How to evaluate a TB organization for helping with college placement

[MNDad]

I considered KS and MO... IA??
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Iowa has more, and stronger travel programs than MN. Programs here have their hands tied with the local powers not allowing travel ball until 14U. We really only have two programs that can be highly competitive on a national level. (LLG and Speed)

 

[YOCOACH]

Although I love the previous posts and advice, let's not forget that first and foremost, it's the players' responsibility to contact the college coaches of the schools they are interested in playing for. Is it a plus that their TB organization has big name recognition? Of course. But the main marketing tool that all TB players have is themselves and the ability to reach out to the college coaches and say ' Hey, I'm here and I want to play for you. This is where I'm playing and when. These are the reasons I can help your team win.' Not necessarily in that order.

Playing for a big name organization that has a history of getting their girls recruited does not guarantee that your DD will get recruited let alone that they will even notice her. Think about it. Between the D1 and D2 schools, they have approximately 9,000 athletic scholarship to give out. The numbers may be slightly higher or lower but I am working in round numbers here so please don't flame me. There are approximately 550,000 softball players currently playing the game across the nation. What's the chance of your DD getting noticed when most of the other players are contacting college coaches and saying 'come look at me!' and your DD didn't. Many coaches have already set their number of athletic scholarships per year and have filled them by a 2 year prior quota. By that I mean that many colleges have filled their 2-3 open slots for the next 2 years of the recruiting classes and now many of them are looking at the 2019 class. That also means, if your DD is a Junior in HS, the chances are slim that she will get noticed by college coaches unless they have contacted the coaches earlier and let them know she is interested in the school and playing for their team... assuming that the number of the schools AS are not filled for that graduation year. No matter how many showcases she plays, unless those same coaches are looking for something in particular such as an absolutely huge stick meaning offense, they mostly are there to see the players they are interested in play. The chances of them watching other players are slim. Yes, there are instances when they are window shopping and might...and I mean might notice another player. But the chances are almost nonexistent. I'm not saying it's unheard of, just very rare.

I won't say that playing for a top organization across the country will not be a benefit. It will to a certain extent. I am saying that it's not an absolute necessity. Many girls get recruited on a daily basis from start-up and no-name organizations simply because they marketed themselves. In other words, the student-athletes and their families are mainly responsible for the recruiting process and their success.

Don't get me wrong, the right organization such as the one from N.J. markets to another world (the top 25 WCWS teams) as far as I'm concerned. Then again, personally, I can't afford $12,000 a year dues because they fly their girls to the top showcases across the country. Yes this is a true quote. I've been contacted by them once a month for DD to tryout for them for several years and once I found out what the fees were I figured I could pay at least a year of a good D3 school instead.

What it comes down to is it's the players and their family's ability to market themselves and make the various college coaches want to see them perform and get recruited...not the TB organizations or the their team's responsibility. It's also the players and their family's responsibility to pick a team that will play a schedule that will get them to the places/tournaments that those same coaches will be attending. It doesn't necessarily have to be with a team that will be playing every big name showcase across the country.