The bad part is that most of the coach's anymore are not worried about all the girls on the team just there own daughter so it seems like they go to these organizations to maybe get there daughter seen while the other kids have to just kind of tag along. We tired that for one season then had to move on i am not looking for my kid to be the superstar but if your going to coach then you should coach all the girls not just yours or the other coach's kids.
Organization question
- Thread starter RCraig
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It's a pyramid scheme. Each kid has to pay a monthly fee that the state organizer gets a percentage of then the rest goes to mr. R/$o. More teams means more money. It's now about the name at the end of the organization team that coaches watch, not the organization name.
You can play for a firework team, but if it has the name smo at the end and not a noted named it won't matter. College coaches have relationships with noted coaches, not the org.
It's sad that these people that started these organizations for the right reasons have sold their souls for the mighty buck. They now have teams wearing their brand that are glorified rec ball teams.
The best one I have seen is the SoCal Athletics-Florida.
I think every team that is left out of the power pools is looking to grab a name to help them. Just because you have a name doesn't help when the brand has been watered down because the organization is not selective about who they accept.
I think every team that is left out of the power pools is looking to grab a name to help them. Just because you have a name doesn't help when the brand has been watered down because the organization is not selective about who they accept.
But it DOES help if your team or the local state director is selective and frankly some big orgs give a lot more support to every team in the org than others. We decided very early that we would make sure we got value for money, we did a lot of research including a lot of advice from here, and we have got the value because we made sure we did. And when we did do that, the HQ of the org we are involved in has been very supportive and active with us. A lot of teams just buy the name and then don't bother going beyond that and then are disappointed. We have NOT fallen into that trap.
It is 100% clear that taking on a name gets you more attention. How much is somewhat up to your team.
Now if you can't perform, then it isn't going to help, but there is NO doubt that when we transitioned a very good team into a bigger org we got better fields (not the best, but better), more looks (coaches would at least stop and look at our field even if as one put it "just to see if it is a good team from the org, or a just a team"), and when we performed on top of that it has made it easier to to get into the showcases we wanted to attend and so on.
If anything made it clear to me that we had made the right decision it was when tournament directors started taking our phone calls or calling us (even if it was just to complain that we were ruining softball in the area but not joining their big org).
- Nov 29, 2009
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And I think you'll find Big Tournament TD's will start to look harder at these counterfeit/knock-off teams as their proliferation keeps expanding.
They will not get the main complex fields or power pools.
- Feb 3, 2016
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When the big organizations get squeezed for cash they seem to advertise all the girls going to college. Like stated for the last 20 posts its mostly about the cash. Several teams in each age group. When you look into the teams with all the girls committing to college the top teams seem to have girls on the team from all over the country. Short term Cash vs. Reputation and I can tell you in my part of the world bad coaches get run quick. Lucky to see 2 seasons although we do have a couple of .300 lifetime win percentage coaches that seem to survive somehow.
That's the biggest problem we have around here the coaching is terrible well the lack of i think some of these guys could do a good job if they wanted to but they are more worried about there daughters and making sure everyone sees them. We have a lot of talented kids in the area that i live in but unfortunately if they want to get better or have a shot at a good team we have to travel at least 2 hours to find the better teams that want to teach and make the kids grow. It would be awesome to see some of these dad and mom coach's lose there ego's and go back to trying to build quality teams.
D9 this week had the new FC, vipers, batbusters playing in BFE, so they're catching on. It's about relationships, not the brand.
PS. If your kid goes to camps and makes relationships with coaches it doesn't matter what team or field you play on. The coach will come see you if they're interested.
PS. If your kid goes to camps and makes relationships with coaches it doesn't matter what team or field you play on. The coach will come see you if they're interested.
- Jun 12, 2015
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I can understand wanting the big name. We've really only got one bracket level pitcher, even after moving to a bigger name from last year. We're not one of the big 3 around here, and finding the higher level players is tougher. Vipers, Bullets, Impact - all their 06 teams seem to have 3+ bracket pitchers. We could have the same girls, same coaches, same everything - call us Vipers and it changes everything. The tryouts are very different for the big name orgs. It's a lot easier to put together a team that can compete in higher level tournaments. I'm afraid the orgs that have been high B/low A around here are adding teams so indiscriminately that the gulf between the big 3 and everyone else will just continue to grow, too. HC is a development guy; we have some truly great raw talent. He helps the girls develop...then they get snatched up by the Bullets/Vipers/Impact. That's just how it goes I guess.
Definitely do your research. An organization that has been around a while is going to have most of the kinks worked out, but they may also be very set in their ways or have big egos up top. Smaller organizations are going to be more about building individual teams and developing young players. I feel like big organizations are more about the bigger picture, recruiting and community. We are with a large organization in Georgia (not one of the big three though) and have been there for four years. This is our fifth year with them. There were 2 10u teams (our age group) when we started, and there are 5 14u teams this year (we are first year 14s). There are six or seven big organizations in Georgia now (Bullets, Vipers, Impact, GA Power, Atlanta Premier, Firecrackers, Glory) and they are eating away at the smaller organizations one team at a time for better or worse. The plus is definitely better recognition, best pools in qualifiers and showcases, years of recruiting experience, and oversight to protect your investment. We turn in a budget throughout the year along with bank statements of deposits and payments, turn to other coaches within our organization for guidance and help, some fundraising is coordinated, spirit wear purchasing is organized, uniforms are laid out for you to order, discounts for ordering in bulk (uniforms, bats, bags, spirit wear, cleats), and much more. We do banquets a couple of times a year as an organization, we do volunteer work together in our communities, we fundraise for good causes. It isn't all about softball. It is about building the young athletes into awesome adults. Our large organization offers a lot of these awesome features, along with some egos and politics. We take the good with the bad, I guess.
