There have been plenty of camps and I've seen several more coming up. Look on Ryzer
College recruiting and where to start
- Thread starter Softball fan dad
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Leaving your DD's education up to some college coach isn't smart. Help her decide what she wants to do *AFTER COLLEGE*, and then find schools that fit her long term goals.
If she wants to be a chemistry major, find a place where she can play and get a chem degree. Don't put her in a program where she ends up with a "Sports Communication" degree.
I had two DDs play college sports. Women collegiate sports are great and a lot of fun, but when it is over, it is OVER. There is no pot of gold waiting for her.
college camps at college campuses?
Yep. Went to one in Kansas and planned on a couple of others but dd committed. Have been several I've seen in TX as well. I guess I should clarify that they obviously aren't D1 schools due to their restrictions.
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Now is the perfect time to be asking these questions. It was not too long ago we were going through the same thing. My daughter is a pitcher too signing her NLI tomorrow ( I am just a wee it excited) . I am not sure I will add to much new information, but I certainly remember or mistakes.
Figure out her major now if you can. We wasted about a year going down the wrong path until she figured it out. Of course your daughter may not know now, but if she thinks she wants to major in an obscure major, knowing that early can really help. If she thinks she wants to major in business, you have nothing to worry about.
A huge one for us. Did your daughter take 4 years of foreign language in high school? If so, was it a usual one? If not, and you are looking at a liberal arts college, be prepared to take up to 2 years of a foreign language. My daughter took 4 years of sign language in high school which is not recognized by many colleges. We narrowed our searches to college that recognized it. Not a big deal for 99% of the populate, but if you are the 1% like my daughter, it is a big deal.
As others have said, figure out her skill level.
Have a video. Coaches don't have time to guess your daughter's skill. I never made a skills video (I should have. I know). I just used a very well placed GoPro for my daughter's pitching highlights.
Figure out how far you all are willing to travel. Size of the school. Cost willing to pay. Another big one - average SAT or ACT scores. If your daughter struggles at school, don't be looking at schools whose average ACTs are 30.
Research the softball program. How successful are they? How many people came in the freshman class? Are there any upper classmen on the team? How many pitchers are on the roster? We went to one camp and the coach said she always wants at least 7 pitchers on the roster. We lost interest immediately. (and her star pitcher complaining to us about pitching time during the tour did not help the school) We looked at another college, a DII, who brought in something like 15 freshman one year. I scratched them off the list right then.
Find an organization that can help get your daughter seen. We waited one year too long to switch to a team that would do that.
Finally, we took this approach when writing emails to colleges. Once we figured this out, the responses got better.
Subject: grad year, position, height
Pretty much the first paragraph is saying why she liked the school. She stated her probable major and that she is excited that the school offers that. <--That was the key one right there to getting responses early on.
relist name, grad year, position and some other relevant info such as team name and location. List a schedule if you have it.
After our daughter answered our questions about major and how far she wanted to travel, my wife researched the majors offered by the schools and academics. I researched the softball related stuff. We then presented our daughter with various schools and let her figure out what she liked. She eventually starting doing a lot of the research herself, but it relieved a lot of pressure off her for us to help rather than just say 'there are 1000 schools out there, figure it out'
My daughter would write the emails. We would edit as needed.
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At what age would that be? Like 1st or 2nd year 16u?
If a team plays in showcases but is not one of the big name teams, can the athlete market herself well enough through contacting coaches, attending camps, and sending skills videos to make up for it? Or is playing for a we'll known team essential?
- Nov 18, 2013
- 2,258
- 113
Just an opinion. Pushing 60 at 14. Good change and good drop. Obviously I haven’t seen her, but if a kid has, spin, speed and can change speeds at a relatively young age she can go far. Of course work ethic, time management and study habits are the most important attributes, but I was just talking from a softball standpoint. .
- Nov 18, 2013
- 2,258
- 113
Most of the kids on the top big name clubs committed or were “noticed” on other teams. There are programs out there that will help get a kid recruited, but you’ll still want to learn about the process and plan on doing most of it yourself. If a coach opens doors for you consider it a bonus. Too many kids wait for their coach to find them a college and they wind up not playing or settling on a school they’re not all that interested in.
This is how we went about it with our DD and the advice I give my players every year.
1. Continue to study hard and get good grades throughout the process. The less athletic money a coach has to give your DD due to her getting academic monies, the more attractive she will be to them. Plus, Academic monies will always be there as long as she maintains her grades.
2. Pick a geographical distance that your DD is comfortable with. By this I mean, some girls are comfortable flying across the country to come home for the Holidays and only seeing their families 3 times during the school year and then others, such as my DD, want to be within an hour and half drive so they can come home when they don't have practice on a weekend.
3. Help your DD decide on what she wants to be when she grows up, i.e. career. That is where she needs to focus her interest. Once college is over, so is softball for 99% of players.
