Thread: College Recruiting

Daughter just attended a DI camp yesterday. After camp there was a question/answer period with coaches and players. A mom asked "What is the recruiting process?" Head coach looked at her assistants, laughed and said- "the recruiting process starts when you are 8 and ends when you are 18." She went on to say that some of her colleagues are starting to go to 14U Nationals which she thinks is ridiculous but called it a reality. Coaches then told the girls/parents things we've all heard before -run on/off the field, love the game etc. One of the assistants said he likes to spend time at games talking to little brother/sisters and watching how girls interact with families.

Another question asked was "if you could pick one thing for girls to come to you with what would it be?" Answers from coaches: 1) Realize that "getting" the scholarship is not the end but the beginning- he said too many girls view that as benchmark as the time to relax and back off and then they come to college unprepared- once you get the scholarship the real work begins, 2) Come to college with a better understanding of the game. He said many girls go to pitching lessons, hitting lessons and play in games but don't really understand the game (why a cut goes to a certain position in a certain situation etc.). Said the easy fix is watch major league baseball and listen to commentators.

Originally Posted by 7smom

Daughter just attended a DI camp yesterday. After camp there was a question/answer period with coaches and players. A mom asked "What is the recruiting process?" Head coach looked at her assistants, laughed and said- "the recruiting process starts when you are 8 and ends when you are 18." She went on to say that some of her colleagues are starting to go to 14U Nationals which she thinks is ridiculous but called it a reality. Coaches then told the girls/parents things we've all heard before -run on/off the field, love the game etc. One of the assistants said he likes to spend time at games talking to little brother/sisters and watching how girls interact with families.

Another question asked was "if you could pick one thing for girls to come to you with what would it be?" Answers from coaches: 1) Realize that "getting" the scholarship is not the end but the beginning- he said too many girls view that as benchmark as the time to relax and back off and then they come to college unprepared- once you get the scholarship the real work begins, 2) Come to college with a better understanding of the game. He said many girls go to pitching lessons, hitting lessons and play in games but don't really understand the game (why a cut goes to a certain position in a certain situation etc.). Said the easy fix is watch major league baseball and listen to commentators.

Whew! This was a super post! I will give an example of what you and I think about this recruiting issue. Fastpitch is a game of chess, not checkers. I would give out a flyer to my college pitchers and catchers with batter's tendencies and how to pitch to them. An example would be hitters with bats standing straight up in the air, and a high back elbow. How would you pitch to them? I listed 30 batter tendencies. Not one Freshman pitcher had ever seen anything like this or ever had a conversation about these issues with a coach. Even a private pitching coach! They looked at the paper and me like I was an alien.

I would ask them why do you do a "double cut-off". I got no answers. I asked why does the SS take the cut from RF? I got no answers. Why does the outfield move up with the winning run on 3rd and less than 2 outs, and why do typically walk a batter to create the force at the plate? I sometimes got no answers. They sometimes executed the skill, but with no understanding. For me as a coach, this was frustrating along with excessive spelling errors in letters of introduction :-) How much effort does it take to look smart even if you are not? 7smom is right on the money here and so is SBFamily.

Originally Posted by Steve Huff

Whew! This was a super post! I will give an example of what you and I think about this recruiting issue. Fastpitch is a game of chess, not checkers. I would give out a flyer to my college pitchers and catchers with batter's tendencies and how to pitch to them. An example would be hitters with bats standing straight up in the air, and a high back elbow. How would you pitch to them? I listed 30 batter tendencies. Not one Freshman pitcher had ever seen anything like this or ever had a conversation about these issues with a coach. Even a private pitching coach! They looked at the paper and me like I was an alien.

I would ask them why do you do a "double cut-off". I got no answers. I asked why does the SS take the cut from RF? I got no answers. Why does the outfield move up with the winning run on 3rd and less than 2 outs, and why do typically walk a batter to create the force at the plate? I sometimes got no answers. They sometimes executed the skill, but with no understanding. For me as a coach, this was frustrating along with excessive spelling errors in letters of introduction :-) How much effort does it take to look smart even if you are not? 7smom is right on the money here and so is SBFamily.

I won't take credit for the information as it was the college coaches speaking at the camp, but I will say I agree with all they said. Coach said most girls hate watching MLB but my daughter LOVES to watch and does so as much as possible (along with any televised college softball). The simple act of loving baseball and watching it since she was young has given her a very high softball IQ. Now we all think our DDs are great, but I would say I think my DDs softball IQ is better than a lot of travel and HS coaches I've seen. She loves to anyalize the choices both her coaches and opposing coaches make after a game. She has a passion for the game itself.

