Out of the blue, one of my players was contacted by an assistant coach at a nearby D3. The coach asked for a copy of her tournament schedule so they can watch her play over the summer.
This was a shock, and we have no idea how they found her. She's a pitcher I've been working with since last year. She's only played for our HS teams and my summer rec team. She hasn't played on a travel team, and nobody connected to her has reached out to college coaches. My assumption is the coach from one of our opponents saw her pitch and passed her name on to this college coach as someone with potential.
The reason this matters is she is incredibly raw, to the extent that she wasn't even my #1 pitcher this year (she pitched in a 4-inning JV game where she struck out 11 and hit 12 batters, so... she has talent but a lot to work on). I know a coach of a low level travel team that is excited to have her pitch for them, so figuring out some dates won't be an issue. The question is...how should she respond to this coach?
Should she tell the coach she hasn't pitched for long and has never played TB before? I think that's important information if someone's evaluating her potential, but I don't want it to seem like an excuse for poor performance. Does it even matter? This is just a random school, and it's not necessarily a place she wants to go. I'm encouraging her to do it just for the experience. If her name got out just from pitching in HS games, pitching in a tournament with a college coach watching could open more doors for her even if she's "not ready" at the moment.
One last thing: How much involvement should I have? Her parents are not at all involved with softball. I've never even met them. I know at a certain point coaches expect the prospective athletes to be able to fend for themselves, but I also want to give her any help and guidance I can. Would it be inappropriate for me to talk to this coach on her behalf?
As of now, I only intend to help her with a response to the coach. We'll thank her for her interest, explain that she just started pitching last year so she hasn't yet played TB. Maybe say how there's a team that she's going to pitch for and she'll pass along a schedule once she has it. Is that enough for a first response?
This was a shock, and we have no idea how they found her. She's a pitcher I've been working with since last year. She's only played for our HS teams and my summer rec team. She hasn't played on a travel team, and nobody connected to her has reached out to college coaches. My assumption is the coach from one of our opponents saw her pitch and passed her name on to this college coach as someone with potential.
The reason this matters is she is incredibly raw, to the extent that she wasn't even my #1 pitcher this year (she pitched in a 4-inning JV game where she struck out 11 and hit 12 batters, so... she has talent but a lot to work on). I know a coach of a low level travel team that is excited to have her pitch for them, so figuring out some dates won't be an issue. The question is...how should she respond to this coach?
Should she tell the coach she hasn't pitched for long and has never played TB before? I think that's important information if someone's evaluating her potential, but I don't want it to seem like an excuse for poor performance. Does it even matter? This is just a random school, and it's not necessarily a place she wants to go. I'm encouraging her to do it just for the experience. If her name got out just from pitching in HS games, pitching in a tournament with a college coach watching could open more doors for her even if she's "not ready" at the moment.
One last thing: How much involvement should I have? Her parents are not at all involved with softball. I've never even met them. I know at a certain point coaches expect the prospective athletes to be able to fend for themselves, but I also want to give her any help and guidance I can. Would it be inappropriate for me to talk to this coach on her behalf?
As of now, I only intend to help her with a response to the coach. We'll thank her for her interest, explain that she just started pitching last year so she hasn't yet played TB. Maybe say how there's a team that she's going to pitch for and she'll pass along a schedule once she has it. Is that enough for a first response?