College recruiting and where to start

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Jul 22, 2015
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Or is playing for a we'll known team essential?
Not at all. Good grades and good test scores will open more doors than anything, including being a good player. The most important step is the most simple one, simply letting a coach know you are interested. Sounds too simple but I've been amazed at how many players and parents don't contact the schools they are or might be interested in. I've had college coaches tell me very clearly that outside of the players who absolutely jump off of the field at them, they will spend the bulk of their time recruiting girls who have expressed interest in the school.
 
Nov 5, 2014
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A bunch of really good information in this thread for parents starting to go through this process. I wanted to highlight one point from Orange Socks post because I think it is so important and is worthy of expanding on:

This is a game of elimination. The faster you mark a school off of your list, the sooner you can focus on the other schools on the list.

I believe this is the key to any college search for an athlete or NARP. I have a NARP DS who is a freshman in college and a DD who is a committed 2022 softball player and this one point Orange Socks made was the guiding principle for both their searches.

The college search process can be incredibly overwhelming there are literally thousands of choices. You could never choose one if you didn't first eliminate the vast majority that don't work for some reason. Your elimination criteria can vary based upon the needs/wants of your DD some examples Geography(distance from home or specific area of the country), academic rigor/selectivity, Campus environment(city, suburban, rural) Large school/small school etc... all guided by what is important to your DD

2 criteria that I don't encourage most people to use as a starting point, and I know some disagree, are Intended Major and Level of Play. Obviously there are exceptions to this but..

My reasoning is this. The process should start somewhere around the 8th grade and at that point a large percentage of kids have no idea what they want to major in (they haven't even started high school yet), and even if they do it is very likely to change before they graduate college in 8-9 years also at that age we would be foolish to think that as parents we are objective enough to truthfully evaluate or DD's appropriate level of play currently never mind what their potential will be by the time they reach college. This is my big beef with the September 1 of junior year contact date. Without receiving open and honest feedback from coaches prior to that date it is difficult to truly focus on level of play as an elimination criteria. My suggestion is to keep schools from several levels of play on your list at least until Sept 1 of JR year.

Eventually some of the elimination criteria will be out of your hands, grades/SAT or ACT scores can eliminate a large number of schools from consideration and if you intend to play a sport, coach interest will also be out of your control and eliminate a large number of schools. If Patrick Murphy isn't interested then it is time to cross Alabama off your list even though DD has always dreamed of playing for the Crimson Tide.

Also take standardized test SAT/ACT earlier than most suggest. It will really help guide you on the academics. Your initial score won't be where your DD ends up but it certainly can help provide some insight. My personal preference is to have them take it at the end of the summer between freshman and sophomore year.

Bunch of other stuff but this is already too long
 
Dec 2, 2013
3,410
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Texas
Not at all. Good grades and good test scores will open more doors than anything, including being a good player. The most important step is the most simple one, simply letting a coach know you are interested. Sounds too simple but I've been amazed at how many players and parents don't contact the schools they are or might be interested in. I've had college coaches tell me very clearly that outside of the players who absolutely jump off of the field at them, they will spend the bulk of their time recruiting girls who have expressed interest in the school.
But Wait! If you are good enough the coaches will find you. I see parents that say this on the Faspitch Zone facebook site. They have no clue. The coaches arrive to the field with a list of kids to see.

Many times coaches have asked me about kids who have not reached out to them, but they showed enough on the field to garner interest. This is where solid communication with your team's recruiter come in handy. If I know a kid does not have the academics to go to a certain school, I can tell the coach immediately. If I know a kid doesn't want to travel to the Northeast, I can tell the coach. If I see a coach hiding behind the trees and I know a kid has been emailing the coach, I will walk on over and start a conversation.
 
Oct 3, 2011
3,478
113
Right Here For Now
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.
It's even more minimal now that it's available on Kindle for $9.95.
 
Jun 7, 2016
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More important thing I learned is that it is DD's journey. She changed her mind many times from starting HS to now doing college apps. ("I hate science...applying as Chem major", "I want to be a lawyer...Im not doing Mock Trial in college!", positional preferences, boys etc.) So give her guidance, provide some guiderails (and support) but let her lead the process. Much less stress in already anxious process.
And in the end, she most likely will find the best fit for HER priorities.
 
