We are looking for your opinion

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A quick note first, we apologize that we have been unable to answer questions or comment on our threads as we were banned for spamming.

However, now that this is behind us, it?s back to business. Thanks to all of you who have already registered, everyone involved is very excited about this first clinic, it?s going to be a great event.

For those of you worried about it being an outdoor event in November and the weather changing quickly, rest assured it is our policy to always have an indoor location secured in case of inclement weather.

We would like your opinion on the following.

The majority of those registered for the Diamond Edge Clinic on the 6 &7th November in Mason, Ohio are from outside the Ohio area, which is a shame since that is where it is to be held.

So we thought we would ask all of you why you believe this to be the case.

What?s stopping those of you from Ohio registering your softball players for this event?

Is it the cost? Is it just too much money to be spending right now?

Do you believe that what we are offering is not good value for money? (If you don?t know what we are offering check out our website) DiamondEdgeClinics.com

Are you attending another event perhaps on the same dates?

Would you have preferred to have your players seen by other colleges and universities? If so, which ones?

We are already being approached by other universities asking how many players are attending and from what areas and if it?s worthwhile for them to come and observe.

Do you know that if 148 players register for this event, (which is the maximum number we accept) there will be 21 college coaches that your players are 100% guaranteed to be seen by, that will be hired by us to observe each player individually and as part of a team. Also to instruct and give one on one evaluations

Do you also realize if 148 players register for this event, how many other college coaches will turn up just to get the chance to observe players? individual skills?

Help us to give you, what you?re looking for.

Let us know. Perhaps it?s something that could be rectified for this clinic or at least for next year.

We want to help develop softball in this area and hope to attract not only local universities but out of state ones also.

Thanks Lesleyanne

 

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Sorry, should have said current prices.

$315 per player
or
3 or more players signing up together $295

 

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Just a quick observation. You are looking for nearly $47,000 for a two day clinic. You pay 9 coaches to be there. Even if you pay them $1,000 each for the weekend looks like a pretty lucrative weekend for Diamond Edge Clinics.

 

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They are paying 21 college coaches to be there, as I read it.

Ah, what some people wont pay for a chance at a partial ride to college. LOL

 

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Let's see... it only costs roughly $40/player ($550 team entry fee / 14 players) for a three day weekend of high level exposure in July... and the college coaches attending are there "by choice" as in NOT paid. What's wrong with this picture??? I say give the $315 to your DD to buy college textbooks!

 

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Just a quick observation. You are looking for nearly $47,000 for a two day clinic. You pay 9 coaches to be there. Even if you pay them $1,000 each for the weekend looks like a pretty lucrative weekend for Diamond Edge Clinics.

If you had read the post correctly and we have 148 athletes, we would need to hire 21 College Coaches not 9. This gives the athlete a real chance to show their talents to prospective Colleges. We guarantee a 7:1 Athlete to Coach ratio.

We also have to hire 2 facilities to put the clinic on, indoor and outdoor.

We also hire a support staff over the 2 days of close to 15 to 20 people. We also hire Specialists in the field of Nutrition, Speed and Acceleration, a Certified Athletic Trainer to administer a state of the art Force Plate and Accupower Technology, to test the Bi-Lateral Power and Strength of each athlete.

We also have the usual expenses that go along with running any event for any sport, such as advertising and marketing and much more.

We pay ALL the College Coaches, and all their expenses to be here and evaluate the athletes. We hire them because we want them to give the athlete a Realistic evaluation of where they are in respect to their ability to play Softball at any level of College. College Coaches need to see, interact and personally evaluate these athletes.

We are also filming ALL athletes using High definition video and using the same software, Dartfish, as the Olympics, NFCA, Major League Baseball, The NFL, NHL, US Ski and Snowboarding Association and many other elite level sports organizations use. This gives us the ability to breakdown the biomechanics of the athletes movement frame by frame and if the athlete wants, to be able to have the most advanced Video Analysis lesson on the market for a fraction of the price. The athlete may also use this footage as part of their highlight media for Colleges. The price of these DVDs done privately run at a minimum of $800.00.

