At a crossroad

[benjey]

What about the coach/org. that is dragging his mediocre at best team every month to D1/P5 $howcases only to get blown out every game. Thats not fun. Review the results of some of the showcases and you will see teams that had no business being there. Gave up 56 runs and scored 2. IMO, the coach has a responsibility to choose appropriate and realistic schedule for their team in order put their players in front of colleges that match their skill level. And the parents also have a responsibility to choose wisely.

I actually think there are benefits to taking a beating once in a while.

1) players get better by facing teams that are better than them.
2) wake up call for the players that are not working hard enough that they need to improve if they want to play at a higher level.
3) wake up call for the delusional parents who think their DD is a stud that will be playing at Alabama.
4) reminder to even your hard working players that there is always someone out there better than you so you better keep working hard or you will fall further behind

All that said I don't think this should be the result every weekend but if a team plays a regionally competitive schedule then wants to throw in a Colorado and PGF/Alliance trip in to the mix I don't think that is a problem

 

[Eric F]

I actually think there are benefits to taking a beating once in a while.

1) players get better by facing teams that are better than them.
2) wake up call for the players that are not working hard enough that they need to improve if they want to play at a higher level.
3) wake up call for the delusional parents who think their DD is a stud that will be playing at Alabama.
4) reminder to even your hard working players that there is always someone out there better than you so you better keep working hard or you will fall further behind

All that said I don't think this should be the result every weekend but if a team plays a regionally competitive schedule then wants to throw in a Colorado and PGF/Alliance trip in to the mix I don't think that is a problem

Agreed. Last summer, my DD's team was invited to play in the TC Nationals 18U event. This is an invite-only event featuring the top teams in So Cal. We were pretty much bracket-filler. No surprise...we got curb stomped. There were a few moments of brilliance, and if we have gotten a lucky bounce here or there, we might have surprised some people. We did manage to inspire a couple of opposing coaches to blow up on their players. It was amusing to watch our super-slow pitcher (low 40s) have the batters from one of the most well-known teams in the country completely off balance...until the second time though the lineup. The experience, however, made us better, and we had a better showing in PGF the following week because of it.