2012 Spring Development and College Exposure Program

[dore83]

Jack City is pleased to announce the 2012 Spring Development and College Exposure Program. The program is designed for a limited number of elite level players who want to take their game to the highest levels and market their skills to college coaches.

 

Even with virtually no marketing, the response to date has been outstanding. In order to allow all interested players the opportunity to participate in the program, registration will remain open until Friday, September 30, 2011. At that time registration will be closed and the final list of participants will be announced. We would love to take every player who is interested in the Spring Program, but we strongly believe that it is important to keep the number of participants to a minimal number in order to bring the greatest benefit to each participant.

 

The Spring Program was developed as an alternative to high school softball, but WAS NOT designed with the objective or intent to "ruin" high school softball nor was it designed to target or harm any specific school(s). High school softball serves the needs for many players. Some, however, especially those who have a desire to play collegiate softball, feel that reaching the next level requires a more advanced and comprehensive training, development, and exposure program. The Jack City Spring Development and College Exposure Program has been designed specifically for those players. The Spring Program is designed with two primary emphasises - Advance Skill Development and College Exposure.

 

Just as high school ball does not meet the needs of every athlete, the Spring Program is not designed to appeal to every player. We have developed the program to develop and promote elite level athletes who are looking for more than their particular school can provide for them. We have also designed the program to eliminate those things which create tend to be problematic for many players.

 

Advanced Skill Development Emphasis

 

Players will be provided advanced training within a competitive environment designed to allow each participant to maximize her potential on the field. Practice and training sessions will be conducted in a variety of ways, including clinic style practices, individual and small group sessions, specific position skill sessions, situational sessions, film sessions, and controlled scrimmages. Every effort will be made to simulate the environment surrounding the top collegiate programs in the country. Significant effort will be made to develop field presence and knowledge of the game.

 

We have carefully selected a specific, limited number of participants, including a position based break down, to insure that every player is provided with the highest levels of attention, coaching, and training in addition to receiving maximized playing time. There will be enough players to divide into several team units to allow full league play throughout the spring for broadcast games. Opportunities to travel to participate in tournaments will be made available. The frequency of travel will be left to the discretion of each player and parent and taking advantage of travel opportunities is recommended but not required. Additional games with collegiate NAIA and NJCAA teams are being negotiated at this time and are a realistic possibility at this point. A college exposure Play Day at a collegiate complex has already been scheduled, and we are working on hosting one or more tournaments with travel teams coming to Middle Tennessee from other states.

 

College Exposure Emphasis

 

One of the primary purposes of the Spring Program is to provide as much college exposure as possible and to promote participants to college coaches. In a highly competitive environment for limited scholarship dollars, exposure and promotion involves far more than showing up to play at exposure tournaments. Extremely talented players fall through the cracks every year, going unrecruited or underrecruited.

 

Participation in the Spring Program in no way guarantees or implies that any player will receive a college scholarship. No Jack City representative has or will guarantee a scholarship to anyone. However, we do have a strong belief that our knowledge, experience, cultivated relationships with coaches, and past success in effectively promoting college prospects coupled with the comprehensive recruitment program we have incorporated into the Spring Program will greatly improve the opportunities to be recruited and greatly enhance the likelihood of success.

 

On Demand Game Video Broadcasts

Games, both local and tournament, will be recorded and broadcast, both streaming and on demand, and will be available online to college coaches 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We already have a significant number of coaches who are currently accessing game videos of several travel teams, and we have successfully increased the list of coaches each month throughout the summer season.

 

Player Skills Videos

We will video, edit, and produce an effective Skills Video for each participant. While there is no additional cost for our players, skills video packages typically range from $250 to $800. Skills videos will be sent to college coaches and available for view on each player's Player Profile Web Site

 

Online Player Profile Web Site

Each player will have her own personalized Player Profile Web Site. These sites are available for review by college coaches and may be edited updated by players and parents free of charge at any time. Printable and electronic profile sheets will be available for distribution at exposure events and in direct marketing efforts by the staff.

 

Comprehensive Web Site

A comprehensive recruiting web site modeling professional sports sites such as Major League Baseball providing player news, accomplishments, statistics, game broadcasts, feature stories, player spotlights, game highlights, weekly coach's webcast shows, and other items designed to promote participants to college coaches has been developed.

 

Exposure Tournaments and Play Days

Players will have the opportunity to participate in one or more exposure events with college coaches observing play. An early Play Day on the home field of a Divison I school in a joint effort with their coaching staff has already been scheduled and finalized.