If you want to go and price everything we are offering the athlete you will see that the money we pay out is approximately 75 to 80% if not more of the total we bring in.

We are in this business to create an opportunity for us to offer the best high quality event on the market.

This is a business and I personally do not know any businesses that are not out there to make a profit. We are not a cash grab or fly by night organization.

We will not hold our events in places that are not at least of Collegiate Caliber.

We are offering a unique, very Professional opportunity to High School Fast Pitch Softball Players across the Nation to get the recognition they need and deserve.

Lesleyanne

 

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Lesleyanne,

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I assumed there were a lot of other expenses besides the obvious. However, I know the player market for colleges is a very competitive market. The top players are recruited very hard, so any coach or scout looking to build a quality, competitive program should want to be there! I guess I'm questioning whether they are there for the pay or are they really truly 100% there to evaluate the talent?

I looked at your website and as of now you have 9 coaches names listed. That is where that number came from.

I absolutely don't begrudge you a profit, you should strive for as much profit as you can possibly make, but the market will have something to say about how much that is. That's what makes this country great. You asked for our opinion and my initial feeling and probably that of others is that it is way too expensive. I hope this helps.

 

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We also hire a support staff over the 2 days of close to 15 to 20 people. We also hire Specialists in the field of Nutrition, Speed and Acceleration, a Certified Athletic Trainer to administer a state of the art Force Plate and Accupower Technology, to test the Bi-Lateral Power and Strength of each athlete.

Specialists and coaches AND support staff of 15-20? Seems like you could trim the support staff a little. My reaction, too, was that it was too expensive.

 

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Roto148,

No offence taken. I?m Scottish and we?re known for our thick skin. Been here just over a year and you people haven?t ground me down yet. LOL !!

On a more serious note I appreciate your second post, where you say it?s too expensive. That is the kind of feedback I am looking for. I believe we are offering an excellent quality clinic, perhaps lowering the cost is something we can give some serious consideration.

Any other feedback you give will be much appreciated.

Thanks, Lesleyanne

 

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Specialists and coaches AND support staff of 15-20? Seems like you could trim the support staff a little. My reaction, too, was that it was too expensive.

I agree. After scanning to find the price, I didn't even read the post

 

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Let's see... it only costs roughly $40/player ($550 team entry fee / 14 players) for a three day weekend of high level exposure in July... and the college coaches attending are there "by choice" as in NOT paid. What's wrong with this picture??? I say give the $315 to your DD to buy college textbooks!

What?s wrong with this 'picture' is that at the type of event that you mention, the coaches don?t have the time to watch every player individually so many players go unnoticed.

They also don't have the opportunity to spend time giving these players instruction, or to spend one on one time with them at the end of the day and give them a written evaluation as to where they feel they need improvement to play at the college level.



I hear the words ?playing in tournaments and showcases with the hope of being seen? by many parents and coaches.

The difference with our clinic is all the above, with the guarantee of being seen.

We are trying to offer an alternative for these players. So that in two days they can not only be seen by coaches but have 3 clinic instruction sessions with three different Colleges.
I?m sure that since you?ve taken the time to comment, that you have also taken the time to read what the parents and players are receiving for their money, so I won?t waste either of our time by listing them all.

So, by the time you spend $40 in the hope that players are seen, and have sent them to several different clinics also, throughout the year (correct me if I am wrong, but I?m only going on information from parents I?ve already talked to) amounting to at least $300 or more, why does it not make sense to have all of this and be guaranteed to be seen by many coaches all in a single 2 day event?

Thanks Lesleyanne

 

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My apologies for sounding somewhat sarcastic - let me try to address some of your points with opinions from our family's experience. Granted this is only OUR experience - so other's experiences may be entirely different.

As you know, college coaches attend showcase tournaments primarily by invitation of the players. The top tournaments will attract 50 or more college coaches. While it's true these coaches are primarily watching their "penciled-in" recruits, they are also seeing the other kids. These "other" kids will also have provided profiles for the coaches to take notes on. Rest assured the better players will ALL get noticed. If the recruit has done their homework, they WILL eventually get a phone call. This was the process for every player on my daughter's college team.

