Disgusted and Frustrated, your thoughts and help for future! (Please)

[stephanie]

Stephanie,
Well again, my post really isnt about not "finding" the school but more of how we can and should work together to "help" these kinds. Im glad those girls "FOUND" a school to play for, my other 2 signed with schools that I havent heard of before either and i know for a fact that there coach helped them with the process.

here's my point:
If a kid wants it bad enough, they go out and get it.
I know a LOT of good/very good players who had to go find a school to give them a chance. Some kids want it handed to them, and some kids want others to do the leg work for them.

I get what you're saying...I'm a HS teacher, too. Only the bright shining stars are going to have people knocking on their doors. The rest of the kids need to do the knocking themselves.

 

[absdad]

It isn't up to the coaches of **U and **U teams to make the player better. The player has to make herself better, on her own time and on her own dime.

I always take issue with this ideology. I took the ages out because I really don't think it matters what age. A "Coach" IS someone whose job is to help someone better themselves. Obviously there is much more emphasis on this, at the younger ages. Should a coach at 16u be teaching girls to throw? Of course not. 10u? Yes. Coaches are teachers, and are there to help the athlete. If they are not there for that purpose, then they are not "coaches", they are managers.

That doesn't mean that the kid needs to just show up at a weekly practice to prepare for Candrea's phone call. Some do though, and those are the ones who will not be moving on, post high school. The ones who strive to play in college, will work on their own, and show the dedication needed to compete at that level, regardless of their coach.

 

[SnocatzDad]

Coach Nelly your in a particularily bad position. I agree with Ken, caring adults will work together in the interest of players under their watch, uncaring ones won't and they can be found all over. A public High School coach could at least go out and support the youth program feeding their HS. That's hard with private school depending on how spread out your incoming student body is coming from.

As far as contacting you back. I've gotten responses from about 80% of the college coaches I've contacted, but they are not frivilous attempts to communicate. If you just send a profile/tape/weblink to a coach and tell them to review it and get back to you, your not going to get many responses. If you do all that in conjunction with the athlete attending an on site camp or clinic the coach is hosting, pretty good chance you will get a response because your showing real interest in the school by showing up on campus. It's easy to send a video to 300 school and say your interested in each one, showing up is putting your money where your mouth is. I usually start by communicating with assistants at bigger schools and don't start communication with the head coach until the athlete has been in front of them. Two players I work with with went to U of Texas camps last winter and in follow up communication I got an email from Coach Connie Clark that one of the two is on their watch list. If neither had caught their interest I might not have heard back, but I get the impression that if your willing to attend a camp, their willing to take the time to at least give you feedback on whether they are interested or not. As part of the package for the girls attending the camp I had a profile that included quotes from their summer, and HS coaches and even opposing coaches because around here we work together knowing that helping a kid is the end goal and the college coaches aren't recruiting based on me or her HS coach, only based on the athlete herself. Travel coaches have an easier time building relations with college coaches because they work with more college bound athletes than a typical HS coach. That might make it easier over time to get responses, but I'm pretty new at this and not having trouble getting responses back on legitamate inquires.

To your particular situation, you can't generate interest in your player from that travel coach, any more than you can force a college program to be interested in her, They either are or they aren't, it's not for lack of seeing her, they just value her differently than you do. My suggestion would be for her to find a fresh start with a different travel program and get more aggresive about attending indiviual college showcases in her areas of interest and at her ability level.

 

[druer]

Coachnelly -

First it really touches my heart that you take the time to go and watch your players games. Most coaches don't realize how much of an impact they have on these young players and how much it means to them to know that you as a coach must care to give up your personal time. Knowing that you feel like a second class citizen because of the way you are treated, just makes your actions more meaningful.

Secondly I totally agree with you that at some point for the betterment of the players and the sport travel and high school coaches need to find a way to work together. As was brought up "travel ball players have the opportunity to jump ship if they don't like the coach talks, walks, thinks or smells on any given day" which does NOT help them learn how to deal with the difficulties that they will face in life or understand what commitment really means. The aspect of HS ball I like the most is the fact that players and parents have to learn that someone else is in charge and they have to learn how to either cooperate or they won't have the chance to play. On the other side of the coin is that a player only has to be the best in her community to play for the high school team, and she doesn't really have to learn how be competitive or how to push herself. While on a travel team she has to push herself to go beyond what she did last year, last month, last week or else she won't have a spot. That kind of competition and challenging ones self to be the best is a great thing long term. They will likely only play through either high school or college so I really feel the life lessons that they learn which will go with them much longer that. If they could learn how to get along, how to stay committed despite small controversies and how to challenge themselves to reach higher and higher that player is going to succeed for the rest of her life. That all takes a combination of both programs.

Finally the college coaches I've met with have wanted the players to be able to sell themselves. They want to know that the player wants to be there and believes in themselves. Online recruiting sites with profiles, online videos, emails, text messages etc are all tools that can help players "sell themselves." In order to sell anything, you have to know what your product is and who the target audience is so that your marketing can be targeted/focused to make it more effective. Encourage your players to really identify who they are, what they want to achieve and then narrow down the schools that fit that model and then sell-sell-sell the product. And the person that should belief in the product the most is the player, because she is the product. So she shouldn't need you or her travel coaches to sell. The efforts you are putting forth to research as much as you can to understand the process and help guide them is admirable, but the players shouldn't rely on you or anyone else. They have access to Google and can get to anything that you or any other coach can get to.

PS - I love that one of your players had enough belief in herself to walk on at Alabama. Most girls would look at the lack of a shot/scholarship as rejection and just give their bat bag away. That shows a lot of character and determination to just show up and say "You never even returned my call before but here I am and I know you are going to want me on the team." I think that's just awesome. Hopefully this other player will develop that kind of spirit as well.

 

[coachnelly]

druer,

I really do go and watch these kids, I really owe it to them since I run my program to the best of my ability with no full-time coaches on campus and the work load I will put them through. Im actually going to watch 2 7th graders and 4 incoming freashman play this weekend. Thanks for the info! She deosnt plan on hanging it up this summer, she has found a new team just to keep the reps going and she will be working with me (I give her hitting lessons) and we have specialized her summer workout for her. I really to appreciate the "non-attacking" way you have stated your info! Thanks again, and if BAMA makes the WCWS look for #26 Lisa Elizondo, thats our girl!

 

[coachnelly]

Snocatzdad,
Must be nice to have all levels working together! My player has left the team and picked up with another and is looking at some possible walk-on offers. She has done alot of what you are saying, but i do appreciate what you are saying and this will only prepare me for the next group that I will be assisting. Especially after getting badly sunburnt today after making a skills video this afternoon.