Gold

[ApogeeDemon]

Why does it seem that every team says they are "gold" even when many aren't that good?

 

[Softballfamily]

And if they aren't called gold it is elite

 

[ApogeeDemon]

And if they aren't called gold it is elite

so true!.........

 

[Captain_Thunder]

As one coach who called his team "Gold" & now switched to "Elite" told a group - It is All in the marketing.....lol
Smoke & Mirrors..........

 

[HITTER23]

Theres a "gold" ASA schedule of tournaments ending in Okla. but you dont hear many playing that type of schedule anymore. here was a gold qualifier in Dayton that drew 4 teams this past season. Alot of gold teams have went PGF or stick to the biggest tournaments..

 

[coop24]

Theres a "gold" ASA schedule of tournaments ending in Okla. but you dont hear many playing that type of schedule anymore. here was a gold qualifier in Dayton that drew 4 teams this past season. Alot of gold teams have went PGF or stick to the biggest tournaments..

There were only 2 teams, lol

Ohio Nightmare Gold
Cincy Doom Gold

 

[HITTER23]

I stand corrected lol.

 

[CoachTEA]

As one coach who called his team "Gold" & now switched to "Elite" told a group - It is All in the marketing.....lol
Smoke & Mirrors..........

Marketing is not all "smoke & mirrors"; getting the attention of college coaches and scouts requires a great deal of planning and preparation. Face it; here is the North our HS seasons overlap with the college season and college coaches don't normally attend (or send scouts) HS games unless it is something really big (like the HS final four) or they catch wind of an exceptional talent. Parents and players need to understand what the college coaches are looking for and actively market themselves to coaches. If your DD have a specific interest in a certain program, they need to capture the attention of that coach (marketing) and attempt to align themselves with the needs of his/her programs. If the title Gold or Elite helps you get into certain tournaments, then it is all good. What distresses me more is when someone claims to prepare players for the next level and there is little or no evidence of it. For example: no player profiles, no guidance on registering with the NCAA/NAIA, little to no online presence, no specialized training or camps, missing SPARQ data, no exposure to showcase tournaments or camps, etc. All of this is far more important than the name of a team or even an organization. Some teams do a great job of this and some organizations have a history of doing a good job. Squabbling over "names" is childish game and time can be better spent preparing our DDs for life.

 

[Louuuuu]

This has been going on for a long time. Often it's a coach who figures out that if he/she labels the team "Gold" or "Elite", that only the good players will show up at tryouts and all they'll have to do is throw them on the field and they mow everybody down in tournaments, thus making the coaches look like they're geniuses without them doing anything to actually improve their players...

(Oh, and there's a few true Gold teams who work their butts off, too.)

 

[fastjay]

I literally added the tagline 'super duper platinum elite' to my teams' name this year and registered for tournaments as such (SDPE), strictly because it's annoying, lol.

 

[CoachTEA]

This has been going on for a long time. Often it's a coach who figures out that if he/she labels the team "Gold" or "Elite", that only the good players will show up at tryouts and all they'll have to do is throw them on the field and they mow everybody down in tournaments, thus making the coaches look like they're geniuses without them doing anything to actually improve their players...

(Oh, and there's a few true Gold teams who work their butts off, too.)

Louuuu (sorry if I missed a "u" or 2) - I often think the same thing when people say "the talent is watered down; there are too many teams". There are coaches that expect a player to walk on the field and be a stud from the get-go; all "studs" need someone to train and develop them and oh yeah, suffer through the growing pains and mistakes.

 

[Coachemup]

platinum, elite, gold, college showcase, elite college showcase. cracks me up! Whatever happened to playing for your local high school and getting scouted there? Travel ball is certainly a competitive environment that allows kids to develop faster than we did back in the day, but I think travel ball is ruining communities and school districts because no one is playing at the local ball park anymore. Kids from each class go in 10 different ways during their travel ball years and then hook up in high school and have zero team chemistry, or much pride in playing for their school. The attitude becomes :"I can't wait for this school ball season to end so I can go play travel ball". It's kind of sad.

 

[CoachTEA]

platinum, elite, gold, college showcase, elite college showcase. cracks me up! Whatever happened to playing for your local high school and getting scouted there? Travel ball is certainly a competitive environment that allows kids to develop faster than we did back in the day, but I think travel ball is ruining communities and school districts because no one is playing at the local ball park anymore. Kids from each class go in 10 different ways during their travel ball years and then hook up in high school and have zero team chemistry, or much pride in playing for their school. The attitude becomes :"I can't wait for this school ball season to end so I can go play travel ball". It's kind of sad.

Coach - I hear ya, but the world has changed and travel ball is here to stay. I am 51 years old and travel ball was the American Legion team and that was it. The truth is the girls get more exposure playing travel ball; that isn't just my opinion (which doesn't matter much) it is the opinion of several college coaches that I have personally spoke to over the years (my oldest DD plays college ball). The coaching at the rec level when I was a kid was (for the most part) extremely good. It isn't as good anymore and that is definitely due to travel ball. Also some communities (like Lebanon) are blessed to have very good HS coaches (and a great rec program); others not so much and the politics are terrible (I can talk offline about a certain example). You are correct; it is disappointing girls don't stay focused on the HS teams - they should give it their best wherever they are. I also know of a girl in my community who verbally committed to a D1 program before starting her freshman - granted she that "1 in 1000" type of athlete, but it does occur. My DD didn't get looks from her college team during her HS season; she made the tryout HAPPEN with the college coach.

