Thread: Cindy Bristow - Players PageIn Recruiting, You Never Know When They’re Watching

You have two choices when you’re at a college showcase; You can either take advantage of the chances you have, or make chances when you don’t think you have any. Read on to discover how you can make chances when you don’t think you have any.
It seems the primary goal for most softball players is to play college softball, and to make that happen you’ve got to somehow impress the college coaches. While there are usually lots of them at your various tournaments it’s important to know what they’re looking for and when they’re watching you!
College coaches want to see how you play and behave when you don’t think they’re looking. They want to watch you interact with your coaches, teammates, umpires and parents as this gives them a clue as to how you’ll treat each of these participants when you go to college. Treat them all with respect and your chances increase that a college coach will be interested in you. Treat them all with disrespect by not saying “please” and “thank you”, being impolite or respectful and chances are those colleges coaches want no part of your attitude – which translates to wanting no part of you.
Getting a college scholarship doesn’t always come down to making great plays, coming up with big hits, or really impressing the coaches when they’re watching your games. Sometimes the ball isn’t hit to you, or you don’t really get any pitches to hit, or you have an average day – what then? Is there anything you can do on those days?
Fortunately, the answer is yes! There are some things you can do to show coaches just how good your skills are, but only if you know what they’re looking. Coaches watch when you hustle in between innings or plays, how well you take groundballs and make your throws between innings, and generally try to glean any kind of a clue about your overall attitude, ability to play faster at a higher level (translation – college softball) and most importantly – do you do the things they can’t really teach you (like attitude, effort, intensity, intelligence, hard work), and are you coachable for the things you need to do better?
Bottom line – do they think you can succeed at their level and make their team better! Not just make their team, but make it better!
Here’s an example of how college coaches get 6-7 extra looks at players without them realizing it. In this case it’s a catcher, and this is an actual conversation I had with a college coach: “when I go to watch a particular catcher, and if I want to time their touch to touch time I know one thing is certain – I will get at least 6 and possibly 7 free looks to time that particular catcher. When are those 6 or 7 times – in between innings when she throws down to 2^nd base. It’s those 6 or 7 throws to the SS or 2B when I can get a “free” look and time her touch to touch. What I often find is that the catcher doesn’t really take this opportunity seriously and just slings the ball down to 2^nd, which blows my chance to really see her arm strength, touch to touch time and overall quickness. To me, if I were a catcher, that would be my time to shine and to show off my arm 6 or 7 times to any college coach that may be watching or just walking by.”
My point is that you don’t let up just because you’re hot, or tied, or losing, or don’t think any coaches are at your game. You will never know who is watching you! Always do your best, show your best and pass the test! Take advantage of every opportunity possible to show anybody watching that you’re a great teammate as well as a great ballplayer! You never know whose watching!
To help improve your catcher’s throwing speed (or any position player for that matter), check out the following:

• Pocket Radar

For eDrills to help improve your catchers, check out the following:
eDrill – Flip Dives
eDrill – Lie Downs
eDrill – Blind Ball


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