Has anyone attended one of these showcases.. what were your experiences?
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My 2010 son was invited to a Top 96 showcase as well. He has attended a Perfect Game Showcase but we have no experience with a Top 96 event. We are looking for advice as well.
quote:Originally posted by tonkmom:
Has anyone attended one of these showcases.. what were your experiences?
tonkmom, this particular subject has been kicked around here so much that it's probably the most talked about subject EVER. If you will do a search and put in that title "TPX Top 96" you will find more posts than you can shake a stick to.
Good luck.
As mentioned above, if you do a search on this site you will find a lot of info. I'll just add that I did a lot of research myself and decided that it would be well worth it for my son, who is going to be attending the Academic East showcase in June. This event was specifically recommended to him by one of the coaches at Tufts, and there will be many other schools there which he is or may be interested in. Obviously, we havent' attended yet, so can't evaluate it until after. But I'm pretty careful about how I spend my $$ and thought this looked like it would be a good experience for my son.
Regarding my response above, for clarity let me just add in case you haven't really looked over the Top96 website yet, that the Academic East showcase is one of the Top96 events, not a separate showcase group 
You should do some checking into the specific Top96 showcase you are considering attending, as some of the posts on this site indicated differing levels of satisfaction depending on what part of the country the showcase was in (I think there was a posting or two by folks who attended out in the midwest or west who weren't happy). Now, that may just be an isolated individual who had a less than positive experience where others may have had good experiences, or it may be that there were growing pains as Top96 expanded to other parts of the country beyond it's northeast origins. But being that one of the questions above came from someone in Missouri, you should probably do the research with the local showcase in mind.
You should do some checking into the specific Top96 showcase you are considering attending, as some of the posts on this site indicated differing levels of satisfaction depending on what part of the country the showcase was in (I think there was a posting or two by folks who attended out in the midwest or west who weren't happy). Now, that may just be an isolated individual who had a less than positive experience where others may have had good experiences, or it may be that there were growing pains as Top96 expanded to other parts of the country beyond it's northeast origins. But being that one of the questions above came from someone in Missouri, you should probably do the research with the local showcase in mind.quote:Originally posted by Holden Caulfield:
We have not attended a Top96 event but will do so this summer. Two friends attended the academic event last year and enjoyed it.
The reasoning for this summer is this: last summer son attended some showcases and some college camps. For whatever reason, he performed much better and generated more interest from the camps than he did from the showcases. I suspect it has more than a little to do with his "stature" and that the longer look he gets, the better reaction he generates. Top96 is a camp format. So it seems ideal for him. If that sounds like it may have at least some relevance in your situation, you might want to check it out.
Also, hear in the Northeast at least, the name still has a lot of cache because Top96 used to be THE showcase event to attend. For some reason they gave that up, but there remains an impressive list of schools that participate in or attend the northeast event.
Not that he won't be at the showcases too though.
We went to the TPX top 96 showcase this summer. It is definately for sophomores, juniors and seniors. I mistakenly signed up a pre-freshman. The showcase incorporates mini-clinics, a showcase for pitchers, fielders, speed times, hitting and fielding. The players are scouted by attending college coaches. Your son will have a coach that will evaluate and give advice. It was a good experience, at least there was no standing around, the kids are constantly active and learning.