4. Start researching colleges within her geographical area that offer her chosen major. Choose a couple from each level of play as well as a few good liberal arts colleges and a few "Reach Schools." Do not discount JUCO's and the NAIA schools either. Oftentimes you can get a "better deal" from these schools. Also, like the NCAA, the quality of competition can be every bit as good depending upon the program.
5. Once the colleges have been selected, if they are close enough to visit, go drive around the campuses. You might be surprised how within 5 minutes of driving around the campus your DD can say, ' I don't like this one. I don't want to go here.' If you can't drive for a quick campus drive about, many college websites offer a virtual tour.
6. As your driving around campuses or doing a virtual tour, ask her if she would still want to go there if not playing ball for them. Only 1 out of 10 college student athletes play all 4 years of eligibility. If she wouldn't want to continue to go there when not playing ball, why keep it on the list?
7. As you cross schools off the list based on DD's dislikes, add others to keep the list around 10 or so ( at this age). Also, now is your time to do some research. Make sure you can financially afford the tuition of these schools should she not continue to play. I know, for my DD, she'd be devastated if she had to leave where she's at to finish out her academic career somewhere else. I'm sure many others would feel the same way. You might be surprised how many girls find their "Dream School" by simply doing step 5.
8. Start emailing coaches on the list and attending their camps if available. There is some great advice on what to include in the emails in this thread and others on here. If you can livestream games, send them the link.
9. As your DD ages up, whittle down the list a little at a time until you have a top 3 and maybe a couple of "Reach Schools." Continue to email and keep the coaches updated on her progress, attending camps and Sophomore year of HS, try for an official visit scheduled through the admissions office. At the same time, have them schedule a meeting with the SB coach so they can put a true face with the name and get a chance to see your DD's personality in person.
There's so much more to this but at least this is the broad outline we used and most of my former players playing at the next level used. Also, check out Cathi Aradi's book on recruiting. It's the definitive guide IMO. You can find it here. https://www.fastpitchrecruiting.com/
1. Continue to study hard and get good grades throughout the process. The less athletic money a coach has to give your DD due to her getting academic monies, the more attractive she will be to them. Plus, Academic monies will always be there as long as she maintains her grades.
2. Pick a geographical distance that your DD is comfortable with. By this I mean, some girls are comfortable flying across the country to come home for the Holidays and only seeing their families 3 times during the school year and then others, such as my DD, want to be within an hour and half drive so they can come home when they don't have practice on a weekend.
3. Help your DD decide on what she wants to be when she grows up, i.e. career. That is where she needs to focus her interest. Once college is over, so is softball for 99% of players.
4. Start researching colleges within her geographical area that offer her chosen major. Choose a couple from each level of play as well as a few good liberal arts colleges and a few "Reach Schools." Do not discount JUCO's and the NAIA schools either. Oftentimes you can get a "better deal" from these schools. Also, like the NCAA, the quality of competition can be every bit as good depending upon the program.
5. Once the colleges have been selected, if they are close enough to visit, go drive around the campuses. You might be surprised how within 5 minutes of driving around the campus your DD can say, ' I don't like this one. I don't want to go here.' If you can't drive for a quick campus drive about, many college websites offer a virtual tour.
6. As your driving around campuses or doing a virtual tour, ask her if she would still want to go there if not playing ball for them. Only 1 out of 10 college student athletes play all 4 years of eligibility. If she wouldn't want to continue to go there when not playing ball, why keep it on the list?
7. As you cross schools off the list based on DD's dislikes, add others to keep the list around 10 or so ( at this age). Also, now is your time to do some research. Make sure you can financially afford the tuition of these schools should she not continue to play. I know, for my DD, she'd be devastated if she had to leave where she's at to finish out her academic career somewhere else. I'm sure many others would feel the same way. You might be surprised how many girls find their "Dream School" by simply doing step 5.
8. Start emailing coaches on the list and attending their camps if available. There is some great advice on what to include in the emails in this thread and others on here. If you can livestream games, send them the link.
9. As your DD ages up, whittle down the list a little at a time until you have a top 3 and maybe a couple of "Reach Schools." Continue to email and keep the coaches updated on her progress, attending camps and Sophomore year of HS, try for an official visit scheduled through the admissions office. At the same time, have them schedule a meeting with the SB coach so they can put a true face with the name and get a chance to see your DD's personality in person.
There's so much more to this but at least this is the broad outline we used and most of my former players playing at the next level used. Also, check out Cathi Aradi's book on recruiting. It's the definitive guide IMO. You can find it here. https://www.fastpitchrecruiting.com/
I forget to mention this guide. It was very instrumental at the beginning of the process since half of the guide has a list of all the colleges listed by state. It will also have info such as coaches, contact info, school info etc. Well worth the minimal investment with such a high return. Also, you are spending lots of money in some money different categories. At some point you will need to figure out what is an expense and what is an investment. Think about that for every $ you spend.