 

Coach's WebCast

Regular WebCasts featuring individual players will be broadcast throughout the season and available at any time on demand. The emphasis of the Coach's WebCast will be to highlight specific players and their accomplishments.

 

Video Highlight Reels

Extraordinary plays, impressive rallies, clutch performances will be edited into highlight reels designed to catch the attention of college coaches and published regularly on the web site.

 

Direct Promotion to College Coaches

Over the years, our success in promoting players has come through direct contact with college coaches - phone calls, email, newsletters, and in-person conversations. We will continue to do all of these things for each participant, including regular updates sent directly to college coaches through "mini-newsletters" to promote our players, allow coaches to become familiar with them, and and to constantly keep our players on the front burners.

 

Recruiting Seminar and Guidance

Parents and players will be able to attend recruiting seminars free of charge. Regular guidance and assistance will be provided to all players to enhance their abilities to market themselves properly and effectively to college coaches.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Q: Are you making any guarantees that players will receive college scholarships?

A: Absolutely not. We conduct several recruiting seminars every year for parents and players. Within the first few minutes of every seminar, we stress that the only person who can guaranttee a college athletic scholarship is a college coach who provides a player with a National Letter of Intent or formal scholarship offer. We routinely warn players about travel coaches who make guarantees about scholarships in order to recruit players onto their teams. At no time has any Jack City representative made any guarantee about the receipt of a college scholarship for any player, and at no time in the future will any Jack City representative make such a guarantee.

 

Q: Are you doing this to "ruin" high school softball

A: Absolutely not. The program is limited to approximately three dozen players. That amounts to a very small fraction of the thousands of players who participate in high school softball across the state. Any one of a dozen recreational leagues throughout middle Tennessee have far more high school eligible players participating in their leagues during the spring season. High school softball is a wonderful experience for many student-athletes and school ball meets their needs and expectations. We fully support high school athletics, especially in those situations, but understand that there is a small percentage of players who need or desire something different than what is currently being offered to them. We are simply offering an alternative to a very small number of players who believe that they need something different than what is currently offered to them.

 

Q: Did you target specific schools for any reason?

A: Again, absolutely not. Some of our players attend schools which do not have softball teams. Several of our players chose to leave their teams prior to the conclusion of the 2011 spring season. Many of our players had already chosen not to play for their school teams during the 2011-2012 season for various reasons without knowing that the Spring Program would be made available.

 

Q: Why is this program during the spring instead of summer or fall?

A: We seriously considered summer and fall programs. During those seasons, however, players have a plethora of options available to them. There are literally hundreds of travel teams throughout the area and state playing during the summer and fall. Players have the option of playing with teams from other states. Many of those teams make college exposure a high priority. Many of those teams do an outstanding job developing players. While there may be many travel teams which are not very good options, there are more than enough viable alternatives for players seeking something more. Many players are fortunate enough to be zoned to a school with outstanding coaches who do a great job of developing their players and work hard to provide them with recognition. Some, however, are by rule locked into a school program where those aspects are not present. Their options are extremely limited, and they have no control over their situation. They are either forced to participate in a program where they believe their needs as a student-athlete are not being met or take the entire spring off, neither of which are beneficial. The Spring Program provides these players with a viable alternative that doesn't require families to sell their homes and move into another school zone. .

 

Q: Is there a target breakdown of ages/grades?

A: Yes. The majority of players selected will be sophomores and juniors. We have set aside a few roster slots for seniors and freshmen, but those slots will be limited to a very small number. Seniors who haven't already signed scholarships are well behind in the recruiting process, and that ground is very difficult to make up. The recruiting work which should have been done during their freshman, sophomore, and junior years will have to be crammed into a short, hectic three month season which comes AFTER the NCAA November signing period. By the spring season there will only be a relatively small number of scholarships that remain open for their graduating class. If we take too many seniors, it will make it difficult to provide the intense effort needed to try to overcome those obstacles. We will also have a special Senior Night for our graduating seniors.

 

Q: When does the program begin?

A: The official season will run from February through early May, ending with Senior Night. Initial organizational meetings will take place in early October and players will be provided with various strength and conditioning opportunities at that time. Some players will have the opportunity to participate in a college showcase event in last October. Indoor workouts will be available throughout December and January leading up to the start of the official season.

 

Q: You won't guarantee scholarships. Are there things you will guarantee?