Aug 21, 2008
2,359
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This is from my experience in college coaching, take it or throw it away: I think a recruiting video/service is a waste of money. Others may disagree and that's ok, spend the money if you want. Coaches know videos are edited to only show the good stuff, which is fine. But me? I'd rather see how the pitcher reacts and comes back after giving up a HR, as opposed to cutting out the HR from the video since its not the greatest look to give up a dinger on video. But every pitcher gives them up, how they respond after is vastly different from pitcher to pitcher. Did she pout on the rubber? Did she blame the coach? Blame the ump? Or did she bounce right back and throw the next pitch with poise? That's what I wanna see and what is always edited from videos.

I always tell my students this: #1. find out how far from home you wanna be. There's no point applying to Hawai'i if you don't want to be that far from home. If she picks a place close to home, then she can be as close or as far away as she wants. Meaning, she can go home weekly or not at all but the choice is her's. If she's in Hawai'i, she can't just pick up and go home to do laundry! #2. Find out if the school has the major she wants. Once she figures out what she wants to do and how far from home, you draw a circle on a map with the radius she wants to stay in. #3. Then you attend camps. I used to think camps were just money makers for the school and coaches. But they are much more. They provide a loophole in the rules for a 9th-10th grader to go to the school, meet the coaches, talk to them, work with them, see if she likes them, and see if they like her. If she's at the school's level of play, then camps is where she will get recognized. But, lets be honest about a few things too:

1. the vast majority of emails college coaches get are deleted. Coaches know that MOST girls are copying every single coach in the country with their emails. This is the fastest way to reach every coach nationwide but, also very impersonal and coaches realize your email wasn't just to them, it went to everyone. By all means, send emails monthly, weekly or daily if you want but 99.99999% of the time you won't get a reply. If you've attended a camp, they may take notice of your email if you're on their PSA (prospective student athlete) board. But if you're a shortstop, and your top school choice just signed a different shortstop, you may wanna look elsewhere both for playing time and scholarship monies.

2. Your major can determine if a school is interested. Many colleges won't allow softball players to study nursing for example. The demands of the nursing program means the player will miss many practices and team things. So, this can be a big factor. Some schools will work around nursing, others won't. And that's just one example. Ask the HC what majors they don't want their students in.

3. It's been mentioned but needs to be re-said: if your kid is below 11th grade, you can email them all day every day and the ONLY thing they can do is reply with a Questionnaire or camp information. They aren't allowed anything else. If you call the coach, and get them on the phone, they have to politely hang up if she's below 11th grade. This leads people to think the school isn't interested because they won't write back.

4. If you do go to camps, don't get hung up on who's the best pitcher/player there. It's always great to "keep up with the Jones'" but even if the coach spends extra time with a very good pitcher, don't automatically assume that pitcher is choosing that school and your kid will be overlooked. Yes, there is a good chance someone else will be better than your kid but, there's no guarantee that kid will like the coaches, the school will have the major that kid wants, or anything else that you may think would have the school pick that kid over yours. There's too many unknowns. Just show up, do your best. Look the coach in the eye when you ask questions. And by all means, ASK YOUR QUESTIONS.

5. If you REALLY wanna stand out, send a Thank you letter after the camp. A personalize email to the coach(s) saying thank you, expressing your interest (if you have any) and tell them what you liked about the camp and school. If you can remember or mention something funny that happened during the day, say it in the email so they know it's a personalized letter and not a "form letter".

I can probably think of other things to add but, Others have great advice too.
 
Nov 30, 2018
359
43
Marikina, Philippines
But Wait! If you are good enough the coaches will find you. I see parents that say this on the Faspitch Zone facebook site. They have no clue. The coaches arrive to the field with a list of kids to see.

Many times coaches have asked me about kids who have not reached out to them, but they showed enough on the field to garner interest. This is where solid communication with your team's recruiter come in handy. If I know a kid does not have the academics to go to a certain school, I can tell the coach immediately. If I know a kid doesn't want to travel to the Northeast, I can tell the coach. If I see a coach hiding behind the trees and I know a kid has been emailing the coach, I will walk on over and start a conversation.

A list of players and a list of teams. Usually about 6-10 and then the 500 coaches fight over the 90-150 players on those teams. I saw it recruiting. Even bench players on the Bat Busters or Gordon's Panthers would be recruited without stepping on the field and touching a ball. I could not pull in tier 1 level players into a tier 2 level program. I had to search for the diamonds in the rough, or top players on unseen teams. But there were too many coaches searching for the magic bullet(s) to improve their teams when they had no chance. It also led to recruiting violations. I once saw JoAnne Graf of Florida State recruiting some top six team players who were in the semi-finals, which is a violation of NCAA rules. She didn't do it on purpose I don't think. Afterward I asked her if she knew they were still playing and she looked shocked. But the pressure creates mistakes.
 

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