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If you are talking about the Under Armour Top 96 Academic vs. HeadFirst, there is no comparison.  We did both within a month of each other and the HeadFirst showcase was much, much better.  HF is more organized and there are many more opportunities to interact with the coaches.  There are more games in the HF schedule which means more live at bats and more opportunities to pitch with very little time sitting out for position players.  Top 96 had more players on each team with fewer games.

 

The HF showcase is the only one we have been to that I felt the players were truly warmed up and given their best opportunities to shine during the skills evaluation.  The staff had each position group assigned to a field before the skills tests and hit fungo, flyballs and practiced all throws for catchers.  

 

After I typed the above, I asked my son to read it.  He concurs.  

 

 

Thanks for the insight,It very hard to determine fact from fiction without first hand knowledge...
 
 
Originally Posted by Matty:

If you are talking about the Under Armour Top 96 Academic vs. HeadFirst, there is no comparison.  We did both within a month of each other and the HeadFirst showcase was much, much better.  HF is more organized and there are many more opportunities to interact with the coaches.  There are more games in the HF schedule which means more live at bats and more opportunities to pitch with very little time sitting out for position players.  Top 96 had more players on each team with fewer games.

 

The HF showcase is the only one we have been to that I felt the players were truly warmed up and given their best opportunities to shine during the skills evaluation.  The staff had each position group assigned to a field before the skills tests and hit fungo, flyballs and practiced all throws for catchers.  

 

After I typed the above, I asked my son to read it.  He concurs.  

 

 

 

My kid went to the top96 academic thing and we both liked it.  He has a very short list of schools and most of them were there and he got some great feedback from the coach assigned to him.  He was a freshman then so it was more for experience for him.  He is a soph now and will go again this summer.  One coach told me that this camp is great for a first look and that he would let us know if there was any point in continuing to keep his school at the top of the wish list or go to plan b.  have not been to headfirst yet. The top96 is close to home and relatively inexpensive so the overall cost to us is worth it for what it is which is opportunity to get in front of a handful of coaches that would cost a ton more overall somewhere else.  

For background, my son went to both - Top96 summers before sophomore and juniors years, and HF summer before his junior year. HF price is fixed (seems that it hasn't changed in a few years) and Top96 prices vary based on what and how many colleges coaches are in attendance. If your son is looking at the high academic and has a wide net (D1, D3..) then chances are a number of his schools are at HF. As a previous poster mentioned HF keeps things moving despite the huge number of campers. Top 96 gives you a write-up/evaluation from one of the coaches "following you" and collecting info. Top 96 has one game (second day), more than 1 game in HF. I liked how Top 96 shirt colors were differentiated by what class the player is. My son would say, "that kid threw gas for a sophomore." Top 96 was also accommodating for us to change showcases when my son suffered a collision in the outfield in a game the night before the showcase (no surcharge collected). Regardless on which way you go, your son should contact the coaches of the schools he is interested in who are scheduled to be at the showcase; and know something about the schools there. (Overhead a coach at HF telling another one that a camper thought the school was in X (incorrect) state."...  Lots of players were "tweeting away" at HF as to what game they were scheduled to pitch. Either can be a great experience;sometimes your lucky if the coach(es) of schools you are interested in is in the dugout with YOUR team. 

Headfirst, Stanford, PG National Academic, were all top notch for a high academic kid.  We have not done Showball Academic, so I'll defer to others.  2012 and 2016 each did a Top 96.

 

HF is more expensive.  It was also the best in many ways, but primarily in direct access to a large number of coaches who were / are on my sons' lists of colleges.

 

Once you have a vetted list of colleges that your son is targeting, find out where their coaches will be.  That really drives the showcases your player should attend.

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