Headfirst Honor Roll Showcase in Richmond, Virginia

I was in attendance as well for the August 11-12 showcase. This was my first time at a Headfirst showcase and I must say that I was very impressed. Lots of easily accessible coaches who were very willing to talk to you, not to mention the enthusiastic headfirst staff which made it all that much better.

Plus, the weather was much better on the weekend. I heard that the Thursday-Friday session was brutal in terms of heat.

Overall though, I would recommend it to anyone looking to go to a strong academic school. Great showcase!!

We were there on Thursday and Friday and the heat was brutal, but the showcase was fabulous. We were very impressed on how they kept things moving. Total access to coaches. I would highly recommend this camp for academic students, I wish we knew about it his junior year.

Just returned from this showcase with 2008 son. Great showcase for academic elites. I did not see any top level pitching, but a few were very good. I didn't like the fact that evaluations were not provided to the players. The evaluations were anonymous, anyway, so it wouldn't matter. My son was the only player from Louisiana. He did fine but not a single coach approached him. One of the coaches with whom we spoke was very straight forward with us on my sons evaluation. Borderline Div I, which is what we expected. But there were many DIII coaches there who could have showed some interest. My son played as a Catcher and Pitcher. Statistically and physically he was in the top 10 percent ...and I saw all 4 days of the showcase and just about every pitcher of the 400 players that were there. His ACT score was 29 so he fit in with the academic spectrum that was there. My question is, what can we expect at from this point foward: a call, a letter, or what?

Louisiana Lightning, I cannot answer your questions but you mentioned that not a single coach approached your son. During the meetings with the athletes, Coach Sullivan said many many times that the students need to approach the coaches. They probably did not approach your son as they were so busy talking to other athletes. I know that my son had to be aggressive in this area. I believe that if he were not aggressive that a lot of the coaches would not have approached my son unless my son was a stud pitcher (which he is not).

Louisiana:

Be patient. Don't be surprised if you start hearing from many of the coaches in Oct/Nov.

I am sure that you were given a list of coaches that attended. I would have my son research each school, go vist a few, call the coaches in advance and go and see them. If your son wants to play ball in college, he needs to "market" himself. The starting point is to tell the coaches that he is interested in their school.

What can you expect? From our experience you will likely get a form letter and a questionaire in late Sept/October. Fill them out and get them back to the coaches ASAP. With most of the D3 schools, you need to talk with them. They will follow-up with you once they know you have an interest.

A little insight, most of the initial letters and questionaires at my son's school are generated by the incoming freshman that are trying out for the team. They have a "fold & stuff" day sometime in mid-September.

We talked to several coaches: Columbia, Macalester, Case Western, Cornell, Navy. I have two kids at Columbia now and would very much like for my son to attend, as well, but he chose to stand out from his siblings by producing a less than stellar grade point average so I don't think he can get in without very strong interest and support from the coach with a "likely admit" letter.

The problem we have with DIII schools is that very few have full-blown engineering programs, so my son's options are limited. Case Western DIII has an outstanding engineering program and would be his first choice because its a perfect match. I spoke to the assistant coach a few months ago. He told be that two years ago the baseball program was in shambles...down to 14 players. So they brought in 20 freshman last year. They expect to turn the program around. The showcase assistant was very well spoken and represented the school well. We hope to visit in the next two weeks.

Another note about the showcase: There was one big kid who was a pitcher but had trouble with his control. He must have been a product of one of Headfirst's staff. There must have been 10 coaches crowded behind the plate when he pitched. After he pitched, one of Headfirst's staff members pulled him aside and they went to the warm up area where I saw him interact with the kid like he new him well. He instructed him on his delivery for at least a 1/2 hour. I thought that was a bit unfair to the rest of the pitchers.

The headfirst gamers host showcases? wow the whole headfirst organization is bad.

Louisiana Lightning

Not a very fair judgement on your part---we, at our showcases, will take players aside and talk to them about things that can improve what they are doing---it doesn't necessarily mean they are a player with a different relationship with the coaching staff thasn others in attendance---we have three pitching coaches on our showcase staff so pitchers get a lot of instant advice.

I think you need to step back and see what is going on around you

If you are interested in Division III, I would strongly encourage you to check out the website below. It is a free recruiting tool for student athletes interested in DIII. My kids attend a private, Christian school in Texas and I have sent this to our high school college counselor as well as our head football coach. It is easy to manage your way through and the coaches will reach out to you.

