Diamond9 Showcase - Orlando - this coming weekend - anyone done this before?

riseball said:

Unfortunately this concept is lost on most people. Your players did not get recruited because of D9 attendance numbers. They got recruited because they worked the process. The number of coaches and teams attending is a moot point. What matters is if the coaches you have contacted are attending.

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Absolutely true. It's pretty rare (almost unheard of) that a coach just wanders over and targets a player without prior contact. But...if the girls do their work, the coaches will show up. The nice thing about D9 is that there are many, many coaches there, and unlike most of the showcases in our area, there might be 20+ schools attending that a player is interested in. So the odds increase.

Long story short, if your daughter's credentials are good, the skills video is sharp, and the email/letters catch the attention of the right coaches, it's a great place to be seen. If not...well, it's a nice long (expensive) weekend in Florida.

learning said:

Ugh. Good to know now I guess so I can get in the proper state of mind before going there.

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Manage your expectations and get those emails out!!!

riseball said:

Unless you are at one of the 6 main fields (10-15) at WWOS do not expect to see many coaches. Then again as with any showcase if you do not already have coaches coming to see your players and your plan is for them to just show up and get "discovered", you are wasting your time and money.

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HUH?! (in my best Scooby Doo voice)

You mean to tell me that we can drive 512 miles and 8 hours and 15 minutes one way, and we will be playing on the Rhubarb 4 complex over in Woodtickville?
Where the only sign of a coach from Awesome U. is a full sized card board cut-out of a coach propped up over in Right Field making the girls think they are being watched?
Oldest DD played in a Showcase this summer where there were 3 complexes. 1 main complex at a College University, and 2 subsidiary complexes that were within 10 minutes on the college complex.
Were heard rumors there were coaches around...but they were as elusive as an albino snuffleupagus.
My DD and I went over to the main college complex to scout out the coaches (to see if any were there) As we walked into the college stadium "Ode to Joy" started to play because there was 30-40 coaches watching one game in the main stadium. Watched the girl at 3rd base for the Bandits make a couple of awesome plays...my DD and I were hooting and cheering her on, the coaches around us got a kick out of that....
If you are on the elite list of teams, you will be playing at the best complex and watched by coaches you didn't even know would be there...if you're not, you'll be in the stands with your DD eating a hot dog watching those elite players and all of the coaches with their notebooks... as we were... (queue Metallica's "Sad But True"...)

What? Tons of coaches watching Bandits? I don't believe it. You're telling me the club team name has that much to do with it? lol

Actually, this is the 3rd year DDs have played in at this D9 tourney. Its a great time for us, we have played some very good teams and saw a bunch of coaches even at the Fortune Rd complex. But, two years in a row NO ESPN fields, not a single game. WE paid for 7 games thinking that might mix it up a bit. So, please don't tell me its not about the club team name.

BB875 said:

What? Tons of coaches watching Bandits? I don't believe it. You're telling me the club team name has that much to do with it? lol

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No, what I'm saying is Neo from The Matrix had nothing on this girl...speed and ball anticipation to no end!
They rotated her out, and my DD and I were yelling, "put her back in!" (seriously)
The coaches thought that was funny too.... I think they wanted to see more of her also.
That girl was awesome!
All I know was that it was 105* with the heat index on Sunday. And that's too hot for this guy!
Culver's (and our car) was our Air Conditioned home for those 2 days...

DDs played scrimmages at the ESPN Wide World of Sports fields in March.
...2 days before we left for Florida, I was snow blowing 2' drifts off of our softball fields back home.

