August 5, 2025 • 29 mins
Wondering if the USSSA-A All-American Games is worth it for your young softball player? Look no further than this revealing father-daughter journey from tryouts to championship week.
Having just returned from Florida where my daughter competed in this prestigious event, I'm pulling back the curtain on every aspect of the experience. Despite initial skepticism about whether this was merely an elaborate money-grab, what we discovered was a legitimately transformative opportunity that exceeded our expectations at every turn.
The journey begins with a comprehensive tryout process spanning 23 locations nationwide, where players showcase their skills through athletic testing, position evaluations, and hitting assessments. Unlike many youth sports "showcases," this one genuinely selects based on merit, creating teams of remarkably talented athletes from across the country. What sets this tournament apart is its thoughtful organization - players compete in single-year age groups rather than the traditional two-year brackets, and strict playing time rules ensure every selected athlete gets substantial field time.
From the moment we arrived at the USSSA Space Coast Complex with its 15 turf fields and 8,000-seat stadium, it became clear this wasn't an ordinary tournament. The opening ceremonies filled the stadium with cheering families, custom jerseys and trading cards made players feel like professionals, and the coaching staff delivered both technical expertise and genuine encouragement. Perhaps most surprisingly, these teams of strangers quickly developed extraordinary chemistry, with players supporting each other through successes and mistakes alike.
Yes, USSSA is running a business, but they're delivering exceptional value in return. For talented softball players seeking recognition and growth opportunities beyond their local travel teams, this experience represents something truly special. After witnessing my typically introverted daughter thrive in this environment, I can confidently call it the best softball experience we've had to date. If your daughter has the skills to compete, don't let skepticism hold you back from what could be a defining moment in her athletic journey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The U-Triple-S-A All-American Games Is it worth
it for your daughter?
Well, my daughter attended thetryouts, was part of the
selection show, and we just gotback from Florida where she
participated in this year'sU-Triple-S-A All-American Games.
And, as a dad, I'm going to berevealing all of the truths
about whether or not you guysshould have your kids
participate next year.
Raising athletes the thingsthat causes all dads to go bald
(00:22):
and moms to buy minivans.
Raising athletes the thingsthat causes all dads to go bald
and moms to buy minivans.
Empowering parents to helptheir kids succeed.
So welcome back to RaisingAthletes Now.
If you've been part of the showsince the very beginning, you
know that we're all in thistogether.
We're all parents helping ourkids to have the best chance of
(00:44):
success, whether that be forjust for the moment or for the
future.
And there's a few really greatopportunities for our children
out there that elevates theirgame and gives them even more
experiences and makes it evenmore fun.
One of those things theU-Triple-SA All-American Games.
That is held every single yearfor the last decade.
But the big question is is itreally worth it?
Big question is is it reallyworth it?
Should you have your daughterattend one of the 23 tryouts
(01:10):
that are scheduled throughoutthe entire country, literally
coast to coast.
Is it worth it paying all ofthat money for the entry fee,
going through the gruelingprocess of participating in
tryouts and, if they're selected, is it even worth the money to
now pay the entry fee and allthe money it's going to cost to
get to florida and to attend theweek-long event?
That's what today's show isabout, because my daughter was
(01:34):
one of those kids whoparticipated this this past year
, attended the tryout, gotselected and we got to head down
as a family to watch herparticipate in this year's u S a
10 year anniversary allAmerican games down in the space
coast complex in Florida.
So is it worth it?
The short answer is absolutely.
I will say confidently.
(01:55):
This was the best experienceI've had with my daughter when
it came, when it comes tosoftball.
I knew it was a big honor thatshe was selected and I did not
know actually what to expect forthe games.
I did a little bit of diggingonline, obviously leading up to
the games, and I saw somepictures and some videos from
(02:17):
the prior year, but there'snothing like being there in
person and when we first pulledup to the entire complex.
There's 15 turf fields andthere's a massive stadium.
I think the stadium holds likesomething like 8 000 people.
I realized this is a really bigdeal.
But even pulling up and seeingthe massive stadium, I'm like,
(02:37):
all right, they're not going toget to play in that big stadium.
There's not going to be enoughpeople to fill the stadium,
right.
But the opening ceremoniesproved me wrong and from the
very beginning to the moment weleft, we had one of the best
experiences we've had forsoftball to date in her very
short year, you know, career ofplaying softball.
(02:58):
But it was amazing.
Opening ceremonies.
There must have been about 6000people to celebrate these kids
that were selected and theyreally did a great job of
surrounding the kids with somuch hoopla.
They really felt like rockstars and they were the center
of every single moment for theentire week.
And I really want to tip my capto everyone that was involved
(03:19):
with planning this event becauseI thought that they did an
extraordinary job.
Number one, considering howmany people were there and
number two, really making all ofthe kids feel so special.
My daughter left not can't waitto maybe come back when, you
know, try out next year.
She's telling everyone about itand she's so proud.
(03:42):
Now my daughter.
Now I've got, you know, a fewkids.
I've got triplets.
You guys know Two of mydaughters play softball and one
daughter was selected.
And now as a family, was thathard, absolutely.
But the one daughter that wasselected she's actually an
introvert and it was so nicethat they came and supported
(04:03):
people like my daughter and theymade her actually not made her,
but they helped her to sort ofget out of her shell a little
bit.
The teammates were incrediblysupportive.
The coaches assigned to theteam were incredibly encouraging
and knowledgeable and made theexperience great.
Not to mention, actually, mydaughter's team made it to the
semifinals and was selected asone of the top four teams in
(04:23):
their age bracket.
So it was awesome.
Honestly, I can't speak morehighly of this experience and
recommend it enough to all ofthe families from around the
country who have seen this andwill just label it a money grab
and stay away from it, becausethey're like, oh, this is just a
money grab.
I'm here to say it's okay forit to be both a money grab and a
(04:45):
great opportunity, and this isa classic example of that.
Yes, is this a money grab?
Sure, they're in the businessof making money.
You triple say they are abusiness.
They're leveraging their brandand their reach around the
country to create something thatis of interest to a lot of
people, and they've done a goodjob of doing just that.
(05:05):
And you know what they deliver.
In an amazing event, they domake the kids feel special.
It is a high class, um weeklong, long events.
They do have great competition,great talent that comes out.
They surround themselves withlots of activities, even the
fill in the gaps throughout theentire week, and I would say
it's 100% worth it.
So it's okay in this case that,yes, are they making money?
(05:29):
Yes, but I believe they'reactually giving a tremendous
value, considering what it costsfor these kids to participate.
Now, you can't pay to beinvolved with this.
The kids have to earn theirspots.
