On the radar: For some sports, it's the club circuit or bust

It's not uncommon during the high school football, basketball and baseball seasons to see college coaches crop up in the bleachers around the region to watch the area's most talented players.

But for the remaining team sports " softball, soccer or volleyball " you're chances of seeing a Division I coach at a high school game are slim to nill.

If you really want attention in those sports, you're going to have to head out on the road.

"I think club teams have an attraction to college coaches because, in general, you are getting better players across the board every time you go to one of these tournaments," Douglas High pitcher Stephanie Harper said.

"At the high school level, there are good players and some good overall teams, but you get a lot of teams that barely have enough players to play.

"With club sports, a college coach can see how you play against better competition."

It was a fact the Harper family found out early on in the process.

Stephanie played tournament ball with the Rail City Smoke starting at the age of 10 and made the move to the Carson Valley Hurricanes two seasons later.

She stuck with the Hurricanes until early last summer.

"We had heard through the parents at these tournaments we were playing in that if you want to go to college, you have to get over the hill into the Sacramento and Stockton area," Christina Harper, Stephanie's mom, said. "We were told we had to find an organization with some clout."

That's about the time the Harpers heard that the California Grapettes, the same team that helped former Douglas standout Valerie Smith land a spot on the University of Columbia roster, were looking for a pitcher.

Harper was just coming off a breakout season for Douglas, having gone 25-9 with 150 strikeouts as a sophomore. It made for a good fit.

"We took her over there and they kept her," Christina Harper said. "It's good because you make contacts and the head coach is really proactive in contacting college to come see the team.

"That's what you want, is a club team that is going to get out and get seen."

Stephanie Harper stayed with the club through the fall, which brought about an entirely new form of softball.

Most of the "tournaments" the Grapettes were playing in were actually showcases.

The basic format was that teams would play eachother, but official score wasn't kept. Each game had a time limit and college coaches got a chance to see players in game situations.

"They watch you warm up, they watch everything," Harper said. "There are usually special bleachers set up for the coaches. It was kind of intimidating at first, but I am getting more used to it every time we go to one.

"Everyone plays, no one really wins the game, it's just a chance for them to see what you can do."

While schools aren't allowed to contact players during the tournament, the Harpers have gotten used to hearing from schools directly after.

"Only so many teams get accepted to these showcases," Christina Harper said.

"There are a lot of schools that go to see the girls play."

The Grapettes have two more big events on the schedule for the summer. They are at Champions Cup in Irvine this week, where Harper received business cards from two more schools, and will go to the ASA Nationals in Moline, Ill., later this month.

"Nationals should be big," Stephanie Harper said. "I'm going to try to focus on the tournament and not think about the colleges. I want to get a scholarship, but when I'm playing and I start to think about who is watching, that's when I start to get nervous."

It can all start to take a toll, as weekly trips to Stockton, Calif., for practice and weekend trips to whever the tournament of the week is, can add up in a hurry.

"I miss not being home on the weekends for some stuff, I don't get to do everything in the summer like some of my friends," Harper said. "But I'm pretty used to the road now. It's not a big deal."