Question about emailing coaches your schedule

Our org FB group just posted a message about emailing college coaches your tournament schedule per weekend. My question though is, Can a coach even watch? This being for D1. It's my understanding they only have a small window per year that they're able to come and watch your DD play. Per the usual at our tournaments, you only know specific game times for the first two pool games anyways. It seems, to me, a prospective player should be sending stats after each weekend and a highlight vid for big plays/hits.

I just spoke with a D1 coach about emailing. She told me they literally get hundreds of emails a week from players. She said there is no way they can scout players based on stats and that big home run video or just go around following players schedules. She told me for her school recruiting program most players interested in playing for her team show up at their camp and impress them with their skills. If a player can’t get their attention on the field their email is worthless. Once they have you on their radar they can show up at a tournament for a better look. She said if the team is interested in a player they will recommend sending a copy of her schedule. In a nutshell she said if you are interested in playing for a particular school you need to be at that school camp in front of their coaches trying to impress them instead of hoping they will come see you. A second coach showed me her phone on her emails took her finger and just started swiping up spinning through all kinds if emails then said was one of those your email. She said they get bombarded by emails from all over the country every day most from girl with no intentions of coming to their school unless last resort. I hope this helps you understand as much as it helped me. She also said she has more time for a face to face meeting with an actual player in her office than scrolling through all the emails.

Do other things to stand out, just showing up to camp isn't automatically going to get your dd looks. Have your org/coach reach out before camp, or send some type of correspondence (snail mail). It's always good to include why you want to go to said school. Follow up after camp also. Have daughter introduce herself at camp.

I would disagree with the they won't show up if you just email, although some coaches do get a ton of email, some actually read it/watch the videos sent. Proof is daughter has had a couple show up at games. She hasn't stepped foot on there campus. Sometimes it's about what tournaments your playing in, field placement, who you play for. If schools of interest do show up, does your coach talk or recruiting coordinator talk with them?

If a school dd is interested in shows up during the week following tournament, she'll write some snail mail thanking them for showing up, and talk about the tournament/life.

Also, don't just target the head coach, I've seen a lot of times and have heard it from a coach at a P5 D1 that her assistant does the recruiting and she signs off, plus today's assistant is tomorrows head coach somewhere else.

Go to multiple camps at the same school. Unless your kid is a flat out beast 1 or 2 camps isn't going to demonstrate the commitment that they look for. DD just completed her 5th camp in the last 3 years at her dream school. They are now showing good interest in her. First 2-3 camps they were nice to her but no interest. Persistence.

justanotherguy said:

Our org FB group just posted a message about emailing college coaches your tournament schedule per weekend. My question though is, Can a coach even watch? This being for D1. It's my understanding they only have a small window per year that they're able to come and watch your DD play. Per the usual at our tournaments, you only know specific game times for the first two pool games anyways. It seems, to me, a prospective player should be sending stats after each weekend and a highlight vid for big plays/hits.

Click to expand...

To answer your question. D1 coaches have a 12 day (6 weekends) evaluation period during the fall tourney season that consists of Saturdays and Sundays from Oct 13-Nov 18. Any tournament held after these dates can be attended by all other divisions. Sounds like your team doesn't play a true "showcase" style tourney where the schedules are pretty much set with playing 4-5 games. Some TD's are starting to add a single elimination bracket on Sundays which I do like.

Most 16U/18U teams shut down after that last showcase weekend to focus on camps and off season training.

https://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2018-19DIREC_SoftballRecruitingCalendar_20180628.pdf

Orange Socks said:

To answer your question. D1 coaches have a 12 day (6 weekends) evaluation period during the fall tourney season that consists of Saturdays and Sundays from Oct 13-Nov 18. Any tournament held after these dates can be attended by all other divisions. Sounds like your team doesn't play a true "showcase" style tourney where the schedules are pretty much set with playing 4-5 games. Some TD's are starting to add a single elimination bracket on Sundays which I do like.

Most 16U/18U teams shut down after that last showcase weekend to focus on camps and off season training.

https://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2018-19DIREC_SoftballRecruitingCalendar_20180628.pdf

Click to expand...

Thanks, this is very much what I was looking for. This past year she was playing 14u with some 16u mixed in. They did a few showcases at the end of the year. So with that said, are "showcases" worth a single dime during the spring? Right now she's not targeting any D2's.

As far as contact, she's emailed the coaches an intro letter and skills video. Both letters were personalized with the reasons why she wanted to go to the school. It's about her education, not about softball. Plus one is literally 10 miles down the road. The skills videos were personalized and sent only to the coaches. Both were watched the same day the email was sent, one watched twice. She's going to the prospect camp this weekend for the local college. The other one held their prospect camp the weekend before we looked into it.

This may not be a popular point of view but we use Captain U.
It's $20/month but....
When you send a school an email it notifies you that the email was opened.
It also let's you know if a school views your profile and watches any videos..
I have been able to see what schools have read DDs letters and looked at her profile.
Worth it IMO

BT3100 said:

This may not be a popular point of view but we use Captain U.
It's $20/month but....
When you send a school an email it notifies you that the email was opened.
It also let's you know if a school views your profile and watches any videos..
I have been able to see what schools have read DDs letters and looked at her profile.
Worth it IMO

Click to expand...

With using youtube, I send a customized video ONLY to that coach. So, I can see that it's been viewed and how many minutes, as in if they watched all of it. That says they opened the email and watched the video.