Unlike other activities andevents that happen around the
country, this is a legitimatetryout.
There's legitimate kids thatare selected, as all Americans,
(05:49):
based on merit, based on theirskills, and they're evaluated.
And I'll go through the wholetryout.
Listen, if you've never beenthere and you want to know,
trust me, I'm going to betelling you guys everything that
I experience behind the sceneswhen it comes to this entire
process.
But yeah, these kids aregenuinely.
They go through the tryouts andthey are selected based on
(06:12):
their skill and there's a wholesystem and I'll get that in a
second that helps them to selectcertain kids for the
All-American Games.
This year they said that therewere over 2 000 kids that tried
out for the all-american gamesand you know there's a handful
of kids and that that areselected for each of the age
(06:33):
categories, something.
One thing I thought that wasreally nice that that they did.
As you guys know, if you guyshave daughters playing fast
pitch travel softball, you know,travel softball is broken up by
two year age gaps.
There's 8u, 10u, 12u, 14, 16,18, but for the all-american
games they do it by single years, which I thought was a really
(06:55):
nice um change versus the waythat we are normally playing, uh
, throughout the seasons here.
So they brought, they broke allthe kids up that were selected
by age.
So there was a 9u division, a10u division, 11, 12, 13 and a
14u division.
So that's all.
It spanned 9u to 14u and it'sbroken up by single ages, which
(07:16):
I thought was awesome.
The rosters were.
I saw them.
They were anywhere from 11 to12 kids and what that means
playing time, lots of playingtime for all the kids.
Another really nice bonus is, Ifound out, there are rules that
the coaches have to abide by.
Kids are only allowed to sit amaximum of two innings per game,
(07:39):
so that's guaranteed playingtime for the majority of the
game for every single child thatis on that team, which is, I
thought, a really, really nicething.
They are constantly rotatingkids to their primary and their
secondary positions, becausethey do ask on the front end
when you're trying out what'syour primary, what's your
secondary position, it's reallyimportant that you're putting
(08:03):
down the correct two positionsthat your kid plays, because if
they get selected, they're goingto play those two positions in
the games and they're going tobe rotating, rotated between
those two positions.
Now my daughter she's anoutfielder and she plays first
base and she put down outfieldand first base and, sure enough,
she started every game and shegot to play both outfield and
(08:25):
first base, which is reallyreally, really nice.
And so, again, the coaches arevery conscious about the playing
time.
There are very strict rules inplace.
The coaches actually have tolog, every after every single
game, the playing time chart.
There's a specific chart thatevery coach has to fill in that
(08:46):
proves playing time.
They have to submit it to adatabase.
All to say, they do a nice jobmaking sure all the girls get
proper playing time.
But you know what?
It's all deserving, because ifa child, a young athlete, gets
selected to be an All-American,these are all talented kids.
I mean, every kid that's on theteam they can play ball, and so
that was that's also a really,really nice thing.
(09:08):
I got to speak with some, someparents about kids that were,
you know, from the Midwest, thatwere that I got assigned to my
daughter's team and they weresaying, like you know, their,
their travel team, she's thebest one, and this past summer
was a little discouraging, andthey were saying how nice it was
to be able to be on a teamwhere all the girls are really
capable of playing theirpositions zero drama and
(09:32):
collectively.
All the parents really said onemain thing that all of the
girls were so supportive of eachother.
And one thing that I noticedeven that's a difference between
the even the teams that I coachand this particular team that
just came together.
It is amazing how supportivethe girls were in game.
And so were there mistakes made?
(09:54):
Yeah, a hundred percent therewere.
There were still errors made bysome of the kids, and it
happens, right.
But what I noticed was a bigdifference is, when an error
happened, every single girlrallied behind that girl and it
became a distant memory.
It was amazing and it helpedreally encourage those girls and
one mistake did not turn intotwo and it really just elevated,
(10:17):
I would think, the quality ofthe game because of not just the
skill of the kids, but all thekids knew that these brand new
teammates had their back andwere incredibly supportive and
they weren't gonna bedisappointed in them, and I
think that created anenvironment that encouraged more
at success.
So we had a really wonderfulexperience.
(10:39):
So let's go back a little bitand start at the very beginning
the tryouts and what that lookslike.
Let me pull this up here foryou, guys, so you can see this
particular screen.
So what you're going to want todo is you have to register for
the All-American Games.
Actually, let me see before Ido this Now, I'm actually
(11:00):
recording this.
Here we go, I'm going to pullthis up.
I'm sorry, guys, that I didn'thave this already made up, but
if you are listening.
This is going to be confusingto you, but if you're watching
you'll understand a little bitmore.
I'm actually I'm live editingthe show and I'm putting a
little bit of a frame of myselfhere.
(11:20):
I'll put it in the top cornerso you can see me.
But you're going to want to goto the U-triple-S-A website.
There's a dedicated page forthe all-american games.
It's aagfastpitchutriple-sacom.
This is where you're going tobe able to go and you're going
(11:41):
to be able to register.
You have to register for thetryouts.
You can't just show up to thetryouts.
You have to select the areathat I guess is closest to you.
Last year there were 23 tryoutsscheduled around the country,
so you get to pick the onethat's closest to you.
For me, we live in New York andthe closest one to us was in
(12:02):
South Jersey, and so that's theone that we selected and we went
to South Jersey for our tryouts.
But there are tryouts againscheduled throughout the entire
country.
South jersey for our tryouts,but there are tryouts again
scheduled throughout the entirecountry.
But all simply you do is you'regoing to go to this website.
Next year they will have theregistration available for the
tryouts and it's pretty simple.
You register, you attend one ofthese 23 tryouts that are
(12:24):
around the country and that ateach tryout is and you could see
it here the athletes are goingto go through multiple stations
that will include athletictesting, position evaluations
and hitting evaluations, andthen the top athletes at each
tryout could be selected twoways either as a direct invite
(12:45):
meaning that within 24 hoursthere are about it could be be,
I think, about 12 kids that areselected as a direct invite and
then about a month later theyhave this really big award
selection show.
Honestly, it's like the academyawards and uh and then they
actually announce each kids thatis was selected after the
(13:06):
direct invites.
Um, now, what does the um, whatdoes the tryout look like?
Well, the tryout is long.
So number one, I would sayprepare for a long day, because
there's a lot of kids thatattend and there's a lot of
different skills that they'retrying to document.
(13:27):
Each kid when they get there,they get a special U triple C
practice shirt.
This way everyone has the sameattire on and they separate the
kids by age group.
They all go to their differentgroups.
My daughter, she was 14U, soshe got assigned the 14U group.
(13:48):
They went to a field.
