Lots of teams, but not organizations

[angispeds]

At 16u we’ve played one lady dukes team that was good “Betsa” they are now 18s. We were 15s at the time and won but they had a solid record against good competition. The 18u team that rothrock is on is good. Beyond those two every dukes team we’ve played has not been impressive.


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[LEsoftballdad]

Here in Atlanta, we've played Lady Dukes SE (SouthEast?) and Lady Dukes National 14U, along with many plain Lady Dukes teams. I'm not sure why some teams based in Atlanta are tagged SE or National.

Many Platinum and Gold teams out there would be better served with a moniker such as Tin, but that doesn't attract players.

"Come join the Lady Dukes Tin squad with mediocre players and bad coaching." LOL

 

[Rick M]

Honestly, I'm surprised Duke University allows it to happen.

What’s more surprising is that they were bold enough to use the Blue Devils logo. It seems they’ve backed away from that, but this picture is still on their Facebook page.

My 16B team played an 18U Dukes team from NJ this past fall. They beat us 8-5, but mostly a close game. We’re far from elite, they didn’t seem too far ahead of us.


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[Justplay]

@LEsoftballdad has raised the point of the day. Maybe it is parents trying to be 'cool' but they openly 'brag' about being 'paid' to play, easy path to college team and access to the Duke coaches, practice at the campus, etc. I will let the NCAA and others in that circle deal with that topic but travel spots of all kinds have and will continue to be a big money game with some you can trust, some you can't and should never. Parents need to do the research, attend practices to see things in action that are promised/portrayed, etc. With this much money involved it is an extra job and should be treated like that. Google the coaches, understand their backgrounds, see how many times they have changed orgs, why they changed, same with the kids/parents on the team - with the $s being invested the time to investigate and keep it up throughout the years is required. If you chose to not treat it that way then you may be one of those that were sold a lemon and didn't realize it for a few years

 

[LEsoftballdad]

What surprises me is that most teams that eventually go the franchise route do so after a lengthy period of success. Lamar went right to the expansion method with a minimal track record. Again, he's had some big recruits, so you can't take that away from him, but he expanded too fast.

 

[_MIA_]

but he expanded too fast.

Why? He is making $$ If you are talking about quality of teams, as has been discussed a lot in this thread (and others), I don't know of many orgs which have franchised which have been able to do quality control on their teams. If you want all of your org teams to be good, don't franchise...We have played mediocre Bombers, Texas Glory, SoCal Athletics, Batbusters, etc teams from all over the place.

 

[NJZoo]

We played at a showcase tournament where 1 organization had a National, Premiere, Gold, 2 select, and a "regular" team in a 20 team 18U division. This was not multiple franchise teams from the same parent organization either, just a strong regional organization.

 

[radness]

There was an organization about five or so years ago tried to start up called Liberty here in southern california. They took their logo from Liberty College of which the coach at Liberty College told them no you cannot use that.

 

[_MIA_]

A few years ago, Impact Gold expanded to OK. A few of the teams were ok but at some point the local IG wanted to start giving their teams the National moniker. Apparently the parent org had said this was not possible (only TX based teams could do that) from the outset so basically all but 1 or 2 teams disappeared from OK (they are all gone now I think)

 

[LEsoftballdad]

Why? He is making $$ If you are talking about quality of teams, as has been discussed a lot in this thread (and others), I don't know of many orgs which have franchised which have been able to do quality control on their teams. If you want all of your org teams to be good, don't franchise...We have played mediocre Bombers, Texas Glory, SoCal Athletics, Batbusters, etc teams from all over the place.

From a money perspective, I am sure he's killing it. I was talking about the quality of the teams. As with any business, expanding too fast becomes trouble because you lose control over quality.