Not playing HS....hurt playing in College?

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Mar 29, 2017
155
18
I have 2 DDs. The oldest had verbally committed to a D3, but has since changed her mind on the school and playing softball. While she was still planning on playing though, she quit the school team and told the coach of the college she was verballed with. He said that he didn't care if she played for school, as her high school has a rep for being very poorly coached. The college is about 2 1/2 hours away from the High School.

Now, my question will pertain to my youngest. DD2 is a freshman and we are starting the recruiting process. She has been emailing coaches, will be attending showcases with the team, went to a few clinics. She hasn't really received any attention so far, but I am not concerned with that yet.

My question is, will not playing HS hurt her chances with D2 and up? She has hopes of D1 (Coastal Carolina). She REFUSES to play school ball due to the HC and how he treated her big sister before she (DD1) quit. I hope that since DD1's college coach said it wasn't a big deal, that it won't be for DD2?

I don't really want to get into exactly why she refuses, but the jist of it is that he is very condescending, rude, yells, generally mean. bully, sexist, teaches improper technique (squish the bug, HE for pitchers which my DD2 is a pitcher), really had very little clue about the game and how to teach fundamentals.

Both my DDs are used to hard coaches and where actually coached by JUCO coaches in the past on rec and travel teams. This guy is basically just a bully to HS girls and they do not want to subject themselves to that.

Again, I don't want to get into the HC and why she's not playing. She may actually play baseball as our baseball coach is a former MLB player. But as I said, will her not playing hurt her for college?

Oh, and she is on a high level 14u A team that is going to showcases, org has plenty of girls that went on to D1 schools. She will continue with travel.
 
Last edited:
Apr 16, 2013
1,113
83
Coastal? You guys from SC?

As far as playing HS, I've never once heard a college coach that really gave a rat's butt vs playing high level travel ball. My DD is now home schooled, but even though she can still play for the local school, she has ZERO interest.
 
Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
Your DD's issue has been discussed here before. The short version. College coaches know there is HUGE discrepancy between HS programs. So not playing HS is not a big factor. Your younger DD seems to be on the right track playing showcases on a high level 14U A team. With the changes in the recruiting rules this year there can not be any contact by a D1 coach with players until their junior year.
 
Mar 29, 2017
155
18
Coastal? You guys from SC?

As far as playing HS, I've never once heard a college coach that really gave a rat's butt vs playing high level travel ball. My DD is now home schooled, but even though she can still play for the local school, she has ZERO interest.

No. We live in Pa. We have been to Myrtle Beach a few times for tournaments and she toured the campus with my older nephew when he went there to visit.

I figured it wouldn’t matter if she played school ball, just wanted to double check I guess.
 
Feb 4, 2015
641
28
Massachusetts
I don't really want to get into exactly why she refuses, but the jist of it is that he is very condescending, rude, yells, generally mean. bully, sexist, teaches improper technique (squish the bug, HE for pitchers which my DD2 is a pitcher), really had very little clue about the game and how to teach fundamentals.

This guy is basically just a bully to HS girls and they do not want to subject themselves to that.

Again, I don't want to get into the HC and why she's not playing.

Not to make light of your situation, but you gave me a good chuckle this morning. Thanks for not getting into all the reasons. ;)

As others have said, HS doesn't matter. And the reason your not getting any attention from college coaches is because the can't. She's too young.
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
The good news is 98.2% of softball recruiting takes place in TB, so HS ball is not necessary, the bad news is that most colleges use HS stats and awards in a players college BIO.
 
Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
The good news is 98.2% of softball recruiting takes place in TB, so HS ball is not necessary, the bad news is that most colleges use HS stats and awards in a players college BIO.

I see more and more of the colleges referencing the travel team players played for. Especially the top programs.
 

ted

Oct 3, 2017
6
3
My DD is a Senior, committed to a mid-major school. College Coach is ok with her not playing for high school, after we told him about the terrible coaching at high school. She'll likely do Track instead. Coaches that bully, verbally abuse, and blame players for losing a game don't deserve to be called a "Coach".


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Mar 29, 2017
155
18
Not to make light of your situation, but you gave me a good chuckle this morning. Thanks for not getting into all the reasons. ;)

As others have said, HS doesn't matter. And the reason your not getting any attention from college coaches is because the can't. She's too young.

Oh, trust me, that's the tip of the iceberg, LOL. I guess I should have said specific situations that caused her to not want to play. Either way, as someone else said, he doesn't deserve to be called "Coach".

I know D1's can't pay to much attention, but correct me if I am wrong, DII and down can talk to her?
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
The good news is 98.2% of softball recruiting takes place in TB, so HS ball is not necessary, the bad news is that most colleges use HS stats and awards in a players college BIO.

I know you are right about this but I can't be the only HS Coach in America that gets their players recruited. My players all play for TB teams that say that they get their players recruited. Typically, that means that they give out the URL for the parents to sign up for some service. I can't think of one HS player of mine that has gone on to play in college that I wasn't the one who made the contacts and pushed the recruitment. There has to be more HS coaches out there that do the same. Note - I will say that it gets harder and harder to get a coach to make that initial call back to me if I don't catch them in their office. I've sent some pretty good players to some of these schools. Players who ended up in their career record books. So, I know you are right about colleges moving away from high school. I have a senior this year who is a stud. She has all of the accolades etc. and I just now found her a place to play. She will own the record books of where she is going by the time she is done.
 

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