They start with generalwarm-ups, the kids get, they
pair up on their own.
The kids pair up on their ownto like warm up their arm.
They run the kids through somebasic dynamic stretches and
whatnot to get them prepared.
And then it's off to the races.
And they started off with theagility first.
So there was five, 10, five.
They do your times and you getone shot at that.
(14:12):
So I want to be very, very clearwhat I would recommend, and I
had did this with my daughter.
I found out all of the skillsthat they were going to be
testing and I had my daughterjust practice it so that the
first time she was doing itwasn't actually the test, she'd
got some experience earlier on.
So we set up our own five, 10 ffives.
I had her practice that, I hadher practice, her, her turns.
So I would have your childpractice that, I wouldn't.
(14:34):
It's not something thateveryone does all the time.
So if they haven't done it, Iwould definitely show your
daughter the proper way of doinga 510 five.
This way you get a decent timebecause you want a good time,
you want a good, a good score ateach of the various evaluation
stations, then after the 5-10-5,then they go over and then they
did the 60-yard dash and thatis a straight run right, and so
(14:58):
we had practiced that beforehand.
My daughter's a little, youknow, kind of quick, so she got
some really good times there.
After the running is finished,then it goes to throwing, and so
they do.
You throw into a net, there's athey had a pocket radar there
set up.
They had a bunch of netsbecause there were a lot of
girls and it's an overhandthrowing.
So one thing I would recommendis go through this beforehand.
(15:23):
Teach your daughter the properway of doing a crow hop or a
pull down.
I saw a lot of girls that werejust getting the ball and sort
of throwing it flat footed.
You know there are definitelytechniques involved to help kids
to increase their velocity,their throwing velocity, and
show your daughter this this wayit gives her that a little bit
of an edge so she can add acouple miles an hour to her
(15:44):
throwing velocity.
Because it makes a difference,because you definitely want to
score at the top echelon of allof these scores that are going
to be coming in After thethrowing velocity.
Then there is a hitting andthere's hitting velocity.
There's two actually hittingthings that they are evaluating.
One is straight exit velocity.
(16:05):
You hit off of a tee into a net.
There's an evaluator behind thenet with a pocket radar
measuring your exit velocity andthen they take the highest exit
velocity.
I think they got five or sixswings.
So that's also something thatyou're going to want to practice
ahead of time because thathelps now raise the overall
hitting score, because afterexit velocity then they brought
(16:28):
them to a cage where they gotsome soft toss and they're
intentionally now this is what Ihad found out earlier, they
don't tell all of the girls this, but what the soft tossers are
doing, they're intentionallytossing the ball different parts
of the plate to see platecoverage, to see do you have
power to all fields, do you tryto pull everything?
They really want to now see andbe able to break down your
(16:49):
hitting mechanics and you get ascore one to five based on now
those on your performance and Ibelieve you get eight or ten
swings and you just want to makesure your daughter is prepared
to be able to show that she'sgot power to all sides of the
field and that they're going tobe evaluating her ability to go
the other way, to pull the ball,to go up the middle After
(17:12):
hitting is concluded and thenit's all fielding.
Now remember earlier I saidthat they now let me actually
get.
I can get rid of this.
Now that they ask your primaryand your secondary position,
you're going to try out in bothpositions.
So let's say, in the case of mydaughter, you're saying you're
(17:35):
an outfield and first base, thenyou need to be evaluated in
both.
Now this is where it got alittle chaotic, because again
there's so many girls andthey're running all of those
evaluations for every positionat the same time.
They're running pitchers,catchers, outfielders,
infielders.
They break down every infieldposition to all third basemen,
(17:56):
all shortstops.
They're doing everything at thesame exact time.
So on your own, you've got tobe pretty efficient about it.
This is where you've got to bealso proactive.
Take initiative and see thelength of various lines, making
sure that you're getting to eachstation.
I do know that there was likesome girls not realizing that
they weren't going to call hernumber, only evaluated one
(18:17):
position and then waited to thevery end and then they had to
reset up everything for her.
So don't let that happen to you.
Just know it's going to run itscourse.
Be proactive, take initiativeand understand you're going to
have to get through multiplestations, especially if you're a
pitcher and have two otherpositions that you are going to
be trying out for.
So in the case of my daughter,she's first base and outfield.
(18:39):
She got on the first baselinefirst.
This is where I would recommendnot doing that, because first
base they don't get evaluateduntil all the other infield
positions are done, because theyneed the first base.
They don't get evaluated untilall the other infield positions
are done because they need thefirst base and to be able to
evaluate third, short and second.
So for next year, what I toldmy daughter is you're going to
(19:00):
go and you're going to evaluateoutfield first.
Let all the other first basemenactually go through that
process, because the firstbasemen are not being evaluated,
even though they're managingthat position.
They're only going to beevaluated for when they're doing
first base right.
So this is why next year I toldher do outfield first.
(19:21):
This way you're fresh and then,once you're finished with
outfield, then you can cycleback to first base and then we
can close out, because this pastyear is she sat on the first
base line I'm going to be honestfor about an hour 45 minutes,
about two hours before firstbase even got an evaluation, and
then she had the run over andshe was the last one to be
(19:44):
evaluated for outfieldersbecause it just took so long.
So so next year, knowing this,we're going to just change the
order around a little bit andagain they are evaluating for
infielders, your approach to theball, creating a throwing lane,
how accurate your throws are.
They are evaluating the successrate of fielding certain ground
(20:05):
balls.
They're going to be your, your,your hit fungo, so they're
going to be hitting it to yourglove side, to your backhand,
and they want to see your range,and so they're going to be
evaluating all of that.
And this grade score is zero tofive and so you're going to
want to grade high.
Now, how do you grade high asan infielder?
Make every play, make everythrow and create really good
approaches to the ball.
(20:25):
If you do those, those, thosethings, you're going to get a
very good grade for the infieldevaluation.
So overall, the experience wasgreat.
I will say the tryouts werereally really long.
I think our particular tryouts.
We ended up being there forabout five and a half, almost
six hours.
It was a long day.
Pack lots of water, know thatit's going to be a long day.
(20:48):
It's not going to be like atwo-hour evaluation, at least
the ones that we went to.
And just if that's yourexpectation, then you can manage
being a little tired and youcan then have that energy in the
spurts that you need.
Um, pitchers and catchers,remember you're gonna have to
take the initiative.
Remember what I said they'reevaluating at least the one.
(21:09):
We went to everything at thesame time.
So be, manage your time well,knowing that you've got to try
out for your positions.
Try out, maybe if you're apitcher as well, and making sure
you're taking the initiative ofgetting in the correct lines,
because they're not going tocome.