Looked at the schedule and it is worse than ever. As I described before, to the South you have Winter Haven which will be a 1 hour trek for a coach from ESPN/WWOS. Then about another hour to the Northwest is NTC in Clermont which will arguably have the best fields of any complex. True fastpitch fields with 220' fences. But to the Northeast in Lake Mary you have the slice of heaven that is the Seminole County Athletic Complex. These geniuses got the bright idea to build a one size fits all baseball and softball complex in surface of the sun hot Central Florida and lay down artificial turf! D9 held a tournament there last May and it was hot! So hot the umpires and players literally had the soles of their shoes turn to sticky goo. You could look out over the fields and would actually see a mirage from the heat coming off the fields. It was so bad that D9 cancelled the event scheduled weeks later. I have not been back since but have heard that during summer tournaments they would schedule a several hour break during the heat of the day. At least you get a break for a meal and a quick siesta.

riseball said:

Looked at the schedule and it is worse than ever. As I described before, to the South you have Winter Haven which will be a 1 hour trek for a coach from ESPN/WWOS. Then about another hour to the Northwest is NTC in Clermont which will arguably have the best fields of any complex. True fastpitch fields with 220' fences.

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When Riseball says 'an hour' he means one way... So as a coach I have to leave ESPN (which is minimally a 30 minute exercise), drive at least an hour, park, wait to see the game I want to see and then return the hour to ESPN or further to other fields... and then park... So for a coach that means changing parks is at least a 3 hour activity.... Or they could just stay at one park where the 'best' teams are and make better use of their time.

We missed out on a few coaches seeing us play last week for basically the same reason - and those parks were only 10 minutes apart and the parking was a lot closer. We instead arranged to travel to the coaches and we threw a bullpen/hit some batting cage so they could at least see her live. Not ideal and not the same, but it was the only thing we could arrange that worked for the coaches who were looking at a lot of older players last weekend.

But to the Northeast in Lake Mary you have the slice of heaven that is the Seminole County Athletic Complex. These geniuses got the bright idea to build a one size fits all baseball and softball complex in surface of the sun hot Central Florida and lay down artificial turf! D9 held a tournament there last May and it was hot! So hot the umpires and players literally had the soles of their shoes turn to sticky goo. You could look out over the fields and would actually see a mirage from the heat coming off the fields.

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Nothing like forcing players to buy extra shoes because you don't want to spend the money on field maintenance and making the fields unplayable for 3 months of the year. Can't wait to boil at the new USSSA fields as well when they open.


And we absolutely need a sarcasm font.

BB875 said:

What? Tons of coaches watching Bandits? I don't believe it. You're telling me the club team name has that much to do with it? lol

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Would love to know how many of the players were signed/committed. As I peruse the schedule for the main fields for D9 I have to think that many of the teams are essentially done with the recruiting process. I have to think that they are there only to promote their brand often using players which they had no role in actually getting recruited.

We played this tourney regularly when I coached, my observations:

They do shuttle coaches to the 'HESS' fields (WWOS 20-26?) we did get plenty of exposure
here but not like the main fields as mentioned above. The main fields are primarily the
18U teams (Gold), lots of coaches. One year when 16U, we played a couple games at Auburndale
complex (this is a 30-40 minute drive from ESPN), we had plenty of coaches there on a Saturday
primarily because there were some renowned teams scheduled there. Also, we had some rain that day
that allowed our staff plenty of time to talk to prospective coaches regarding their specific needs.

This comes back to the same discussion: If the players are contacting prospective coaches (with schedule), and these coaches
are interested in seeing a particular player, coach will go to Auburndale, Winterhaven, Osceola etc to seek that player out.

If the players are not doing their 'job' in making contact then chances are coaches OBVIOUSLY will not seek them out.
This is not NCAA Football where coach comes and knocks on your door.

This becomes a game of numbers; if you have a roster of 12, each of whom contacts at least 2 coaches who are in attendance,
you will see some of these coaches, hopefully the team sends a player rep to do his/her 'job' as well. As a parent, do not speak to coaches-NEVER EVER.

Best of luck! If you are 'guesting- try to catch on with an Intensity team-

Final thoughts: October and January are very good and worthwhile tournaments, save the $$ in summer and play in a different region