A: We are willing to make a number of guarantees:

 

•We will guarantee a consistent and concentrated emphasis upon developing advanced individual skills and a thorough knowledge of the game for EVERY player. We strongly believe that each player who participates and puts forth a reasonable amount of effort will progress significantly throughout the season and become a much better player. Every player will get the same number of repetitions and same amount of attention in practices, games, and pre-game warmup, regardless if they are the strongest or weakest player in the program.

 

•We will guarantee that every available tool will be used to expose your daugther to college coaches and market her aggressively and effectively. Those tools are build into the Spring Program. We strongly believe that our knowledge, experience, cultivated relationships with coaches, and past success in effectively promoting college prospects coupled with the comprehensive recruitment program we have incorporated into the Spring Program will greatly improve the opportunities to be recruited and greatly enhance the likelihood of success.

 

•We will guarantee that EVERY player will be treated with courtesy and respect at all times. Your daughter will never be subjected to obscenities, much less ones aimed at them. She will never experience being grabbed or yanked by her face mask or any other piece of equipment. She will not be subjected to clipboards or other objects being thrown or broken in fits of rage. She won't be yanked in the middle of an inning and forced into a perp walk to the dugout simply because she made an error.When she makes a mistake, she already knows it. She doesn't need to be told she made a mistake orhow bad it hurt the team. She already knows that. She needs to be taught how to avoid making that mistake again.

 

•We will guarantee that we will not try to control anything beyond what happens on the field. We will not attempt to control yuur choice of travel teams. We will not tell you who you can and cannot use as a pitching, catching, or hitting instructor. We will not attempt to change what the instructor you have selected and are paying to develop your skills is teaching you. In fact, we make a point of knowing what various instructors are teaching so we can support that training without confusing players by introducing concepts that run counter to what they are being taught in their weekly lessons. Conducting drills at practice to force rotational hitters to take the knob to the ball, wristing, downward angle swings, and other linear style mechanics is not only counterproductive, it has a devastating impact upon hitters.

 

•We will guarantee that our schedule for practices and games will be more appropriate for high school student-athletes, providing far more time for studying, doing homework, and participating in school, church, and other social activities. Being on the field four or more hours a day, six and seven days a week is counterproductive for most athletes. It brings on fatigue. It increases the chances of serious injuries. It has a negative impact upon school work and grades. It leaves no life outside of softball. We will get on the field, aggressively take care of business without any standing around or wasted time, and go home. Practices will be 90 minutes to two hours, and we will get more done than most do in several weeks of four hour practices combined. Off days during the week will allow them to rest, recover, and have a life.

 

•We will guarantee that politics, daddy ball, and favoritism will not be present within the Spring Program. We have designed the program to provide every player with equal benefits and to eliminate time spent on the bench. If they aren't getting repetitions in practices and playing in games, they won't improve. We have enen set up some checks and balances to eliminate subjective judgment. For example, we have developed a specific formula based upon performance and results to determine the batting order for each game.

 

•We will guarantee that the coaching approach will be entirely focused upon bring about success through training and building your daughter's confidence. We don't believe that "breaking" young athletes down, or humiliatiing and embarrassing them has any value in the development of their athletic abilities. Through years of experience we have learned that confidence brings success... which brings more confidence... which brings more success. Our philosophy is to teach them to do things properly and effectively and provide the support and confidence to allow them believe that they are capable of accomplishing those things. When those things happen, a player's ability to successfully execute is significantly increased.

 

Our goals are simple:

1.Train players so they are ready to be seen by college coaches

2.Use every available tool to allow them to be seen by college coaches

3.Sell their abilities to college coaches

4.Train players so they are able to be successful once they get to college.

 

Register Online Here

 

Or visit the Jack City Web Site

Edited September 9, 2011 by dore83

[big_joe]

11 Reasons to Play School Ball

By: Cindy Bristow

 

http://www.softballexcellence.com/dugout/miscellaneous/why-play-school-ball/

 

High school softball can’t search the state to find the best players as most travel ball teams do.

 

In most cases the coaches work extremely hard at improving themselves. I speak at lots of coaching clinics in the course of a year and by far, the coaches in the audience are high school coaches. In fact, high school coaches outnumber travel ball coaches 4-1 in their hunger for learning through either attending clinics or purchasing online training. I’m not trying to be mean with this statement but simply stating what I see on a year in and year out basis.

 

OK, with that said let’s get to my 11 reasons for Playing High School Softball:

 

School Pride! – You get to play for your school, wear your school colors and compete on behalf of your school against other schools. There’s an excitement in doing this that you don’t get on your traveball team.