Try to find you.
And again, this is this is justour tryouts.
They didn't.
There weren't people goingaround making sure that girls
(21:30):
were right in the right spot.
They were expecting them to goto the right spot on their own
once they announced where theywere.
Um.
Now for the direct inviteswithin 24 hours, there are 12
girls, I think, per region thatget accepted.
Um for a direct invite.
That's a big deal.
That means right off the bat.
You scored at the very, verytop for each of these skills
(21:53):
that we just outlined.
And they just pre-selected youand now you're in the direct
invite division for theall-american games.
And then, about a month later,they did something really cool
and they had a special selectionshow.
This was a live show that theypromoted ahead of time.
I mean, there were watchparties all over the country for
this stuff.
We gathered actually at myhouse and we watched it on the
(22:15):
screen, we streamed it and theylegitimately break down the
divisions and they do a specialannouncement and if your
daughter selected, her picturegets put on the selection show,
they announce her name.
It was awesome.
I really felt like it was likethe Academy Awards the way that
they did this and it was a big,big production.
You could tell they invested alot of money into this
(22:36):
production and it was awesome.
And when we heard my daughter'sname, we rejoiced, we
celebrated.
My daughter was shocked.
It was very, very cool.
And then it was off to the races.
Over the course of the month wegot some emails, um, trying to
prepare us, um and uh, there wassome really great.
You can customize a Jersey, um,or you don't have to customize
(22:57):
your Jersey.
They do give the jerseys to thekids.
If you don't want to customizethem, that's fine.
There's like a spirit wear shop, of course.
We loaded loaded up with merchand they also had these really
cool things.
Each girl for free.
They get trading cards ofthemselves that you get to
customize.
So you provide them a pictureand they got these 18 trading
cards.
And the trading cards was a bighit.
(23:19):
All of the girls took out theirtrading cards and they traded
with everyone and my daughtertraded all of her cards out with
a bunch of girls on our teamand there were other kids
trading and that was like areally big part.
It's sort of like, I guess,like the the pins over at
cooperstown for baseball and butthis was trading cards and uh,
so that was, that was cool.
But now the week of the all theall-american games is um, it was
(23:45):
awesome.
So when you get there, thecomplex has 15 turf fields, one
gigantic 8,000 seat arena and itstarts off where there's a
skills competition for all theage brackets so that we
participated in.
It's a great way of meetingplayers and then you start your
practices, the team that you'reassigned to you, you practice
with them before the games startthis way you get to meet the
(24:07):
coaches, develop some teamchemistry, so there were some
really well-run practices there,which is great, um, and then
there's this massive ceremonyand I I think, um, a great way,
I think, to recap and to explainto you guys what to expect the
all-american games is, honestly,just to show you, I put
together a little recap video,um, and I'll I'll just show it
to you guys what to expect theall-american games is, honestly,
just to show you.
I put together a little recapvideo, um, and I'll I'll just
(24:29):
show it to you guys so that youcan sort of see this.
There you go.
That was the arena that I wastelling you about.
There were about 6 000 people,as you can see, that attended
the arena that I was telling youabout.
There were about 6,000 people,as you can see, that attended
the opening ceremonies and thenwe got into the games.
(24:54):
My daughter's first games wereassigned at the arena itself,
that massive stadium.
We went on a tear, we won ourfirst three games.
There's lightning, and so thelightning there.
Everything gets shut down, butit's quick, and they get us back
.
Everything gets shut down, butit's quick, and they get us back
in the field.
We play more games.
The girls really do get close,but overall, again, it's a
(25:18):
really really great experiencefor your daughter, if she's
selected, and for the families,because they really do a really
really nice job of puttingtogether a special event.
There's, in between the games,there's a ton of vendors as well
, um and so, and there's lots ofthings to do.
(25:39):
So where there might the games,there's only two games per day.
In between there's so manyother things that you could
participate in.
They've got clinics, they'vegot camps, there's professional
photographers, if that's yourjam right.
And then, obviously, there'sall of the major brands Easton
and Marucci.
They're showcasing their brandnew bats.
(26:01):
We got to actually use somebrand new bats that are going to
be released, and they debutedit at the All-American Games,
which is amazing.
So you really get to accesssome really really cool stuff.
And then they get dripped onwith merch.
Oh my gosh, when we got there,we got a merch bag and she got a
ton of amazing merch, and so itwas really really cool.
(26:25):
And then there's also a Home RunDerby.
A ton of the kids doparticipate in the home run
derby, but even that is a ton offun to watch some of the best
athletes in the country, per agegroup, participating in these
skills competition and the homerun, derby.
It was it.
Just it really is extraordinaryand, at the end of the day, I
cannot recommend this experiencemore for everyone.
(26:47):
So if you got a daughter whohas got some pretty good skills,
let her at least try out andparticipate in just that.
Participating in the tryouts isa great experience even by
itself, because it definitelymotivates and inspires kids to
want to do even better, becauseyou're surrounding them with
other kids, like-minded kids,who are really into softball,
(27:10):
and I found that that reallygets them focused on it.
So when the tryouts areannounced, go on there, register
for your local tryout and letyour daughter participate.
Is there a fee for the tryout?
Yes, if they're selected to theAll-American Games, is there a
fee for them to have to nowparticipate?
(27:30):
Yes, does the?
Do the U-triple-S-A?
Do they make money?
Yes, is that okay?
Yeah, as well.
It's okay that U-triple-S-A ismaking money off of this,
because they're treating it likea business and they're making
sure that the experience exceedsexpectations, and they were
successful in doing that.
This year.
Your daughters are going to getmore value than what you're
(27:53):
going to have to invest intothis.
It's an amazing, amazingexperience, and I think that all
girls should have anopportunity to at least now
attend that tryout.
And if they get selected, thenthat's the bonus, that's the
icing on the cake.
This has been an extraordinaryexperience.
I am so grateful for everyoneat U-Triple-SA that was
responsible for running thetryouts, the selection, the
(28:14):
production team behind theselection show and the people
who managed the entire event theentire week.
It was amazing.
I'm saying this confidently.
It was it's the best softballexperience I've had with my
daughter to date.
It was awesome.
And I just want to add one moreother thing the coaches that
were assigned to our team.
We were so fortunate.
(28:34):
Specifically, I'm going to givea little shout out to Coach
Quinn.
He was amazing.
He was a great leader for thesekids.
He led with confidence, but healso led with compassion, and I
really felt like he got a lotout of these girls playing on
the field, and even the timethat he took to talk to them
individually, and the words ofkindness, encouragement he even
(28:57):
gave to my daughter at the veryend.
It's something that I willforever be grateful for.
