Colleges who CAN START RECRUITING EARLY befor D1's

[radness]

RAD, that is an excellent navigation of a complicated situation.

It seems like it would be obvious- but if your student has an inkling that a college coach is interested in her and she is interested in that school, apply and get accepted.

Thanks to an org head and his team coach playing games, we didn’t find out that a p5 coach was interested in our player until very late in the game. Dd missed out on money because of it. We should have applied and got early accepted even though we thought the college coach wasn’t interested. Huge mistake on our part.

You have to be extremely careful with org heads. They are middle men who are making side deals and may not have your kids best interest at heart. They have experience playing a game that you have never played or have played very little. Ymmv.

About the above: another parent of a d1 psa warned me early on “the worst thing that can happen is that (insert name of org head) finds out that a school is interested in your kid. He will go to the college coach and say ‘you like Player A? If so, you will REALLY like Player B’.”

What was his motivation? No idea. Seems like it’s really bad business to me.

Absolutely great point about NOT relying on another person to do their due diligence for each player as an individual whether it's a team coach or an organizational HC. I have seen that failure year upon year where even at the top teams of organizations do not promote each player equally.

Generally in most situations those people cannot speak directly for all the important topics that an athlete knows they are looking for AND college coaches generally know that the important conversations come with contacting the athlete themselves.
*** Always best for the athlete to speak for themselves!!!

REALITY IS ~ 99% of recruitment is all about what the athlete does themself.
Athletically
Academically and
Connecting with colleges.


I have an example of an outstanding Ivy League Division 1 candidate. She went briefly to try out for an organization who's been established for many years in the area. But the head coach of the organization has a big ego problem. And tends to pick on certain players horrendously as if he has some authority over there livelihood and Future. After one game playing for this person. It was obvious bad situation. The berating of that head coach telling that player she was doing things wrong, pulling her showcasing playing time, while she was so impressive as an athlete on the field stood out like a sore thumb. The coach was a sore thumb.

As a result the player went to another organization in the area. Of which was very easy for her to change the team name on her recruitment profile. And stay in connection with the college's she is intending to go to. Plus keep those colleges in the loop of her new schedule.
The head coach of this organization allowed the player to do as she has been trained. The outcome this summer so far has been multiple multiple connections by very prestigious colleges and coaches.
The team head coach is not the person who contacted the colleges to say hey I have this player now. The player had contacted the colleges and they came to watch her. As a result of the athlete colleges came to watch. They would have come to watch either team. But actually getting showcase playing time was the result of following phone calls from colleges.

Know that you can work your individual plan and path and make connections.
Do this for yourself and you will reap your own reward!

 

[Orange Socks]

Last years recruitment cycle had a hitting student who her academics were so wonderful, after she applied for colleges, the academic advisors actually took her file to the softball coaches office to let them know this candidate was already accepted in the college.
( should she want to attend)
As an introduction of the athlete to the college coach. That the athlete was in coming to the softball camp.
She will be attending Aurora College in Illinois.
GO KAYLA!!!

DD had a teammate that transferred from Aurora College.

 

[radness]

DD had a teammate that transferred from Aurora College.

There are so many reasons why people pick different colleges it would be very hard to take another person's reasonings and impressions and apply them to everybody. From that I will say I'm glad there are many opportunities for the diversity of people.

Everyone has our own path.
Hopefully we can know ourselves as best we can and plan to make the best decision we can. Sometimes that decision changes with new knowledge over time.

 

[krazykat]

All of the comments regarding the player being the front person in the recruiting process is absolutely correct. If you depend on the coach, organization head, or a paid recruiter, you have no idea of what is really going on. My DD played for an organization that was basically a funnel to a specific D1 mid major. There was lip service to helping my DD from the organization but they had no idea how to help a player who was interested in high academic programs. Many organizations only have local or regional relationships with college coaches. Part of the overall benefit of college softball is forcing your DD to take responsibility for her recruitment.

 

[Tango]

When can JUCO"s legally offer?

 

[Orange Socks]

When can JUCO"s legally offer?

8U