on to play in college and/or how many of their coaches actually played in college, I am sorry to say that happens all of the time as well. The thing of it is, it's pretty easy to verify that as most colleges have archives of their rosters and/or stats online. I can't tell you how many times I've seen organizations say they had players or coaches play in college, and I go on their website, and they have 3 at bats or pitched 2 innings their freshman year and never played again, and others I have found no evidence that they ever played at all.

 

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Agree with much of the above ... we all know just because you want to play in certain tournaments doesn't mean you are going to get in ... unless a team has a history of getting in to them, you have to assume the likelihood is that they're not going to get into in the future either. As for organizations lying/exaggerating about how many of their kids went on to play in college and/or how many of their coaches actually played in college, I am sorry to say that happens all of the time as well. The thing of it is, it's pretty easy to verify that as most colleges have archives of their rosters and/or stats online. I can't tell you how many times I've seen organizations say they had players or coaches play in college, and I go on their website, and they have 3 at bats or pitched 2 innings their freshman year and never played again, and others I have found no evidence that they ever played at all.

Dunno if this is the place to bring this up but since when does playing in college automatically make you a viable option as a coach anyway? I see having knowledge of drills etc, but theres alot more to coaching that frankly, i dont think you get except by experience. JMO.

 

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Chris ... fully agree, though some organizations do "brag" about that and use it to attract some players, and my point is that a few of them are exaggerating about that ...

 

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As John Matteriss (sp??) says....."buyer beware." Best case for any tryout"ee" is took look at the organization & team history in terms of tourney played/invited too. That should give you a pretty good insight on probability that particular org/team could get into the type of tourneys they are listing.

 

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Agree...I list the tournaments we hope to play in as a "tentative" schedule. It's all based on the team that is put together as well as getting accepted. If we can't put the right team together, the schedule could change.

 

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I think as a parent you should look at the teams that played in the tournaments you wanted to play in. Then go tryout for those teams.

If you can not make those teams what makes you think a whole team of players that could not make a TEAM that played in the bigger tournaments will get accepted into that tournament? It is illogical.

Ohio does not have 30 "A" teams. The pool of talent is finite. Especially on the mound. Heck the best 12U team in Ohio has a pitcher from Kentucky. So to think somehow the number of elite teams will grow each year is very short sighted. The number of elite teams is directly proportional to the number of elite pitchers. And an Elite team needs 2 of these pitchers.

No, a team rarely upgrades their schedule year to year. The only real way to make a jump is to go to the State tournaments or a sanctioned A level national tournament and place high. Otherwise it is almost impossible to get into the tournaments with the most competitive field of teams.