This has been an amazingexperience.
Guys, raising athletes it's morethan just raising them to play
in college.
That happens for some, but Ithink we're raising athletes.
It's more than just raisingthem to play in college.
That happens for some, but as Ithink we're raising athletes
also for the moment and I thinkif there's opportunities out
there for our kids that'll makethem better or just give them a
(29:17):
great experience that makes thembetter humans, I say go out
there, take advantage of it.
This is, this is one of thesethings.
I went through it.
It's got my vote of confidence.
I highly recommend it.
I hopefully, hopefully you guys, if you are raising softball
players, this is something thatyou could do for your kids as
well.
Thanks again for tuning intoRaising Athletes.
If this brought you value, dome a favor.
(29:38):
Share it with someone else.
I would love for you to help megrow this community because,
guess what?
We're all raising our kidstogether.
Take care.
The U-Triple-S-A All-American Games Is it worth
it for your daughter?
Well, my daughter attended thetryouts, was part of the
selection show, and we just gotback from Florida where she
participated in this year'sU-Triple-S-A All-American Games.
And, as a dad, I'm going to berevealing all of the truths
about whether or not you guysshould have your kids
participate next year.
Raising athletes the thingsthat causes all dads to go bald
(00:22):
and moms to buy minivans.
Raising athletes the thingsthat causes all dads to go bald
and moms to buy minivans.
Empowering parents to helptheir kids succeed.
So welcome back to RaisingAthletes Now.
If you've been part of the showsince the very beginning, you
know that we're all in thistogether.
We're all parents helping ourkids to have the best chance of
(00:44):
success, whether that be forjust for the moment or for the
future.
And there's a few really greatopportunities for our children
out there that elevates theirgame and gives them even more
experiences and makes it evenmore fun.
One of those things theU-Triple-SA All-American Games.
That is held every single yearfor the last decade.
But the big question is is itreally worth it?
Big question is is it reallyworth it?
Should you have your daughterattend one of the 23 tryouts
(01:10):
that are scheduled throughoutthe entire country, literally
coast to coast.
Is it worth it paying all ofthat money for the entry fee,
going through the gruelingprocess of participating in
tryouts and, if they're selected, is it even worth the money to
now pay the entry fee and allthe money it's going to cost to
get to florida and to attend theweek-long event?
That's what today's show isabout, because my daughter was
(01:34):
one of those kids whoparticipated this this past year
, attended the tryout, gotselected and we got to head down
as a family to watch herparticipate in this year's u S a
10 year anniversary allAmerican games down in the space
coast complex in Florida.
So is it worth it?
The short answer is absolutely.
I will say confidently.
(01:55):
This was the best experienceI've had with my daughter when
it came, when it comes tosoftball.
I knew it was a big honor thatshe was selected and I did not
know actually what to expect forthe games.
I did a little bit of diggingonline, obviously leading up to
the games, and I saw somepictures and some videos from
(02:17):
the prior year, but there'snothing like being there in
person and when we first pulledup to the entire complex.
There's 15 turf fields andthere's a massive stadium.
I think the stadium holds likesomething like 8 000 people.
I realized this is a really bigdeal.
But even pulling up and seeingthe massive stadium, I'm like,
(02:37):
all right, they're not going toget to play in that big stadium.
There's not going to be enoughpeople to fill the stadium,
right.
But the opening ceremoniesproved me wrong and from the
very beginning to the moment weleft, we had one of the best
experiences we've had forsoftball to date in her very
short year, you know, career ofplaying softball.
(02:58):
But it was amazing.
Opening ceremonies.
There must have been about 6000people to celebrate these kids
that were selected and theyreally did a great job of
surrounding the kids with somuch hoopla.
They really felt like rockstars and they were the center
of every single moment for theentire week.
And I really want to tip my capto everyone that was involved
(03:19):
with planning this event becauseI thought that they did an
extraordinary job.
Number one, considering howmany people were there and
number two, really making all ofthe kids feel so special.
My daughter left not can't waitto maybe come back when, you
know, try out next year.
She's telling everyone about itand she's so proud.
(03:42):
Now my daughter.
Now I've got, you know, a fewkids.
I've got triplets.
You guys know Two of mydaughters play softball and one
daughter was selected.
And now as a family, was thathard, absolutely.
But the one daughter that wasselected she's actually an
introvert and it was so nicethat they came and supported
(04:03):
people like my daughter and theymade her actually not made her,
but they helped her to sort ofget out of her shell a little
bit.
The teammates were incrediblysupportive.
The coaches assigned to theteam were incredibly encouraging
and knowledgeable and made theexperience great.
Not to mention, actually, mydaughter's team made it to the
semifinals and was selected asone of the top four teams in
(04:23):
their age bracket.
So it was awesome.
Honestly, I can't speak morehighly of this experience and
recommend it enough to all ofthe families from around the
country who have seen this andwill just label it a money grab
and stay away from it, becausethey're like, oh, this is just a
money grab.
I'm here to say it's okay forit to be both a money grab and a
(04:45):
great opportunity, and this isa classic example of that.
Yes, is this a money grab?
Sure, they're in the businessof making money.
You triple say they are abusiness.
They're leveraging their brandand their reach around the
country to create something thatis of interest to a lot of
people, and they've done a goodjob of doing just that.
(05:05):
And you know what they deliver.
In an amazing event, they domake the kids feel special.
It is a high class, um weeklong, long events.
They do have great competition,great talent that comes out.
They surround themselves withlots of activities, even the
fill in the gaps throughout theentire week, and I would say
it's 100% worth it.
So it's okay in this case that,yes, are they making money?
(05:29):
Yes, but I believe they'reactually giving a tremendous
value, considering what it costsfor these kids to participate.
Now, you can't pay to beinvolved with this.
The kids have to earn theirspots.
Unlike other activities andevents that happen around the
country, this is a legitimatetryout.
There's legitimate kids thatare selected, as all Americans,
(05:49):
based on merit, based on theirskills, and they're evaluated.
And I'll go through the wholetryout.
Listen, if you've never beenthere and you want to know,
trust me, I'm going to betelling you guys everything that
I experience behind the sceneswhen it comes to this entire
process.
But yeah, these kids aregenuinely.
They go through the tryouts andthey are selected based on
(06:12):
their skill and there's a wholesystem and I'll get that in a
second that helps them to selectcertain kids for the
All-American Games.
This year they said that therewere over 2 000 kids that tried
out for the all-american gamesand you know there's a handful
of kids and that that areselected for each of the age
(06:33):
categories, something.
One thing I thought that wasreally nice that that they did.