Laphoneman said:

I just spoke with a D1 coach about emailing. She told me they literally get hundreds of emails a week from players. She said there is no way they can scout players based on stats and that big home run video or just go around following players schedules. She told me for her school recruiting program most players interested in playing for her team show up at their camp and impress them with their skills. If a player can’t get their attention on the field their email is worthless. Once they have you on their radar they can show up at a tournament for a better look. She said if the team is interested in a player they will recommend sending a copy of her schedule. In a nutshell she said if you are interested in playing for a particular school you need to be at that school camp in front of their coaches trying to impress them instead of hoping they will come see you. A second coach showed me her phone on her emails took her finger and just started swiping up spinning through all kinds if emails then said was one of those your email. She said they get bombarded by emails from all over the country every day most from girl with no intentions of coming to their school unless last resort. I hope this helps you understand as much as it helped me. She also said she has more time for a face to face meeting with an actual player in her office than scrolling through all the emails.

Click to expand...

Nothing against this above, but this is just two D1 coaches. What strategy might work for one has zero guarantee it will work for all.

Just like anything else, every coach and every program is going to be different. One reads emails, one doesn't. One reads only emails from players they know, others read specific ones. One gets AC's or team managers to manage emails, one does it themselves. One loves video of games. One likes skills videos. Some hate music in skills videos. Some like it. Some want you at camps. Some want to see you at showcases. Some will use the 'recruiting' services, some will not. Some intensely look at players and establish deep relationships, some fall in-and-out of love with a player from minute to minute. Some run money making recruiting camps, some don't. And so on. Just because one coach doesn't read your email or read emails in general doesn't mean that another one wont.

Anyone who has been to any of these camps have seen coaches give the after camp or lunchtime recruiting talk - there are always similarities - but beyond that., it should always be taken as 'what that coach likes'. I've seen coaches contradict each other about how to contact coaches in these speeches - they weren't wrong - it just applied to themselves specifically, not in general.

Which means you need to do it all. And then you constantly adjust your approach as you see what works or isn't working for each individual school and coach.

Pick your school list, send the emails, attend the camps, send your schedules, provide updates, pick up the phone and call the coach (if allowed for the age/division), work your network of contacts, etc, etc... Getting initial and ongoing attention is a multi-pronged strategy for most players.

The most important thing is to develop your school list (so it doesn't get to a point where you are trying to get the attention of too many programs) and then keep track.

Lastly you also have to tailor your recruiting to who your DD is. It is more than capability of level of play and academics - it is also what fits best for who your DD is. For example, I was asked yesterday about camps and how valuable they are - in general they are great when they are small or you are specifically invited or they are at a school they your DD wants to attend. But in a lot of cases, unless your DD is a true, stand out physical specimen, the big multi-college camps or 100+ attendee camps are often just money makers and mostly a waste of time and money - and many of these are on campus.

I will add one more thing - I have been helping players get into colleges on primarily the east coast for years and I STILL come across programs and schools I have never heard of. There are programs that put teams on the field year after year (some even very good teams) which I have NEVER seen at any showcase/tournament or have a camp or even have a 'relationship' with a travel program. In many cases I can not figure out where these teams are getting their players from - but they are. It is wild out there in recruiting land.

justanotherguy said:

Thanks, this is very much what I was looking for. This past year she was playing 14u with some 16u mixed in. They did a few showcases at the end of the year. So with that said, are "showcases" worth a single dime during the spring? Right now she's not targeting any D2's.

As far as contact, she's emailed the coaches an intro letter and skills video. Both letters were personalized with the reasons why she wanted to go to the school. It's about her education, not about softball. Plus one is literally 10 miles down the road. The skills videos were personalized and sent only to the coaches. Both were watched the same day the email was sent, one watched twice. She's going to the prospect camp this weekend for the local college. The other one held their prospect camp the weekend before we looked into it.

Click to expand...

Because college coaches are typically coaching and running their own programs on the weekends, I would emphatically say NO. In fact I don't think showcases exist during the spring since most teams go dark because of HS season...depending on your state.

This is a start. I like to call recruiting a contact sport. Meaning you have to continually be in contact with these coaches. It will seem like a one way conversation for several years until DD reaches contact age. You need to have a strategy for dripping on these coaches and cultivate the one way relationship. Also, you mentioned only 2 schools. I would begin by adding another 8 to that list of potential schools that match your family's criteria. You need to have some "Reach" schools, good fit, and fall backs. The school my DD will be going to next year was not on her list until the beginning of her Jr year and within 2 months she was committed. It only took 2 emails and a recommendation from her TB coach for the coach to come watch her play. If I only knew!!! It turns out that it's a great fit academically, athletically, financially, location, reputation, size, etc.

1st: Intro email with any video
2nd: Send snail mail of profile
3rd: send video updates.
4th: send an update on HS or TB highlights
5th: send "save the date" Tournament schedule on a post card for summer
6th: send game schedule the week of so they can find you
and so on and so on.

Do not expect a coach to come watch DD if her first contact was the week before a tournament...unless DD is highly recommended by a trustworthy ally of the coach. At some point the coach will begin to recognize your DD's name on her list of emails, if you continually throw out communications. As others have said, don't show up to camp without prior communications from your TB recruiting liaison or TB coach. Otherwise consider your fee a donation to the program, but your DD is young and she might not even be in their "recruiting zone" as far graduation year.


Good luck and enjoy the process for what it is.