A very good friend of mine (Natural) took his son to the Thursday and Friday session and was extremely impressed.

www.collegestudentathletes.com

A couple of thoughts on the posts on this thread...
1)There appeared to be numerous times where during games players were "given individual" instruction which usually were pitchers. Pitchers are usually in big demand so this was not a big suprise or taken as a slight against my position playing son.
2)The Headfirst staff continuely stressed that the players should make the contact with the coaches and not the parents. This was a big step for my "shy 2009" but after a couple of interactions, he got more comfortable with the process and actually sought out a couple of coaches before we left on Friday. We will do this showcase again next year and have learned so much from this experience.

Been to Headfirst Showcase. They provide what they advertise. High academic schools present. Not to exaggerate too much, but who said it had to be "fair." Any coach in attendance is permitted to like a player. It's like going to a dance.

P.S. DI vs. DIII recruiting are completely different animals. Posters are giving you correct info on DIII.

We thought Headfirst was a great investment. Our son got 3 offers after he pitched on Friday. We visited one of the schools on Saturday and really enjoyed ourselves. I would highly recommned the Jupitor event as the cosches do make offers from this Showcase.

In response to Lousiana---

In regards to the DIII engineering schools, I would suggest looking at Tufts. Tufts was not at the Headfirst showcase but I suggest that your son fill out the questionnaire on their website, and most likely (considering that your son sounds like a good student/ball player), they will send you a follow up letter with a more personal questionnaire. I am only saying this because I am interested in Tufts and just went through that process as well. Just another school to maybe put on the list.

Also, I found that the availability of the coaches almost forced the kids to take initiative and go up and talk to coaches themselves. I saw a few dads, without their sons nearby, telling coaches how interested their sons were in that school. From what Coach Sullivan said, coaches definitely appreciate the kids approaching them, and I found it very easy to do at Headfirst.

jhs tigerdad you have a pm

PC BallDad you have a pm

I thought it was run well, great exposure, with coaches freely mingling with players and parents. Food from the stand got a little pricey by the end of the second day, but I think this is a must for kids wanting to play ball at academic elite institutions.

My tid bit about "extra coaching" by the HF staff. My son LHP had a bad first day, tried to overthrow everything, could not locate anything. In the midst of this, I saw the HF staff giving advice to several pitchers, and saw the "extra session" given to the hardest throwing pitcher in camp.

Second day my son decides to stay within himself, pitches extremely well and is in constant convesation with HF staff and the college coach of his team. After the game ends, the three of them grab a catcher and head to the bullpen to work on mechanics. Son comes off the field beaming and coaches comment on his willingness to learn.

We did not sign up for anything special and are not a HF family. On this second day the coaches and my son just clicked.

General comment about Northern Showcases and Louisiana Players in general: If you note on most rosters for the any college outside of Louisiana, in particular, very few if any have a Louisianian on its roster. Two reasons: the TOPS scholarship programs awarded to every Freshman with a min ACT and a minimum grade point average. ULL, LSU and other Louisiana schools lose very few blue chip and other players to colleges outside the state because they can offer a player a full ride with TOPS. Georgia has the equivalent of this, but I forget what its called there. So I think there is a disincentive for any college outside of Louisiana to have any Louisiana kid on its radar because they cannot compete with the 11.7 limitation. Essentially, LA teams have 35 to give. So I'm wondering if most coaches simply disregard Louisiana prospects altogether. And this lack of interest trickles down to DIII though it has less impact there?

I forgot the second reason: the Louisiana stereotype. I often wonder what is the perception of Louisiana players elsewhere in the country when it comes to their ability to withstand both academic and athletic rigors?

Georgia's equivalent is the HOPE Scholarship. Students must have a B average to qualify and keep that average throughout college or lose the $$.

Louisiana can't be much worse than GA in terms of student competency as measured by the SAT. I'm thinking GA's composite SAT scores are ranked in the bottom 5 in the nation--averaging less than 1000! I think only SC and DC are lower.

My son and I attended the Headfirst camp on Thursday and Friday. For a guy from upstate New York, it was seriously hot (and I was only watching). Regardless of whether anything comes out of it, my son and I enjoyed the showcase and I believe the money was well spent.

