To Showcase or Not?

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Jul 14, 2018
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I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but DD is a second-year 14U and we’re starting to think about 16U and beyond. She plays for a large org now, and the 16’s and 18’s are “Showcase” teams, meaning they do a lot of travel and play more showcases than tournaments.

This feels like a bit of a turning point for DD. She’s been pitching for five years, but I honestly don’t see her pitching anywhere but lower-level D3 — she stopped growing at 12 and never developed any velocity. She still enjoys it, and she’ll be a solid HS pitcher.

So my question is: if she just wants to keep playing but isn’t looking to get recruited, should she stay with the big org to see (presumably) better competition at showcases, or just play locally and attend camps for the schools she’s interested in academically? Will she have no shot at getting looked at without some showcase experience? She says she wants to play in college, but she’s realistic about her talent level.

DW and I are thinking about the cost, and the time demands with another DD going into her senior year of HS. I don’t want to be the worst parent ever by selling her short, but I also don’t want to be one of the delusional parents we’ve all been chuckling about on some other recent threads.


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Aug 19, 2015
1,118
113
Atlanta, GA
I think it's kind of hard to say at this point because COVID has changed so much about how people are going about recruiting. The advent of Athletes Go Live has made it so that you can get exposure from any tournament anywhere as long as someone is willing to work the camera, the scoring, and do the legwork communicating with coaches. It might not be necessary in the future to do all the cross-country traveling anymore. I think I'd give it a year before I made any big decisions. My suspicion is she will be able to be recruited without playing for the big org (read: expensive) teams, but I'm just a Mom, so who knows?
 
Nov 18, 2013
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Now is a good time for her to start thinking about recruiting so you’re on the right path. Getting her to local college camps will help her know what she’s looking for in a school and where she stacks up with other recruits. You may be surprised. if she’s thinking D3, have her also consider JUCO and NAIA. Similar caliber of softball and possibly some scholarship money.

Most large travel organisations have national and regional teams. Some even have teams that play local. You don’t need the top showcases for what you’re looking at. Just find a team that plays strong competition. Her HS coach likely has a good idea what local travel teams would be a good fit.

Best of luck!
 

Top_Notch

Screwball
Dec 18, 2014
512
63
DD plays for a large name org that attracts a lot of talent and travels a lot. I see kids go D3 in her org every year. I could be off base, but I would think it easier and better to over-play competition wise and choose a lower level D3 than to try and work it upwards. No experience, just thinking out loud...
 
Nov 5, 2014
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I think a significant variable in the answer to your question is what part of the country you are located in and what you consider to be too much travel. I'm in NY and my 16u DD hasn't played in NY for probably 3 years but I think it would be possible to accomplish your stated goal with minimal travel in many parts of the country.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
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DD plays for a large name org that attracts a lot of talent and travels a lot. I see kids go D3 in her org every year. I could be off base, but I would think it easier and better to over-play competition wise and choose a lower level D3 than to try and work it upwards. No experience, just thinking out loud...
If expense wasn't an issue this would be true.
 
Jul 14, 2018
982
93
I think a significant variable in the answer to your question is what part of the country you are located in and what you consider to be too much travel. I'm in NY and my 16u DD hasn't played in NY for probably 3 years but I think it would be possible to accomplish your stated goal with minimal travel in many parts of the country.

We live in southeastern PA, but DD plays on an NJ-based team. We’re lucky to have a number of showcases in the area every year. But I think the org makes a point of traveling to overnight events, it’s part of the experience.


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Strike2

Allergic to BS
Nov 14, 2014
2,044
113
Having seen a few, I've become a skeptic on the value of showcase tournaments to the average player's recruitment. They may have some value at the top, top level, but I think they're mostly a money grab that parents and teams think they need to chase to be seen as "competitive". Play at a decent HS and get some district / regional / state-wide recognition, and I think that does far more. If you're a decent player who wants to play junior college ball, you may not even need that.

Even before Covid, I didn't see any college coaches wandering around a showcase trying to discover their next star player. Successful recruiting begins with good marketing by the player. Getting on the coach's radar with good grades & test scores along with some evidence that you can fill a need and play at the level that the school competes at gets things moving. Doing well at one camp at the school you want to play for is worth far more than any showcase tournament. Coaches may then travel to look at players they already know about, but that could be any tournament that's convenient.

I agree with CMMom1740 about the livestreaming. The ability to record and even broadcast games means that college coaches will probably spend less time traveling. Last summer, I watched a very good team at a 16U Nationals that livestreamed every one of their games. A parent in charge of the Apple tablet identified each player as they came to bat. They appeared to be every bit as good with the player marketing as they were on the field.
 
Jul 14, 2018
982
93
You don’t need the top showcases for what you’re looking at. Just find a team that plays strong competition. Her HS coach likely has a good idea what local travel teams would be a good fit.

Best of luck!

Thank you, and thanks for the other thoughtful responses. The HS coach has a daughter who played for DD’s org, so I know what he’s going to recommend!! My priority for DD has always been that she develops the skills to be a solid contributor in HS, have a great time playing with her classmates. Maybe I’m just startled by having to think about the next step before she plays an inning of varsity.


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Jul 31, 2015
761
93
I suggest starting from the end result you seek and working backward.

What majors or schools is she interested in?
How far away is she willing to go, or not go?
How much have you saved for college?
How much are you as a family willing to spend to get her recruited?
How important is it to her to play in college?

I agree with top_notch about over-shooting. Much easier to scale down than scale up.

Also, what do you mean by lower-level D3? There are some top notch academic schools (U of Chicago comes to mind) that play low-level D3. Then there are top-notch academic schools (Emory, Williams, Claremont) that play high level D3. And there's everything in between, including some D1 and D2 schools that wouldn't hold a candle to high level D3.
 

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