14U Showcases

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Oct 4, 2018
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As a parent of a 14U daughter who will not be playing in college, I'm not a fan. :p

Longer drives, more money. :(
 
Jun 19, 2016
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If its a 14u only showcase you may see college coaches. But if 14u games are held on fields 20miles away from the 16 and 18s you won't see college coaches. There maybe a few exceptions for dominate pitcher here or there but in general no coaches.
This was definitely the case in our "showcase". 16/18U were 10 miles away. I heard the college coaches were a no show there.
 
Jun 19, 2016
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Like everything else around this game, I think it's going to depend on the state/area everyone's in. Some of the posts are saying it's a waste of time and others are saying it's not. I took my 13U team to several of them last year just to get them some experience. In the 3 we played, we usually had no less than 1 college coach watching the game and more often than not, 2-3...and we weren't at the same complex as either the 16's or the 18's. Because of these, I have 3 of my players being actively sought after. Several college coaches have contacted them to get them on campus at their camps/clinics so they can get a closer look. Granted, out of the 5 schools that reached out to the 3, 3 were JUCO. Still, it wasn't a complete waste of time and they got some valuable experience.

Another example. Our last tournament of our season is usually an all-sanction world series held in our state capitol. The 12U and 14U divisions are large enough that they each have to split off into separate weekends since they typically have 120-140 teams of each age group sign up. Even though it wasn't a showcase per se, I probably saw 40 or so college coaches walking around ( what I would consider) window shopping.

This Fall, we were invited to play in another 1 by a TD I've known for close to 20 years. It'll be a small affair of 90 teams or so. I was talking to him yesterday and he told me that he was a bit disappointed that more college coaches weren't going to attend. He had invited over 250 but most don't have it in their travel budget or are still playing Fall Ball. However, he has put a player profile booklet per age group together for the coaches and a vast majority of the ones not able to attend asked to have them sent to them. Curious, I asked him which age group was most asked for. He told me the 16's were the most asked for but the 14's ran a very close second.

The point to all of this story telling? That contrary to popular belief, college coaches are out there looking at 14U's. It may be to get the jump on other colleges even though they can't actively talk to them. It may be to see who they want to put on their radars JIC they want to actively recruit them. It may be that they want to see if there's anyone they should look out for in case they're contacted by them expressing interest in their program. It could be any number of reasons. But they are out there and they are looking/watching. Does this mean it's happening in every showcase or every area of the country? Of course not. But it's happening around here...whether it's a showcase or a large age specific tournament.
I thought it was against the rules for college coaches to contact them this young. Maybe that is just for D1?
 
Oct 3, 2011
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Right Here For Now
I thought it was against the rules for college coaches to contact them this young. Maybe that is just for D1?
Many of the showcases have camps and clinics coached by college coaches which also have players' contact information in the attendance package. They are only aloud to send camp/clinic emails. As far as I know, they aren't aloud to talk to them, even on campus, until their Junior year, The fact that none of the 3 players received emails about camps or clinics from the same colleges leads me to believe that those specific colleges are interested in them.
 

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