As you guys know, if you guyshave daughters playing fast
pitch travel softball, you know,travel softball is broken up by
two year age gaps.
There's 8u, 10u, 12u, 14, 16,18, but for the all-american
games they do it by single years, which I thought was a really
(06:55):
nice um change versus the waythat we are normally playing, uh
, throughout the seasons here.
So they brought, they broke allthe kids up that were selected
by age.
So there was a 9u division, a10u division, 11, 12, 13 and a
14u division.
So that's all.
It spanned 9u to 14u and it'sbroken up by single ages, which
(07:16):
I thought was awesome.
The rosters were.
I saw them.
They were anywhere from 11 to12 kids and what that means
playing time, lots of playingtime for all the kids.
Another really nice bonus is, Ifound out, there are rules that
the coaches have to abide by.
Kids are only allowed to sit amaximum of two innings per game,
(07:39):
so that's guaranteed playingtime for the majority of the
game for every single child thatis on that team, which is, I
thought, a really, really nicething.
They are constantly rotatingkids to their primary and their
secondary positions, becausethey do ask on the front end
when you're trying out what'syour primary, what's your
secondary position, it's reallyimportant that you're putting
(08:03):
down the correct two positionsthat your kid plays, because if
they get selected, they're goingto play those two positions in
the games and they're going tobe rotating, rotated between
those two positions.
Now my daughter she's anoutfielder and she plays first
base and she put down outfieldand first base and, sure enough,
she started every game and shegot to play both outfield and
(08:25):
first base, which is reallyreally, really nice.
And so, again, the coaches arevery conscious about the playing
time.
There are very strict rules inplace.
The coaches actually have tolog, every after every single
game, the playing time chart.
There's a specific chart thatevery coach has to fill in that
(08:46):
proves playing time.
They have to submit it to adatabase.
All to say, they do a nice jobmaking sure all the girls get
proper playing time.
But you know what?
It's all deserving, because ifa child, a young athlete, gets
selected to be an All-American,these are all talented kids.
I mean, every kid that's on theteam they can play ball, and so
that was that's also a really,really nice thing.
(09:08):
I got to speak with some, someparents about kids that were,
you know, from the Midwest, thatwere that I got assigned to my
daughter's team and they weresaying, like you know, their,
their travel team, she's thebest one, and this past summer
was a little discouraging, andthey were saying how nice it was
to be able to be on a teamwhere all the girls are really
capable of playing theirpositions zero drama and
(09:32):
collectively.
All the parents really said onemain thing that all of the
girls were so supportive of eachother.
And one thing that I noticedeven that's a difference between
the even the teams that I coachand this particular team that
just came together.
It is amazing how supportivethe girls were in game.
And so were there mistakes made?
(09:54):
Yeah, a hundred percent therewere.
There were still errors made bysome of the kids, and it
happens, right.
But what I noticed was a bigdifference is, when an error
happened, every single girlrallied behind that girl and it
became a distant memory.
It was amazing and it helpedreally encourage those girls and
one mistake did not turn intotwo and it really just elevated,
(10:17):
I would think, the quality ofthe game because of not just the
skill of the kids, but all thekids knew that these brand new
teammates had their back andwere incredibly supportive and
they weren't gonna bedisappointed in them, and I
think that created anenvironment that encouraged more
at success.
So we had a really wonderfulexperience.
(10:39):
So let's go back a little bitand start at the very beginning
the tryouts and what that lookslike.
Let me pull this up here foryou, guys, so you can see this
particular screen.
So what you're going to want todo is you have to register for
the All-American Games.
Actually, let me see before Ido this Now, I'm actually
(11:00):
recording this.
Here we go, I'm going to pullthis up.
I'm sorry, guys, that I didn'thave this already made up, but
if you are listening.
This is going to be confusingto you, but if you're watching
you'll understand a little bitmore.
I'm actually I'm live editingthe show and I'm putting a
little bit of a frame of myselfhere.
(11:20):
I'll put it in the top cornerso you can see me.
But you're going to want to goto the U-triple-S-A website.
There's a dedicated page forthe all-american games.
It's aagfastpitchutriple-sacom.
This is where you're going tobe able to go and you're going
(11:41):
to be able to register.
You have to register for thetryouts.
You can't just show up to thetryouts.
You have to select the areathat I guess is closest to you.
Last year there were 23 tryoutsscheduled around the country,
so you get to pick the onethat's closest to you.
For me, we live in New York andthe closest one to us was in
(12:02):
South Jersey, and so that's theone that we selected and we went
to South Jersey for our tryouts.
But there are tryouts againscheduled throughout the entire
country.
South jersey for our tryouts,but there are tryouts again
scheduled throughout the entirecountry.
But all simply you do is you'regoing to go to this website.
Next year they will have theregistration available for the
tryouts and it's pretty simple.
You register, you attend one ofthese 23 tryouts that are
(12:24):
around the country and that ateach tryout is and you could see
it here the athletes are goingto go through multiple stations
that will include athletictesting, position evaluations
and hitting evaluations, andthen the top athletes at each
tryout could be selected twoways either as a direct invite
(12:45):
meaning that within 24 hoursthere are about it could be be,
I think, about 12 kids that areselected as a direct invite and
then about a month later theyhave this really big award
selection show.
Honestly, it's like the academyawards and uh and then they
actually announce each kids thatis was selected after the
(13:06):
direct invites.
Um, now, what does the um, whatdoes the tryout look like?
Well, the tryout is long.
So number one, I would sayprepare for a long day, because
there's a lot of kids thatattend and there's a lot of
different skills that they'retrying to document.
(13:27):
Each kid when they get there,they get a special U triple C
practice shirt.
This way everyone has the sameattire on and they separate the
kids by age group.
They all go to their differentgroups.
My daughter, she was 14U, soshe got assigned the 14U group.
(13:48):
They went to a field.
They start with generalwarm-ups, the kids get, they
pair up on their own.
The kids pair up on their ownto like warm up their arm.
They run the kids through somebasic dynamic stretches and
whatnot to get them prepared.
And then it's off to the races.
And they started off with theagility first.
So there was five, 10, five.
They do your times and you getone shot at that.
(14:12):
So I want to be very, very clearwhat I would recommend, and I
had did this with my daughter.
I found out all of the skillsthat they were going to be
testing and I had my daughterjust practice it so that the
first time she was doing itwasn't actually the test, she'd
got some experience earlier on.
So we set up our own five, 10 ffives.
I had her practice that, I hadher practice, her, her turns.
So I would have your childpractice that, I wouldn't.
(14:34):
It's not something thateveryone does all the time.
So if they haven't done it, Iwould definitely show your
daughter the proper way of doinga 510 five.
