How to begin helping girls with recruitment.

[undergroundga]

As I've stated in other recent post I am charged with managing a 14u team in rural Southern Il. We are an 02 team and belong to a loarger organization.
One of my growing responsibilities as our athletes age, is to put them in a position to be recruited. We are not a showcase/exposure team, but all our girls have the goal of playing college ball. But let's be honest, most are not major Div. 1 prospects(though it is possible).
What are some ideas that will help me, help our athletes?
Most are 2020 grads, with a couple 2021s. I know that I must begin building relationships with coaches but not exactly sure how or what steps to take.

 

[SoCalASABlue]

Each PLAYER (not the parents) needs to develop a list of 15-20 schools they'd like to play for. OK to shoot for Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, etc. IF those schools have the majors the players want. But the lists also need to include "realistic" choices to include what mom and dad can afford, NAIA, D3 (no athletic money per se). Players then need to start the "personal email to the coach" conversations. It's never too early.

GRADES - GRADES - GRADES...the higher the GPA, the more likely the player will be able to find academic money if there is no athletic money.

Sign up for as many college showcase tournaments as you can manage. Been to plenty - have seen plenty of teams that were not "exposure" teams...still got girls signed.

Get skills videos done.

Sign up the team for local college camps. Best way to get seen locally...and coaches talk...and help each other with needs (as long as they don't play each other ).

Best of luck.

 

[slingnit]

^^^^^^^ everything SoCal said

Your job is to be honest with your players and yourself. Do not waste time sending emails to Oklahoma and Alabama about kids who are not that caliber of player. You send one good kid to OK then Gasso will listen when you have another. You send her email after email of kids that are sub D1 talent then your emails will be discarded faster than you can blink.

When you have kids that have the talent to play at the level of the schools they want to attend you now become a used car salesman. Your job is now to convince the coaches that your kids have something the other 100 girls sending him/her letters do not.

In my opinion you help the girls and families that are helping themselves!!! If you are going to send 100 emails to different schools for one girl, then she better be sending the same 100 coaches emails as well.

You have to make a rapport with the coaches! This is where your used car salesman attributes come in. "you like hog hunting?! man, i haven't been in years but we had a lease in Cotulla, TX when I was in HS!!". Or whatever, but find common interest in something other than softball that you can use to keep conversations going. The longer you can keep them at a game the better chance they will see something they like. You do have to be able to read the coaches. Some just want to be left alone.

You or another coach/parent should be at all games where a coach may be coming to watch. Answer questions, pass on personal info, things like that. Make a flyer with pertinent info for coaches to grab at games, usually set up on the backstop, easy to see.

If you have one girl that stands out and you know she is a high level player, use that to help other girls. Use her talent to draw coaches in order to showcase the whole team. If she is a pitcher all the easier. Send her skills video and let them know she has interest in there school.

 

[fastpitch]

Above is good advice, but IMHO your job at this stage is to help them by educating them and their parents about the recruiting process as much as possible. They need to know how to help themselves. Your job as a coach should more be to get them ready to play in front of these coaches (attitude, hustle, effort) and eventually as they get a little older get them playing in the right tournaments and in front of those coaches of the schools they are interested in. good luck!

 

[marriard]

Start by defining possible collleges that meet there initial educational goals.

A site like the one below is a good place to start. You will find colleges you have never heard of that might just be the right one for your kid.

SuperMatch(TM) College Search - College Confidential

 

[riseball]

We start with having players eliminate geographic areas where they will NOT attend. We find that most kids want to stay within several hours of home. It gives them pause when you start asking if they will be fine attending a school where they only rarely see their parents at one of their games. Finding a school is a process of elimination not selection.

 

[marriard]

We start with having players eliminate geographic areas where they will NOT attend. We find that most kids want to stay within several hours of home. It gives them pause when you start asking if they will be fine attending a school where they only rarely see their parents at one of their games. Finding a school is a process of elimination not selection.

Very true... and it is very different for every kid. Choosing a college is a very individual thing (and why a lot of teams after 14U get mixed up based on player goals.)

Distance wasn't one of my concerns. This is the distance between where I was living and the college I attended. My family never saw me play until after I had finished college and had a job which gave me some money to covert some VHS tapes of my games from NTSC to PAL format. Not sure I how I would explain that to my DD in this day and age of cell phones and youtube. Guess I am really aging myself

 

[obbay]

your job at this stage is to help them by educating them and their parents about the recruiting process as much as possible. They need to know how to help themselves. Your job as a coach should more be to get them ready to play in front of these coaches (attitude, hustle, effort) and eventually as they get a little older get them playing in the right tournaments and in front of those coaches of the schools they are interested in.

Yup.

We start with having players eliminate geographic areas where they will NOT attend. We find that most kids want to stay within several hours of home. It gives them pause when you start asking if they will be fine attending a school where they only rarely see their parents at one of their games. Finding a school is a process of elimination not selection.

definitely!

Also, the thing I would strongly recommend is get them thinking about careers-what they want to be when they grow up.then start them thinking about majors. I have found that most High School girls I have talked with may think they know what college(s) they want to go to, but have no idea relative to majors and/or possible careers - which should be a major factor when looking at colleges. several kids selected majors because it was dictated by their parents, not their own choice.

 

[Tatonka]

Some real good insight and info here so far. Pushing this discussion with the kids and other parents can be eye opening!