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I am curious to find out an opinion on which organizations have historically had the best exposure fall and summer schedules for a 16u & 18u wanting to play D1 softball? And how many exposure tournaments in a summer?
Which organizations have the best 16u & 18u exposure fall and summer schedules?
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Go by past history, not future promises....base your opinion on that, not someone else's opinion since "best" can be pretty subjective.
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Isn't there a lot of levels or range in D1? You looking here in the Midwest, eastern half of country or all of country?
I would think you need to narrow your focus down.
Pick out tournaments that get a lot of D1 schools like Orland Sparks and Stingrays and look for teams that always go . If you are looking for the big D1 schools like Arizona and Florida I don't know where they go.
I would think you need to narrow your focus down.
Pick out tournaments that get a lot of D1 schools like Orland Sparks and Stingrays and look for teams that always go . If you are looking for the big D1 schools like Arizona and Florida I don't know where they go.
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Arizona, Florida, Alabama, etc tend to hit Legacy (more SEC, ACC), Boulder (look at previous post on another thread), Surf City, Orland Sparks, and the fall St. Louis showcase to name a few. If I saw correctly, alot of these tournaments are now adding a 14U division.
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The question should be, what girls at 14u should be joining teams that have D1 college exposure?
Ans: You better be around 6 foot tall and chuckin around 65 mph!, or batting around .600!
Ans: You better be around 6 foot tall and chuckin around 65 mph!, or batting around .600!
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Come on lewam you dont have to be 6foot and bat 600 and throw 65 to go d1.(dont get me wrong its help a whole bunch)but a young lady @ 14u may not have developed to there maximum potential . Not to mention i can count on one hand how many girls at 14yrs old that can do what you described....those kids are few and far between.
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I think that is his point. Are college coaches really looking hard at 14yr old kids if they are not super studs?
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Yea i guess your wright,he was speaking tounge and cheek... but i thought this was asking about 16 and 18u thats why i threw the whole 14u thing in there..but i digress..point taken
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Honestly, the best exposure is to go to school camps, NCFA camps, QDS, school camps, and oh, did I mention school camps? Going to exposure tournaments is great for a fairly high level of play, but there are tons of teams and players there which really makes it hard to stand out. For most kids, athletic scholarships involve a ton of legwork, letter (email) writing, skills videos, and invitations to coaches to watch the player at tournaments. Just going to exposure tournaments is normally not enough.
That being said, the Doom, Lasers, Miami Valley Xpress, Stingrays, Mad Dogs, Wolfpack, Nightmare, (Beverly and Toledo) Bandits, Louisville Sluggers, Team Indiana, Indy Dreams, and a plethora of others offer good fall and summer exposure tournaments. The number of exposure tournaments for a typical exposure team varies. In the summer we played in 4, and ASA States and Loudenville had a good number of college coaches watching games as well.
Len
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"Honestly, the best exposure is to go to school camps, NCFA camps, QDS, school camps, and oh, did I mention school camps? Going to exposure tournaments is great for a fairly high level of play, but there are tons of teams and players there which really makes it hard to stand out. For most kids, athletic scholarships invol...ve a ton of legwork, letter (email) writing, skills videos, and invitations to coaches to watch the player at tournaments. Just going to exposure tournaments is normally not enough."
I think this makes alot of sense, Say you are a 5'6" Junior who plays SS very well, bats .400 and has a very quick home to first time. This type of talent will rarely get picked up by random at a tournament by a passing scout/coach. BUT... say this young lady has done her part of the work and sent out video and email and has done Pennsbury, etc., this coach may want to check her out in live action to see how she looks on the field and (from what I've heard alot lately) how she interacts with her teammates and parents.
I think this makes alot of sense, Say you are a 5'6" Junior who plays SS very well, bats .400 and has a very quick home to first time. This type of talent will rarely get picked up by random at a tournament by a passing scout/coach. BUT... say this young lady has done her part of the work and sent out video and email and has done Pennsbury, etc., this coach may want to check her out in live action to see how she looks on the field and (from what I've heard alot lately) how she interacts with her teammates and parents.
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I believe a point is being missed here. You do not go to top tournaments to just stand out and get noticed. You invite colleges to watch. If you get noticed thats a plus. But thats not the reasoning behind it. Playing the top tournaments is only one part of the recruiting process. camps, communication with coaches and TB Coaches plugging for you fill in the rest.
Tim
Tim
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Agree, Tim ... playing in top tournaments helps make you a better player, and just increases the likelihood that a coach you've invited may come to watch you since they are more likely to be there watching other top players as well. But I don't think players generally get "discovered" there ...
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That's basically what I stated in my first paragraph. "For most kids, athletic scholarships involve a ton of legwork, letter (email) writing, skills videos, and invitations to coaches to watch the player at tournaments. Just going to exposure tournaments is normally not enough."
Len
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Wasnt directed at you Len there are always younger parents viewing the forums. Was more some of those posters than any one
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This is absolutely the truth. As Tim, I know from experience. Every coach we have talked to started out with research and personal emails. We received more response from personal emails rather than form emails by far. With the first DD we didn't realize how much more effective attending camps was. Also, hooking up with Miami Valley Xpress was a big help, the second DD's coaches Chris Curtis and Brittany Baker talked to coaches for all the players, heck up at Orland Park, even the 18u Xpress coach talked up my DD to coaches watching her. Along with your own legwork, being part of an organization that has people like that helps immensely.
I think the best advice is to hook up with a family that has already put a DD in school on an athletic scholarship and follow their direction....
I think the best advice is to hook up with a family that has already put a DD in school on an athletic scholarship and follow their direction....
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Lol....I figured since most of my posts are senseless and boring you just skimmed right over mine.:lmao:
Len
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I know that my daughter falls into an extreme minority with her experience, but I am a huge believer in playing at these high level tournaments because of it. She was being looked at by several Ohio/PA schools(D-1 and D-2) that we had done all of the leg work mentioned above. However the summer before her junior year she was accidentally "discovered" by a D-1 school we had never even heard of while playing at Orland Sparks. I did not get the story until later, but basically the coach was killing a little time between watching 2 players she was there to see, saw my daughter pitching, like what she saw and hung around. Then she followed our team to ASA/USA Nationals to watch her some more( we still knew nothing of their interest). All of a sudden one week before the Sept. 1, date when colleges could email her during her junior year, we get a call from her summer coach asking if she would be willing to go 900 miles from home to this school(first time we ever heard of the school). We discussed it and began researching the school which met her academic needs ( the first consideration) so later we made the trip out there. My daughter almost instantly fell in love with the campus and the people we met there. To try and keep this story short she loved it so much that she verballed that spring and even though the coach that originally recruited her was let go at the before she was a senior and could sign her LOI she was very happy when the new coach kept the offer in place. Now in 2 weeks she will be there as a freshman.
I am not suggesting that you do not do everything mentioned above ,but I don't think we should ever discount playing in these big showcase tournaments, It is so important because you never know what doors will be opened to you the more coaches you can play in front of.
I am not suggesting that you do not do everything mentioned above ,but I don't think we should ever discount playing in these big showcase tournaments, It is so important because you never know what doors will be opened to you the more coaches you can play in front of.
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Nope I read your posts completely, as much as I enjoy stirring the pot I like to have all my post info correct
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Nightmare 18u gold , Miami Valley express , Lasers, Doom, Stingrays, Classics ...in Ohio
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Msutt it has been a pleasure to be part of such a wonderful experience for all that was involved with Lasers Scarlet the last 4 yrs. Thank you and Kay for helping us with all of our questions. Great memories. Good luck Jen.
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