Vegas Showcase

Any thoughts about the Girls Players Showcase this weekend? We were there and I thought the weather was awesome- (it got hot for sure so I'm certain not everyone loved it)--at my DD games coaches were there but not as many as I expected--we weren't in the best bracket--overall though I still love going but honestly, I just love Vegas!! :D
 
98/99 and 99 all at one large complex.
Very nice grass fields. That made it easy for college coaches to stay at one complex and fill their last open roster spots. Plenty of D II, DIII & NAIA .Had 30 coaches at our first game and then a 10-15 coaches on Sat. games.
Some of our seniors had DII & DIII coaches interest. At this age, coaches and players were having conversations after the games.
We are not our club's top team. We play SCDSL 1.
Overall, it was a great experience.
 
Local here. It was a great showcase as always. Even though the complexes were on opposite ends of the city (30ish miles from Heritage to Bettye), the college coaches were evenly spread out and teams on both ends got good looks. Heritage is never taken care of very well in the winter, so some fields were pretty bad, but at least the ground was level. Only complaint I personally had was all four of our DD's games were played in 30 hours (two Friday, two Saturday), but our girls managed to pull through!

The UCLA/BYU/UNLV games were very entertaining. Great atmosphere, great football, and fun experience. Seeing Pugh, Fleming, etc. in person was a privilege for both players and parents alike!

Hope everyone had/has safe travels home.
 
I rather have the normal bracket play, semi's and finals.
Why? It's a showcase for college coaches to evaluate potential players. It's not about winning, because your head coach should be playing everyone, so they can be seen. Lastly, college coaches don't usually watch an entire game and don't care who wins or loses.
 
Why? It's a showcase for college coaches to evaluate potential players. It's not about winning, because your head coach should be playing everyone, so they can be seen. Lastly, college coaches don't usually watch an entire game and don't care who wins or loses.
It would be hard for some teams to showcase if they were given weak opponents and winning 4-5 goals. What should players do at that point? Our team played keep away, and I'm sure college coaches didn't stick around for that.
At least with bracket play, we would have an opp to play teams with similar placement on the other brackets and make it more interesting.
 
They added Aventura Park to the list of fields this year. While it was at the edge of civilization, the grass fields were well kept and I'd rather play there over Heritage any day. The drive back was not as bad as prior years. We did not have to take the 40 to bypass 15 to Barstow.
 
Our girls had a 7:30 AM game on Sunday, so we were happy to get out of Vegas in a hurry to beat traffic. We had snacks in the car and planned to eat in Barstow. I did not want to eat at McBurger Jr., so we stopped at Casa Jimenez just off the freeway on Barstow Rd. If you are every hungry in Barstow, I would recommend it. The food was good, the prices were low, the people were friendly, the service was fast and the ambience was unique. I am not a huge fan of taxidermy, but it was entertaining.
 
I rather have the normal bracket play, semi's and finals.

At U14 and below they have the normal bracket play as it is not a showcase format.

The weather was perfect in the shade. Overall, it was a good tournament considering that there were approximately 600 girls teams that participated.
 
It would be hard for some teams to showcase if they were given weak opponents and winning 4-5 goals. What should players do at that point? Our team played keep away, and I'm sure college coaches didn't stick around for that.
At least with bracket play, we would have an opp to play teams with similar placement on the other brackets and make it more interesting.

It seems like this was your 1st college showcase. College coaches don't watch 1 game at the recruiting age of U15-U16. They will watch your DD play a minimum of 3 times. They want to see player consistency of good or poor play before they know if the girl fits their program or not.
 
Our girls had a 7:30 AM game on Sunday, so we were happy to get out of Vegas in a hurry to beat traffic. We had snacks in the car and planned to eat in Barstow. I did not want to eat at McBurger Jr., so we stopped at Casa Jimenez just off the freeway on Barstow Rd. If you are every hungry in Barstow, I would recommend it. The food was good, the prices were low, the people were friendly, the service was fast and the ambience was unique. I am not a huge fan of taxidermy, but it was entertaining.
Outside, I'm surprised you didn't stop at Peggy Sue's 50's Dinner prior to Barstow. Just messing, I wouldn't go in there.
 
It seems like this was your 1st college showcase. College coaches don't watch 1 game at the recruiting age of U15-U16. They will watch your DD play a minimum of 3 times. They want to see player consistency of good or poor play before they know if the girl fits their program or not.

True, but I think SoCalmom's point was that if the coaches stop by for 5 minute peek and the girls are playing keep away, no one is showcased.
 
True, but I think SoCalmom's point was that if the coaches stop by for 5 minute peek and the girls are playing keep away, no one is showcased.

What if a college coach uses a possession oriented style of play? Wouldn't this scenario actually be exactly what he would want to see? How calm is the player with the ball? Does the player take his touch out of pressure or into pressure? If he receives a ball under pressure can he play his way out and keep possession? What's his movement off the ball look like? Does he provide an option to his teammate on the ball? Does he communicate well and give advice to his teammate on the ball? How hard does he work to get the ball back if his team loses possession of the ball?

Just playing devil's advocate here, but there are a ton of things a coach can see about a player from watching his team play "keep away".
 
True, but I think SoCalmom's point was that if the coaches stop by for 5 minute peek and the girls are playing keep away, no one is showcased.

College coaches look at a players body language when their team is down, is the player still hustling, are they communicating....it's not just the touch.

BTW, the other team is being showcased.
 
College coaches look at a players body language when their team is down, is the player still hustling, are they communicating....it's not just the touch.

BTW, the other team is being showcased.

OK, if I'm a striker or wing and I'm just passing the ball back, sure, I'm not looking bad, but I'm also not showing what I can do to score. If a college coach watches a game where the striker is pushing forward, making opportunities and striking the ball vs. a game where the striker is constantly passing back, which is better?

Also, if I am a goalie, and the other team is not shooting on me, how can I show my game?
 
Not to mention it was 90 out and your opponents didn't even want to go for the ball.
The organizers can't tell the play level of a lot of teams. SoCal teams don't want to travel to LV to play each other. Brackets will be a mixture of gold/silver/bronze teams. Would be nice after 3 games to size up different brackets in same flight n have 1st/2nd/3rd team play against each other. We could still have showcase style.
 
lso, if I am a goalie, and the other team is not shooting on me, how can I show my game?

From a neutral point of view, in the worst case scenario where nothing is getting through to a keeper in a showcase, there is other things that make a goalkeeper a prospect. For example, if the team is playing possession, which was already discussed earlier, are they passing back to the keeper? Or is she/he sitting back on the line, not involved with the play? How is her distribution? Does she take her own goal kicks, if so, how far do they go, are they accurate (depending on age)? When defending, is she keeping the defense organized, same while building a play? Is she influencing the game and her team?
 
OK, if I'm a striker or wing and I'm just passing the ball back, sure, I'm not looking bad, but I'm also not showing what I can do to score. If a college coach watches a game where the striker is pushing forward, making opportunities and striking the ball vs. a game where the striker is constantly passing back, which is better?

Also, if I am a goalie, and the other team is not shooting on me, how can I show my game?
That all depends on the college coach. What I have learned is every college coach has a player preference and it varies from coach to coach.
 
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