Select Team Follow-up

You DON”T have to play for the more select teams to go to the next level. We have to keep reminding ourselves that a player’s talent is what gets him to the next level... not the team he plays for... but at the same time they do go hand in hand because your son’s summer team should be determined by his talent level. We understand that good select teams provide good exposure for the rising players because coaches and scouts come to see the talent on those teams. I have always said the most important and most difficult job a parent has is evaluating their own son. Proper evaluation of your son’s talent is the key in getting on the right level of summer team. Look for a team where you can match his talent with the talent of the other players and their competition. If you can get your son matched up with a team where he is challenged by his teammates but can compete on a daily basis, you have probably selected the proper level of summer team. If his team is too weak and he is the only college type player, the team (teammates) won’t challenge his ability or draw in scouts and coaches. If the team is too strong for his ability, then he will only be seen by scouts and coaches if they peer into the dugout.
We commonly read post about finding the right college “fit” for the college age player, but in my opinion, the right “fit” on the summer team is just as important.
Fungo

As a select team coach I agree with Fungo.

You certainly do not have to play for East Cobb to get to the next level. But if you do play for East Cobb you WILL get to the next level as they are the best of the best.

The key is to play for a team that plays teams like East Cobb. To name a few teams that play an elite schedule besides my team the Central Florida Renegades are the Bama (AL) Bombers, Dulin's (TN) Dodgers, Diamond (SC) Devils, Pendleton (GA) A's, NorCal, Dallas Panthers, Dallas Mustangs, Houston Heat, San Antonio Hackers, Midland Redskins, etc. I'm sure I'm left out 100s of teams, but this list will give you an idea of who is out there.

Make sure the team is not playing a Little League schedule to win games; yet no scouts or colleges will see them play.

Also, make sure the team is heading to the Perfect Game WWBA Championships in Atlanta. That is the tournament to be at because that is where all the college and professional scouts are going to be.

I havent spoken about solid coaching (which all the mentioned teams have) and playing time issues (which is very important because if he is not playing he won't be seen), but I think you have the idea of what to look for in a select team.

Feel free to email me at RobPincus@aol.com

Another facet of this topic are teams such as ours which do not necessarily play the summer schedule as those above but begin in late summer and attend showcase events, not necessarily tournament, so as to get more exposure for their players against excellent competition. Same concept but a different means of approach

Tom Rizzi
www.collegeselect.org

TR, How do you choose what events to attend? Do you take in account what your teams needs are for making these decisions?
This is something that our team had to deal with at a parents meeting. Everyone ended up on the same page and it worked out.

Sark20

Happy New Year my friend

You make a great point---here is how we do it

01-- the players know our schedule before they attend one of our showcases (all our players come out of our "College Select Family" except in certain extenuating circumstances)--our schedule is finalized way before our first showcase in July. The PA events are great because it exposes the kids to a huge number of Northeastern schools and a number of the teams we see attend out events as well--sort of a "home and home" each year

02-- at each showcase we ask the players to let us know which events interest them--they fill out a card for us and give it to us before the three day showcase is over--this interest varies due to where they want to attend school
Last year we played at Western Carolina, Rhode Island,New York, Coastal Carolina and three events in PA-And of course Ft Myers. This year the schedule will be much the same

03--by the time we finish the year we will have had 30 to 40 different players on the roster--some attend all the events while others just a few.

04-- There is no parents meeting-- we explain our system at the recruiting seminar prior to each showcase. Since the largest number of players we carry is rarely over 20 ( this will happen for the wood bat event in Florida because of the number of games and the usual heat factor--here we will be between 20 and 25 players) we are very particular as to the players we choose and they all need to know their role as do their parents. The goal is for the upperclassmen to get maximum exp[osure and underclassmen to get a feel of what it is like at showcase events/tournaments so that when they return as upperclassmen they are, hopefully, the leaders based on their experience of the previous year

We find that the system works and our % of players getting baseball situations in college is very high.

The other aspect of our program, a non baseball aspect, is the assistance and direction that we give them during the recruiting process. Having the players with us for the period of August to October gives us the opportunity to really know the player and be able to properly direct him in his choices and selection of college.

I hope this gives you a better idea as to how we do what we do.

TR, Happy New Year right back at you.
Sounds like you've got it going in the right direction. Our team was small and we had very little roster chamges so it was a little different. Early on when they were younger we decided that the best situation was to concentrate on being at the best events for competition. Later on towards their graduation from HS we concentrated on the best exposure to suit their needs.
Your input will help some here make good decisions. Thanks.