Forum for advice for MS and early HS players wanting to play college ball?

[Vertigo]

Ah - got ya. I met with both the head coach and director of the nursing program - granted this was some 20 years ago at a very academically selective school. It just wasn't in the cards for me to be able to do both and I was in love with the school, so I chose my education / career over 4 more years of playing ball. Probably the best decision "for me" at that time.

I did look up Caldwell U. to see what their program entailed - definitely not quite as science heavy (pre-req) as my program was back in the day.

 

[sluggers]

More great advice from Riseball...

There seems to be a myth that an offer of an athletic scholarship guarantees the pursuit of the major of your choice. That is not how it works. The provision of an athletic scholarship is contingent on you, not the school making it work with your intended major. The requirements of each major are beyond the control of the coach and the athletic department. The lack of cooperation from the school of engineering or nursing does not mean that the coach and athletic department are not invested in your academic success. Far from it. At SC they went to great lengths to build alliances with the academic side of the house. They would even help you schedule your classes to avoid instructors who were openly hostile toward athletes. It is no secret that there are plenty of academic elitists with a demonstrated disdain for athletes. If it is not possible for you to pursue a certain major then it is very simple: find another school, negotiate a 5th year, pick another major, or do not play the sport. I have had a few players graduate with nursing degrees. Yes, it was not easy but it is possible. You just need to do your homework.

 

[55dad]

I don't know much about the details but I know that Minnesota has a nursing student on the roster. She is a sophomore. I believe she is the first nursing student in recent history. There is another who is majoring in some type of biochemistry or something. The coaching staff works hard with the different schools and departments within the university to make it work. There are schools out there that will work with your DD. It does get cold here but you can wear a coat.

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[YOCOACH]

It does get cold here but you can wear a coat.

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Had to LMAO at this one considering DD's college is expecting up to 2' of snow tonight and her last final is tomorrow

 

[55dad]

Sluggers, if you don't mind, I'll take this one. Dusters...ooh excuse me Dusty, maybe having an anonymous public forum has given you courage. IDK. But most, if not all of us on here are posting from our own personal experiences. My and sluggers' experiences from D1 are far different from riseball's. Both veiwpoints are relevant no matter what you care to say. We, as a group, are trying to help those that haven't been there and done that, maybe get to where they want to be and/or play. What do you have? I have yet to see where you have posted from your past experiences?!

I personally have seen where numerous scholarship offers from major D1's, UNC included were withdrawn from my DD when she told the HC she wanted to go into nursing and wouldn't back down. I have seen where my DD was crushed by having so many D1 offers, from the majors to the mid-majors, down to mid-level D2's withdrawn. You see, my DD was date raped at the age of 14 and she wanted nothing but to help others at that particular time in her life. I don't want to make this about her so please, everyone, don't comment on this very private aspect of her life to sidetrack this thread. Just know, at this time in her life, she was very determined to turn her focus outwards and help others. Thus the Nursing major at that time.

Her travails though her HS Sophomore, Junior and Senior years of SB, and the bullying involved, are documented on here quite thoroughly. Her struggles are well documented on here also throughout those years both emotionally and academically.

Her recent bullying by her current college teammembers is also documented since she was a Freshman walk-on but managed to earn her starting spot behind the plate before two sub-par Juniors which refuse to work harder so instead try to bully her off the team.

Her successes, her failures...many of those that know my DD both personally and vicariously know these things.

What about you?

Then she found the career of Music Therapy as an alternate career in her last few weeks of her Senior year. Music got her through many of her hard times and bouts of depression although she still has massive anxiety attacks occasionally. Thus the last minute change of college choice and, as again, has been well documented on here.

That said, my question to you is what are your credentials? What have you and maybe? your DD sacrificed in order to be qualified to post the kind of $h!t you're challenging everyone else with? I've personally, had enough of your pedantic and uneducated cr@p. Put up or shut up, please, now and thank you!

I have to cut Dusty a little bit of slack although I think he went about making his point the wrong way by attacking other people. He should have just stuck to making positive comments about this specific thread. He has a point that some folks here take their own personal experience and decide the whole world is made that way because of what they experienced. Personally I like the fact that we have many different opinions from many different perspectives and we can take everything posted with a grain of salt. I enjoy this forum and have reached out to several posters via PM and have never found anyone to be arrogant or a braggard about their DD. As I worked through the daddy part of recruiting and now my DD's freshman year it has been invaluable for me to be able to reach out to Discuss Fastpitch veteran posters and get some perspective, guidance, and advice. Not a single person I have reached out to has been arrogant and every single one has been as helpful as they could possibly be while wishing my DD nothing but the best.

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[Westwind]

55Dad, right on!

Got some really good advice here, public and private, that has really helped my family make important decisions.

This thread is loaded with sage advice from people who have “been there and done that” and the fact that they don’t all agree is because their dd’s, schools, levels of play and experiences are all different. I think it’s important to know where they are coming from- what their perspective is. And trust me, anybody who has been around softball very long knows better than to judge a player by what level of college they chose to attend.

Final irony.... DD#2 wants to be a neo-natal nurse practitioner. Yes, I am reading all these posts with interest!

 

[let it be fun]

Sluggers, if you don't mind, I'll take this one. Dusty, maybe having an anonymous public forum has given you courage. IDK. But most, if not all of us on here are posting from our own personal experiences. My and sluggers' experiences from D1 are far different from riseball's. Both veiwpoints are relevant no matter what you care to say. We, as a group, are trying to help those that haven't been there and done that, maybe get to where they want to be and/or play. What do you have? I have yet to see where you have posted from your past experiences?!

