95upandin,
In your rush to jump online and call me a meanie, you forgot to read my post. I understand your need to fly to their defense, but the points made in my previous post are sound. You didn't address any of the points of criticism and you failed to see that I give due credit to NorCal and it's employees. And as for Coach Raich, his high school winning percentage was never in question. I agree with you, the "showcase biz" is definitely NOT PERFECT. In your post you state that NorCal is NOT in the showcase business, but in the same sentence you illustrate that they take teams to SHOWCASE TOURNAMENTS!! Which one is it? Which showcase events are "worthwhile"? Who deems one showcase event better than another? NorCal? College coaches? Scouts? CCB? Trosky? If there is one thing this conversation proves is how muddy the water is for parents that are ready, willing, and able to open their wallets for a chance at a baseball scholarship. What about the kids who CAN'T afford to attend a Trosky event or go to the Junior Fall Classic? Will they be recruited? Are those kids "under the radar" because of their ability, lack of exposure, or their financial situation? But you CANNOT say that NorCal or CCB or Trosky or Clemmons don't profit from the inherent desperation of these families. And let me be clear, I am not against making a profit, what is distressing is the environment in which the profit is made. Like Tired of This stated in a previous post, there is a ponzi scheme being perpetrated by the showcase, travelball, and recruiting industries.
NorCal has had many great players go through their system over the years and I'm sure they all had outstanding experiences because, like I stated before, NorCal strives to hire excellent baseball people to be administrators during the showcase tournaments. I am not commenting on their coaches ability to run a game at a showcase tournament, I'm commenting on the definition of being a coach. So for example, if three "coaches" from NorCal take a 16u team to five tournaments and lose every game, are those "coaches" in jeopardy of being let go? Probably not. If, for example, their clients miss two steal signs, walk the lead off man in 4 out of 7 innings, fail to score a man from 3rd with less than two outs, and overthrow the cut off man, do those administrators bear ANY responsibility? NO! I understand, it's the client's responsibility to perform, but then why shell out thousands of dollars for these services-- for EXPOSURE!! You simply cannot call yourself a coach if you bear no responsibility for what happens on the field, you are an administrator. Whatever positive interactions these administrators have with their clients is not in question here. I have no doubt that each and every employee at NorCal, CCB, Trosky, etc, etc, etc is completely committed to providing each of their clients with a positive and enriching experience. Even more, this is not a commentary of the administrator's baseball knowledge, experience, background, and especially their passion for the game. In fact, the qualifications for being a coach at NorCal is apparently just to be "amazing" (see NorCal website), and I can't argue with that. It's a commentary on the environment that is created to get kids to the next level. It's an environment that can be criticized on every level; from the parents, to the high schools, to JC coaches, to 4yr coaches, to showcase bandits, to tournament directors, to travel ball dads, to fans, etc., everyone bears some responsibility to look at this environment and make it better, including the athletes themselves. But honestly, thegeorgebrettstory, did you sign your kid up with NorCal to get better at the game, or to get exposure? What if your son wasn't good enough or couldn't afford to play for NorCal, you would probably have to find another organization to pay/play for. I'm merely pointing out the differences in terminology. And it's not only my opinion that these organizations have good baseball people, in fact most "coaches" at the high school or college level would agree with the distinction between the two.
And as for my opinion on which organization provides the best player development? It seems to be whatever organization you can afford. When NorCal partners with Jaeger Sports to hold a long toss camp, that is NOT player development, it's commerce. They are selling a product!! And don't be so quick to set NorCal apart from Trosky because Jaeger Sports partners with them as well!! Player development is defined simply as both parties making an investment in the development of said athlete. The entity, school, organization, etc providing the player development has made an investment in the player with the expressed goal of that player adding to the value of the organization. What investment has the travelball industry and showcase industry made in their clients? Does NorCal lose money if their clients don't play at the next level? Does Trosky have to refund the showcase fee if no coaches call after the camp? NO!! So you cannot call it player development.
BKWRDKUROUT: I am a "rookie" poster. At $99.00 per year, I don't need to have different handles. Believe what you want. I didn't realize that this was such an exclusive club. But I can assure you that this is interesting and I'm looking forward to the next few posts...Hopefully I can be as positive and eloquent as ATCSHRK as I move forward.
