Who's going and who has been in the past? What to expect?

Who's going and who has been in the past? What to expect?

 

Where are you going? Which one?

Its the High Potential Blue Chip Fall Showcase just south of Louisville put on by Rick Bolus. Never been and with other seasons in full swing thought it might be a good opportunity to polish off some rust.

Its the High Potential Blue Chip Fall Showcase just south of Louisville put on by Rick Bolus. Never been and with other seasons in full swing thought it might be a good opportunity to polish off some rust.

 

I believe there used to be a Blue Chip camp in Indy. It was always their largest one. I can tell you what I thought about that one and all these other camps.

 

The one in Indy was loaded with coaches...from all levels. There were hundreds of kids and they herded you around like cattle. That's not really bad, they were organized.

 

What they did up there was had everyone assigned to teams. We went with 5 girls, but they were all placed on different kids from all over the country. Then they basically played games against other throw together teams. Each team had 10 players and a coach from the event. They would put in 5 and take out 5...no exceptions. It was okay, but the problem a couple of our players had was they were on teams that had girls that thought they were really good, shot a lot and dribbled a lot. Apparenlty to "show their skills". Well, one, that really didn't fair well for that kids showing off and it meant limited touches for others. My daughter was lucky enough to get on a team that shared the ball. Heck, as I was watching, I was thinking "I'd love to coach this team!". But the others were miserable.

 

As for the scouts, it appeared they knew who they were looking for and it also appeared the event leaders had a good idea who the best prospects were because there were 2-3 teams that were loaded and the majority of the schools followed their games. In our girl's games, there might have been 1-2 coaches drop by every once in awhile and watch. Just so you know, the 5 I'm talking about are some of the better players in the 9th this year (seniors and juniors). The problem is, with that many kids and certain kids having their own agenda, it was really kind of difficult to stand out.

 

In all honesty, I have come to the conclusion that most of these camps are really just money makers...in all sports. You might get some exposure going to several of them when scouts start to see your name or face over and over again, but that still doesn't mean they would be interested in you. I think you are better off working on getting letters and videos out to coaches and showing your interest in their school. In today's world of media, the coach's job has changed a little. They don't have to get out and work as hard at recruiting. They expect you to seek them out and pursue them by coming up with creative ways to set yourself a part by sending videos and letters convincing them why you're right for their program. Yes, the big schools still work their tails off for the elite players, but there aren't too many elite players. I am going through the same process with my daughter and softball. I just think it's better to get individual looks and workouts scheduled than trying to make an impression at a camp with a ton of athletes.

Here's the biggest question you also need to ask yourself. Why are you doing this? Does your daughter want to do it? Most of the time, they are going to shake their head yes. But to they really want to and are informed what being a D1 or D2 athlete consists of. Are they doing it for a scholarship? Are you doing it because they want to play in college? If she's good enough to play at any level, what level does she WANT to play? Not what level Mom and Dad want her to play. Keeping in mind that a D1 sport and school is more than a full time job. Most weeks consist of dusk til dawn planned activities 6 days a week (workouts, school, practice, dinner, practice, study time, bed). Not much free time and not much of a college experience, other than the sport. Your child MUST LOVE the school, LOVE the sport and LOVE the coach and not be concerned at all with the time you must put in. People say that's all fine, but I really don't think everyone thinks about all those things. The see $$$$ and the prestige of playing college sports at a high level. So a kid works her tail off for 4 years, now what. Is she happy she played D1 or even D2 or does she regret missing her college days? She's not going to get paid to play that sport! And it's over after 4 years regardless, so is it all worth it or not? She better LOVE it because they OWN you as a D1 athlete and some very good players don't want to "sell out" their college years for that.

 

Not saying it's not good, but just make sure you think that stuff through and have conversations with your kids. And make sure you're honest with each other. Girls are much different than boys and their priorities change before boys in most cases.

