Coaches I am writing to you as many of your teams are young, and this may be your first attempt at a showcase type event.
There are a few things that you need to keep in mind.

• The players have a large impact on how many university coaches end up at the events.  They do this by writing to the coaches to perk the interest of the coaches.   This also impacts how many coaches come to watch your team play.   If your team is loaded with 2012 grads then it is less likely that a coach is going to travel very far to watch.   I'm not saying it wont happen but it is less likely.   At best if your team is loaded with very young ladies then hopefully they can begin getting some girls on some coaches radars.  
• When writing emails please remind them to write to individual coaches.  Do not allow them to create emails with multiple schools attached.    This is big pet peeve of the university coaches.   Have them be realistic when writing, and to keep an open mind.  Very few players early on know exactly what they want to be or where they want to go to school.   This is OK, and somewhat expected.   Its good to sell your game but don't go overboard on a bunch of Jr High accomplishments.   Keep it real and somewhat short.   I will provide some examples for you.   I would also encourage your girls to fill out any prospective athlete forms on the University websites.  This gets you in their database.
• Begin building your player profiles,  these should be one maybe two pages max.    Team books are neat but a lot of these coaches are looking for info on one or two players.   I will provide a profile example as well.  
• The neat thing about playing in a showcase early on is that you might get a player on a coaches radar or list.  The bad thing about playing in a showcase early is that you might get a player or two redlined off of a list because of attitude, and or immaturity.   Attitude before, during and after the game is the single most thing we hear from coaches.  
• Keep it real,  only the best of all the rest get to play Div I  softball.   Don't be insulted or let down to be seen by all div and types of universities. Keep all options available.   Remember the diploma is the most important thing that you can achieve here.

University Update:   I do know for a fact that we will have Div 1,2,3, junior colleges, and private colleges in attendance.   I cannot say for sure how many, as many of these
coaches say they have this event down to attend but don’t want to put it in writing.   All of these schools are busy getting things going, and have had only one to two practices
0Awith their new teams.   Many are just now planning out the fall and looking at their immediate needs vs long team needs.  All of this comes into play when picking an event to attend in the fall.   Now throw in how many emails they get from the players.     I am doing everything that I can do to secure them.   Just yesterday I secured spots for their pitchers to use Coach Cooke’s (Wintrhop Head Coach)  K-Zone  in return for a visit to this event.  We are also providing them with a nice lunch both Saturday and Sunday.   

Those of you that know me from the Mighty Casey or the ball field over the years, know that I will make this a successful event without raising the price to $450 per team.  
Thanks for your time and look for additional emails in the near future.

Jim Allen