Event Preview: How Six Universities Came Together for the Carolina’s Showcase Camp Tour June 25-27, 2019

College camps are a great way for young athletes to get instruction and to get to develop relationships with coaches.

Diamond Direction, a softball camp and tournament organization, came up with the idea to create a partnership with six different universities in the Carolinas so athletes and their families could get maximum instruction in a minimum amount of time and cost.

Seven Camps in Three Days

The Carolina’s Showcase Camp Tour kicks off June 25^th at the University of North Carolina (Wilmington) and will end with the Diamond Direct Prospects Camp on June 27^th and in those three days athletes will have the opportunity to attend seven different camps including multiple college mini-camps in one day.

The half dozen universities involved in the Carolina’s Showcase Camp Tour are North Carolina (Chapel Hill), North Carolina State, Duke, East Carolina, UNC Wilmington and Campbell.

In addition to getting on six different college campuses, campers can be seen by a dozen more college coaches at the Diamond Direction Prospects Camp the evening of June 27^th between 4 pm-9 pm held at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Nate Eaton, who coaches in the Team NC club organization and is the Camp Director for Diamond Direction based out of Charlotte, explains the idea for the partnership with the colleges came when he and Rick McHone of the Carolina Cardinals partnered to host the Wildcard Best of the Best Invitational showcase in Raleigh.

“We knew we had an opportunity to offer something unique with all the great universities and colleges in the Raleigh/Durham area,” Eaton begins.

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3 Events: Carolina Showcase Camp Tour, Prospects Camp, Wildcards Best of the Best Showcase

The Raleigh/Durham area offers access to three Power 5 schools within 30 minutes of each other plus access to many other D1, D2 and D3 schools within a one to two hour drive.

“This may not exist anywhere else in the United States so we believe this is a perfect place to draw in athletes and teams from our region and also from other regions throughout the US because they can get a lot of bang for their buck when they come to the area for the Carolina Showcase Camp Tour and the Wildcards Best of the Best Invitational.”

“We knew that there would be a lot of softball athletes in the area for the showcase and we decided to approach UNC, Duke, NC State, East Carolina, UNC Wilmington and Campbell about offering mini clinics prior to our Prospects Camp so the athletes could visit the college campuses and be able to attend an on-campus camp.”

“All schools agreed to work with our logistical plan so campers could move from campus to campus to be able to attend the camps of their choice.”

With the large number of showcases, camps and tournaments in June and July, the event organizers felt the Carolina Showcase Camp Tour would help the athletes be able to visit many of the campuses and get to know the coaching staffs in a few days.

“We hear all the time that many college camps are all at the same time,” explains Eaton, “so this format will allow an athlete to be able to get to five out of six college camps in a three-day period if they desire.”

The only real decision a camper will have to make is if they want to attend the mini-camp at Duke or Carolina, which impressively was the only logistical difficulty Diamond Direction organizers encountered.

“We had to offer their camp times at the exact times in order to allow time for campers to make it to North Carolina State and then to the big event, the Diamond Direction Prospects Camp,” adds Eaton.

One advantage of the partnership with the colleges is it will provide campers multiple opportunities to work with these six university programs.

“Our Diamond Direction Prospects Camp held at Walnut Creek Softball Complex will feature all six partner schools plus 12-15 other schools.   We ultimately hoped that if a player had interest in a school we have partnered with, they could learn from and be evaluated by all of our schools three or four times in different environments (on a school’s campus, at the Diamond Direction Prospects Camp and in the Showcase) in a two or three-day time frame.”

What the Head Coaches Say :

“As a mother of two daughters in travel ball, I know first-hand the stress and expenses that come with trying to provide your daughter with great instruction while trying to find the right fit for her college selection. That was the driving force behind our decision to be on board with the Carolina Showcase tour. This is a one-of-a-kind, cost-effective opportunity for players and families to explore multiple schools we have here in the Carolinas while getting great instruction and individual interaction with college coaches.”— Marissa Young, Duke

“The opportunity to host a camp on our campus in addition to other collegiate programs so close by to a quality travel ball tournament at Walnut Creek in Raleigh affords us the ability to showcase our program and university. We will be able to work with some very good talent in our focused camps and get them to see them in competition. It’s a win-win for the players and coaches at each university hosting the various camps.” — Donna Papa, North Carolina

“I think this is a great opportunity for young players to get some great instruction and skill work from quality instructors and have and an opportunity to do so on the beautiful campuses in their own backyards.” — Sharonda McDonald, Campbell

Prospect Camp: Colleges Participating

Here are the schools who will be in the Prospects Camp on June 27^th:

• UNC Chapel Hill
• Duke
• NC State
• Virginia
• UNC Wilmington
• James Madison
• Elon University
• UNC Greensboro
• Radford
• Campbell
• Hampton
• East Carolina
• Appalachian State
• Virginia Wesleyan
• Lenoir Rhyne
• Lee’s McRae
• Barton College

Signing Up

To register for the college mini-camps, go to the university softball website for more information. All of the college mini camps will two-to-three hours each so they all will be limited in the total number of campers they can accept.

For more information on the showcase, click here: Wildcard Best of the Best Invitational

For more information on Diamond Direction events including the Prospect Camp, click here: Diamond Direction