Thanks RC for the info and the heads up. Looking forward to it then. Should be a great experience and a change of pace from the current season.

Showcase complete and I have to say it was a very organized and well run event. True to his word Rick Bolus said that other than for lunch the girls would be in constant motion playing games, competing in contests and doing drills. He also said that the girls would sleep well last night. He was 100% correct. My daughter never stopped moving and was asleep on the ride home and hit the bed shortly after getting home.

 

The girls:

There were approximately 50 young ladies that attended the camp and came from all over KY, with several from OH, IN, AL and TN. Most of the girls were juniors or seniors with a solid mix of freshman and sophomores and 2 middleschoolers. All the girls were terrific athletes and represented themselves very well. I couldn't tell you where they rank but there was no slouch in this group. Many of the girls I recognized as top players from their HS teams and many I remember as top players from this past AAU season.

 

The format:

The girls were split into 4 teams and assigned a coach. While 2 teams participated in skills drills and shooting contests the other 2 teams participated in a 1hour game with a new rotation of girls on the court every five minutes, no timeouts, no halftime. This allowed the girls to go full out and not have to worry about running out of steam. This also promoted a lot of scoring and gave a lot of opportunity for girls to showcase their skills offensively as well as their ability to play both zone and man to man defense.

 

On a side note I am proud to say that the only 2 girls from NKY both received recognition for outstanding performances. McKenzie Leigh (Jr. Highlands) was selected to the all camp team and Holly Kallmeyer received the Camp Most Versatile Player Award.

 

Colleges:

On hand I saw representatives from from NAIA Division 1&2 schools including Transylvania University, University of Pikeville,

and Indiana University Southeast.

 

All in all I came away with a positive experience and look forward to more opportunities to participate in future events. That said we went in with slightly different expectations. With volleyball season in full swing the main focus was to polish off some rust before school ball season, find out a little more about the recruiting process and get some exposure in the process.

My daughter attended this camp as well and got a good workout in. The coaches that ran the camp were very good/knowledgeable. Not sure who they were....but worked well with the kids. Overall good experience.

Sounds great! Surprised that most were Jr and Sr. Usually a lot of younger kids at these camps. Were younger kids invited? The reason I ask, is most D1 and several D2 schools are done with their 2015 classes and pretty far done with the 2016 kids. In my experience, they are usually looking for the younger kids. It makes sense that the D3 and NAIA schools are there. They are usually looking for the older kids a little later in the process.

 

Congrats to McKenzie and Ms Kallmeyer! I coached McKenzie in AAU for a couple years til 8th grade! Love her!

Bolus camps typically draw the D3 and NAIA schools. Good experience for the players for the most part. 4 teams- 12 on a team except one that had only 10. 12 is too many IMO. Each team had 5 players selected for the "All" team plus they had awards for FT, 3 Pt and Hot Shot- girls had fun with it. Above colleges mentioned did stay the majority of the day but I would have to agree with RCC9 assessment of these type events. Much to do with what team you are on and the combinations of the players with the different rotations. Cannot say that I would have agreed with all the Outstanding players awarded for each team- not really sure what they saw in some players but was told from another parent that most of teams are set up to showcase certain players who are already pre-selected on the "All" team and more or less have to play there way off. IDK- coaches talk about importance of "team" play but tend to award the "non-team" ie selfish players with the awards.

Bolus camps typically draw the D3 and NAIA schools. Good experience for the players for the most part. 4 teams- 12 on a team except one that had only 10. 12 is too many IMO. Each team had 5 players selected for the "All" team plus they had awards for FT, 3 Pt and Hot Shot- girls had fun with it. Above colleges mentioned did stay the majority of the day but I would have to agree with RCC9 assessment of these type events. Much to do with what team you are on and the combinations of the players with the different rotations. Cannot say that I would have agreed with all the Outstanding players awarded for each team- not really sure what they saw in some players but was told from another parent that most of teams are set up to showcase certain players who are already pre-selected on the "All" team and more or less have to play there way off. IDK- coaches talk about importance of "team" play but tend to award the "non-team" ie selfish players with the awards.

