Showcase Events - What do coaches/players/parents really expect?

[Mike_Craig_-_Ohio USSSA]

I was asked at our National meeting this past November to seek information on college showcase events. I said that I would dig in once the first of the year came to pass and the "bug" started to occur on OFC again. It's that time.

Now before anyone starts to draw conclusions or turn this into lets rip NSA thread, please hear me out. NSA is mildly interested in this segment of softball. Some of our higher ups get calls all the time from TD's looking to partner with a sanctioning body for obvious reasons (insurance, officials, etc.) We also have some directors especially in the east coast/southern U.S. who run college showcase events. I spoke up and said we have a couple of really popular ones every summer right here in central Ohio in Lasers, Stingrays, and GAPS off hand along with some of the PGF ones that have just started up. I was told that since I was in expert territory, to dig in and do some research and report back. I understand if you do not want to discuss in public, if so please email me at mcraig@playnsaohio.com.

My questions are.
1. What are you looking for? Open roster pool games with a true bracket? Nothing but all star type games where coaches pretty much scout whomever playing for whomever? What amount of games is reasonable for this type of format? Does Friday/Saturday/Sunday formats work?
2. What fees are exorbitant? What is reasonable?
3. What time of the year works best for these? Obviously spring is out because of the high school season, but do these work in early June, early July, any in August? September? How late in the fall do these occur? October? Early November?
4. If you have an exposure team, what events are you looking for college coach wise? Would an event with mainly invitations for D2/D3/NAIA/JUCO coaches appeal? Are there such tournaments around? Do you select showcase events based off of what coaches you expect to attend?
5. Age groups: Is it safe to assume that 18u is already signed? Or is this a big segment that might still be looking? I know 14u at these type of events is a lightning rod, but is it safe to offer that age group? If 14u in the fall is ran, aren't those girls technically going to be 15 when the summer season starts and most are freshman/sophs in high school at that point? I was 15 all thru my sophomore year of high school back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. (August birthday)

Please lets keep this as civil as possible. I am a fan of any sport and it's highest levels and appreciate great athletics when I get to sit still long enough to watch. I am all about learning as much as possible so it might help my bosses with their perception of this segment of the softball scene.

Thanks for your time and looking forward to some good dialogue on this subject.

Mike Craig
Ohio NSA
614-895-2253
mcraig@playnsaohio.com

 

[SoCal_Dad]

I'm not surprised NSA is interested in showcases. The amount of detail you're seeking indicates an interest in creating new showcase events, so I have some questions for you.

A. If NSA has directors that run showcase events, why aren't they providing the info you're seeking?

B. What is holding NSA back from sanctioning existing TD's showcase events? Sanctioning established events would bolster NSA's rep with college coaches.

C. How well do NSA's world series events draw college coaches? NSA should learn by improving them before creating new showcase events.

 

[Mike_Craig_-_Ohio USSSA]

When we had this meeting at the convention, other than a show of hands from directors who host them, it was pretty much a lot of one person doing all of the talking and he was only doing so because someone from Queen of Diamonds? called him about hosting something in his territory this past fall.

It seemed like no one wanted to share what they are doing or what they thinks works in this meeting. I was asking a million questions as usual and these were some that got ducked or got shoulder shrugs. I think the real purpose of the meeting was to see if anyone wanted to take the ball and run with it so to speak, that is start some sort of showcase circuit. Me being eager to learn but also cautious, chose to keep digging after information before any kind of commitment was made. Not saying I would, just curious as I would not mind hosting one showcase/exposure event myself each season also.

I am not sure where we stand at our A World Series on college coaches radar. The A is usually placed and ran by our home office so I only got to work it when it came to Columbus at Berliner Park. I was busy working as a TD so I do not recall what the coach turn out was like. We had teams from about 7-10 states the last one I worked in 2008. so I am sure there was some interest. Teams from Ohio that have went to the "A"'s the past few seasons could comment better than me on that question.

SoCal even by asking questions, you threw several good ideas out in the open on how NSA could change it's visibility in that part of the market. I do know from my personal experience of dealing with a TD in the past that ran an event with us one year, he thought the roster rules were a headache along with the sanctions. I myself did not understand as the teams were going to have sanction no matter what association he ran it thru. I know he did not like collecting the rosters and insurance, but this is standard stuff for any associations events. Non-sanctioned is probably different but he wanted us for our umpires.

