Asking a college coach to look at you too soon???

[dlobell]

Might sound like a silly question, but can it go against a player if she asks a coach to watch her play too soon?
For example, my daughter is a Freshman right now. Should she wait until her game gets a little better before asking the coaches to her travel games? I don't want it to hurt her if she has a bad game and then maybe they won't come again when she asks when she's a Sophomore or Junior. All new to me so I'm not sure what to do.

Thanks in advance for the help

 

[David Carter]

It depends is she playing on a 16U A/Gold team that is traveling nationally to exposure tournaments and is she one of the top two players on the team, then it is probably not too early.

Is she just now playing 16U A and maybe a middle of the road players on a team that travels maybe just locally and happy to make her JV team, then probably its too early.

If she is a pitcher probably a little different but same concept. There are lots a variables and people that are plugged in can probably help more, but I would make she she finds a least a couple local schools she might be interested in and goes to their camps.

 

[JAD]

Most college coaches recognize the age of the player they are watching and do not expect a freshman to be as "polished" as an upper classman, but at the same time they are comparing your DD to other freshman they have seen play. How does your DD compare to other freshmen? If you are being realistic about your DD and her abilities then the coaches you invite to come see her play should be interested in seeing her. If you are inviting Patrick Murphy to come watch, you may want to wait a couple of years! LOL

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I understand it's new to you, we've all been new to exposure at some point. When you say "better", we don't know if that means she's in the top 10% or bottom 10% and trying to improve those numbers. If you're unsure, I'd probably play in an exposure tourney or two and see how that goes. Before contacting a school. You'll get a good idea of where she stands by the attention ( or lack of ) that she gets. If she gets attention, you'll see what level of college ball the attention comes from. It will give you a "base" to then re-evaluate your/her options.

Bad games at exposures happen. Almost every college coach we spoke to admitted they WANT to see how potential player handles defeat, errors, etc.

 

[iMlearning]

I don't know if this helps but we were talking about this last night. DD is going into her sophomore year and will be 15 this fall. Her coach (former D3 and D1 coach), said that if she does something good, they will notice and not to worry about it at this point. He said he will wait until the end of this summer to do her skills tape because she has some things he would like her to improve on before putting it out there. She's been in 4 tournaments with her 18U A team and we've had two D3 teams talk to our coach about her. They weren't showcase tournaments...we go to our first in a couple weeks and will continue with showcases until the end of the year.

 

[coachhb]

I have gotten the opportunity to attend a few recruiting events as a coach in the past year. Depending on the size of the school, most coaches won't begin to look at girls until they are at least grade 10, unless they are a very competitive NCAA Div.1 school. We get a few videos a year of girls who are not graduating for 3 or 4 more years, and for the most part we don't give them much of a look just because we are focused on building our team through the next two years.

What I can recommend is getting exposure at recruiting tournaments, one so that your daughter may catch the eye of a coach, and two just to get used to the environment before she is older and she feels more pressure.

 

[11smom]

I really appreciate the info on this site! My dd and team will be going to their first college exposure tourney next weekend. She is on a 14u team, all 99 birth year, but half of team are freshman and half are eighth graders (mine is in 8th). She is nervous and excited and wanting to know if she should be contacting schools or not. She has researched the many schools that will be sending coaches, and narrowing down based on her academic goals, preferred location, realistic option, etc. She got a binder and it has notes of pros and cons for many schools. I am really proud of her interest, but want to be sure we don't jump the gun (I'm not ready for this phase yet!) My thoughts, which seem to be confirmed, are to just go and enjoy this first one and see "how it all works". The coach has said that teams keep binders hung on the dug-out with players' info, for interested coaches to grab. We will see how it goes! Thanks to all for the advice on this site!

 

[JAD]

Sending an email/note to the coaches of the colleges that will be attending the showcase, and interest your DD, is a good idea. Just tell her not to be disappointed if they do not get to watch her play. Most showcases have 100+ teams and I bet every college coach attending gets 300+ emails asking them to come watch.

14U "futures" divisions are a great way to get your feet wet playing in front of college coaches. The more she does it, the more comfortable she will become doing it. She will also become more comfortable writing letters with experience!

Having a one page team brochure that provides basic info on each girl is very helpful. At 16U we also have an assistant coach who is our "recruiting coordinator". During showcases he find the college coaches watching our games and discusses their requirements and which girls on our team may be a good fit.