 

[Outwork]

platinum, elite, gold, college showcase, elite college showcase. cracks me up! Whatever happened to playing for your local high school and getting scouted there? Travel ball is certainly a competitive environment that allows kids to develop faster than we did back in the day, but I think travel ball is ruining communities and school districts because no one is playing at the local ball park anymore. Kids from each class go in 10 different ways during their travel ball years and then hook up in high school and have zero team chemistry, or much pride in playing for their school. The attitude becomes :"I can't wait for this school ball season to end so I can go play travel ball". It's kind of sad.

I personally have heard some real horror stories lately about middle school and high school kids in Ohio being pressured to the point of being bullied into playing for their high schools "feeder" organization. If the kids don't play, they are viewed as back stabbers and told by the high school coach, assistant coach and AD, that they are: "not committed" to the high school, they don't care about "the program," and are viewed as having a crappy attitude since its "about them" if they choose to go outside the feeder program SAD SAD SAD

 

[BouldersDad]

High School ball is bound to fail at recruiting for softball. It fails on many different counts. If you are not lucky enough to be in a Lebanon, greenville, Hoover type School systems that make it deep every year so college coaches can show up and watch, you have little to no chance at being recruited in High School, As both college and HS play at the same time of the season its just logistically impossible for college coaches to recruit . A huge amount of hs coaches do nothing for their players recruiting wise. Heck its difficult getting them to go to the meetings and push for one of their players for recognition after the season let alone help with recruiting. Not all but a large amount and I would say its a safe bet at around 75% are teachers making that extra couple of grand a year. Very few HS teams have coaches that are just coaches.

Kids are blown 10 different ways after HS ball because of the idiotic controlling bureaucratic baboons in charge of HS softball. Its their rule, no more than 4 or 5 from a school on one TB team. so the kids have to split up. They have so many rules and regs in place you almost have to be a lawyer to begin to understand it all. Travel ball has not ruined HS softball. The people in charge of High School softball have ruined it and kids just go where they can play competitively, get noticed and get to college if that is their wish.

 

[HITTER23]

High School ball is bound to fail at recruiting for softball. It fails on many different counts. If you are not lucky enough to be in a Lebanon, greenville, Hoover type School systems that make it deep every year so college coaches can show up and watch, you have little to no chance at being recruited in High School, As both college and HS play at the same time of the season its just logistically impossible for college coaches to recruit . A huge amount of hs coaches do nothing for their players recruiting wise. Heck its difficult getting them to go to the meetings and push for one of their players for recognition after the season let alone help with recruiting. Not all but a large amount and I would say its a safe bet at around 75% are teachers making that extra couple of grand a year. Very few HS teams have coaches that are just coaches.

Kids are blown 10 different ways after HS ball because of the idiotic controlling bureaucratic baboons in charge of HS softball. Its their rule, no more than 4 or 5 from a school on one TB team. so the kids have to split up. They have so many rules and regs in place you almost have to be a lawyer to begin to understand it all. Travel ball has not ruined HS softball. The people in charge of High School softball have ruined it and kids just go where they can play competitively, get noticed and get to college if that is their wish.

Im going to save this for spring lol. Its Tims world, we just live in it....

 

[BouldersDad]

Im going to save this for spring lol. Its Tims world, we just live in it....

Noooooooooo Not my monkey,s not my circus I just comment on the show

 

[Coachemup]

Coach - I hear ya, but the world has changed and travel ball is here to stay. I am 51 years old and travel ball was the American Legion team and that was it. The truth is the girls get more exposure playing travel ball; that isn't just my opinion (which doesn't matter much) it is the opinion of several college coaches that I have personally spoke to over the years (my oldest DD plays college ball). The coaching at the rec level when I was a kid was (for the most part) extremely good. It isn't as good anymore and that is definitely due to travel ball. Also some communities (like Lebanon) are blessed to have very good HS coaches (and a great rec program); others not so much and the politics are terrible (I can talk offline about a certain example). You are correct; it is disappointing girls don't stay focused on the HS teams - they should give it their best wherever they are. I also know of a girl in my community who verbally committed to a D1 program before starting her freshman - granted she that "1 in 1000" type of athlete, but it does occur. My DD didn't get looks from her college team during her HS season; she made the tryout HAPPEN with the college coach.

I hear ya on the importance of travel ball these days. The times have certainly changed. I guess my thoughts are that I kind of miss the days where kids played together from day 1 as 7 or 8 year olds and by the time they are in High School they've developed team chemistry and community pride. I've watched some high school softball programs in recent years where the best players in the school didn't even play for the school, but rather chose to play travel ball. I just think it's kind of sad that we've gotten to that point. I realize it's easier for college coaches to see a greater pool of talent at a showcase tournament rather than a high school game. I guess I just miss the '"good ole days"!

 

[CoachTEA]

I hear ya on the importance of travel ball these days. The times have certainly changed. I guess my thoughts are that I kind of miss the days where kids played together from day 1 as 7 or 8 year olds and by the time they are in High School they've developed team chemistry and community pride. I've watched some high school softball programs in recent years where the best players in the school didn't even play for the school, but rather chose to play travel ball. I just think it's kind of sad that we've gotten to that point. I realize it's easier for college coaches to see a greater pool of talent at a showcase tournament rather than a high school game. I guess I just miss the '"good ole days"!

Very well stated!!! I fondly remember the men and women (which was a radical thing in the 70's) who coached me and it was a community pride thing too. My brother, who was the stud athlete of the family, got to play in the little league final 4 for the state of Ohio at 11 years old - a mere 2 games from a trip to the hallowed grounds of Williamsport and the Little League World Series. Yes, I miss those days as well and I would probably have more in my savings account (and less mileage on my car) if travel ball didn't exist.

 

[SMc4SMc]

I thank travel ball for quelling the monkey spunk of booster ball or daddy ball. The fees are fair, honest hardwork is rewarded, and it slays the all-neighborhood boasting you get from kids and parents who were YMCA Gold or Elite class athletes.