 

I agree to a point Crazy.....my daughter's team was pretty unselfish for an event like this. But I just hope that the coaches that were there have been around long enough to see the "intangibles."

The reason there were only 10 girls on one team is that they were two "no-shows" and they were on that team. There is a certain amount of frustration in any event on the award selections. I don't choose the players but I remember one girl that was very deserving of her selection even though she is not a scorer. One game in particular she did not record a basket but had between 15-20 rebounds and intimidated on defense. There will always be a fair amount of selfish play at these events but I try to look at the overall game, skill, attitude, ability to be coached, etc. The most difficult thing in the world is what to do about a touted player that comes in and has a bad day. Some feel obligated to list them but I believe give it to the deserving players. That is why I am glad I don't make the decision. Years ago when I was involved at the Boys Fifth Third Classic at Lexington Catholic we did not put a UK signee on the team because to be honest he had a couple of bad games. Needless to say the fans wanted to hang us from the rafters. The thing that impressed me Saturday was the effort put forth by the ladies from 7th graders through seniors.

bestshooterNthestate - a good point I overheard one of the college coaches remarking about one of the girls that was scoring well in one of the games, he basically said she is not getting back on defense or rebounding but hanging out at midcourt and "snowbirding." I was glad to hear that comment.

bestshooterNthestate - a good point I overheard one of the college coaches remarking about one of the girls that was scoring well in one of the games, he basically said she is not getting back on defense or rebounding but hanging out at midcourt and "snowbirding." I was glad to hear that comment.

 

Amen to that REHS!

 

In regards to my comments about the # if players on a team- 12 is just too much. 10 is a good number with equal rotations. Yes cancellations do happen but IMO that gives the one team with only 10 an advantage over the other 3 that had 12. 12 people competing for 5 spots vs 10 for them. Just an observation. I would have rather seen 5 teams of 10 but I know that messes up the rotations, especially the way they did this showcase. If they had a second gym, they could have added more games which is really what the college coaches want to see anyway.

 

I too would hope that coaches notice the "snow-birding" and selfish play by some. Did they rotate on defense, play on the help line, etc. I would say the majority of those receiving the Outstanding Awards - especially the top 3 on each team were deserving - just curious as to what they based it on? The evaluation sheet that was filled out for each player, team coach input, director input, or by committee ? I know it is difficult and players get left off for a variety of reasons and every one sees the game differently. You can always look at any player and find a reason to not select them- that is the easy part IMO. There is so much more to the game that does not show up in the stat columns- those are the players that get missed and those are the types of players that every successful team needs. Congrats to all the players & good luck this season,

Amen to that REHS!

 

In regards to my comments about the # if players on a team- 12 is just too much. 10 is a good number with equal rotations. Yes cancellations do happen but IMO that gives the one team with only 10 an advantage over the other 3 that had 12. 12 people competing for 5 spots vs 10 for them. Just an observation. I would have rather seen 5 teams of 10 but I know that messes up the rotations, especially the way they did this showcase. If they had a second gym, they could have added more games which is really what the college coaches want to see anyway.

 

I too would hope that coaches notice the "snow-birding" and selfish play by some. Did they rotate on defense, play on the help line, etc. I would say the majority of those receiving the Outstanding Awards - especially the top 3 on each team were deserving - just curious as to what they based it on? The evaluation sheet that was filled out for each player, team coach input, director input, or by committee ? I know it is difficult and players get left off for a variety of reasons and every one sees the game differently. You can always look at any player and find a reason to not select them- that is the easy part IMO. There is so much more to the game that does not show up in the stat columns- those are the players that get missed and those are the types of players that every successful team needs. Congrats to all the players & good luck this season,

 

Been a while since I heard "snowbirding"--------that's what I used to do at the park back in the day!!!:walk: