At a crossroad

[Shiloh]

Marcela (opens her eyes and points to me): "Wherever he is add 2000 miles"

My DD chose a school 2600 miles away.

Coincidence?

I think not.

 

[CrazyNani]

Actually, she has already set up a profile and e-mailed 10 colleges, during her Fall season. Then was given another assignment of coming up with 30 additional colleges, placed in 3 categories. She literally couldn't think of 30 colleges at this point. She's been honest about her confusion about playing in college. She's always been one that needs self confidence to perform well and this has made her feel bad about herself, like not being sure about playing in college makes her "less than". Not a optimal mind set to play. Anyway, it's fine. She gets it and just might bow out to make room for some other 14 year old that has her life planned out already.

Perfectly fine to not know if she wants to play in college or not. Why not start the process anyway just in case? Creating a profile and sending out emails isn’t that hard or time consuming. Maybe she can get some help getting started?


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ally,

 

[jsoftballcoach]

Actually, she has already set up a profile and e-mailed 10 colleges, during her Fall season. Then was given another assignment of coming up with 30 additional colleges, placed in 3 categories. She literally couldn't think of 30 colleges at this point. She's been honest about her confusion about playing in college. She's always been one that needs self confidence to perform well and this has made her feel bad about herself, like not being sure about playing in college makes her "less than". Not a optimal mind set to play. Anyway, it's fine. She gets it and just might bow out to make room for some other 14 year old that has her life planned out already.

ally,

30 colleges, LOL. At 14, nice. I would say that’s a bit much. 10 seems good for now, every tournament. Maybe a few show up at nationals, maybe not. There’s time.

It would be a shame for her to “bow out” because of this.


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[schwabach]

Actually, she has already set up a profile and e-mailed 10 colleges, during her Fall season. Then was given another assignment of coming up with 30 additional colleges, placed in 3 categories.

At age 14?!? That's nuts. I'd put some distance between that coach and my daughter as in find another team.

 

[nikkilugi]

Actually, she has already set up a profile and e-mailed 10 colleges, during her Fall season. Then was given another assignment of coming up with 30 additional colleges, placed in 3 categories. She literally couldn't think of 30 colleges at this point. She's been honest about her confusion about playing in college. She's always been one that needs self confidence to perform well and this has made her feel bad about herself, like not being sure about playing in college makes her "less than". Not a optimal mind set to play. Anyway, it's fine. She gets it and just might bow out to make room for some other 14 year old that has her life planned out already.

ally,

Not many kids can think of 30 colleges. I know my daughter couldn't her freshman year of HS. We discussed where she wanted to be geographically - she said she hates Virginia, lol. Ok then where do you want to live kid. We focused on that because she doesn't have any idea what she really wants to do with her life either. She is going to go in as a psychology major because she can use that as a springboard to hopefully help her decide what she wants to do forever. She got online and found all the schools in the NE area near big metropolitan areas that she wanted to live in. She emailed all of them. Period. She had a top 10 but she emailed over 50 schools - then winter of this year (Junior year) she visited UMBC and fell in love. She continued to email every other school but I guess put more love out that way, lol, because that is now where she is committed to play. My point is - they don't know what they want to do but if they love playing it doesn't hurt to have them start. Because coaches ARE looking at 9th graders to add to their boards for future plans. Gotta be prepared.....

 

[Eric F]

Actually, she has already set up a profile and e-mailed 10 colleges, during her Fall season. Then was given another assignment of coming up with 30 additional colleges, placed in 3 categories. She literally couldn't think of 30 colleges at this point. She's been honest about her confusion about playing in college. She's always been one that needs self confidence to perform well and this has made her feel bad about herself, like not being sure about playing in college makes her "less than". Not a optimal mind set to play. Anyway, it's fine. She gets it and just might bow out to make room for some other 14 year old that has her life planned out already.

ally,

My DD had the same struggles when she was with a 16U recruiting-machine team, and they had the same "30 teams" thing (which I've heard frequently). As soon as you start filtering for geographic area, academic track, level of play, etc., finding 30 that make any kind of sense starts becoming unrealistic. A higher level of focus - and repeated contact - with schools that are probably a better fit for her, is likely to be more productive.

Talking with some of my DD's 18U teammates, I have frequently heard hesitation about repeatedly emailing coaches because they don't want to "bother" them. I have tried to get them to understand that being a bother shows interest, and that it's not just you fulfilling your quota with your TB team. Be a bother. Be a pest. They aren't going to know you exist unless you let them know who you are. When they respond, keep that door open, and invite them to see you play. Create the opportunity that fits your needs.

When she was 13, my DD attended a recruiting camp at Oregon. During a classroom session with a few of the Ducks players, Shannon Rhodes talked about how she used to email the Oregon coaches every day. Every Day. Her words..."Stalkers get scholarships".

Part of the equation is understanding what playing in college ball looks like, and how it's different at D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and JuCo levels. In 16U , my DD realized that being a D1 athlete wasn't the college lifestyle she wanted. This realization lifted a huge weight off her shoulders.

 

[CrazyNani]

At age 14?!? That's nuts. I'd put some distance between that coach and my daughter as in find another team.

Well, she has just turned 15 so, late bloomer I guess. LOL

 

[Rolling Hard]

The truth is there are players that are capable of playing at D1 schools and choose not to do so for various reasons. What's worse is there are players that are not capable of playing D1 but have been led to believe anything less is a failure. Thats sad.

 

[YOCOACH]

Actually, she has already set up a profile and e-mailed 10 colleges, during her Fall season. Then was given another assignment of coming up with 30 additional colleges, placed in 3 categories. She literally couldn't think of 30 colleges at this point. She's been honest about her confusion about playing in college. She's always been one that needs self confidence to perform well and this has made her feel bad about herself, like not being sure about playing in college makes her "less than". Not a optimal mind set to play. Anyway, it's fine. She gets it and just might bow out to make room for some other 14 year old that has her life planned out already.

ally,

Sounds like her coach is trying to go with the " shotgun" approach to try and get the players recruited at any school as opposed to doing what's right for them. Might be either ego or organizational pressure. IDK.

 

[Eric F]

The truth is there are players that are capable of playing at D1 schools and choose not to do so for various reasons. What's worse is there are players that are not capable of playing D1 but have been led to believe anything less is a failure. Thats sad.

Accurate.

There are also D1-capable players, at D1 schools, who are having a tough time because they did what they were told was expected for a player of their abilities, and have now realized they made a mistake.