What are some requirements for college softball?

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mycoolgirl

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Just wondering if there were requirements to be recruited for college softball or be a college softball player in division 1? Like, height and weight, # of hits, and like competitive team background. Thanks!!
 
Dec 28, 2008
389
0
One true requirement is Academic so focus on the grades and be sure to check out the NCAA Clearing House. The term that is used is "STUDENT athlete" so you have to qualify first as a student, before you can be an athlete.

Another thing close to a "true requirement" is attitude. Travel ball coaches will put up with bad attitudes in order to win, college coaches have their schools reputation on the line and every single college coach I've talked to or heard from wants girls that can control the 6" between their ears at all times. That means no throwning tantrums if umpire makes bad call, you make an error etc. They want positivity.

There are some teams who's coaches seem to have "prototypes" that they feel are the right "build" for college ball and every girl looks like the others. But vast majority of teams are looking for girls that can play the game and help their team win. At a D1 college tournament this year I saw one school that I thought was a 14U team just coming there to watch because they were so small compared to some players on other schools. There are certainly some very big, very strong girls playing D1 ball, but overall college teams look just like most other teams. An old analogy that really fits is "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." There is no prototypical shape when it comes to a heart for the game and a desire to do anything to win.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
To play D1 ball as a position player:

(1) You have to have a very good arm, probably throwing overhand around 60 mph.
(2) You have to be able to go from home to 1st in no more than 3.3. Bustos is a lot quicker than she looks.
(3) You have to have good fundamentals--e.g., you catch the ball with two hands, you position your body correctly on groundballs, you position your body correctly on flyballs, you catch the ball on the correct side of your body, you know how to position your body on a relay, you can do a drop step, etc.
(4) Hitting--basically, you've got to be able to handle "real" breaking pitches--not the junk that Daddies say their DDs throw, but the real stuff. If you can hit a ball that moves 6 to 12 inches vertically. You also need to be able to hit 65 mph pitching from a machine.
(5) Base running--again, you need good fundamentals.


D1 ball, but overall college teams look just like most other teams
Except the girls are bigger, stronger and faster than the girls on D2 or D3 teams.

"Positivity" and "a desire to do anything to win"?? What does that mean?
 
Mar 15, 2010
544
0
Download the read the NCAA elgibility rules. You can get a copy at http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/CB10.pdf. Nothing worse than having a DD with all the traits Sluggers list and then find out you ran afoul of NCAA rules. Below is a quick summary from the guide of D1 eligbility requirements.


Division 1
If you want to participate in athletics or receive an athletics
scholarship during your first year, you must: • Graduate from high school; • Complete these 16 core courses:
- 4 years of English
- 3 years of math (Algebra 1 or higher)
- 2 years of natural or physical science (including one year of lab
science if offered by your high school)
- 1 extra year of English, math, or natural or physical science
- 2 years of social science
- 4 years of extra core courses (from any category above, or
foreign language, nondoctrinal religion or philosophy); • Earn a minimum required grade-point average in your core
courses; and • Earn a combined SAT or ACT sum score that matches your
core-course grade-point average and test score sliding scale (for
example, a 2.400 core-course grade-point average needs an 860
SAT).
 
Sep 6, 2009
393
0
State of Confusion
As said above:


1) Good grades. If an "avg" D1 caliber player, then maybe even "excellent" grades. A couple reasons for this: One is that the schedule is demanding, and to just keep up at the Div 1 level with a light load of coursework will require you to be a very good student also. Coach knows that if you dont make grades, you cant play. Smarter girls are lower risk for them. Another reason is that with good grades they can get you academic scholarship money, of which there is a lot more available. Most girls dont have athletic scholarships, they might have a partial athletic scholarship, then academic money, grants, and maybe even an easy "job" that pays well while all they have to do is sit somewhere and study.

2) Good hitting. Cant be emphasized enough. Thats 90% of what the coaches really care about. Ive been to camps where thats all the D1 coaches watched ,was the hitting, nothing else.

3) Speed.

4)Strong arm

Unfortunately, the majority of college recruiting centers around travel ball. Playing for the strongest team you can, one that plays showcases, competes on the national level, is a plus. That accomplishes two things. One is that it shows the coach you are a player that can compete against other players at the top level of the sport, the other is that showcases give them a venue to see players play.

After saying that, possibly the most important other thing is who your coach is, and who they know. Some long-tiime travel coaches have built relationships with many college coaches and feed players to them on a regular basis.

No height and weight requirements across the board. some coaches unfortunately do go for the taller 5-10-6' girls. Just as in baseball, that often translates into performance. Others dont. I know of a very small skinny girl that signed to pitch for a D1 school this yr, just depends. performance counts.
 
Last edited:
Hoping this is a good place to post this.
While reading so many posts, I realize drama goes on everywhere, not just here in CO. Though there are SOME really good "all about the kids" high school coaches. Our DD has played on travel teams for the past couple of years and she is bang zonkers nuts over softball. She goes to a lot of college run camps and is a pickup player whenever possible. She has been around and played with older girls to include high school players in the past seasons. Going into her freshman year of HS that does not have a softball team, she doesn't want to play HS ball even if they had a team because of the senseless politcs and drama she has heard so much about from other girls. And so many of the girls said they have so much trouble keeping up in school and their grades dropped like crazy. Not ALL, but alot. She wants no part of that. Before her final decision she did contact state and HS athletic directors and they said it is possible for her to play at another HS and they would talk to her schools AD and walk them through the process to get it done. She really made her decision after discussing everything with several local college coaches and quite a few coaches via email across the country before she was ever in high school. Every one of them told her that if they were looking at her or any other player, high school ball would not be where they would start looking, nor would it be a factor either way in their decision to "recruit" them. So, our daughter decided not to go through the hoops to play for another school and because she said it would cut into her fall training anyway and she has too many advanced classes to have a drop in grades. We have encouraged her to find a HS team and play on it, but she is just not interested and only wants to focus on training for competitive ball. (and SAT's it seems. Haha.) Is this hurting her in any way if she still wants to play at the college level? The first year in 12's really made her into a monster. She went to the OKC tournament and also watched the college world series. When she saw that field and the girls on it, her eyes opened SO wide and chin hit the ground in amazement and said, "I could play here some day." Will NOT playing high school ball hurt her in any way in a college coaches eyes, or has she/we been told a bunch of bull about it? Let us know.
 
May 7, 2008
8,506
48
Tucson
"Is this hurting her in any way if she still wants to play at the college level?"
Nope. I would do something, like run track, though. You say that she is training, but you don't say how.
 

Greenmonsters

Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
Feb 21, 2009
6,168
38
New England
I don't know what her spring schedule will look like, but if she's worried about HS softball affecting her grades, then how could she possibly handle the academic load while playing college SB? Sounds like trying to rationalize the decision. And don't kid yourself, drama in SB isn't limited to HS! Playing for your school, even if it sucks, is different than playing for a travel team - its an intangiible benefit that tends to be underestimated. If there's no HS softball, look for another spring activity that will keep her engaged and challenged mentaly and/or physically - track, drama, physics club,etc.

That said, travel ball is where the college coaches' attention lies and it sounds like she's got a good game plan.
 

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