how do 9th & 10th graders verbal?

[catchermom]

Agree with everyone here. There are VERY FEW full rides. Many will tell you they have full ride, but usually includes academic, but they want to say it's athletic. I guess that makes their DD "better" to everyone else. And anyone can say anything and no one would know the difference, so people say things like that ALL the time.
Also, make sure you ask important questions up front when your DD is being offered, just to make sure there are no surprises when school starts. Some will allow you to stack the scholarships, others will take any academic and deduct it from the athletic. There's no right or wrong, you just need to be informed so that you make decisions that are financially right for you and your DD.

 

[29dad]

Mine was given a full athletic, her ACT was such she also received what was called a Presidential Academic Award. We were under the impression that with her athletic and her academic her costs except for books would be covered.

Tim

I don't understand that. If she was given a FULL athletic scholarship, meaning 100% of tuition plus room and board paid for, why would she get an academic scholarship on top of that? You can't get more than a 100% scholarship, right?? I must be missing something.

 

[Bouldersdad]

She had a athletic scholarship that paid for her tuition, her room and board would have been extra, the academic award would have covered that.

Guess I should have said Full and not full athletic, I can see where the confusion came in

 

[MNDad]

I really wish the stories about "full rides" raining out of the sky for stud pitchers were true. Sadly though pitching parents lie even more about "full rides" than they do about how fast their daughter throws.

Here's my experience from one of the "stud" pitchers that began to get recruited in 8th grade. It's a very long process with plenty of ups and downs. At 14U she was 6 ft + and threw 60+. She was invited to multiple camps and on unofficial visits from everything from DIII to D1 National Championship schools. Some of the visits we talked with coaches extensively afterwards, others just thanked us for coming.

Most coaches we spoke with alluded to scholarships, but we certainly didn't get bombarded with the full ride offers. Several coaches indicated they didn't like committing kids that young, but were willing to make a token offer if we were in a hurry. When it got time to choose a school the actual offers only came after talking to her over a long period of time, watching her extensively and obtaining high school transcripts. It seemed to me that early verbals are driven far more by parents than by the colleges.

She never did get that full athletic scholarship, but she’s now verbally committed to her dream school and softball helped get her there.

 

[29dad]

Here's my experience from one of the "stud" pitchers that began to get recruited in 8th grade. QUOTE]

I happen to know MNDad and let me tell ya, the word "stud" should not be in quotes. At ASA/USA A nationals a couple of years ago I watched his daughter throw about 5 straight shutouts, all in the SAME DAY, en route to a 4th place finish. So, yes, if anyone knows about the recruiting process, I am sure it's MNdad!

 

[MNDad]

Thank you 29dad. She pitched in five games that Saturday, but only the last three were shutouts. The shutouts were a team effort. We played amazing defense when her arm was little more than a wet noodle.

 

[crankermo]

The recruiting process is both a joy and a royal pain. College coaches have a tendency to be very frugal with their schollies and rightfully so. The best advice I can give a parent is ask tough questions and get it in writing, we did. We got every known cost written down, room,food,books, and tuition and others and had the future coach write down what exactly was covered by her offer. I've heard some shady stories in the softball world and it's very important that you do some digging and ask tough questions, IT'S YOUR DD's FUTURE.

My DD had offers from PAC,SEC and B1G school and the they all varied drastically. A lot of schools have a ton of academic aid set up to take of out of state tuition. My DD committed to a B1G school last year as a HS sophomore and it's all athletic money. Our situation may be different than most but it's the truth.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

The best advice I can give a parent is ask tough questions and get it in writing, we did. We got every known cost written down, room,food,books, and tuition and others and had the future coach write down what exactly was covered by her offer. I've heard some shady stories in the softball world and it's very important that you do some digging and ask tough questions, IT'S YOUR DD's FUTURE.

VERY good advice. I know a girl who got all her financial offer in writing, signed and sealed on her financial aid form. She was verbally promised X amount of funds going toward some clinics as she changed her wanted "major" at the last minute ( before early signing dates ). Her clinics start next semester and the coach is now having amnesia about the promise. About $1500 worth of amnesia.

 

[AUTigerdad]

Our Experience

My DD just verballed as a 9th grader to a large top 25 school. Here is how it went for us:

10U- first yr 14U : Played on a less known travel team that was pretty successful, attended many camps, did very well at big showcases, emailed many coaches.....and got zero interest.

14U Fall : Joined "bigtime" well known travel org, performed well (same as before) and travel coach set up unofficials. Had many many D1 coaches watch games (30+ for a couple games). Attended camp at dream school, got offer and accepted.

Our DD is not a pitcher, so we knew going in there would be no full ride. It is also an in-state school so any scholarship offer was going to be lower, percentage wise, than an out of state offer. We looked at the numbers and had a % we wanted ahead of time. They offered more than our number, so she accepted.

My advice is to play for the most well known (by college coaches) org that you can, and do your homework. Coaches at large D1 schools receive hundreds of emails from girls each week. They simply do not have time to sift through all the players on all the teams. So instead they go to the teams proven to produce college athletes.

I will not get into specific $ or %, but if you have any other questions feel free to PM me.

~Proud (and tired and broke and proud) Dad

 

[Cannonball]

My DD just verballed as a 9th grader to a large top 25 school. Here is how it went for us:

10U- first yr 14U : Played on a less known travel team that was pretty successful, attended many camps, did very well at big showcases, emailed many coaches.....and got zero interest.

14U Fall : Joined "bigtime" well known travel org, performed well (same as before) and travel coach set up unofficials. Had many many D1 coaches watch games (30+ for a couple games). Attended camp at dream school, got offer and accepted.

Our DD is not a pitcher, so we knew going in there would be no full ride. It is also an in-state school so any scholarship offer was going to be lower, percentage wise, than an out of state offer. We looked at the numbers and had a % we wanted ahead of time. They offered more than our number, so she accepted.

My advice is to play for the most well known (by college coaches) org that you can, and do your homework. Coaches at large D1 schools receive hundreds of emails from girls each week. They simply do not have time to sift through all the players on all the teams. So instead they go to the teams proven to produce college athletes.

I will not get into specific $ or %, but if you have any other questions feel free to PM me.

~Proud (and tired and broke and proud) Dad

Classic! Congratulations.