1st showcase tourny this weekend

DD's team will be going to their first showcase tournament this weekend.
I know this is short notice, but would appreciate any tips on what to prepare for?

how different is a showcase vs a regular tournament? DD's in 8th grade while most of her teammates are in HS.

TIA!

They don't count wins and losses...there is no elimination games or championship game . College coaches wI'll he looking at everything...including does your daughter carray her own bag from the car....does she hustle on and off the field..does she walk or jog back to the dugout if she strikes out...do her parents rant and rave like lunatics or are they calm and encouraging. Enjoy and have fun.

You might see a lot of coaches, or you might not see any, depending on which showcase it is. Not all are the same.

By coincidence, my daughter played in her first real showcase last weekend as a guest player. By real, I mean that there were a decent number of college coaches there, and they were picking up the team literature at the tournament desk.

The thing that struck me as most different was that everything is basically an exhibition game since there was no bracket play, no ultimate winners or losers. So there's less intensity, less drama, less riding on every pitch. It's just kinda stale.

Example - We played a team that had a powerful-hitting D-I commit. We had two outs, nobody on base, count 1-1. In a 'real' game, you don't pitch to her in that situation. But we did, and she hit one 330 feet on the fly. And there wasn't much emotion spent on either side when it happened. As I said, it's like an exhibition. Not saying the quality of play wasn't good, or that players weren't playing hard. But there is just something missing in a drop-dead game where you're letting everybody play.

The HC on our team spends time behind the backstop talking to the Coaches. He makes sure the coach has a team bio sheet and asks what the coach is looking for or do they have any questions about a particular player. He pretty much has the AC's run the game so can be available to the coaches. One very important no no, do not approach the coaches and engage in chit chat, they want to concentrate on the players. Whatever you do, don't try to talk to a coach about your DD. The best thing for your DD to understand is to have fun and don't worry about messing up. These coaches understand better than most how difficult the game is and are more forgiving than most parents.

One thing DD's org harps on is how players handle adversity. It's probably worth having a talk about staying centered and what it can look like to react in different ways to all the little failures inherent in the game.

My DD played in two showcases this summer and we learned a lot. It might be too late but let the coaches for the schools that you are interested in know your DD's schedule - send a video if you can or at least a profile sheet. And bring the profile sheets to the games to give to coaches that may be interested in your DD - some hang them right on the fence. One of our showcases had lots of coaches there and it was very easy to see who they were - the second one didn't have as many and it was hard to tell who they were. And keep in mind that because of your DD's age the big schools won't be able to talk to her. I hope that your DD has a great experience!!

My DD is in 8th grade and played her first showcase a couple weekends ago. Her organization had a local college coach come in for a Q&A session beforehand. Things she said they would look at like mentioned above, carrying her own bag, attitude on and off the field, hustle, and interaction with her parents (especially after a bad game). Also, one of the biggest things she said was, at the 8th grade level pretty much all they were looking at is pitching, unless a girl is hitting bombs every time she's up to bat or one that has blazing speed. She was dead on with that statement. My DD's team is all 8th graders and only two players got asked about. One pitcher and a slapper/bunter that has a 2.7 home to first time. But, the girls all had a blast playing teams from five different states.

CoogansBluff said:

Example - We played a team that had a powerful-hitting D-I commit. We had two outs, nobody on base, count 1-1. In a 'real' game, you don't pitch to her in that situation. But we did, and she hit one 330 feet on the fly. And there wasn't much emotion spent on either side when it happened. As I said, it's like an exhibition. Not saying the quality of play wasn't good, or that players weren't playing hard. But there is just something missing in a drop-dead game where you're letting everybody play.

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My DD was in a scouting tournament and there was a girl like this there.
When she came up to bat coach ORDERED her to throw the pitch off the plate. My DD did, and WHAM, that ball just sailed over the fence. Blue motioned to the coach just how far off the plate my DD's pitch was.---About a good foot.

But see, that waswhat this girl was there to do, show the college scouts that she could hit home runs. Not get walked. She knew no one was going to pitch to her so she learned to hit it where it was being thrown.

And the line to talk to her after the game was extremely long.

Show the scouts what you have.

What above said...another one is when batting, if she gets 4 balls, she can take the next at bat if she wants a chance to show her hitting.

ThunderStruck8 said:

My DD is in 8th grade and played her first showcase a couple weekends ago. Her organization had a local college coach come in for a Q&A session beforehand. Things she said they would look at like mentioned above, carrying her own bag, attitude on and off the field, hustle, and interaction with her parents (especially after a bad game). Also, one of the biggest things she said was, at the 8th grade level pretty much all they were looking at is pitching, unless a girl is hitting bombs every time she's up to bat or one that has blazing speed. She was dead on with that statement. My DD's team is all 8th graders and only two players got asked about. One pitcher and a slapper/bunter that has a 2.7 home to first time. But, the girls all had a blast playing teams from five different states.

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I've always noticed they mostly like, pitchers, those big hitters and speed.