High school ball and recruiting.

I know this has probably been discussed before but how important is high school ball for recruiting. My daughter plays for an A level 16u travel team that will be playing ASA gold nationals and showcases so it seems she will be getting most of her exposure from that. Her high school is a small private school that will probably not play at a very high level. Does this hurt with recruiting or is travel ball enough?


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Legendsmom said:

I know this has probably been discussed before but how important is high school ball for recruiting. My daughter plays for an A level 16u travel team that will be playing ASA gold nationals and showcases so it seems she will be getting most of her exposure from that. Her high school is a small private school that will probably not play at a very high level. Does this hurt with recruiting or is travel ball enough?


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High school ball is not important for recruiting. College coaches recruit travel ball and camps.

Another of my HS girls just signed. I'd say that the consensus here is that HS is not important. I then wonder why it is that I have to work so hard to get these players on college teams. Where are their TB Coaches?

My DD got recruited playing High school ball. College coach first saw DD playing for her high school. Coach did later attend her tourney ball games. My point is...it can be important.

I guess that is what I'm wondering. Is going to a small high school going to hurt her with recruiting. She is filling out her player profile for travel and there was an awful lot of info on there about her high school.


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I think coaches understand that high school teams may not be loaded with talent like club teams are. That being said, in my area club teams go dark during HS season so if she is not playing HS ball will she be playing at all during HS season?

Legendsmom said:

I guess that is what I'm wondering. Is going to a small high school going to hurt her with recruiting. She is filling out her player profile for travel and there was an awful lot of info on there about her high school.


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It should not hurt her if she does the other things to get her noticed and she makes sure to proactively contact coaches. Being good enough and getting to camps/clinics to be seen by coaches is the #1 thing a player can do IMO. Her TB team should help as well depending on how well connected the coaches are with college coaches.

Is there a chance your DD could be discovered by a college coach while playing HS ball, yes. Is it probable, no. Concentrate your efforts on her TB team and you should be fine.

Some HS coaches have relationships w colleges, some don't - talk to your HS coach to see what his/her answer is. Honestly, it's the same with travel ball teams and coaches thereof, too. From 14u on, it doesnt hurt to be on TB team that has a coach or coaches that truly have relationships with college coaches. Went from a fancy pants program to one that has been coached by the same guy for almost 20yrs (and not so fancy) - within 2 weeks we were talking to 3 different schools.

I guess that is what I'm wondering. Is going to a small high school going to hurt her with recruiting. She is filling out her player profile for travel and there was an awful lot of info on there about her high school.

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Sorry this got long- I am in the recruiting process now, I have done a considerable amount of homework, but I haven't completed the process yet, but this is what I have learned:

I agree with the consensus here that HS ball is not a required prerequisite to play college ball. Raven Chavanne (Tennessee) ran track in HS. I asked a WCWS winning coach if choosing not to play HS ball was a red flag to him or others in the recruiting process. he said playing HS ball or not did not matter. So if not playing at all didn't matter to him, I doubt the quality of the HS team matters. I have also heard coaches say they are recruiting the player, not the team.

That being said, maybe if you are in a part of the country where your HS season is not concurrent with the college season there would be more of a chance to see a college coach at a game if that was a school you were interested in and had sent them your schedule.

yes, if you are talking about the college recruiting questionnaire, they may ask a lot of questions about HS but usually they are looking for Academic info. also the college questionaires are set up generically, often the same recruiting form is used for all sports. you don't have to fill in every blank. we put N/A (Not available) in response to many questions. If it's a TB questionnaire- they are probably trolling for as much info as possible to put on their info sheets.

One thing that could be important in HS is the coaches recommendation. Our HS has an ok team, often one-and-done in the playoffs at the end of the season. The coach is an assistant football coach and a Landscaper. while he does watch some WCWS softball on TV, he does not attempt to learn the game and is teaching outdated fundamentals. sounds like a beauty right? well it seems he knows how to talk to college coaches. when he finds out a player wants to play ball in college, he will bend over backwards to help that kid. He doesn't talk about it, but he has helped coaches see the valuable intangibles that a player brings to the game and in some cases has had the coach call him back after the player is playing for that college, thanking him for showing them what he had learned from the years of working with the kid.