Every year there seems to be a raging debate about which is better to play for recruiting purposes, Gold or A.  The answer to the question is not easy because it depends entirely on your player's recruitment goals, which can change over time.  If your player wants to play "away" from home, she has a much better chance of accomplishing that with a team that does extensive traveling.  In other words, she will not get seen by certain coaches unless she plays for a team that goes to the showcases they are at-in California, Texas, Colorado and Nevada.  If, however, she wants to go to school closer to home, her goals can be accomplished by playing on a good A team that plays in the regional showcases. 

In the Northeast that would include at least some of the following showcases: Pennsbury, TNT, Binghamton, DIT, NJ Outlaws, Newtown Rock, TNJ, and New England's Finest Showcase. 

In the Midwest that would include the St. Louis Softball Showcase, Compuware, Akadema Top 50 Showcase and the Stingrays Invitational.

In the West that would include the America's Finest City Showcase.

I invite people from other regions to tell me what the good regional showcases are in those areas.

If your player wants to be recruited on a more national level, the team she picks to play should play in at least some of the following showcases:

Pennsbury Invitational

Team NJ Summer & Fall

Rising Stars

Batbusters

Colorado (Boulder)

Vegas Classic NV

Ronald McDonald Classic

If your player is on a team that is not getting into the showcases that she wants to be seen in, whether it is on a regional or a national level, you should consider the possibility of being a guest player.  You can do this by contacting the tournament director for help in placing the player or by contacting the coaches from the individual teams.  If she is a guest player, make sure that you bring some of her player profile pages to hand out at the showcase.

So, if recruitment possibilities are one of the factors you are using to select a team to play on, keep the above in mind.  Remember that generally, but not always, a legitimate gold team will cost more and do more traveling than a comparable A team.  Also look at the showcases they have played in and their track record of helping to place players in college.  Ask questions about the team does to help girls get recruited, etc.  Look at the website.  My first impression in this area led me to believe that if girls were marketed correctly and playing a good quality A team that she could get recruited into even the best softball programs in her region. History proved me correct. In any event, you want to play on a team with a history off getting into the showcases that you want to play and that they get to play on the "main" fields.  Ask questions at tryouts about the team's experience in the showcases and the recruiting process when trying out. Included in those questions should be how the travel coach feels about softball at anything other than Division I. 

I know that sounds like a strange question but there are travel coaches who will not even allow DII and DIII college coaches to talk to his/her players.  I cannot tell anyone what to do, but if the response you get to the question above reflects a negative attitude toward anything other than Division I, run, do not walk away from tryouts, even if your player is a legitimate Division I player or has Division I aspirations.  This is a coach who has no interest in helping your player, only in helping the reputation of his organization.  Yes, this coach will do everything in his power to get your player into a Division I program, but he will not at all be concerned about whether it is the right school for your player as long as it is the right school for his team.  Be very very leery of this.

Neither Gold nor A is always better. You have to decide what is right for you, your family and your player's needs and desires. In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I have never been involved with a gold team and the coaches from those teams might have a different perspective on this.  I will say that whether a player wants to play gold or A, if she is hoping that the team helps her to get recruited, she should pick a team that has been around for a while.  Not only will the travel coaches on those teams be more experienced in the recruitment process, but they may also have become familiar with certain college coaches and developed a level of trust that can help in the process.

I do not know if this is true throughout the country, but in the northeast there are a number of public forums where softball is discussed.  Every August teams post information about tryouts and inevitably there will be posts warning you about tryout out for this team or that team.  Most of them are anonymous. IGNORE THEM. Most of them are either from other coaches who have their own agenda or parents who have an axe to grind with a coach.  Do your research, ask questions of people you trust and go to tryouts.  Trust your own instincts.

Good luck.