2012 Rising Stars Winter Classic

we are getting ready to head south to the rising stars winter tournament. looking for any comments, suggestions or feedback on previous rising star tournaments. thanks in advance ...

Heading to Ft Lauderdale 5,6,7&8th. I think it's called rising stars. Heard good things from the coach about it. Dd is 15 and this is her first big trip for softball.

Screwball said:

This is the top one the known teams from around here go to. Make sure the announcers have info on your team and daughter (it is on cable and live streamed/archived on the Web). It seems they ask for bios, but not everyone hands them in.... as well as the showcase coaches should provide handouts or a disk for the college coaches (if you are going to be seen by college coaches) and I would not rely on the coaches passively hunting for it.

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That is one the DD coach does for sure and that is promote his players. They have team bios all filled out with pics and each girl has a web page through the team that they are responsible for maintaining themselves.... pics, stats, major interests etc.

This is definitely a big step up for DD. She is responsible for 100% of all things team related on her own. Coach only text/emails the players for practice, requirements etc., they all carry their own bat bags, coordinating uniform choices from day to day.... I really like it lol I just show up and watch.

This is definitely a big step up for DD. She is responsible for 100% of all things team related on her own. Coach only text/emails the players for practice, requirements etc., they all carry their own bat bags, coordinating uniform choices from day to day.... I really like it lol I just show up and watch.

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This coach is training them for college. In college the players carry all the equipment and take care of everything themselves. It makes the transition much easier for the girls. The programs my DD played in had the girls sharing a room when they were on the road. No parents in the rooms. It really teaches them how to get along on the road with their teammates. The best thing about it was the girls were assigned rooms by the coaches. Nobody picked who they roomed with. It didn't stop it, but it sure did cut down on the cliques on the team.

Sparky Guy said:

This coach is training them for college. In college the players carry all the equipment and take care of everything themselves. It makes the transition much easier for the girls. The programs my DD played in had the girls sharing a room when they were on the road. No parents in the rooms. It really teaches them how to get along on the road with their teammates. The best thing about it was the girls were assigned rooms by the coaches. Nobody picked who they roomed with. It didn't stop it, but it sure did cut down on the cliques on the team.

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The girls are responsible for getting all equipment to and from warmups, and back to the vans after the games, choose where they are to eat within the budget and time frames btwn games, executing the warmups before hand etc. dd is definitely growing up quick lol. Now that she is carrying her bat bag everywhere she has lightened it to her glove, helmet and two bats. They did very well at the tournament and best of all had a lot of fun
A couple times when they were up on a team they even had to make sure that everyone got at least two at bats during the game. With 14 on the roster that led to some head scratching on their part and the scorekeeper too.

Now that she is carrying her bat bag everywhere she has lightened it to her glove, helmet and two bats.

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One of the absolute rules on my teams are the girls carry their own equipment. What I tell them is there is nothing in their bag their parents use. If there is a parent's glove or something in the bag. I tell them it's their responsibility to carry it. Then I tell them the words "My dad or my mom forgot" can not precede them telling me something is missing from their bag. Everything in their bag is their responsibility. I start this with my 10U teams and the parents love it.

Had a girl a few years ago try to get away with one. As I'm leaving the field after a game I see dad carrying her equipment bag. He's also carrying his cooler and chair while trying to keep a younger sibling controlled. She has nothing but her water bottle. I didn't say anything at that time. After the next game I told all the girls to place their bags together on the ground. I then made the offender carry each bag to her teammates cars, one at a time. The best part was the parking lot happened to be one of those that was a real long walk to get to from the fields. She had a good sweat worked up after that.

One of my biggest pet peeves is to see a parent loaded down like a pack mule with coolers, chairs, young kids and whatever else while also trying to carry their DD's equipment bag. In the mean time the kid is out running around the place with her friends. I've even stopped a couple of them and asked why? It's funny to see the looks on their faces when the realization hits.

Sorry for the thread drift, but... I instruct my players to carry their own equipment also. However, I wouldn't make a bid deal of it after I have dismissed them following a game. I might mention something, but I wouldn't discipline them publicly.

Kaizen said:

Sorry for the thread drift, but... I instruct my players to carry their own equipment also. However, I wouldn't make a bid deal of it after I have dismissed them following a game. I might mention something, but I wouldn't discipline them publicly.

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Maybe its not one of your team rules, but if it isn't I'm not so sure that you're doing them a favor. I'd bet Sparky's player won't ever be seen again not carrying her own gear. A DD not carrying her own gear gives the impression of being selfish and self centered. You never know when DD might be seen by a college coach.

However, I wouldn't make a bid deal of it after I have dismissed them following a game. I might mention something, but I wouldn't discipline them publicly.

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She was in uniform. When in uniform I tell my players I expect them to follow all the team rules and act accordingly. The only reason I did what I did was because she was not helping her dad at all. Had she been carrying some of the other things the dad was hauling I would have let it go. As I said, the dad looked like a pack mule.

The discipline worked great. None of the kids on the team would let their parents touch their bags for the remainder of the season.

If I saw it happen, I would probably remind them of the team rule at the time. By not saying anything at the time, I couldn't be sure that there wasn't some reasonable explanation. My approach would be to deal with it at the appropriate time instead of publicly embarrassing the player at the next game. Respect is a two-way street.