Arizona Fall Junior Classic 2016

Great info.  Keep us posted if you hear from any coaches.  Would like to know how it works.  Thinking of taking my 2019 next year.  How and when do you sign up for the academic tryouts?  Is it open to every one who qualifies academically?

FWIW -- I'm not sure of exact NCAA rule -- but the coaches are not able to talk to the players at the Junior Fall Classic.  We learned about it last year...  

Anyone with a 3.7 GPA or 1200 SAT (new version)/ 27 ACT score can apply for the tryout.  Not everyone is picked for the tryout.  Tryout consists of 60 yd. dash, defensive workout, and two rounds of hitting.  A LOT of kids tryout but as Gov said they whittle the numbers down to two manageable teams.  The game is very well scouted, but so are the tryouts themselves.  Just getting to tryout is a nice way to be seen by a captive audience.  There are no other games going on during the tryout, so the scouts/recruiters are there in force.

You can sign up for the tryout as soon as the next AZ Fall Classic event is posted, but you won't hear if you're selected for the tryout until late  September, just before the event.

Any idea how they "select" the ones to tryout? Do they base it on academics? Clearly they haven't seen the kids play so can not be based on skills. Has anyone heard any kids got denied? So far anyone who applied seemed to have been selected to tryout.

Other question (I remember it's already discussed somewhere): it seems logical that if you are aiming for D1 you go to the Junior event; if you aim for D3 you go to the Senior event. True?

I had an email exchange with the tournament owner before the 2015 Jr. Classic, and she told me that they had not turned away anyone up to that point for the Jr. Classic, though they do for the Sr. Classic. I do not know what their criteria are.  Test scores + reputation of kid's travel team?  Just a guess.

As for your second question, that makes sense if you assume that most D1 schools have gotten all their commits for the following year by the time of the Sr event, and that D3 schools don't get commits until fall of players' senior year.  But there's some wiggle room around each of those assumptions.

Bogey, to be selected for the tryout they review academics and skills video.  I was told it's easier to gain entry to the Junior HS event because people are just learning about the event and the players don't have enough graded semesters for the high academic colleges to be looking seriously at them.

For the Senior HS event you'll have more kids scrambling to be seen due to their short time line to get an offer.  Good for the D3's, it's a one day or weekend event to get a last look to fill their roster needs. 

There's likely some truth to the D1 jr classic/D3 sr. classic distinction.  However, my 2017 got some mid-major D1 interest coming out of this year's sr. classic, and several D3s got in touch with him as well, both at the event and by email a few days later.

Gov, how did the skills video work?  We didn't submit any for the tryout; wondering if it might have been useful to get selected for the actual game.

smokeminside posted:

There's likely some truth to the D1 jr classic/D3 sr. classic distinction.  However, my 2017 got some mid-major D1 interest coming out of this year's sr. classic, and several D3s got in touch with him as well, both at the event and by email a few days later.

Gov, how did the skills video work?  We didn't submit any for the tryout; wondering if it might have been useful to get selected for the actual game.

It was an item asked for on the application.  We figured we'd include the video to increase the odds of being selected.  I'm not sure if it influenced his selection for the game or not... I guess it could have put him on the radar...

At the tryout he performed well and it's a small pond in a way - kids with a 3.7 that can play.

Minor note: the game was pitching dominated, only a few kids hitting, and the same 2-3 kept hitting.  My son had 2k's & F3, so his bat was off at the game, which was a bummer because it was in front of maybe 8 of his target schools.  

Next...

The Academic try-out / all-star game is a A+ event. My son did it in 2014 . Lots of schools and

yes, the coaches do not speak to the rising Jrs. But they do email.

Uncommitted guys need to follow up w/ emails to coaches in attendance. Expressing interest in the schools and updating them on standardized testing prep work or test scores

Bogeyorpar posted:

Any idea how they "select" the ones to tryout? Do they base it on academics? Clearly they haven't seen the kids play so can not be based on skills. Has anyone heard any kids got denied? So far anyone who applied seemed to have been selected to tryout.

