It's not what you know, it's WHO the coaches know.

[cnardone]

Your org is located in Oklahoma? Oklahoma is weird..

No, New York.

 

[_MIA_]

No, New York.

Yeah, I knew that (or more accurately, I knew you were not in OK )

When I was there 230 years ago I think NY had the second highest number of kids there outside of MA.

 

[radness]

This is how recruiting happens on the down low. D1 College coach calls up TB coach and says, what 2023's do you have? He mentions my friend's kid and describes her. Coach is interested and says to send her to one of their upcoming camps. Kid has never sent any communications to that program but is intrigued. Kid goes to camp with 80 players in attendance and she is put in Group 1 which is 10 players. Players start warm up and stations. Dad loses sight of Group 1 for a while. They come back and dad later finds out that group went on the campus tour. Coach approaches kid and says, Looking forward to see you pitch. Kid does her thing and at the end of the camp, the coach says your TB coach told me about you and everything he said is spot on. We want to see you play and will be at A, B, C tourneys this fall. Kid says she loves the campus and dad is pleasantly surprised at the campus and surrounding town. Now she needs to perform well when it counts.

People seem to say it doesn't matter which team you play on. Coaches conncections do matter. When you go to these camps, the coaches better know who you are before you step foot on campus especially for most of these D1 programs. If you aren't in the loop, you aren't in the loop! Get in the loop!

Good read.

Its not the only way
It is one of the ways.

Just sayin
Have encountered these type coaches who know people/colleges...
Not make a single phone call.
Nor promote certain players to coaches.

*heres a tip...
Being that its the players responsibility to contact colleges 99% (100%)!
Get a LETTER OF RECOMENDATION from your travel coach.
So you can copy and e-mail to use this as a referral/recruitment tool-
( if the travel coaches name rings a bell that will be a bonus)
If the travel coach actually calls hurray, but dont put all your eggs in that basket.

The travel coaches letter will get to more colleges.
Because the player should/will be contacting way more colleges than those attending.
its the players responsibility to contact colleges 99%. (100%)!

 

[Strike2]

I know people gripe about HS ball, but the better HS programs can have a huge impact on college recruiting within a state and sometimes beyond. Kids who do well in solid HS programs get district, regional, and state-level awards. Those awards get listed in the newspapers, which show up in Internet searches. College coaches often personally know many of the nearby HS coaches running the better programs. From what I've seen, HS playing accomplishments usually get far more words in rostered player biographies than where they played TB.

 

[pyaeger98]

For our org, the head of the club and/or coach would discuss with each of the players what their goals were in terms of college. They would also be as honest as they could about the level of school that would be the best fit for them (while also encouraging a dream school or two). He would then reach out to these schools and try and bring them in to the couple showcases they host. It is still on the player to make those first communications to the coaches at those schools. Camps were highly encouraged and if you let the org know what camps you are attending, they would reach out to the schools and give them more info about the girl(s). Our org had pretty good connections (mostly regional) and would help wherever possible, but the girls needed a plan and needed to get the word out also. But we have girls go to every level of school and pretty much anyone who wanted to play in college could find a place if they put in the effort.

 

[Orange Socks]

For our org, the head of the club and/or coach would discuss with each of the players what their goals were in terms of college. They would also be as honest as they could about the level of school that would be the best fit for them (while also encouraging a dream school or two). He would then reach out to these schools and try and bring them in to the couple showcases they host. It is still on the player to make those first communications to the coaches at those schools. Camps were highly encouraged and if you let the org know what camps you are attending, they would reach out to the schools and give them more info about the girl(s). Our org had pretty good connections (mostly regional) and would help wherever possible, but the girls needed a plan and needed to get the word out also. But we have girls go to every level of school and pretty much anyone who wanted to play in college could find a place if they put in the effort.

This is awesome!

 

[sbmom444]

This is how recruiting happens on the down low. D1 College coach calls up TB coach and says, what 2023's do you have? He mentions my friend's kid and describes her. Coach is interested and says to send her to one of their upcoming camps. Kid has never sent any communications to that program but is intrigued. Kid goes to camp with 80 players in attendance and she is put in Group 1 which is 10 players. Players start warm up and stations. Dad loses sight of Group 1 for a while. They come back and dad later finds out that group went on the campus tour. Coach approaches kid and says, Looking forward to see you pitch. Kid does her thing and at the end of the camp, the coach says your TB coach told me about you and everything he said is spot on. We want to see you play and will be at A, B, C tourneys this fall. Kid says she loves the campus and dad is pleasantly surprised at the campus and surrounding town. Now she needs to perform well when it counts.

People seem to say it doesn't matter which team you play on. Coaches conncections do matter. When you go to these camps, the coaches better know who you are before you step foot on campus especially for most of these D1 programs. If you aren't in the loop, you aren't in the loop! Get in the loop!

This is 1 million percent true no matter what people say. You have to have someone pushing for your kid and getting your kid in these good groups at camps, etc. My DD busted her butt emailing, calling, etc. but we didn't have a TB coach that was pushing for her with coaches they connected with. She STILL got offers, still got recruited D1 - but it was not easy and stressful as hell. On the flip side, we know girls who did nothing, but has a TB coach with connections and got D1 interest and offers because of their TB coach. Connections definitely matter!!

 

[Orange Socks]

As noted in a previous response, yes it works at all levels. I was just providing a real world recent example. It was a primary factor for DD. DD sent an introductory email to the college coach, who is no longer there for the first time in Sept of her Junior year. Then she emailed her fall schedule the following week. TB coach texted me saying he didn't know Megan was interested in UTD as she was pursuing schools in the NE. I said we just added the school to the list. He then said, he is friends with this coach and the coach is gonna come watch her play. That was the beginning of the end of her recruiting journey.

 

[_MIA_]

It would be great if everybody could pick and choose travel ball orgs/coaches based upon whether their connections fit the list of schools they are interested in..not sure that is a reality for most people though.

 

[Orange Socks]

It would be great if everybody could pick and choose travel ball orgs/coaches based upon whether their connections fit the list of schools they are interested in..not sure that is a reality for most people though.

You kind of can. Just look at their alumni list. For some players, they get committed all on their own. One caveat. Some of these teams will pull in players after they commit and have no input whatsoever. I worked with a kid that committed to a school after she left our program. The new team photo shopped their uniform on her body with her in the outfield at the school! I was kind of pissed. I was the one talking to coaches for her not them!