Real interest or being played to fill a camp?

[Daughter'sFather]

DD will be a 2025 graduate and recently set up a Twitter account for recruiting purposes. Recently, she was contacted through Twitter by a D1 school greeting her by name and hoping she had a great Christmas. The message went on to say that the school is limited in their communication prior to 09/01 of her junior year apart from camps and clinics. They then sent her information about an upcoming camp. DD has never tagged this particular school or reached out to them in any way. The cynic in me thinks this is a ploy to fill out the camp but the excited Dad is wondering if there is a legitimate interest. I'd appreciate any thoughts more experienced parents can offer.

 

[_MIA_]

DD will be a 2025 graduate and recently set up a Twitter account for recruiting purposes. Recently, she was contacted through Twitter by a D1 school greeting her by name and hoping she had a great Christmas. The message went on to say that the school is limited in their communication prior to 09/01 of her junior year apart from camps and clinics. They then sent her information about an upcoming camp. DD has never tagged this particular school or reached out to them in any way. The cynic in me thinks this is a ploy to fill out the camp but the excited Dad is wondering if there is a legitimate interest. I'd appreciate any thoughts more experienced parents can offer.

Does she have any interest in attending that school from an academic perspective? Is her skill level such that this would be a good fit softball wise (take off your parent goggles..?)

 

[benjey]

No way to know for sure. The limited communication before junior year is true but that is also the line you will see in generic communication they send out to the masses. If this is a school she would have interest in it's not a bad idea to go to the camp (if within your budget) At a minimum your DD should add them to her list and begin communicating with the school as this costs nothing. Whether they have interest now or not the camp is the best way to get them interested going forward. In my experience the best way to judge interest is to see who comes to watch your DD play. Of course this is contingent on her consistently sending her schedule to them before all her tournaments.

 

[radness]

DD will be a 2025 graduate and recently set up a Twitter account for recruiting purposes. Recently, she was contacted through Twitter by a D1 school greeting her by name and hoping she had a great Christmas. The message went on to say that the school is limited in their communication prior to 09/01 of her junior year apart from camps and clinics. They then sent her information about an upcoming camp. DD has never tagged this particular school or reached out to them in any way. The cynic in me thinks this is a ploy to fill out the camp but the excited Dad is wondering if there is a legitimate interest. I'd appreciate any thoughts more experienced parents can offer.

At this point Only the college knows for sure why they sent it.

Basic questions to dissect the situation...
-Is there a chance your daughter played in front of this college somewhere?
-2025 do you think right now your daughter is a standout player that caught their eye?
-What age travel ball team is your daughter currently on?

 

[benjey]

Does she have any interest in attending that school from an academic perspective? Is her skill level such that this would be a good fit softball wise (take off your parent goggles..?)

I have yet to meet a parent, including myself, that can accurately assess their own child's performance. Parent goggles are embedded in all of our eyes and like other vision issues they can work in both directions under and over estimating skill.

Cast a wide net and let the interest of the coaches guide you to the appropriate level of play.

 

[_MIA_]

I have yet to meet a parent, including myself, that can accurately assess their own child's performance. Parent goggles are embedded in all of our eyes and like other vision issues they can work in both directions under and over estimating skill.

Cast a wide net and let the interest of the coaches guide you to the appropriate level of play.

Well in this case he is trying to sniff out BS so he has to at least try..Doesn’t have to be a perfect assessment. These things are not free..if they were it would be a different story..

In general you are correct though. Most days I feel like my kid might be able to play D10..?

 

[Vertigo]

DD will be a 2025 graduate and recently set up a Twitter account for recruiting purposes. Recently, she was contacted through Twitter by a D1 school greeting her by name and hoping she had a great Christmas. The message went on to say that the school is limited in their communication prior to 09/01 of her junior year apart from camps and clinics. They then sent her information about an upcoming camp. DD has never tagged this particular school or reached out to them in any way. The cynic in me thinks this is a ploy to fill out the camp but the excited Dad is wondering if there is a legitimate interest. I'd appreciate any thoughts more experienced parents can offer.

Agree with others who said it’s difficult to say what the interest is. All the camp emails dd ever received addressed her by name - including schools she had never reached out to. She didn’t have Twitter so never dealt with messages through that platform. Dd also received emails and mail from a few schools thinking she was a class younger than she was. Not sure how or why. Must have been in some database somewhere.

I would say just be very open-minded at this point. If it’s a school she absolutely knows academically or location-wise would not fulfill what she’s looking for then don’t look too much into it. Don’t let the “D1” category suck you in.

However, if it’s a school your dd might even slightly entertain at this point, then definitely consider going to the camp if it’s doable for you. It would be a good experience for her to see what her competition looks like and to get a better idea of what D1 programs are looking for. She can follow them back on Twitter.

At this point in the game, don’t shut any doors unless it is an absolute “no.”

 

[LW23]

DD will be a 2025 graduate and recently set up a Twitter account for recruiting purposes. Recently, she was contacted through Twitter by a D1 school greeting her by name and hoping she had a great Christmas. The message went on to say that the school is limited in their communication prior to 09/01 of her junior year apart from camps and clinics. They then sent her information about an upcoming camp. DD has never tagged this particular school or reached out to them in any way. The cynic in me thinks this is a ploy to fill out the camp but the excited Dad is wondering if there is a legitimate interest. I'd appreciate any thoughts more experienced parents can offer.

This happened to DD a few times through the recruiting process as well. If it was a school she was interested in academically I would ask our coach to reach out and confirm their level of interest. He would then let us know the interest level. As stated above camps are expensive when you include travel, food, lodging, and camp fees. In the end if it made its way into her top 10 we would go if not we didn't. Things to note when we started we had a top 10 list for JUCO, D3, D2, and D1. While I thought DD was good enough to play D1 I really wasn't sure where she wanted to be. As we moved through the process we ended up with a top 10 in D1, but always kept our top 2 programs at each level on the board in case something happened. She will know when she finds her home, people have said that on this site for some time and its true. Have fun with the journey.

 

[_MIA_]

Thank you for the replies but I'm surprised at some of the assumptions being made about me based on what I wrote.

I didn't see any assumptions being made about you. Without knowing your situation (other than what you presented), people need to talk in generalities ?‍

 

[LW23]

DD is a sophomore and has no idea where she wants to go to school or what she wants to major in apart from it being in the medical field. It surprises me at the number of young women who seem to have life figured out at that age and know where they want to study and where they want to do it. I doubt many actually do and DD is more typical. So, the school in question likely has a major she'd be interested in.

Man I am 45 and have been working at the same place for 23 years. I still don't know what I want to do with my life. So I see how asking a 16 year old to make decisions based on academics seems crazy. Hey at least you DD knows what field she wants to be in that is great starting point. Mine chose business and I wouldn't be surprised if that changed. She has college paid for and will living her dream, so there is that as well.