Other question (I remember it's already discussed somewhere): it seems logical that if you are aiming for D1 you go to the Junior event; if you aim for D3 you go to the Senior event. True?

I definitely think there is something to this. My son, a 2018, attended the Senior event and, while their were a pretty good number of recruiters watching when he pitched, the only D1's I spotted were schools there because we had pre-arranged it. The VAST majority standing there were from D2's, D3's and JC's - lots of JC's.

Gov posted:

smokeminside posted:

There's likely some truth to the D1 jr classic/D3 sr. classic distinction.  However, my 2017 got some mid-major D1 interest coming out of this year's sr. classic, and several D3s got in touch with him as well, both at the event and by email a few days later.

Gov, how did the skills video work?  We didn't submit any for the tryout; wondering if it might have been useful to get selected for the actual game.

It was an item asked for on the application.  We figured we'd include the video to increase the odds of being selected.  I'm not sure if it influenced his selection for the game or not... I guess it could have put him on the radar...

At the tryout he performed well and it's a small pond in a way - kids with a 3.7 that can play.

Minor note: the game was pitching dominated, only a few kids hitting, and the same 2-3 kept hitting.  My son had 2k's & F3, so his bat was off at the game, which was a bummer because it was in front of maybe 8 of his target schools.  

Next...

 

Just submitted my son's application for the 2019's AZ Fall Classic Junior All Academic game in October 2017, but they did not ask for a video link on the application, just the GPA or SAT/ACT Scores, High School, email for school counselor...and not surprisingly my credit card number :-( . Just as an FWIW, video was not asked for.

SanDiegoRealist posted:

Gov posted:

smokeminside posted:

There's likely some truth to the D1 jr classic/D3 sr. classic distinction.  However, my 2017 got some mid-major D1 interest coming out of this year's sr. classic, and several D3s got in touch with him as well, both at the event and by email a few days later.

Gov, how did the skills video work?  We didn't submit any for the tryout; wondering if it might have been useful to get selected for the actual game.

It was an item asked for on the application.  We figured we'd include the video to increase the odds of being selected.  I'm not sure if it influenced his selection for the game or not... I guess it could have put him on the radar...

At the tryout he performed well and it's a small pond in a way - kids with a 3.7 that can play.

Minor note: the game was pitching dominated, only a few kids hitting, and the same 2-3 kept hitting.  My son had 2k's & F3, so his bat was off at the game, which was a bummer because it was in front of maybe 8 of his target schools.  

Next...

 

Just submitted my son's application for the 2019's AZ Fall Classic Junior All Academic game in October 2017, but they did not ask for a video link on the application, just the GPA or SAT/ACT Scores, High School, email for school counselor...and not surprisingly my credit card number :-( . Just as an FWIW, video was not asked for.

Excellent event. Video isn't important . Just GPA / Test scores. The try-out part of the event is stacked w/ schools as is the all-star game in the evening.

Good luck!

I'm not sure if the itinerary is the same for the Junior Classic as it is for the Senior one, but be sure to let your travel team coach know that your son may be invited to the tryout and that he could be selected for the Academic Game that night.  They now have scheduled other games and activities for that same Thursday, so there could be a conflict with his travel team schedule.  Better to be safe than sorry and tell the coach of your plans.

My 2017's team was cool with it, but his day consisted of going to the morning tryout and throwing about 50 pitches or so in the warm-up, tryout, and video they make to watch later to decide to who to pick, then back to catch 3 innings for his travel team game, then back to the main stadium to pitch an inning in the night game academic showcase.  It was quite a day but he loved every minute of it. 

I included video in an email I sent directly to AZ Junior Classic, parallel to completing the application.  At the time we were searching for a team for my son to play on and I thought it would help the process.  I apologize, I may have mentioned I submitted a video link on the application, that was incorrect.

I only wish we had thought about the ACT testing dates.  Son was already signed up for ACT and he wanted a score prior to going to HF Jupiter in Nov.  So son didn't play in the weekend tourney.  

Side note: I thought the pitching performances at AZ Junior Academic were superior to HF.  More kids throwing harder, and better 2nd and 3rd pitches. I now know why there were 40-50 D1's including all Ivy's in attendance.