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When you think scouting and recruiting in fastpitch softball, the Derek Allister family is first on the list in being a major factor over the last 20 years in thousands of athletes being connected to college coaches.
Derek and his wife Joann started the Allister Report in 2002 and, with the help of their kids Heather and KJ, have built OnDeck Softball into the premier event and evaluating resource in the game.
With top showcases, tryouts and jamborees held annually across the nation, the OnDeck events—along with college camps and travel ball tournaments—are the most advantageous ways for young prospects to be discovered and recruited.
I have known Derek and his family almost longer than I’ve known anyone else in softball and have valued his insights and friendship for years decades!
Having attended many of his tryouts and elite camps, I can personally attest to the high number of college coaches that attend the events and have seen first-hand the, in effect, launching of future college careers!
Humble, funny and a great evaluator of talent (many don’t know that Derek comes from a college basketball coaching background), the Lake Tahoe, California resident is always fun to catch up with and a great ambassador for softball.
I’ve been privileged to tap into his expertise multiple times in articles and getting his thoughts on players; for example, a few years ago he provided a great article for Extra Inning Softball titled “What We Look for In A Player.”
I was pleasantly surprised on Tuesday when I got an email from Kevin Hennessee, the ODM (measurements) and Tryouts Organizer, to let me know that “Derek has been chosen as the Chairman of the Selection Committee for Players/Coaches for the USA Softball Junior National Team.”
As Kevin put it very well: “Derek and Joann have given so much to softball over the years, for Derek to be chosen for this is quite an honor.”
I couldn’t let this big accomplishment go by without contacting the man himself, so here is my Q&A with Derek for an interview I did with him last night (Tuesday, March 20, 2021)…
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
*****
What a great honor, your being involved with the Team USA Jr. National Team! What will your role be and what responsibilities will you oversee?
It’s still developing. What happened is, for the next four or five years, USA Softball sought a new selection committee for the Jr. Women’s program and the Women’s program. Some people encouraged me to get involved, I put in my name and I was fortunate to be chosen.
What interested you in working with Team USA? It’s not like you aren’t busy enough with OnDeck!
(Laughs). It’s not up my alley to do public things as much, but I thought it was worth getting involved because I thought we could help. And there’s something exciting happening at the younger ages too.
Was there an opening for the Team USA Jr. National Team Committee Chair? How did you get the position?
I’ve known many of the people on the Team USA Selection Committee for a long time… the group includes Beverly Wiley, the Women’s Team Chair who I’ve done ASA stuff with a long time—Bev’s a wonderful lady from the East Coast; Avon Meacham, who has a coaching background and worked with (Team USA Women’s National Head Coach) Ken Ericksen; Carol Bruggeman, who does an awesome job with the NFCA; the great Cat Osterman, who my daughter Jess (current Stanford head coach) caught when Cat was playing with the Katy Cruisers; and also other smart and impactful people like Jenae Leles and Jami Lobpries.
What happened was we were on a conference call and it was brought up, “We’d like to get a Chairman” and Bev was elected Women’s Chairman and it was asked who should be the Jr. Chairman and doggone Cat, who I’ve known forever, said I should do it! I tried to talk them out of it, but they voted and I was selected. I’m very honored and will work my work fanny off to the best job I can! Incidentally, Jamie will serve on the Women’s Committee and I will only serve on the Jr. Committee.
What exactly will you be doing as the Committee Chair for the Jr. National Team?
From what I understand, a lot of attention is being given right now to this summer’s run at the Tokyo Olympics on the part of Craig Cresse (USA Softball CEO) and Chris Sebren (Chief Sport Development/Performance Officer).
As an outsider looking in, it was really cool to meet these people and I was really impressed with them. I think they do a great job organizing and hopefully we can do a great job for them, doing the due diligence on younger players and what that. entails
We will be creating a Coach’s Pool in the next few weeks, then we’ll be creating the invitation list for the tryouts—sometime in June there will be a tryout for the Jr. National Team and the committee will work on the invitations and the tryout, choosing who those players will be and also organizing an open tryout.
That’s for players like Sis Bates (Washington) and Bailey Dowling (Alabama) who have made it in the past. If the committee feels players from the open tryout are qualified, they will be invited to the official tryout.
Does your having seen hundreds, if not thousands, of youth players have a part in your getting the position, do you think?
I believe so. The committee, along with Craig and Chris, are counting on me to help as we have all the Jamborees and other events and see a lot of players. I’m really hoping our 20 years of experience will really pay off for USA Softball.
So if the future Women’s and Jr. National team talent drops, we can blame you?
(Laughs) I live in Lake Tahoe, no one can get to me! But I’m exciting to be working with a great group of people, like I’ve known Cat since the Katy Cruiser days and Jenae played at Arizona and she appeared in our reports back in the day. While I feel responsible (for overseeing the selection process), the entire committee will be in charge.
Will you still be doing everything else with OnDeck Softball?
Yes, I don’t know how I get into these things but yes, it’s all fun. Joann is still helping and our daughter Heather is the Director of Operations and KJ (son) manages the ODM testing components. The good news is my job on the committee and the roles I have at OnDeck overlap. A lot of what we do every summer will help us get information for the Jr. National Committee as we’ll be watching the upcoming generations of talent.
What ages can try out for the Jr. Team?
It’s 18 and under, there’s a cut-off date.
You mentioned earlier there’s something else happening with young players, what is that about?
The other exciting thing is that the World Baseball and Softball Confederation is starting a 15U competition which has great synergy with what we do.
In 2023 there’s going to be a 15U Women’s Softball World Cup with the qualifiers being held the year before, in 2022. Same in 2027 with a World Cup and a 2026 round of qualifiers.
We will be putting together a Jr. National Team at 18U and a U-15 World Cup team. You can see the layout on the WBSC Softball World Cups (2021-2029) site.
That means younger kids will soon be playing in an international U-15 World Cup… wow!
Right, that will be kids ages 13 and 14 now and who will be 15 in 2022. That to me is really exciting! For U-15 there will be three try out stages: A, B and C, that you move through and then you’ll move to the finals.
In 2026, five years from now, these 9-year-olds will have something to play for, something to dream about and work towards. How cool is that? When you have people dreaming about representing the United States from age 9 up through post-graduate careers, it gets no better than that. And, hopefully, this will help the rest of the world improve in the sport.
How far along is that in the planning and development?
There is no U-15 no schedule yet but there is a 2023 World Cup set with the qualifiers next year. In 2026 there will be qualifiers for a 2027 World Cup.
You’re involved in U-15 as well?
Yes, but responsibilities have not been explained yet. As the chair, I’ll run the meetings and make sure everything runs as it should.
Has long is your position set up for, serving as the Jr. National Committee Chairman?
I believe it’s a four-year appointment and the plan is that I will do a good enough job that they’ll want me longer and I’ll want to keep helping them!