At what age is too early to attend a College Showcase Camp?

[riseball]

Wow, I learned something new today and I was hardly trying! Talk about home field advantage! I always assumed the umpires were assigned by the conference similar to football.

Technically they may be assigned by the conference, but the pool is small and if a coach has an issue with an umpire, they most likely will not be back. For most umpiring a game with top college teams on ESPN is as good as it will ever get. Why screw that up?

 

[nicelag]

I have yet to see any TB pitcher that was ready to pitch in the SEC. It is a world away from TB. MY DD was the NJCAA pitcher of the year and she will be the first to tell you she needs to up her game even more to be effective in the SEC. She said one of the biggest differences is the discipline at the plate.

Problem is these girls are verbaling so early, and when they feel they are committed to a college they think they are already good enough. They don't realize that when you play for top D1 school every batter in the lineup is the best batter you faced in travel ball, or close to it. There are no soft spots where you can coast. It's tough to train yourself to focus on every single pitch to every single batter.

 

[Mark H]

Some good advice in this thread. I'd suggest buying Cathi Aradi's book Book Information
Not much money for good advice and a full list of contact information for college coaches.

In any case, if you are going to send her, she should email a selection of coaches who will be in attendance giving them her schedule, jersey number, team and travel coach contact info, etc asking them to come watch her. The emailing is good practice and it's not at all too early to get on their radar. And by she should email them I mean SHE should email them. Not you. Sure you should proof read them before she hits send but don't smooth them up so much they sound like they came from you rather than from a smart 8th grader.

 

[marriard]

Have never seen an umpire call her for an IP, so not sure what her incentive is to fix it....I did hear that the UF coaches were "tweaking" her mechanics.

It is more likely Tim is spending time practicing the face he will make and the whine he will use at the umpire if it gets called.

Tournament, conference championships and WCWS will be conference/NCAA assigned but otherwise most of the blues will be assigned based mostly on distance. Most conferences subcontract their umpire assoc to a third party who is responsible to make sure their umpires are certified appropriately and are available. I know the crew that did the local HS game yesterday evening will be out at the local college games starting next week. Riseball is right - most umpiring crews doing local games are just that - local.