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radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
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Just noticed on the cws chart how many more games started being played. Within 10 years!
Ucla from 42 to 69
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
Softball might have some differences in talent levels but, to be honest, these national tournaments are now seeing huge numbers of teams representing the midwest. My dd played in 7 states when she was 12. More and more top level teams are hitting the road now. In fact on this site, I told a story of one year where some freshmen parents where I coach wanted to attend tryouts. I believe that their goal was to see just how much better there girls were than those on the varsity. One had the nerve to tell us how many local tournaments those girls had won and she had the stats. She said that most of the girls on the varsity didn't play in any of those tournaments. Although I was pretty hot that a parent would come up like this before the tryout, I listened and then called my dd over. I ask the kid to name the states she played in and the tournaments that they place in. She listed Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and our state. I told the mom to sit down. I also said that many of these players on the varsity don't play local tournaments. They play against the best teams in the country. Three of those varsity players went on to break their college's home run records.
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
Softball might have some differences in talent levels but, to be honest, these national tournaments are now seeing huge numbers of teams representing the midwest.




My dd played in 7 states when she was 12. More and more top level teams are hitting the road now. In fact on this site, I told a story of one year where some freshmen parents where I coach wanted to attend tryouts. I believe that their goal was to see just how much better there girls were than those on the varsity. One had the nerve to tell us how many local tournaments those girls had won and she had the stats. She said that most of the girls on the varsity didn't play in any of those tournaments. Although I was pretty hot that a parent would come up like this before the tryout, I listened and then called my dd over. I ask the kid to name the states she played in and the tournaments that they place in. She listed Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and our state. I told the mom to sit down. I also said that many of these players on the varsity don't play local tournaments. They play against the best teams in the country. Three of those varsity players went on to break their college's home run records.
Hearing midwest destination for recruitment camps comming up.
 
Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
I’d say the Midwest is close to the Southeast. When DD was in travel there were roughly a dozen MN kids playing for the big name programs in GA, AL and NC. The Chicago area rivals anywhere outside of California.
 
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radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
Could be where colleges are allowed to host camps will be the reason for more recruitment opportunists heading to midwest? No camps west coast bordering pacific ocean, will yet have to be seen.
 
Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
I’d say the Midwest is close to the Southeast. When DD was in travel there were roughly a dozen MN kids playing for the big name programs in GA, AL and NC. The Chicago area rivals anywhere outside of California.
Illinois area rivals anywhere outside of Cali. Fixed it for you, lol.

Illinois is a hotbed due to the remnants of men's fastpitch. When those guys quit playing, they started coaching. That established a strong women's tradition. I also believe that it helps that we play spring high school softball. I think people underestimate the value that we are playing hs when colleges are playing so there are no conflicts that prevent recruiting.

It takes six plus hours to drive from the top of the state to the bottom, the Bandits and the Chill don't have the market cornered, and a lot of their players are not from the Chicago area. The Bandits pitcher that won PGF Nationals last year was from central Illinois. I think she pitched almost every inning. I'm pretty sure her pitching coach was a former men's player. (A family member if I remember right.) Then you have the "metro east" area which is the Illinois side of the St. Louis area. TONS of good players there. (Thanks in part to Cannonball!)

The University of Illinois should be a powerhouse in the Big 10. They have in my opinion a very good coaching staff. They should be recruiting heavily from within the state. They can't. What limits them is recruiting. U of I is expensive, they don't have much flexibility to fill in the gaps with non-athletic money. They also have a situation where they can't assure players that their money isn't year by year. Their softball facilities are spread out and pretty inadequate. When you attend a camp there, it is a spread out mess. It's a turn off. All of the above makes Illinois players easy to poach.

Iowa Premier has a larger and larger percentage of Illinois players- as well as midwest states that border Iowa and beyond. BTW, their best coach is from Southern Illinois. (The "real" southern Illinois, not Peoria, lol)
 
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radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
Illinois area rivals anywhere outside of Cali.

Fixed it for you, lol. Illinois is a hotbed due to the remnants of men's fastpitch. I also believe that it helps that we play spring high school softball. I think people underestimate the value that we are playing hs when colleges are playing so there are no conflicts that prevent recruiting.

It takes six plus hours to drive from the top of the state to the bottom, the Bandits and the Chill don't have the market completely cornered, and a lot of their players are not from the Chicago area. The Bandits pitcher that won PGF Nationals last year was from central Illinois. I'm pretty sure her pitching coach was a former men's player. (A family member if I remember right.)

The University of Illinois should be a powerhouse in the Big 10. They should be recruiting heavily from within the state. They can't.They have in my opinion a very good coaching staff. What limits them is recruiting. U of I is expensive, they don't have much flexibility to fill in the gaps with non-athletic money and their softball facilities are spread out and pretty inadequate. When you attend a camp there, it is a spread out mess. It's a turn off. All of the above makes Illinois players easy to poach.

Iowa Premier has a larger and larger percentage of Illinois and Wisconsin players as well as other bordering states.
Could be very accurate about Illinois
Program facilities do effect recruitment....
Takes athletes to step up regardless and build the program!
 
Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
Could be very accurate about Illinois
Program facilities do effect recruitment....
Takes athletes to step up regardless and build the program!
The softball stadium is in a weird out of the way place on campus. It's very dated. They need to drop an indoor hitting facility right next to it and update the stadium as a bare minimum.

The problem for midwest softball stadiums is that they don't get used much so it is hard to justify spending money on them. Home games don't really start until conference play begins because of weather. Also U of I, like every state university except Illinois State and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, is in perpetual money trouble.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Illinois area rivals anywhere outside of Cali. Fixed it for you, lol.

Illinois is a hotbed due to the remnants of men's fastpitch. When those guys quit playing, they started coaching. That established a strong women's tradition. I also believe that it helps that we play spring high school softball. I think people underestimate the value that we are playing hs when colleges are playing so there are no conflicts that prevent recruiting.

It takes six plus hours to drive from the top of the state to the bottom, the Bandits and the Chill don't have the market cornered, and a lot of their players are not from the Chicago area. The Bandits pitcher that won PGF Nationals last year was from central Illinois. I'm pretty sure her pitching coach was a former men's player. (A family member if I remember right.) Then you have the "metro east" area which is the Illinois side of the St. Louis area. TONS of good players there.

The University of Illinois should be a powerhouse in the Big 10. They should be recruiting heavily from within the state. They can't. They have in my opinion a very good coaching staff. What limits them is recruiting. U of I is expensive, they don't have much flexibility to fill in the gaps with non-athletic money. They also have a situation where they can't assure players that their money isn't year by year. Their softball facilities are spread out and pretty inadequate. When you attend a camp there, it is a spread out mess. It's a turn off. All of the above makes Illinois players easy to poach.

Iowa Premier has a larger and larger percentage of Illinois players- as well as midwest states that border Iowa and beyond.
There are good players everywhere but outside of CA and maybe TX I don’t think there are enough good ones in any given state to fill multiple (>3 or so) teams that can compete at the National level. Weather plays a part for sure but also “tradition”. Even in MA growing up, different parts of the state were better known for different sports.
 
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radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
Not to push this chat a different direction...Speaking of changing times,
the outflux of california residents may start influencing others states.
Or could it?
 

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