College players are recruited for their current skill level and attitude. A weekend's worth of instruction from ANY coach will not turn a borderline kid into a college player - they better have the skill set in place to demonstrate.

From a parent's perspective, the Kent State Camp (not QDS) costs less than half of your stated fee. A look at the list of college coaches in attendance at the 2010 event gives a perspective of the player:coach ratio. The more schools that are represented gives the recruits far more options and choices. Make no mistake - a camp/clinic of this nature is a tryout session.

I can understand that maybe you are in a building process, but I would think for the money you are asking that you would provide a much better opportunity for the kids by attracting a much larger number (and broader spectrum) of college coaches.

A fair question I would ask of you is what percentage of your past customers have secured an athletic scholarship, to what NCAA division, and what was the amount/percentage of the scholarship? After all, it's about results - and if those results are attractive to the majority of prospects, I'd say your fee is completely in line.

 

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Thanks to all those who have posted. Any other views, opinion and comments are welcome. Feedback is always appreciated.

For those of you who have asked questions, don't think I'm ignoring them, will get back to you sometime tonight when I have a little more time.

Thanks again Lesleyanne

 

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Sammy, Thank you for taking the time to post again, I do appreciate it. I agree with a lot of your comments.

We are trying to provide a much larger (and broader spectrum) of college coaches but we seem to have found ourselves in a catch 22 situation. For example a southern university says they will only commit if this is a full clinic. They need their trip up to Ohio to be worth their time. And the problem we have is that many people from Ohio are not signing up their players. (Maybe this is the price, but I?ll address this in a minute.)

I can, as showcases do, announce to all that I have invited 50-100 colleges to attend, (and they may show up) but our business has a coach guarantee, I can only announce those that I can guarantee will be there. We are very happy that local coaches are on board. We do have a lot of universities interested in this clinic, local and further afield. We have universities contacting us asking about player ACT and GPA scores as they are high academic schools and they want to make sure that there are enough players to make it worthwhile. These schools are contacting us, we never contacted them, so there is a high level of interest from a variety of schools.

With a full clinic (148 players) we can guarantee 21 coaches. If players want to be seen by a broader spectrum of coaches, then more people need to sign up. We do state that as more register, more coaches will be added. The most coaches we will hire is 21 but certainly others are more than welcome to attend and observe.

The very little feedback I?ve got from this thread (which to me is astonishing as we?re asking parent and coaches their opinions on what we can do to help their players truly be seen by college coaches.)

Pretty much all I?ve heard so far is a few opinions on the cost. I have thought about this (the cost) over the last few days.

If I thought that by reducing the price I could help players in Ohio be seen by college coaches I would. We live in Ohio and would like nothing more than to help local players.
But the amount of views this post has had compared to the handful that have replied (therefore showing zero interest in what we are trying to accomplish here,) which is an alternative way for their players to be seen, I truly don?t think this would make any difference.

This is our first clinic we have put together for softball, we know this type of clinic is hugely successful in baseball all over the United States and we thought we would try to bring softball players the same opportunity . I must say that we had previously been warned by several people that Ohio was not the place for this type of clinic, (for several reasons, which I won?t repeat as I do not want to offend anyone.) We thought differently and went ahead anyway. We live in Cincinnati and to tell you the truth we are a little stubborn and wanted to prove those people wrong.

I totally agree with this point you made, ?College players are recruited for their current skill level and attitude. A weekend's worth of instruction from ANY coach will not turn a borderline kid into a college player - they better have the skill set in place to demonstrate.?

But having that direct contact, the all important face to face time with these coaches is also of great importance. I believe getting that interaction with the coaches over a two day period as well as proving your technical ability, and allowing them the chance to get to know your character a little is also very important.

We are trying to hold an event that covers as much as possible in two days. We are also providing a skills video package which is now free to everyone attending this clinic. We are trying to cover all possibilities for these young women, but we can only do that if people put a little faith into an alternative.

I?m glad your daughter did her homework (We recommend all players coming to our event to contact the coaches before hand and follow up after the event.) I?m sure she will be successful; I wish her luck in the future.

Thanks again for your post.

Lesleyanne