Softball Organizations - USSSA, PGF, etc...

[nikkilugi]

Exactly in the northeast USSSA is weak. Head to Salisbury or even Space Coast in Florida for a Utrip world series and you will see B or C level ball even at the "A" level. At PGF nationals for Premier you will always find top tier talent. So if a coach has a choice they most often will choose the best talent to watch. I don't know much about outside our area as it relates to Utrip.
Agree with the marketing side, but kids need to be cautious in tagging schools all over twitter. I've seen firsthand coaches "like" twitter posts over and over only giving the PSA a false sense of hope.
Write to the coach directly, if they have a camp then attend, but play the absolute highest level of softball possible.

She doesn’t tag coaches - we agree that isn’t what she wants to do. Even though she doesn’t tag she does get a couple likes here and there from coaches (again- that she doesn’t tag) and she does have a little hope going there. I have heard coaches get hundreds of emails and I question how many are actually opening the emails. We have hosted her skills video on YouTube and the video views don’t support the thought they are opening and looking. I do think she has gotten a little more visibility through the DM route on Twitter. She continues to email schedules and tournament updates though. I stress to her not to give up and keep marketing. We are leaning heavily on her well connected coach though, lol, and she is definitely helping. Having the right team/coach definitely helps. Sometimes it truly is about who you know.

 

[BT3100]

She doesn’t tag coaches - we agree that isn’t what she wants to do. Even though she doesn’t tag she does get a couple likes here and there from coaches (again- that she doesn’t tag) and she does have a little hope going there. I have heard coaches get hundreds of emails and I question how many are actually opening the emails. We have hosted her skills video on YouTube and the video views don’t support the thought they are opening and looking. I do think she has gotten a little more visibility through the DM route on Twitter. She continues to email schedules and tournament updates though. I stress to her not to give up and keep marketing. We are leaning heavily on her well connected coach though, lol, and she is definitely helping. Having the right team/coach definitely helps. Sometimes it truly is about who you know.

I tell people but I'm sure no one wants to spend $20/month but the best $20/month we spent as parents was signing up for CaptainU
DD would send all emails to coaches through that site. If the email is opened you get a notification. If you upload a video and a coach watches it you get an email update. You know who is interested and who is not. When camps were still going we'd chose camps at places where the coaches opened DDs emails and stayed away from schools that never opened. When DD sent her schedule for a weekend she could predict who would come as those coaches opened up her email with schedule.
When September 1st came around we knew who would reach out. Definitely recommend CaptianU

 

[MightyMO]

I tell people but I'm sure no one wants to spend $20/month but the best $20/month we spent as parents was signing up for CaptainU
DD would send all emails to coaches through that site. If the email is opened you get a notification. If you upload a video and a coach watches it you get an email update. You know who is interested and who is not. When camps were still going we'd chose camps at places where the coaches opened DDs emails and stayed away from schools that never opened. When DD sent her schedule for a weekend she could predict who would come as those coaches opened up her email with schedule.
When September 1st came around we knew who would reach out. Definitely recommend CaptianU

Our org uses Sports Recruits. It does the same things described here with some added bells and whistles. It's part of our fees or I wouldn't have known about it. It is a really nice tool to be able to email any coach you want inside of the app and see who is looking at your profile and viewing videos.

 

[benjey]

Our org uses Sports Recruits. It does the same things described here with some added bells and whistles. It's part of our fees or I wouldn't have known about it. It is a really nice tool to be able to email any coach you want inside of the app and see who is looking at your profile and viewing videos.

My DD also used SportsRecruits. Her school provides a free account for all varsity athletes. It was very helpful and I would definitely recommend it but with some of the previously mentioned tips and tricks you can do most of the stuff on your own for free just with more work involved.

 

[PJR]

My DD loves softball and really wants to get into a college softball program at any level. My question is regarding all these different Organizations that run tournaments, championships, etc...

My understanding is PGF is where the elite play is, so, do games in any other organizations really matter in terms of college coaches/programs paying attention? By other orgs I mean USSSA, NAFA, NSA, FASA or any other orgs. Is it worth it for her team to be playing in USSSA? NAFA? or should they just be in PGF tournaments? By worth it I mean for advancing to college, it is obviously worth it for the fun and competition.

The first question is how old is she. If she is 12U and under is doesn’t matter. If she is 14u up traditionally PGF would be the best place however with COVID, ASA A or gold and USAES(USSSA elite) would be good. Realize COVID has everything turned upside down. Understand what each level of college recruits, and set your goals accordingly.