Showcase spectator etiquette

[Mike-Oviatt]

Hello group. I am looking for a document to share with parents in our softball club that will highlight some of the recommended do’s/don’t for spectators at showcase tournaments. Some parents are more willing to respect the home plate area as a recruiter area and not an area for spectators to set up their pop up canopies. Some think it is BS that some college recruiters will walk past fields where they cannot easily see players.

What I am looking for a document which will be in someone else’s words rather than just me telling them.


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[Lance Steckler]

tell your parents to move or else. you want to make it as easy as possible for any coach to have the best possible view and easiest access to watch your team. Most showcase tourneys have taped off areas and shade canopies for coaches only to sit, behind home plate.

and just for reference and my experience, the teams with rowdy and complaining parents / fans, are not usually the ones with college coaches coming to watch anyway.

 

[Orange Socks]

Tell your parents to smile and cheer positively. Be cool like Fonzie! DO NOT chirp at the ump. That is such a bad look. Once saw the former UT coach watching a Bomber team. Coach did not like a call and was letting the umpire have it. Coach walked away muttering, I will NEVER recruit a kid from that team. So, it's not only the parents that could screw the kid, the coaches can do it too. In all reality, there are more unwritten rules for the players than for the parents. Parents just need to be pleasant, stay out of the way and not coach from the stands. Only the recruiter should approach a coach. I liked to keep my team profiles attached to my backpack instead of putting them on the fence. I want to engage with the coach, instead of passively let them grab a profile and walk away. Especially if I know a player has been reaching out to those coaches.

Pet peeve: Parent walks up and says, Hey, there's Mickey Dean over there. Have you talked to him? Uh, no. We don't have any kids emailing him, nor do we have any kids that could play there. No need to accost every coach. However, I would talk to a coach and say I have nothing for you, but how is your weekend going? Chit chat stuff.

 

[Vertigo]

Agree with Orange Socks - only the recruiter or coaches for your team should be chatting with the college coaches. Keep parents away from behind home plate, and also remind them that you never know who is sitting next to them in the stands. Not all coaches are obvious. Also, if cheering, it‘s a good look to cheer for all the players on the team, not just your own kid.

We had two parents on our team over the past few years whose kids got cut from our team because they couldn’t stay away from the college coaches.

 

[inumpire]

Here is the best advice I could give everyone.

1. stay away from behind home plate area.
2. parents should be seen not heard about anything when it comes to calls, or coaches decisions.
3. coaches should refer to number 2 when it comes to umpire calls.
4. parent should smile and cheer the team on in a 100% positive manner. And NOT cheer when the other team drops a fly ball…..you won’t like it when the other team cheers your DD failures.

 

[JayW]

this is what our parents received in groupme from our coach for a showcase a few weeks ago

 

[CoachJD]

DO NOT chirp at the ump. That is such a bad look.

If want to chirp at the ump. Go on the other team's side and complain about all the bad calls that went in your DD's favor.

 

[Westwind]

Stay away from the dugout.

If your player isn’t on the field, don’t even look at her.

Do not communicate with daughter during the game FOR ANY REASON. Glances, nods, and nonverbal communication between players and parents are noticed by pretty much everyone. For the love of all that is good, don’t take food or water or pain reliever to the dugout. Make sure it’s already in her bag. Whatever she starts the game with is what she will have until the game is over. She will live.

Tell your daughter about the above and make sure she understands that there is a different procedure going on from here on out. (See above.). Do this from now on, make it habit.

Be on your best behavior from the moment you and your daughter enter the parking lot until you leave the parking lot. Game face at all times.

Phones should be out of sight pretty much everywhere a coach could see you. Keep it in the bag. The only thing they should be doing with it is updating coaches about game times. (I think this rule is relaxing but it was a hard and fast rule on a team dd was on and I liked it.)

 

[riseball]

Be invisible. Nothing you say or do will help get your DD recruited. Your one and only job is to support her and not screw things up. The good book says that Samson killed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an a$$. Every year many more kids have their recruiting opportunities suffer the same fate.

 

[Westwind]

Be invisible.

Yes! I like this!