Importance of name of organization

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Oct 30, 2015
6
0
How important is the name of the organization you play for in the recruiting game? My DD has the option of playing for Option A: a good name organization with good players and an OK coach. The players will all be about her age (U-16) or she can play for Option B: a very good coach with better players, but no organization, just a team. She would be the youngest on this team, most of the rest are HS Srs. Both teams play similar showcase schedules.

She is going into her soph year of HS, and wants to play in college

Thoughts?
 
Jun 22, 2008
3,731
113
Our personal experience was while the name organizations may not have the better team, they tend to get the invites to the higher profile tournaments. My daughter played for a single team wildcat organization that was one of the best teams in the area. Yet when the coach tried to get into the Louisville CO tournament she couldnt get a place, yet all of the local name organizations were invited. It fell on deaf ears pointing out that our team had whipped the pants off of most of the other teams in any tournaments we had played against.
 
Jul 14, 2010
716
18
NJ/PA
The name is very important in my experience. Comp's correct...higher profile tournaments draw more and bigger coaches.

For the really big name orgs, just making the team seems to be a ticket to a D1 scholarship.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
Talk to the coach of the wildcat team and ask him about recruiting. My guess is that he knows the coaches at some colleges, and has an "in" with them. He probably can get your DD seen by those coaches. But, that would restrict the coaches who see your DD.

I'm also little concerned that the team is all HS seniors. Where does he plan to get his replacement players? Getting players without feeder teams can be a challenge. I've seen where a wildcat team has a few good years, and then suddenly can't recruit players anymore.
 

rdbass

It wasn't me.
Jun 5, 2010
9,131
83
Not here.
I'm also little concerned that the team is all HS seniors.
I too was concerned about the HS seniors. I would be asking if all, some or none of the HS seniors are recruited. If most HS seniors are recruited. Then how many showcases would the team being doing.
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
Our personal experience was while the name organizations may not have the better team, they tend to get the invites to the higher profile tournaments. My daughter played for a single team wildcat organization that was one of the best teams in the area. Yet when the coach tried to get into the Louisville CO tournament she couldnt get a place, yet all of the local name organizations were invited. It fell on deaf ears pointing out that our team had whipped the pants off of most of the other teams in any tournaments we had played against.

That is so disheartening to me.
 
Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
What kind of college interest have each of those teams garnered to this point?

If Team B has a bunch of seniors, you should be able to read what kind of success they're having getting college attention. You should also get a good read with Team A if they're 16U.

Everyone is correct that the 'big name' programs can offer a big edge in recruiting, but you also have to take each team individually. Some teams from big name programs are pretty ineffective at winning or getting their players watched.
 
Last edited:
Jun 11, 2012
741
63
DD is on a very good team that is the only team in the organization. There is a mix of sophomores, juniors and seniors. They have had more interest from college coaches than friends who play for the 3rd or 4th team in a large organization.
DD is getting interest in colleges she is genuinely interested in because she does the leg work and emails them to come watch her.

If your DD can play on the top 1-2 teams in a large organization then consider than but if they have 3 or more showcase teams and she would not be on the top 2 then I would strongly consider looking at a strong stand alone team
 
Sep 28, 2015
109
0
The org name helps ALOT. My DD was on an middle of the line named team - got into showcases but not the main fields. We should have switched but she liked her team and they played well together. The team just lost their HC and dads are taking it over so we decided to leave. My DD was snatched up by a big name team in the area and Just looking at her up coming schedule I know we made a mistake by not joining sooner. A few other local teams wanted her but we are going for the name this time. Unfortunately, just like in life - it's all about who you know !


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
The coaching staff is much more important than the team name. If the coach has no idea how to guide you through the recruiting process the team name is of little value. Unless you personally have success going through the process you better hitch your wagon to a team that knows what they are doing. Many coaches of "big name teams" will get you to spend big bucks traveling to the "right showcases" and then leave it up to you to "get discovered". Many of the big name teams will lead you to belive that all of their kids go to great schools. The reality is that most land a couple of kids in the SEC, PAC 12 etc. and the majority end up at Neverheardof U or Yawn State. :)
 
Last edited:

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,481
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top