- Mar 22, 2010
- 129
- 28
My 2016 dd recently committed to a D3 school so I thought I'd offer up my observations and experiences. My dd started off with a list of about 20 - 25 schools prior to her sophomore year. It was a mix of D1 (mostly mid to lower tier) and D3. We did many of the things previously written about on this forum with mixed results - introductory emails, emails before each tournament, camps (although not as many as we would have liked), postcards, skills video, game video.
My thoughts:
1) Like many things in life much is about who you know. If you are intent on playing D1 softball, being in the right program, on the right team and playing at the right tournaments unquestionably helps. There are certain orgs that have a direct line to certain schools. That doesn't mean if you're not in a big name program you can't play D1. It just means parent and child need to put in a lot more effort and take ownership of the recruiting process to facilitate that desire. She did play at Team NJ, Pennsbury, TNT, Rising Stars and other PGFs but not in Colorado, Cali, Atlanta or Diamond 9.
2) Some of the D1's never, ever responded to my dd except for the standard camp invite. Some came to watch her play (some one game, some four games). Some said they would come to watch her play and never did. Of those who came to watch or saw her at a camp - some you never heard from (even after making phones calls or her coach making phone calls), some sent an emailing saying she wasn't a fit or they're done with her year and some were interested in her coming to play for them. Personally I'd rather a coach just tell you we're not interested so you can move on but I guess some don't have the time or desire to send that email.
3) D3's were much more responsive (of course the recruiting rules help when you're younger) and she had many watch her and interested from that group.
4) My daughter was only interested in highly selective schools and an accounting major so it really started to narrow the available choices which in some ways is helpful but in other ways not so much.
5) Eventually my dd decided on a very good D3 deciding not to wait on a D1 school where she was behind a girl or two on their list and opting for the additional social time and opportunity to be on the field in her first year.
6) More than once her coach was approached unsolicited by a college coach (D1 and D3) who happened to be watching our game and told him to have my dd email them, visit, etc, only to get no response from the college coach once my dd did email them. Why request a girl email you and you never respond? Is it solely to build up your database for camp invites and money making?
If you have questions feel free to post them here or PM me.
My thoughts:
1) Like many things in life much is about who you know. If you are intent on playing D1 softball, being in the right program, on the right team and playing at the right tournaments unquestionably helps. There are certain orgs that have a direct line to certain schools. That doesn't mean if you're not in a big name program you can't play D1. It just means parent and child need to put in a lot more effort and take ownership of the recruiting process to facilitate that desire. She did play at Team NJ, Pennsbury, TNT, Rising Stars and other PGFs but not in Colorado, Cali, Atlanta or Diamond 9.
2) Some of the D1's never, ever responded to my dd except for the standard camp invite. Some came to watch her play (some one game, some four games). Some said they would come to watch her play and never did. Of those who came to watch or saw her at a camp - some you never heard from (even after making phones calls or her coach making phone calls), some sent an emailing saying she wasn't a fit or they're done with her year and some were interested in her coming to play for them. Personally I'd rather a coach just tell you we're not interested so you can move on but I guess some don't have the time or desire to send that email.
3) D3's were much more responsive (of course the recruiting rules help when you're younger) and she had many watch her and interested from that group.
4) My daughter was only interested in highly selective schools and an accounting major so it really started to narrow the available choices which in some ways is helpful but in other ways not so much.
5) Eventually my dd decided on a very good D3 deciding not to wait on a D1 school where she was behind a girl or two on their list and opting for the additional social time and opportunity to be on the field in her first year.
6) More than once her coach was approached unsolicited by a college coach (D1 and D3) who happened to be watching our game and told him to have my dd email them, visit, etc, only to get no response from the college coach once my dd did email them. Why request a girl email you and you never respond? Is it solely to build up your database for camp invites and money making?
If you have questions feel free to post them here or PM me.