This way you get a decent timebecause you want a good time,
you want a good, a good score ateach of the various evaluation
stations, then after the 5-10-5,then they go over and then they
did the 60-yard dash and thatis a straight run right, and so
(14:58):
we had practiced that beforehand.
My daughter's a little, youknow, kind of quick, so she got
some really good times there.
After the running is finished,then it goes to throwing, and so
they do.
You throw into a net, there's athey had a pocket radar there
set up.
They had a bunch of netsbecause there were a lot of
girls and it's an overhandthrowing.
So one thing I would recommendis go through this beforehand.
(15:23):
Teach your daughter the properway of doing a crow hop or a
pull down.
I saw a lot of girls that werejust getting the ball and sort
of throwing it flat footed.
You know there are definitelytechniques involved to help kids
to increase their velocity,their throwing velocity, and
show your daughter this this wayit gives her that a little bit
of an edge so she can add acouple miles an hour to her
(15:44):
throwing velocity.
Because it makes a difference,because you definitely want to
score at the top echelon of allof these scores that are going
to be coming in After thethrowing velocity.
Then there is a hitting andthere's hitting velocity.
There's two actually hittingthings that they are evaluating.
One is straight exit velocity.
(16:05):
You hit off of a tee into a net.
There's an evaluator behind thenet with a pocket radar
measuring your exit velocity andthen they take the highest exit
velocity.
I think they got five or sixswings.
So that's also something thatyou're going to want to practice
ahead of time because thathelps now raise the overall
hitting score, because afterexit velocity then they brought
(16:28):
them to a cage where they gotsome soft toss and they're
intentionally now this is what Ihad found out earlier, they
don't tell all of the girls this, but what the soft tossers are
doing, they're intentionallytossing the ball different parts
of the plate to see platecoverage, to see do you have
power to all fields, do you tryto pull everything?
They really want to now see andbe able to break down your
(16:49):
hitting mechanics and you get ascore one to five based on now
those on your performance and Ibelieve you get eight or ten
swings and you just want to makesure your daughter is prepared
to be able to show that she'sgot power to all sides of the
field and that they're going tobe evaluating her ability to go
the other way, to pull the ball,to go up the middle After
(17:12):
hitting is concluded and thenit's all fielding.
Now remember earlier I saidthat they now let me actually
get.
I can get rid of this.
Now that they ask your primaryand your secondary position,
you're going to try out in bothpositions.
So let's say, in the case of mydaughter, you're saying you're
(17:35):
an outfield and first base, thenyou need to be evaluated in
both.
Now this is where it got alittle chaotic, because again
there's so many girls andthey're running all of those
evaluations for every positionat the same time.
They're running pitchers,catchers, outfielders,
infielders.
They break down every infieldposition to all third basemen,
(17:56):
all shortstops.
They're doing everything at thesame exact time.
So on your own, you've got tobe pretty efficient about it.
This is where you've got to bealso proactive.
Take initiative and see thelength of various lines, making
sure that you're getting to eachstation.
I do know that there was likesome girls not realizing that
they weren't going to call hernumber, only evaluated one
(18:17):
position and then waited to thevery end and then they had to
reset up everything for her.
So don't let that happen to you.
Just know it's going to run itscourse.
Be proactive, take initiativeand understand you're going to
have to get through multiplestations, especially if you're a
pitcher and have two otherpositions that you are going to
be trying out for.
So in the case of my daughter,she's first base and outfield.
(18:39):
She got on the first baselinefirst.
This is where I would recommendnot doing that, because first
base they don't get evaluateduntil all the other infield
positions are done, because theyneed the first base.
They don't get evaluated untilall the other infield positions
are done because they need thefirst base and to be able to
evaluate third, short and second.
So for next year, what I toldmy daughter is you're going to
(19:00):
go and you're going to evaluateoutfield first.
Let all the other first basemenactually go through that
process, because the firstbasemen are not being evaluated,
even though they're managingthat position.
They're only going to beevaluated for when they're doing
first base right.
So this is why next year I toldher do outfield first.
(19:21):
This way you're fresh and then,once you're finished with
outfield, then you can cycleback to first base and then we
can close out, because this pastyear is she sat on the first
base line I'm going to be honestfor about an hour 45 minutes,
about two hours before firstbase even got an evaluation, and
then she had the run over andshe was the last one to be
(19:44):
evaluated for outfieldersbecause it just took so long.
So so next year, knowing this,we're going to just change the
order around a little bit andagain they are evaluating for
infielders, your approach to theball, creating a throwing lane,
how accurate your throws are.
They are evaluating the successrate of fielding certain ground
(20:05):
balls.
They're going to be your, your,your hit fungo, so they're
going to be hitting it to yourglove side, to your backhand,
and they want to see your range,and so they're going to be
evaluating all of that.
And this grade score is zero tofive and so you're going to
want to grade high.
Now, how do you grade high asan infielder?
Make every play, make everythrow and create really good
approaches to the ball.
(20:25):
If you do those, those, thosethings, you're going to get a
very good grade for the infieldevaluation.
So overall, the experience wasgreat.
I will say the tryouts werereally really long.
I think our particular tryouts.
We ended up being there forabout five and a half, almost
six hours.
It was a long day.
Pack lots of water, know thatit's going to be a long day.
(20:48):
It's not going to be like atwo-hour evaluation, at least
the ones that we went to.
And just if that's yourexpectation, then you can manage
being a little tired and youcan then have that energy in the
spurts that you need.
Um, pitchers and catchers,remember you're gonna have to
take the initiative.
Remember what I said they'reevaluating at least the one.
(21:09):
We went to everything at thesame time.
So be, manage your time well,knowing that you've got to try
out for your positions.
Try out, maybe if you're apitcher as well, and making sure
you're taking the initiative ofgetting in the correct lines,
because they're not going tocome.
Try to find you.
And again, this is this is justour tryouts.
They didn't.
There weren't people goingaround making sure that girls
(21:30):
were right in the right spot.
They were expecting them to goto the right spot on their own
once they announced where theywere.
Um.
Now for the direct inviteswithin 24 hours, there are 12
girls, I think, per region thatget accepted.
Um for a direct invite.
That's a big deal.
That means right off the bat.
You scored at the very, verytop for each of these skills
(21:53):
that we just outlined.
And they just pre-selected youand now you're in the direct
invite division for theall-american games.
And then, about a month later,they did something really cool
and they had a special selectionshow.
This was a live show that theypromoted ahead of time.
I mean, there were watchparties all over the country for
this stuff.
We gathered actually at myhouse and we watched it on the
(22:15):
screen, we streamed it and theylegitimately break down the
divisions and they do a specialannouncement and if your
daughter selected, her picturegets put on the selection show,
they announce her name.