NSA made some by-law changes the last 2 national meetings that make this market a possibility especially in the fall; We went to what we call the ability to offer "paper" roster events in the fall and last year we started to offer "Fall-Only" sanctions. Paper Roster events are basically non-qualifying tournaments that use the original paper roster turned in that day. After the event, there is no release or eligibility issues to worry about.

The Fall-Only sanction is one where that the teams is automatically disbanded on Dec 31. Disbanded means that all players are released at that point without release paperwork being filled out. We had a couple of teams use this option because they had multi teams in an age group and merged them for the fall to get enough commitment to play a 3-4 event fall schedule. It was worth the sanction fee to not have to deal with the release headaches, etc.

Sorry if I am rambling. Just trying to answer points as I seek out info.

 

[SoCal_Dad]

Non-sanctioned showcases are primarily interested that teams have proof of insurance. It sounds like your paper roster model might work if expanded for the summer.

The answers to your question are going to vary regionally.

1. What are you looking for? Open roster pool games with a true bracket? Nothing but all star type games where coaches pretty much scout whomever playing for whomever? What amount of games is reasonable for this type of format? Does Friday/Saturday/Sunday formats work?

Most of our showcases are 5 pool games on Sat/Sun so college coaches know when everyone is playing and can plan ahead. Some offer additional games and/or a camp on Friday. The few with a bracket are single elim.

2. What fees are exorbitant? What is reasonable?

It really depends on the showcase's reputation for exposure - good ones can charge a premium.

3. What time of the year works best for these? Obviously spring is out because of the high school season, but do these work in early June, early July, any in August? September? How late in the fall do these occur? October? Early November?

Bad times:
- College season (coaches are preoccupied with their own teams from Jan/Feb through Apr/May)
- NCAA Dead Period for WCWS (week spanning end-May / beg-June)
- Colorado week (end-June / beg-July)
- ASA/PGF Nationals (week of 1st Sat in Aug and preceding week - PGF 14U/16U will be following week this year).
- NCAA Dead Period for early NLI signing (early Nov)
- NCAA Quiet Period (Thanksgiving thru Jan 1)

4. If you have an exposure team, what events are you looking for college coach wise? Would an event with mainly invitations for D2/D3/NAIA/JUCO coaches appeal? Are there such tournaments around? Do you select showcase events based off of what coaches you expect to attend?

You need a lot of responses for this.

5. Age groups: Is it safe to assume that 18u is already signed? Or is this a big segment that might still be looking? I know 14u at these type of events is a lightning rod, but is it safe to offer that age group? If 14u in the fall is ran, aren't those girls technically going to be 15 when the summer season starts and most are freshman/sophs in high school at that point?

Colleges have various recruiting timelines. Generally, the major D1's start early (14U & up) and the D3's recruit later (18U).

 

[JoeA1010]

Mike,

From a college coach standpoint, I will try to answer some of your questions.

As far as time of the year that is best, it depends upon whether NSA is trying to hold a national type of exposure event, such as Colorado or Team New Jersey or the like. If it's mainly exposure tournaments within a given region, such as Stingrays (although I see they are attracting a few teams from around the country), then the best date depends on what else is going on during a given weekend. For the most part, it's tough to break into the market and tournaments need to have some connection that will guarantee that top teams will attend. The Outlaws have started some PGF tournaments that are showcases in Ohio and their connection to top teams is Warren Wolfe's PGF directorship. It immediately gives his tournaments credibility in that good teams just know that other good teams will attend because of the PGF connection.

If I were trying to get an exposure tournament off the ground in Ohio, I would first pick a weekend (summer or fall) that did not hold a big, established showcase like Stingrays, and ideally a weekend without a big national showcase such as Atlanta Legacy (somewhat national, at least) or the week of Colorado. After that, I'd get in touch with the top several organizations (right now led by the Lasers and Outlaws) and coaches of the top 10-20 teams in the state and tell them what I had in mind and asking what it would take to get them to give a commitment. If you get the teams, the college coaches will follow. It doesn't matter whether you invite college coaches, that will make no difference when we're deciding what tournaments to attend. It's all about whether the good teams are there.

As far as age groups, if you're going for Div. 1 schools (especially the big ones), you need 14-U. For many Div. I schools and all Div. II schools, it's mainly about 16-U. Div. III could be at 16-U or 18-U and NAIA probably the same.

