Demarini top 96

You pay the fee, you're in. It's not selective and you got an invite because someone got your e-mail and submitted it to them. That person receives a kickback if you sign up.

anyone with experience with the Demarini clinic/camps? the head coach clinic set for Las Vegas has some good coaches/schools..

They used to be TPX Top 96. They offer instructional clinics, as well as, exposure to college coaches in one camp.

My son, a 2011 attended one of their 'camps' last summer. It was run very well and he got to meet many of the coaches who where there. Afterward, he heard from many of the schools that were in attendance. He received a written evaluation and a one on one with a pitching coach from a large school. All in all it was a positive experience.

The Demarini TOP 96 camps this year appear to be more focused locally this year than the TPX TOP 96 camps were. My son attended a TPX camp in 2008 in Williamsburg, VA which was very well attended by coaches from New England to Carolinas and even some from the mid-west. It seems the Demarini camps are geared more toward local schools.

too expensive

Too expensive, and alot of the coaches are Grad Assistants who have no authority to sign players.

So all in all, it's not worth it? I've got an invite to and mine says a college coach recommened me. Is that a way to get a kid to come or are they legit? I've had some contact with a college going, but the coach going is somewhat of a recruiter but not really a coach. Is it a good investment to attended it?

quote:

Originally posted by UpStM13:
So all in all, it's not worth it? I've got an invite to and mine says a college coach recommened me. Is that a way to get a kid to come or are they legit? I've had some contact with a college going, but the coach going is somewhat of a recruiter but not really a coach. Is it a good investment to attended it?

In my opinion. No it's not a good investment at all to attend the events. And please do not take this the wrong way as I am sure your son was reccomended, but the coaches get paid for each kid they reccomend to the directors for the events. Some of the coaches will blast out mass reccomendations to make a buck.

My advice, stick with a Proven reputable showcase. PG has alot of events which are proven and your son will get far more exposure from there events.

It's all a **** shoot. I know many events coaches get paid to come and watch. Even so, if there are schools attending that your son is interested in and you think he can play there then it is still exposure.

My son went to one of their events a few weeks ago, and enjoyed it. He got what he wanted out of it, which was an unbiased assessement of where he stands in his development compared to where he needs to be in a couple of years (he is a 2013). The instruction was good, but he's been professionally coached, so there were no surprises. His evaulating coach on day one was the head coach of a Div I school. The event was as represented in the information they post. Given his age we were not highly focused on the exposure aspect, so I don't really have any comment on that. There were only a handful of kids his age participating, the rest were older.

I do think it is expensive relative to some other events, but every family has to make their own cost/benefit decision. For us, the location, format and date made it a good option. No regrets.

My son did a top 96 camp/showcase this summer. I put him in to get the feel of how a showcase was. felt it was worth it as one of the college coaches told him that he should play if at next showcase to show his athleticism. took his advice and my son did very well at a perfect game showcase so yeah it was worth it but as far as being "seen" i guess that depends.

Six or seven of my kids participated in a TPX Top 96 event. The organizers emphasised that it was not intended as a showcase but rather as a clinic, and an opportunity to get an objective evaluation from a college coach. Coaches are paid to teach and provide the evaluations. We also used it as an way to get video of my son. He had a very good experience and one that was very different then the "showcases" he also attended.

How do the academic camps compare to a GPA or Headfirst Showcase? Do the coaches listed actually show up?

$395 is too steep. If they really wanted to recruit players, they set the price much lower. Would not recommend.

quote:

Originally posted by Dallas_Tigers_Dad:
$395 is too steep. If they really wanted to recruit players, they set the price much lower. Would not recommend.

Top96 is not sold as a recruitment tool. It is sold as a clinic with very specific college assistant (mostly, some head) coaches leading the observation and instruction.

Good for a sophomore winter/spring or rising Junior summer.

My son had a good experience at Top 96 NE Academic. The coaches listed were there but it does not have the level of engagement or the scale of Headfirst, while not being quite as disciplined and unbiased as PG National Academic. The written evaluation has some value but there is a little bit of a bias to the false positive because it is a face to face evaluation (as opposed to PG and HF which are not made public). IMHO, it's not a bad event if you want a little more exposure to some of the coaches that you are seeing at other events.

My son did a D96this summer. I felt it was well run. The coach that did my sons evaluationseemed to be saying the samething to each player. I felt that part of thecamp was worthless. My son did get some interest at the camp with several coaches talking to him while at the campand following up later. But he is a pitcher and they are all looking for pitchers.

'12 went to DeM Pepperdine Aug '11, as several schools on his list would be attending. (Malibu was beautiful especially after a showball/LA '10 xmas first SC rained three full days with everything at a cramped batting cage facility with SIX squads of players rotating in and out.) Almost all RC's or ACs, some D3 HCs. Out of 20 maybe 1-2 grad assistants. Timed 60's,  7 swings on Saturday, 5-6 grounders for IF, 5-6 balls for OFers. You could buy the skills HD video package which, depending on performance, could be used on youtube. We used parts as it was clean. True not cheap, but went 2-3, both with ribs, in his Sunday game (there were 4 for the "96+" attendees) with one off the fence, as did one in BP. Only one kid went yard that weekend so he might have been noticed with that. The individual eval session (about 15 minutes during your "game" Sunday) was instructional and a coach went over your vid with you. The RC of his eventual school was one of the "coaches" for his game, and his first of a few exposures for that school. Worked for him as it was vacation weekend from football summer.