I think what Steve said earlier is right- some college coaches want skilled players who come in an do what they are told or don't need work on the fundamentals. My DD does not have a rocket arm (overhand throw 55+ish) but she has a very quick relase and most importantly (IMO) ALWAYS knows where the ball needs to go and why. She also knows when she should not try to make a throw. While she may not always catch the eyes of coaches at a tournament (although she's a great hitter), once they get to know her other attributes the fact that she is smaller in stature doesn't seem to matter. Those are the kinds of coaches she likes- the thinkers. Hopefully there are a few of those out there in case her no.1 choice doesn't work out....

7smom,

Please have your daughter read the 2nd post on this page linked below, especially below the hash mark. If she likes to think strategy, she might realize she understands game situations enough to help international coaches! :-)

Who do you have cover 3b in this situation?

My daughter is deep into the recruiting process right now and I'll share what our experience has been with camps - but it's similar to what has already been stated. Some camps are pure money makers - period. If there are 150+ girls at a camp with very few coaches actually instructing, and if your goal was for your DD to get "exposure" - then you probably missed the boat. Our daughter has been to a couple of large camps, however, that were outstanding - the Jennie Finch camp with 6 - 8 Olympic softball players instructing and other travel coaches assisting to name one such camp. She got a great work out, terrific instruction by outstanding players, and learned a lot that weekend. However, this was an "instructional camp" as compared to an "exposure camp"

At the younger age, going to skills camps to further your softball skills and to see a college campus, talk to the college players, etc is fine to get your feel wet. We made a list of colleges in our area that were of general interest to our DD and tried to either go to a camp at those schools or watch a game. As she got older, we continued to refine and narrow down that list to only schools that she had a true academic and athletic desire to attend. You have to do your homework to learn about the coach, the team roster, and in general - do your homework! ACADEMICS COUNT!!!
Now,DD only attends college camps if it is a sincere invitation from the college coach, and not a "generic" invite. We get lots of those on a weekly basis. As you continue through the recruiting process, you learn to "weed out" the schools that are inviting everybody on an e-mail list they get from various tournaments, etc and those who are genuinely interested in your daughter.

Our DD has attended several camps this past fall and winter that have expressed sincere interest in possibly recruiting her - it's an excellent opportunity to see the campus, meet the coaches and players and have them meet her as well. It works BOTH ways!
You are learning about them, and they about you. From these camps, DD was able to rule out schools that were not a good fit.
We did not use a recruiting company, our DD wrote e-mails to lots of coaches - casting a "wide net" initially.

However - being on a team that has a reputation for producing outstanding players, and with coaches who have true contacts with college coaches, being at the "right" exposure tournaments, and contacting those coaches ahead of time with your personal info, profile, skills video, are all extremely helpful. DD was on a travel team that was not well known and that unfortunately hindered the recruiting process - when you have 160 teams at these big exposure tournaments and 2 days to get noticed, it honestly does help to be on a team with name recognition. Always plays at the highest level of competition that you can and most importantly, keep the grades up!!!!

Originally Posted by 7smom

... 2) Come to college with a better understanding of the game. He said many girls go to pitching lessons, hitting lessons and play in games but don't really understand the game (why a cut goes to a certain position in a certain situation etc.). Said the easy fix is watch major league baseball and listen to commentators.

I've noticed that it's easy to find places to get hitting or pitching lessons, but it's much harder to find someone offering general fielding and strategy lessons. When she was young, I got DD a Little League instructional baseball cd-rom called "Where's The Play?" It was at a pretty simple level, but good for a little one. I wish there was a follow-up cd for older kids who are past that stage. I've recently found an indoor place that has lessons for kids which cover individual fielding, throwing, hitting, baserunning and some general teamwork: the kids rotate infield positions and practice covering their responsibilties (being the cutoff, base, backup) based upon the location of the hit and the runners. I'm very pleased and DD is enjoying herself, despite being the only girl there.

I try to record college softball games when they're on and have DD watch with me, but they are few and far between. I will try MLB games. Thanks!

"Others don't have the "name"! So they look younger to get a head-start!"

That's exactly what a very good D3 Coach just told me. She said they already have 8th graders on their list to watch but they most likely will get snagged by bigger schools.