My guess on where NSA stands with college coaches with its A World Series is that Div. II, III and NAIA coaches in the area of the World Series would probably attend, but not likely to see many Div. I coaches, or even some Div. II coaches who need to recruit more nationally and might attend the PGF Nationals or even ASA A Nationals. I'm not bashing NSA, but I think that NSA just isn't on the radar screen of college coaches because it is not getting the top 20% of travel teams these days. I don't think many of us care one way or the other which sanctioning body is holding a tournament, we are going to follow the best players and teams, period.

 

[Fairman]

Mike
First of all good luck. You are going to walk down a path that has a lot of trails and tribulations.

In spirit of making softball better for the players I'll answer your questions from the perspective of a TD that is running a College Showcase type Tournament. (in PA) This will be our tenth year. We've grown into 150 team 25 field tournament with some 40 college coaches attending.

1. Most competitive teams will register with multiple sanctioning bodies and the rules on rosters are so flexible as to be virtually nonexistent. So what if the NSA actually bans a team for roster violation, that team can finish out the summer by never playing an NSA event again. Don't sweat this question. You're looking for teams not looking for reason to drive them way.

2. The fees seem to hover around $500 for a 5 game guarantee. A few more bucks for an established showcase and a few less for a start-up. The 5 game guarantee is important in that if a team is making the effort to come they want to play. Also having the schedule publish far enough in advanced that players can contact coaches and then coaches know where to go to see said player is important. Set a schedule and stick to it if at all possible.

3. You can't have your tournament when the High Schools are in season, the players can not come. You could overlap the high school playoffs with some limited risk that a few players can't attend. Most colleges are done well before the high season is finished so that should not be problem. The fall and winter seasons have some opportunity. However, I will warn you that we don't have much of a fall/winter tradition (at least in PA) of a substantial fall/winter season.

4. College coaches are a fickle bunch and it has taken nine years for us to deliver on that promise of a college showcase. In PA we have about 250 colleges within 120 miles of our tournament. Of those 250 there are less than ten D-1 programs. The majority of the colleges attending will not be D-1. The facts are that the majority of our players are not D-1 players and that 80% of our daughters will be going to college within 2 hours of home. These regional colleges will need to recruit about 1,000 players each year. I want them to do that at my tournament. Maybe eventually we'll get the top D-1 schools recruiting but in the meantime we will have exposed thousands of players to our local and regional colleges. If you are looking at a national showcase then ignore this advice. I've been actively recruiting the college coaches for the last nine years and it has finally paid off, good luck with this.

5. Make no assumptions. An 18U team can have players in all ages not just 18 year old seniors. Sometimes an 18 year old senior is signed and sometimes not. Maybe she thought she and a spot only to find the coach moved on. There are some tams that are signed and are playing for experience and love and then there are other teams that don't have a single player signed. We also witness several 16U and even a few 14U teams that will play up for the competition. The regional colleges do not recruit babies, leave that really truly outstanding player (baby) to the the D-1 coaches. Each team to selects to play in the Tournamnet at the A or B level. The A level will be more of the experienced travel teams and the B level will be more local teams. We encourage the players to contact coaches and let them know of their interest and where they will be playing but this has not really taken off yet as a concept. (We need Kirt to yell at them)


Additionally:
When the WCWS is running not all coaches are blacked out from recruiting, Different levels and groups have different rules.
Good umpiring is essential. You can't get a bunch of idiots to call the games or teams will not be back.
Never underestimate the value of flush toilets to a Girls fast pitch tournament. (Do I even need to mention cleanness of the facilities)
Don't irritate people with nuisance charges. Free parking free admission are recommended and will keep your manpower requirements down
Stay away form silly rules like no coolers. (A pet peeve) These families are trying to stretch a buck just like you. They will eventually run out of stuff and have to buy form the concession stand, just don't hassle 'em


These are our rules that are posted at each field after nine years they seem enough.

Please
No Tobacco, No Alcohol, No Drugs
No Open Flames, No Overnight Camping,
No Umpire Abuse And Pickup Your Litter
Be Good: Do Good


As I said; good luck.
We can all use another well run college showcase.

 

[gatorcoach]

$500 is very cheap for a Showcase Event. Example for Regional in OH would be Stingrays which is $850 this year. Some of the big National Events, for example Atlanta Legacy, can be $1400.