contacting coaches - is 13 too soon??

[29dad]

DD is 13 and is on a very good travel team with plenty of name recognition, at least in this part of the country. Her summer season officially begins on May 11 (first tournament). Obviously the college season is winding down for a lot of schools that haven't qualified for conference tournaments/playoffs, so I was thinking that it might be a good idea for my DD to start contacting coaches. But do coaches really want to hear from 8th graders?? And exactly what should she say? I figure she needs to include her tournament schedule and basic "measurables" like overhand throwing speed and bat speed. Anything else?? She also just got her ACT results (yes, she took the test at a fairly young age) and scored in the 87th percentile, so I assume she would definitely want to include that, right??

Most college programs have recruit questionnaires on their web pages. Is it better to fill out a questionnaire or send an email to the coach? I would think the latter because then you could really personalize it and let the coach know about particular tournaments.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[chinamigarden]

No experience here, but maybe, just maybe 8th grade is a bit early to be sending stats to a coach. It might be better to let her send an email stating how she loves softball and loves Mystate U and it looking for information on camps and clinics. Then take her to a clinic and she can meet the coach.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

I agree 100% with Chinamigarden, unless your DD is a stud pitcher honestly throwing well over 60mph.

8th grade is a good time for your DD to begin getting her name out there. I would have her start on a list of colleges she is interested in, go to their website and fill out the questionnaire (that will get her on the edge of the radar and get her on the mailing list). Emailing coaches now will not be a bad thing, it will get your DD used to contacting coaches and writing emails. These contacts will, in fact cause info on camps and clinics to pour in. Like china said, take her to a clinic to meet the coach, that is the MOST EFFECTIVE WAY to get interests so young if she is very very good.

She is just coming into the "recruiting" stage of her career. She should have some fun with this and start learning about schools and where she would be interested in going AS A STUDENT FIRST, athlete second. No matter how good she thinks she is, do not overlook all divisions of schools.

Good luck to her and all of her supporters.

 

[JAD]

If your DD wants to get started I would not discourage her, but I would think that coaches would show little/no interest in an 8th grader unless she is a stud pitcher (60+ MPH) or a home run hitting catcher. Making a list of possible schools and attending summer camps would probably be a good way to get started.

 

[Carly]

Obviously I don't know your daughter, but disregarding the potential feelings of the college coaches, isn't 8th grade a little young for HER to be so sure she wants to play in college? Girls go through a lot of emotional changes in high school.

That said, my sister was the top pitching recruit on the east coast in '07. She joined her first gold team when she was in 10th grade and the coach said she was a year late. So that's the best benchmark I can offer. If your daughter is really serious about playing in college, 9th grade is probably when you want to start dealing with it. Even then, it's more about getting seen than getting heard, especially since the coaches won't be able to talk to her about school choices anyway. Camps are a good idea, and make sure the tournaments your team attends are attended by college coaches of interest.