It was awesome.
I really felt like it was likethe Academy Awards the way that
they did this and it was a big,big production.
You could tell they invested alot of money into this
(22:36):
production and it was awesome.
And when we heard my daughter'sname, we rejoiced, we
celebrated.
My daughter was shocked.
It was very, very cool.
And then it was off to the races.
Over the course of the month wegot some emails, um, trying to
prepare us, um and uh, there wassome really great.
You can customize a Jersey, um,or you don't have to customize
(22:57):
your Jersey.
They do give the jerseys to thekids.
If you don't want to customizethem, that's fine.
There's like a spirit wear shop, of course.
We loaded loaded up with merchand they also had these really
cool things.
Each girl for free.
They get trading cards ofthemselves that you get to
customize.
So you provide them a pictureand they got these 18 trading
cards.
And the trading cards was a bighit.
(23:19):
All of the girls took out theirtrading cards and they traded
with everyone and my daughtertraded all of her cards out with
a bunch of girls on our teamand there were other kids
trading and that was like areally big part.
It's sort of like, I guess,like the the pins over at
cooperstown for baseball and butthis was trading cards and uh,
so that was, that was cool.
But now the week of the all theall-american games is um, it was
(23:45):
awesome.
So when you get there, thecomplex has 15 turf fields, one
gigantic 8,000 seat arena and itstarts off where there's a
skills competition for all theage brackets so that we
participated in.
It's a great way of meetingplayers and then you start your
practices, the team that you'reassigned to you, you practice
with them before the games startthis way you get to meet the
(24:07):
coaches, develop some teamchemistry, so there were some
really well-run practices there,which is great, um, and then
there's this massive ceremonyand I I think, um, a great way,
I think, to recap and to explainto you guys what to expect the
all-american games is, honestly,just to show you, I put
together a little recap video,um, and I'll I'll just show it
to you guys what to expect theall-american games is, honestly,
just to show you.
I put together a little recapvideo, um, and I'll I'll just
(24:29):
show it to you guys so that youcan sort of see this.
There you go.
That was the arena that I wastelling you about.
There were about 6 000 people,as you can see, that attended
the arena that I was telling youabout.
There were about 6,000 people,as you can see, that attended
the opening ceremonies and thenwe got into the games.
(24:54):
My daughter's first games wereassigned at the arena itself,
that massive stadium.
We went on a tear, we won ourfirst three games.
There's lightning, and so thelightning there.
Everything gets shut down, butit's quick, and they get us back
.
Everything gets shut down, butit's quick, and they get us back
in the field.
We play more games.
The girls really do get close,but overall, again, it's a
(25:18):
really really great experiencefor your daughter, if she's
selected, and for the families,because they really do a really
really nice job of puttingtogether a special event.
There's, in between the games,there's a ton of vendors as well
, um and so, and there's lots ofthings to do.
(25:39):
So where there might the games,there's only two games per day.
In between there's so manyother things that you could
participate in.
They've got clinics, they'vegot camps, there's professional
photographers, if that's yourjam right.
And then, obviously, there'sall of the major brands Easton
and Marucci.
They're showcasing their brandnew bats.
(26:01):
We got to actually use somebrand new bats that are going to
be released, and they debutedit at the All-American Games,
which is amazing.
So you really get to accesssome really really cool stuff.
And then they get dripped onwith merch.
Oh my gosh, when we got there,we got a merch bag and she got a
ton of amazing merch, and so itwas really really cool.
(26:25):
And then there's also a Home RunDerby.
A ton of the kids doparticipate in the home run
derby, but even that is a ton offun to watch some of the best
athletes in the country, per agegroup, participating in these
skills competition and the homerun, derby.
It was it.
Just it really is extraordinaryand, at the end of the day, I
cannot recommend this experiencemore for everyone.
(26:47):
So if you got a daughter whohas got some pretty good skills,
let her at least try out andparticipate in just that.
Participating in the tryouts isa great experience even by
itself, because it definitelymotivates and inspires kids to
want to do even better, becauseyou're surrounding them with
other kids, like-minded kids,who are really into softball,
(27:10):
and I found that that reallygets them focused on it.
So when the tryouts areannounced, go on there, register
for your local tryout and letyour daughter participate.
Is there a fee for the tryout?
Yes, if they're selected to theAll-American Games, is there a
fee for them to have to nowparticipate?
(27:30):
Yes, does the?
Do the U-triple-S-A?
Do they make money?
Yes, is that okay?
Yeah, as well.
It's okay that U-triple-S-A ismaking money off of this,
because they're treating it likea business and they're making
sure that the experience exceedsexpectations, and they were
successful in doing that.
This year.
Your daughters are going to getmore value than what you're
(27:53):
going to have to invest intothis.
It's an amazing, amazingexperience, and I think that all
girls should have anopportunity to at least now
attend that tryout.
And if they get selected, thenthat's the bonus, that's the
icing on the cake.
This has been an extraordinaryexperience.
I am so grateful for everyoneat U-Triple-SA that was
responsible for running thetryouts, the selection, the
(28:14):
production team behind theselection show and the people
who managed the entire event theentire week.
It was amazing.
I'm saying this confidently.
It was it's the best softballexperience I've had with my
daughter to date.
It was awesome.
And I just want to add one moreother thing the coaches that
were assigned to our team.
We were so fortunate.
(28:34):
Specifically, I'm going to givea little shout out to Coach
Quinn.
He was amazing.
He was a great leader for thesekids.
He led with confidence, but healso led with compassion, and I
really felt like he got a lotout of these girls playing on
the field, and even the timethat he took to talk to them
individually, and the words ofkindness, encouragement he even
(28:57):
gave to my daughter at the veryend.
It's something that I willforever be grateful for.
This has been an amazingexperience.
Guys, raising athletes it's morethan just raising them to play
in college.
That happens for some, but Ithink we're raising athletes.
It's more than just raisingthem to play in college.
That happens for some, but as Ithink we're raising athletes
also for the moment and I thinkif there's opportunities out
there for our kids that'll makethem better or just give them a
(29:17):
great experience that makes thembetter humans, I say go out
there, take advantage of it.
This is, this is one of thesethings.
I went through it.
It's got my vote of confidence.
I highly recommend it.
I hopefully, hopefully you guys, if you are raising softball
players, this is something thatyou could do for your kids as
well.
Thanks again for tuning intoRaising Athletes.
If this brought you value, dome a favor.
(29:38):
Share it with someone else.
I would love for you to help megrow this community because,
guess what?
We're all raising our kidstogether.
Take care.
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