The camp was run very well, especially considering the conditions. Temperatures exceeded 100 degrees on Thursday; and neared 100 again on Friday. My son pitched 3 "innings" the first day and 5 more innings the second. The games on Thursday were delayed a few times due to thunderstorms. Later thursday night, after the participants had left for the day, the area got pummeled with at least a few inches of rain. The staff's response to the storm was to promptly make some scheduling adjustments, and get its entire staff and many of the college coaches out working the diamonds shortly after sunrise. We were hardly delayed at all, due to their extraordinary efforts.

The college coaches were enthusiastic and seemed readily approachable. My son is very shy, but even he felt comfortable talking to some of the coaches (just not as many as his father would have liked). I stayed away, as recommended by the staff.

Brief talks between games by the college coaches and staff were interesting and informative.

The showcase was also a bit enlightening to this observer. Pitcher's height matters, a lot. Of course, I knew this going in, but to see height alone so plainly separate pitcher A from pitcher B was interesting. My son is a 5'11" RHP. Like 75%-85% of the pitchers present, his fastball was 81 MPH. (It seemed like 5% or so were at 83 or above; and, 10%-15% or so couldn't break 78/79). His curve and slider were moving well; his change up was okay but didn't move as much. After he pitched 3 decent innings on Thursday, a RHP about 6'3" followed him. The player pitched well, but no better, and not a single MPH faster than my son. As soon as the taller guy finished his second inning and was done for the day, he was promptly approached by a few coaches enthusiastically expressing interest in him. I understand the idea of projectability and all that, but it was different to see it rather just read about it here. I told my son to start growing immediately!!

We had a great time together, and he's received a couple of letters asking for more information. Who knows???

I absolutely recommend this showcase for academically strong players.

My son just received 4 letters from DIII schools, all expressing interest and one asking that he call to arrange a visit. They each seemed to couch their interest in a very non committal way. My son has had telephone conversations with coaches from 3 other DIII school (very selective admissions) who all indicated my son's standardized tests were great but his GPA was an issue they would have to evaluate after his senior midterm grades are reported to them. But for the baseball option, we wouldn't be looking at these because my son just doesn't have the GPA (2.55 but with an ACT of 29...an odd match). I'm pretty sure he'll end up where he is the happiest even if it means no more baseball. Most DIII schools don't have full blown engineering programs, except for one of those with whom he spoke, and a few others, so attending any other would be a compromise just to play baseball and he may not want to make that trade-off. All these schools have excellent academic credentials, but if he ends up elsewhere, even a state school, he'll make the most of his education which is really what its all about, anyway, and he'll benefit more, perhaps, because most state schools have full degreed engineering departments.

My son is 6'1" and 195lbs with a decent pitching velocity and movement, but no coach approached him either. So the cutoff for "projectability" would seem to be above 6'1" 195 lbs.

quote:

So the cutoff for "projectability" would seem to be above 6'1" 195 lbs.

Not true. My son is 6' 155 pounds and has received lots of interest. We are purposely looking DIII because of non-baseball factors.

Another websters kid I know is 5'9" or 5'10" and has verballed DI.

There are many other stories on here of kids who didn't fit the assumed profile.

I'm not sure what other criteria comes into play, but at least in the aforementioned cases, both kids are 86-87 with command of multiple pitches and tangible mound presence.

2008 Beebe and Louisana Lightning you have a pm

Krakatowa - I didn't mean to suggest that a 5'10" or 6"0" RHP can't pitch or get noticed as a pitcher, especially if they're at an academic showcase throwing 87 MPH. I only reported my firsthand observation of very different responses from coaches to same speed, comparable pitching from a 5'11" pitcher and a 6'3" pitcher. Neither of the kids exceeded 81 MPH, yet there was a difference in response, plain as day.

Beebe, was just replying to the quoted comment from LL. Lots of kids come on here, and want to make sure no one under 6'1" and 195 pounds gets discouraged

Again, i must say that the Headfirst Honor roll showcase is a great investment if you have the grades and scores. My son was given 2 offers after he threw on Friday( both D1) and a 3rd offer contingent on raising his ACT by 2 points. Attend the Showcase in Jupiter in early November...it will be well worth your time. Bring your transcript and test scores with you as the college coaches will ask for them.