Adjusting to College life and Softball

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Oct 19, 2009
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I was at a softball field day with my daughter, there were 3 University of Tennessee softball players at the field day, during a question and answer period one question asked was. What was the biggest adjustment from high school and travel ball to college ball? The first girl advised that she had was the best player on her travel ball team and high school team, when she got to college she discovered that she was possibility the worst player on the college team. She advised that she struggled and at times thought she was not going to make it and worried that the team may give up on her. She advised she hung in there and after much work she got better and better until she felt like she was deserving of being a member of the team. The other 2 girls agreed and elaborated on the same line of thought.

I understand that college teams look for kids with good character, I was told that one person who sit behind a scout and was watching them take notes. They were expecting to see notations on how well the prospect hit, fielded or thrown. What they saw was things like struck out and maintained good composure, made error still had good attitude and notes to that effect. The majority of the notes they saw was on the prospect attitude and character.

The baseball coach at our local high school told his players that when a college team comes to watch you play they have someone in the parking lot looking for you to pull up. They expect to see you in your uniform ready to play ball, shirt tail in and uniform neat. Everything should be on except you cleats. Your equipment should be packed and neat, not have to search all over the car for your glove and equipment. You should have a good attitude with you parents, coaches, teammates, umpires and opponents. If the scout or coach introduces themselves have a good firm hand shake and it should be yes and no sir to everyone you talk too. They are looking for players with good character.

I always tell my kids that they should give 100% in practice, in warm up and the game you never know who maybe watching.
 
Dec 28, 2008
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- you already "belong" to a group (your team) and you already have an identity (you're an athlete) so often times you "instantly" have other athletes trying to make friends and such.

Thanks for that insight Stacie. One more thing I can encourage girls to consider as they are choosing between schools. I've always encouraged them to get to know as much as they can about the players so she'll know if the "team" will be a good fit, but was thinking of it more on the field and in the locker room. Hadn't even thought about being an "identity" thing.
 
May 5, 2008
358
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Thanks for that insight Stacie. One more thing I can encourage girls to consider as they are choosing between schools. I've always encouraged them to get to know as much as they can about the players so she'll know if the "team" will be a good fit, but was thinking of it more on the field and in the locker room.

That is definitely a good suggestion for them! They have to be comfortable around the group of girls they will practically be living with for the next 4-5 years. In my college experience, my teammates knew just about everything there was to know about me because we spent so much time together. Plus we all had so much in common, going to school, playing ball on the same team - going through the same challenges and tough practices, etc.

If they get to go on a visit to a school it's always good to be able to ask the players questions on your own (without telling the coach you want to ask questions because then he/she will make sure the only have you around certain players that will give the best answers).

But some things that we advise girls to ask are things like:
If you had your chance to do it all over again, would you still pick this school? (why or why not)
Was there anything that took you by surprise when you got to college - things that the coaches never really explained or things that didn't quite work out the way they had originally described?


The first thing out of their mouths is TIME MANAGEMENT!

This point was made by more than one person and it is such a valuable life lesson to learn!!! Like I said in my earlier post, life after college doesn't get easier. If anything you only have MORE responsibility, not less (especially if you go on to have a family of your own) - and often times there's much more riding on your ability to handle it than a grade or playing time.
 
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sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
You guys are looking at softball through rose colored glasses. Coaches get paid to win. If they don't win, they get fired. It is a binary world.

Coaches are looking for kids who can hit the ball and throw the ball. After a kid establishes she can do that, then, of course they would rather not have an a**hole on the team. But, that is really about the extent of their concern. It is a sliding scale--the better a kid can play, the less the coach worries about "character".

John Calipari gives the same speech about character that every college coach gives. He is making the same speech now at the U of K that he made at UMass and U of Memphis. Yet, he stretches and breaks recruiting rules without a second thought.

Big time college softball is a business.
 
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May 7, 2008
468
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Morris County, NJ
Slugger: Joe Paterno makes the same speech to his recruits evry year for the past 40 years. He is also paid to win and has a pretty good graduation rate. I had the chance to meet a former Penn State golfer who is now on the LPGA Tour. She spent 30 minutes chatting with me about her collegiate experience and how much The AD (Paterno) stresses on-time graduation.
 

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