It’s funny how the Ohio Jaguars softball organization got its start.

Really, it was just a joke at first when Dan Fertig playfully suggested it to co-founder Kathie Watts.

“The organization started on a whiff,” Fertig said. “I was approached when my daughter was 9 to coach for another organization. They didn’t get back to me, so I joked to Kathie that we should do one on our own. It was just something off the top of my head that I was joking about.”

But Watts found some merit to the idea, and soon enough, she had some coaches lined up and the organization was founded.

“A week later, Kathie came to me and told me she had coaches for every age group and we ran with it.”

The Jaguars, hosting the 2008 Summer Showcase at the JAGS, Havens and Memorial Field Complexes this weekend, started with two teams in the 12-and-under division and one team in the 10-and 14-and-under age groups.

Initially, Gary and Wendy Febel coached the 10-and-unders, Scott Francis coached one 12-and-under team and Watts and Mike Houser coached the other, and Fertig took the 14-and-unders.

The organization now has five teams, one team in each age division, including the 10-, 12-, 14-, 16- and 18-and-under age groups.

“To start where we were and see where it is today, all I can say is, ‘Wow!’ ”

Originally, most of the Jaguars were from Jefferson, where all the teams still practice at the JAGS Complex. But that’s no longer the case. It has grown to incorporate players from all over northeastern Ohio.

“Most of the players when we started were from Jefferson,” Fertig said. “But now, we have players from as far down as Akron and as far up as Cleveland. Every city in Ashtabula County is represented by the organization.

“I never envisioned it would be as big as it is now.”

The reason the organization has experienced such a growth is no more complex than the right people getting involved.

“When you draft a player, you draft the parents, too,” Fertig explained. “(The parents) are there through it all. You want supportive parents. It’s a shame when you get a player that fits your team, but the parents might not. A bad parent can take down a team as quick as a weaker player can.

“Fortunately, we’ve always brought in kids with great parents.”