I personally have seen where numerous scholarship offers from major D1's, UNC included were withdrawn from my DD when she told the HC she wanted to go into nursing and wouldn't back down. I have seen where my DD was crushed by having so many D1 offers, from the majors to the mid-majors, down to mid-level D2's withdrawn. You see, my DD was date raped at the age of 14 and she wanted nothing but to help others at that particular time in her life. I don't want to make this about her so please, everyone, don't comment on this very private aspect of her life to sidetrack this thread. Just know, at this time in her life, she was very determined to turn her focus outwards and help others instead of letting this tragic incident crush her. Thus the Nursing major at that time.

Her travails though her HS Sophomore, Junior and Senior years of SB, and the bullying involved, are documented on here quite thoroughly. Her struggles are well documented on here also throughout those years both emotionally and academically.

Then she found the career of Music Therapy as an alternate career in her last few weeks of her Senior year. Music got her through many of her hard times and bouts of depression although she still has massive anxiety attacks occasionally. Thus the last minute change of college choice and, as again, has been well documented on here.

Her recent bullying by her current college teammembers is also documented since she was a Freshman walk-on but managed to earn her starting spot behind the plate before two sub-par Juniors which refuse to work harder so instead try to bully her off the team.

Her successes, her failures...many of those that know my DD both personally and vicariously know these things.

That said, my question to you is what are your credentials? What have you and maybe? your DD sacrificed in order to be qualified to post the kind of crap you're challenging everyone else with? I've personally, had enough of your pedantic and ignorant posts. Put up or shut up, please, now and thank you!

I appreciate the experiences that some folks share. I also appreciate those who identify who their DD is and where she plays college ball. It makes it real and oh by the way it gives me fun stuff to do like go to different team pages and keep up with how the different girls are doing (in addition to keeping up with my former players). I don't see it as arrogance at all. Anybody can say their DD plays for random unidentified mid-Major and we have no idea if what they say is true or internet fantasy. I know that when these folks post something it is from a real person with a real story. I don't always agree with what some people post but that is what is great about this place. I learn a lot from these forums that helps me be a better coach and helps me give parents and players better advice.

 

[Vertigo]

55Dad, right on!

Final irony.... DD#2 wants to be a neo-natal nurse practitioner. Yes, I am reading all these posts with interest!

Awesome for her and awesome career choice! I am a family nurse practitioner and I love my job! Words of advice - keep the GPA up, rock the GRE's, and shadow a current NNP to make sure it's what she really wants to do. Grad school is very competitive to get into to become an NP, but well worth it in the end!

 

[MNDad]

I have to cut Dusty a little bit of slack although I think he went about making his point the wrong way by attacking other people. He should have just stuck to making positive comments about this specific thread. He has a point that some folks here take their own personal experience and decide the whole world is made that way because of what they experienced. Personally I like the fact that we have many different opinions from many different perspectives and we can take everything posted with a grain of salt. I enjoy this forum and have reached out to several posters via PM and have never found anyone to be arrogant or a braggard about their DD. As I worked through the daddy part of recruiting and now my DD's freshman year it has been invaluable for me to be able to reach out to Discuss Fastpitch veteran posters and get some perspective, guidance, and advice. Not a single person I have reached out to has been arrogant and every single one has been as helpful as they could possibly be while wishing my DD nothing but the best.

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I got a kick out of Dusty’s “multiple posters who really want everyone to know their dd is playing big-time D1 ball to chime in agreeing with you and posting about their dd's softball awesomeness“. From what I’ve seen nothing could be further from the truth. So we’re proud of our kids, who isn’t. I was just as proud watching her basketball or her excruciatingly boring dance recitals. Since this isn’t a basketball or dance forum, I don’t talk about those, I talk about softball. My kid happens to play D1, whoop-de-do. It doesn’t make her superior and I don’t think any less of a kid who chose something different. All the parents I’ve talked to on here have been awesome. Didn’t matter if it was 10U rec or a college far more prestigious than DD’s.

 

[BB875]

I got a kick out of Dusty. However, all the advice here is from real life experiences and its all FREE! So, take what you want and ignore the rest. My examples are from my tow older DDs.

DD#1 was a complete stud, but hated classwork. She played 1 year at D2 with a 2/3 scholarship as a SS and it didn't work out. Her next season she came home to play at our local JUCO. After that I personally took her to 4 schools and all 4 offered her a spot on their team contingent on her grades being acceptable. Her grades were awful! She ended her college career after 2 years. DW and I have had many sleepless nights worrying about her future. She is working for a living now and its heart-breaking to think about what she gave up. But, college isn't for everyone.

DD#2 is an outstanding catcher (IMHO). She watched all of the mistakes her sister made and decided to go JUCO. Her decision made me very happy. She is attending Kirkwood in Cedar Rapids. Its about an hour from our house so we can pop up and see her easily. She's needed some help this first semester with her car, and she got the flu, so it makes mama happy we can help. Her 2 room mates are friends from her TB team. One has been a best friend since 12U. I personally like Kirkwood for a few more reasons. First, she found a career that she's passionate about after her 1st semester. Also, the coaching is top notch & the level of play is very good. I believe that will open doors over the next 2 years for her. Yeah, people can say what they want about JUCOs playing D1s in the fall, but its pretty cool to see your freshman kid throw out a Big Ten runner and get a hit in the same game. Just sayin’

Here is the most important piece of advice. A lot of kids have no idea what they want to study in college or what they want to do for a career. Many parents (& kids) feel pressure to announce their kid is going D1 or whatever. The day after DD#2 announced she was going JUCO for softball, one of her friends announced she was going D1 soccer. She felt bad about her decision because a lot of athletes feel pressure that less than D1 is for losers. We live in a small town where everyone knows everyone. So, I think it’s important to remind your kid the day they leave home for college is the day they leave all that BS behind & YOU must live with your decisions, not your friends.