Rating your success at Showcase/Exposure events

[okiedad1961]

How do coach's parents/players rate there success at these events? Coaches watching your team/players,record vs quality opponents in pool (showcase) games or finish in bracket at end of event.And w advent of separate divisions within bracket play does that weaken your overall thoughts on team results for event.

 

[CARDS]

If you are wanting to rate your success for getting college coaches to have an interest in a player you have to start way before you hit the field.

I required all of my players to CC me on all college coach correspondence so I knew who was active and who was not. This helped me with game day decisions knowing who was going to be where looking at players.

We also utilized Be recruited and Captain U. This gave me another area I could pull data from to see who was or was not working their profiles.
I stressed for players to attend camps and clinics of the school they are interested in especially; if you are looking at a particular D1 school.

If you are emailing attending clinics camps etc. and you get no response... they are not waiting to see you at the tournament they are just not interested.
We also had a parent in charge of profiles. (Back then we used paper now a lot of events use e profiles or jump drives). Our rep would record who picked up info or was watching the games.

You have to keep in mind most coaches already have an idea of who they are there to see at the showcase events. Occasionally a player may catch the eye of someone not on their radar but at DI/DII most have a schedule of players they like to see and they will make request. I had several occasions where they were interested in seeing a player in a couple positions and one where two MAC schools were looking at two of our pitchers so one pitched the first four and the other closed out the last three vs. a good New Jersey team.

Showcase events should be about the showcase portion the tournament portion is for the players so come Sunday there are a lot less college coaches still in attendance compared to Thursday, Fri and Sat. The ones still left are generally no longer scouting but watching committed players play.

 

[HITTER23]

Showcase/Exposure tournaments are meant for players to be seen by prospective college coaches, It is not time for you to run your horse the whole 7 innings and play your starters the whole game and leave players on the bench. They are there wanting the same opportunity and have the same dreams as your "starters". Thats why you bat the roster , free subs, if a coach wants to see Suzy play a certain position , you put her out there.
With that said, we usually measure success a week or 2 after , when hopefully the girls report the contact they had from coaches at that tourney. Everyone likes to win but in the end youre out there trying to get these girls in school, ive been around long enough i dont have to have a "W" to stroke my ego.

 

[wow]

Agree on the above. At 16U and above its about being seen and exposure to potential colleges. Hopefully Yr DD has a room full of trophy's already from her earlier days in TB (10u-14U). Not saying winning is not nice but clearly racking up W's in a exposure event is not the priority.

 

[travelinmom]

If our 18U DD and teammates response on Sunday was any indication, the girls can only handle losing for so long before a win is greatly appreciated. They know the win isn't everything, especially those who already are recruited or finished a year of college ball, they just want to play.
However, after going 0-11, winning the gold bracket last Sunday was the highlight of their summer. It wasn't the platinum title but they had beaten the #2 team earlier in pool play, they were more than okay with a gold win.

 

[coachjwb]

We can talk on here until we're blue in the face about it being about development of the players at the younger ages, and showcasing of the players at the older ages. Lots of parents and players say they are OK with not winning, but relatively few are ... and by winning, I don't mean just winning more than you lose ... I mean being the last team standing on Sundays ... just sayin' ....

 

[CoachTEA]

How do coach's parents/players rate there success at these events? Coaches watching your team/players,record vs quality opponents in pool (showcase) games or finish in bracket at end of event.And w advent of separate divisions within bracket play does that weaken your overall thoughts on team results for event.

I will rate the success of our season based on how many of my players receive college offers.

 

[HITTER23]

We can talk on here until we're blue in the face about it being about development of the players at the younger ages, and showcasing of the players at the older ages. Lots of parents and players say they are OK with not winning, but relatively few are ... and by winning, I don't mean just winning more than you lose ... I mean being the last team standing on Sundays ... just sayin' ....

I wasnt implying that we dont want to win, if theres a bracket play well play to do just that, but when im in a exposure tourney, especially pool play, i remember why were there.

 

[okiedad1961]

How about this formula to calculate success
Win to loss ratio in pool play x games played in bracket. divided by How many college coaches watching=Happy parents

 

[HITTER23]

I guarantee well informed parents will take a hard fought loss in front of alot of coaches than a win just in front of other parents any day.

 

[okiedad1961]

I guarantee well informed parents will take a hard fought loss in front of alot of coaches than a win just in front of other parents any day.

So True Hitter shows character in players and class in parents

 

[coachjwb]

Chris ... I have no doubt that you keep things in perspective ... I was just saying that not all parents or parents do ...

 

[Static_97_North]

Bottom line is everybody wants to win. That can be done by losing the game as well. If we get beat by little suzy's team but I get one or two players verballed to school somewhere then that is a win/win situation by all. The other team did there job by beating us and my team did there job by helping a few teammates get looked at. Just happened to us this past weekend. The Stingrays beat our butt in championship play but I was also stopped and asked about a few players from a Coach that wants them to make a visit within the next two weeks. I will take a beaten every game if that happens after every game. Every one wins in the end if they can just remember why they are there.

 

[CARDS]

If any young lady is looking to play at the next level they have to have the strong desire to compete and win . We always played in top shelf events vs. some of the best competition in the country that would provide a venue for our ladies to get multiple college looks every weekend.

Over the four years we were playing College Showcase events we had about a .600 winning percentage and about a half dozen top five finishes in the tournament portion of the events we attended. We were world beaters by "no means" however; the vast majority of our ladies ended up playing at the next level at all divisions of play.

As I stated in my other post, during the pool play portion of the events most of the time I knew when and where college coaches were coming to look at certain players so, I was able to plan accordingly with starting and rotating players as needed.
As a coach you have to also expect the pop in coach that may make a request to see ladies on the field so playing to win has to be balanced with "the purpose the ladies are there" and that is to get looks by college coaches. During the tournament portion most college coaches are gone and the ones staying generally do not make request in bracket play and you coach accordingly although; I did have one do so that came in on a Sunday from an event in Colorado but that is rare.

Over the four years of playing showcase or exposure ball I can tell you there are teams that do not do this...I recall some events where a team had 13/15 players but only played 9 or 10 in pool/bracket play with grumbling coming from their parent section.
Now there may have been other circumstances why the other ladies did not see the field but if you are playing for exposure you are not getting it from the bench.
If you are competitive but losing .500+ and getting college interest that is a pill easier to swallow (for most) than non competitive (0 to 1 win weekends) and no looks or, competitive and no looks because the team is playing lesser venues or only playing a select few ladies for wins not exposure.