 

Be a Part of Your School Athletic Program – While there might be other teams in your summer ball organization, they just play softball. When you play for your school, you become a part of ALL the teams that also play for your school. Athletes have something in common simply by playing for their school, and this connection is something you don’t have in travel ball.

 

May be Only Time in Your Life You Can Play for Your School – While most softball players have dreams of playing college softball, the reality is that many won’t. That means high school could be the only time in your life you play for your school. There’s definitely something emotional about competing for your school by wearing your school name and colors against other schools. For many softball players, high school will be the last (and possibly only) time they’ll have this opportunity!

 

Possibly be a Part of Some Big Rivalries – While there are no doubt some very big tournaments in travel ball, there usually aren’t many big rivalries. That’s another cool thing about school ball. Every school as an arch rival about whom they dislike and against whom they summon up more emotion. These rivalries are an exciting part of sports and are something that every athlete should get to experience.

 

Play with Your School Friends – Lots of softball players have grown up going to school with the same kids and high school provides a great opportunity to play softball with those friends. Sure, that sounds more social than travel ball but a HUGE reason that many girls play softball is for the social aspect. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to play with your friends – it’s why adult softball leagues are so popular.

 

Get to Play Another Position You Don’t Get to Play During travel ball – I think a HUGE advantage of playing school ball is that you can possibly either learn to play another position or else get more playing time at your second position. Of course this all depends on the makeup of your school team but it’s certainly an option that you need to consider as versatility makes you more valuable for future teams.

 

Get a Lot of Playing Time – This one might not seem so obvious at first but the potential for a lot of playing time is a huge advantage that school ball has over travel ball. Typically travel ball games are played on time limits while school ball isn’t. School softball games go the full 7 innings which, unless you get to the finals of a major tournament, just doesn’t happen in summer ball. In addition, if you’re a pitcher on a travel ball team chances are your team has a couple good pitchers so you’re each getting to pitch about 3-4 innings a game. That’s not a lot of pitching over the course of a summer. And yet on your high school team you may be the ONLY pitcher, which means you’re throwing every inning of every game. That’s a fantastic opportunity to work on your endurance, additional pitches, different pitch combinations and generally improve your game.

 

Exposure to Another Coaching Style – Learning how to take instruction from different coaches is like learning how to follow directions from different bosses – its part of life. Always playing for the same coach doesn’t broaden your horizons much so playing school ball can give you exposure to a different teaching style and temperament – both of which are great ways for you to expand yourself as a player.

 

Possibility to be a Leader - While you may not be a leader on your travel ball team, playing on your school team just might give you that opportunity. If you play a lot of travel ball and your skills are greater than your school ball teammates, they’re going to look to you for direction. Becoming a leader is a tremendous skill that will serve you well throughout your life and school ball just might give you the chance to develop this part of yourself.

 

Learn Patience with your Teammates – Since your teammates may not have quite the skill level that you do school ball is a wonderful opportunity to develop patience. Just because someone is bad doesn’t mean they want to be, or that they aren’t trying. Sometimes the very best we can do is not very good. So instead of getting mad and rolling your eyes and distancing yourself from your teammates when they struggle, try instead to encourage them. Practice being the person you’d like see if it was YOU making that same mistake. Instead of yelling at them let them know “it’s ok, now our plays at 2ndâ€, or “don’t worry, we’ve got your backâ€. Being patient and offering encouragement is what quality teammates do and school ball can offer you an opportunity to really improve both of these qualities!

 

Enjoy Softball – Chances are if you’ve played travel ball very long then you’re familiar with pressure and tension from all directions. Coaches feel pressure, parents feel pressure and without a doubt, the players feel pressure. So much of this pressure and tension comes from the fact that everyone nowdays seems to be playing travel ball simply to get a scholarship. It seems like LONG gone are the days when people played softball because they loved playing softball. Well school ball offers you a fantastic opportunity to play softball because you love playing softball. It can bring the FUN back into the game by helping remove a lot of the pressure and relieve a lot of the tension that seems to surround travel ball. Softball is a game and games should be fun – no matter how important that game is, you’re going to play it at a much higher level if you enjoy what you’re doing. Dreading things, trying not to make mistakes, worrying about every single little error is not a relaxed mind frame and sure isn’t a very fun place to be. I’m not saying that anyone playing softball for their school doesn’t want to win, of course you do. But what I am saying is that for the first time in a very long time, when you play school ball you’ll remember how much fun you used to have playing softball!