Here is some very current information (in the last week)that is straight from a top 25 program, BTW, this confirms numerous conversations in the past. FYI this particular school is in the SE part of the country and in '07 was wire to wire in the top 25.
here is how the conversation went:
Coach:”we don't usually recruit too many girls from Ohio.”
“What parts of the country do you recruit from?”
Coach:”We recruit a great deal in Georgia and Florida.”
“Why is that?”
Coach:”We believe that a number of the select programs have good coaches that take the time and know how to teach their players defensive fundamentals, we can teach an athletic girl to hit, but we don't have the time to teach them to play defense”
The rest of the conversation, talked about summer tournaments and other philosophies this coach had, I would say we have a number of teams in Ohio that do a very good job of teaching fundamental defense, I would have to agree that just like the threads on this website, many in Ohio are preoccupied with hitting and to take it one step further, hitting with POWER!!
Who is to say what is right and what is wrong, that is what discussion is for and in the end we can all make up our own minds.
For myself, from observation of over 30 years in the game, when you get down to the nitty-gritty at an event like the ASA/USA Nationals, until the last few rounds, games are more often decided by which team makes fewer mistakes physically and mentally, than by offensive prowess, my philosophy has always been, play it 0-0 and get to the tie-breaker and see who blinks, everyone wants to score runs by the bucketful, but the reality is that when you play great teams they don't beat themselves with defensive mistakes, and if you present them with opportunities via errors or not getting an out when you needed to, they take advantage of it, many teams in Ohio consider it a bad inning if you give up multiple runs on errors, the great teams from some of the other states including and especially California, consider it a bad inning if the other team advances a runner into scoring position via errors mental or physical, and it is a horrendous inning if they actually score a run with the assistance of errors. Compare and contrast that with the mind set here, the reality is that when we start teaching and playing fundamentally sound defense as a rule not an exception, when we stop depending on pitchers to carry our teams defensively, that is when we will field more Gold teams, until then if you want to go to an event with top 25 team coaches in attendance, go to Colorado in July, ASA/USA 16u A's, and any of the other top exposure tnmts you can read about on
www.spysoftball.com
One of our teams was at the ASA/USA 16u Nationals several years ago, one of our players, out of breath ran up to me and exclaimed, “I am too nervous to play this next game, what am I going to do!!”, I asked why?, “ I was just walking over there, and Sue Enquist and the other UCLA coaches walked past me, and one of the coaches looked at me and nodded as I passed her!”, I calmly said to her, Don't worry about it, she said, “don't worry about it, it's UCLA, what do you mean don't worry”, because dear, they aren't here to look at you!!!, I was smiling and it was all in good fun, but it was the reality, top 25 schools aren't (with rare exceptions) going to be looking for answers in Ohio to their personnel needs, doesn't mean they won't eventually find and sign a girl from Ohio, what it means is we have further to go before we have the reputation and the consistent representation at the top events, we have great players, players that have the ability and talent to make an impact at the top 25 schools, but the reality is how many Ohio teams have played on Saturday at any ASA Nationals, Illinois, Indiana who are close by, and the other powerhouse states do it regularly, those are the teams we need to play, and they aren't coming to Ohio anytime soon, when given the oportunity our girls compete very well with those teams, if you believe your girls are MAC type players then by all means do what you have been doing, maybe that is all we should aspire to for now, I don't believe that, and even if one could quantify it and say it was true, if we settle for that, it's all we will ever get, the difference will be made not by 5-10 teams stepping outside the Ohio box, but when we have 30-40 teams in the 14/16/18 ages forsaking win-loss record and venturing out, when we get to that point the level of competition will be so great, we can see 15-20 top Ohio teams every year.
At least that is how I see it, Gold is a mind set, not a talent level, most of the Calif gold teams are playing up, the girls that are 18 are playing womens A or Major, they have womens leagues in most of the top states, and the exceptional young talented players are playing against current and former college players, it takes years for this to develop, but when you see that in Ohio, it will be a harbinger of progress here in Ohio. We have the talent for Gold, so far not the mind set, at least that is how I see it.
