Advice for Very First Camp

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Feb 10, 2018
496
93
NoVA
My DD (soon turning 14 yo) is a 2024 and will enter HS this coming Fall. We are just starting to get our thoughts together on what colleges she might be interested in attending and playing for, and they are likely to be of the higher academic variety. We have consistently heard good things about the Head First Camp and plan to attend her Sophomore year, based on conversations with the folks that run that camp. Meanwhile, the same folks apparently have purchased the Top96 Baseball Camp and are adding softball to the program this year (2020).

The Top96 Camp will have an event here in DC July, so local for us. Many if not all of the local schools (some of which we certainly would be interested in) are going to be there. Two day camp with a cap of 75 girls. Anyway, the Head First folks suggested, and I am inclined to agree, that we attend the Top96 camp to, more than anything else, get a sense of what such camps are like and get introduced to the process so that perhaps it is less intimidating later. My DD (RHP) is a pitcher who also plays OF and some 1B.

My question is: If she does attend the camp this summer as a rising HS Freshman, what should she expect in the way of engaging college coaches, etc.? Should we just be soaking it in and getting the experience and not worrying about much else? Because we don't really know where we are interested in going to college (beyond staying here in the mid-Atlantic/East Coast), what should she tell these coaches as they perhaps chat with her?
 
Jul 29, 2013
6,782
113
North Carolina
Have her look them in the eye, and clearly tell them the truth! Camps, especially the very first few you attend can be very anticlimactic, hate to say it, sometimes it all depends on the mood of the coaches! We've went to ones that we were really really looking forward to and were disappointed.......and went to others that frankly I was dreading and they were awesome camps!!

I used to give my DD the "talk" on the way to these elite or showcase camps, the main thing to tell her is, make those coaches think she's having more fun than any other girl there, and make it very obvious!

Be LOUD, big smile, look them straight in the eye and say yes sir / no sir (or ma'am), forget any mistakes / errors immediately, and RUN EVERYWHERE you go, they're watching! Most importantly..........have fun!
 

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