I am in the beginning stages of helping my daughter to achieve her goal to play college ball. There is a lack of Showcase teams in our area (we would have to travel 2 to 3 hours for practices) This is simply not an option. As a result we have started to register her for some local camps that have multiple college coaches attending. The question that I have is does the same rule apply to a camp that there is for a showcase tournament? That being having my daughter reach out to coaches before hand to let them know she will be attending and request that they observe her? Our first camp/clinic is this coming weekend and wasn't sure what the protocol is.
Showcase camps question
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- Mar 8, 2016
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Your dd definitely needs to email coaches before hand and make contact. There are a lot of girls there and unless she runs a 2.6 down the line or hits the ball far (or pitches fast) she will have a hard time standing out.
1. Prepare her to talk to the coaches and introduce herself.
2. Wear a uniform or shirt that will stand out. Dd's team has a yellow jersey and that is a great way to catch a coaches eye. If you are going to just wear a t shirt pick one that is a bright color that is different from most teams in your area.
3. Most of these events have a session to meet the coaches after it is over. Be sure and do this part. It is another chance to make an impression and for your dd to practice talking to coaches. Have her learn every coaches name and know one fact about their program.
80% of the girls there will be between 5'3" and 5'7" and wear a white, red, or blue jersey. You want to be different.
DD has only ever played on a very good regional team that played in some good events and she didn't have any trouble getting recruited. We have been told that we limited her options for playing d1 by not playing for a bigger team and i believe that is true but she visited a d3 school and fell in love.
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1. Prepare her to talk to the coaches and introduce herself.
2. Wear a uniform or shirt that will stand out. Dd's team has a yellow jersey and that is a great way to catch a coaches eye. If you are going to just wear a t shirt pick one that is a bright color that is different from most teams in your area.
3. Most of these events have a session to meet the coaches after it is over. Be sure and do this part. It is another chance to make an impression and for your dd to practice talking to coaches. Have her learn every coaches name and know one fact about their program.
80% of the girls there will be between 5'3" and 5'7" and wear a white, red, or blue jersey. You want to be different.
DD has only ever played on a very good regional team that played in some good events and she didn't have any trouble getting recruited. We have been told that we limited her options for playing d1 by not playing for a bigger team and i believe that is true but she visited a d3 school and fell in love.
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i know this is an older thread but i have questions as well. Just got back from our 1st showcase tournament and apparently being completely unaware of the situations I casually just watched and took in the experience . We were asked to pick up with a team that was going so we hopped on the opportunity. I noticed college coaches everywhere. Also noticed teams were placing flyers on backstop behind home plate. I'm assuming these were for the colleges but never saw a scout or college grab one. My question I suppose is are these flyers a value to the colleges containing information about the players, and do the college coaches gather and use these? Also I noticed the girls the colleges were somewhat interested in they were talking to the coaches during innings and after the games. The coaches were then handing me camp flyers from colleges that asked about my DD or so I was told. My question from that is was this a personal offer to a camp or are they just trying to fill camps like i see day in and day out. Anyways my DD is heading to another showcase this weekend with her team and I want to be more prepared than I was this previous weekend.
thanks
thanks
- Mar 8, 2016
- 315
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IPHAWK#18
Tonight you need to sit down with your DD and make a list of colleges that she would like to attend. I like a rule of 1-2 reach schools, 4-10 realistic schools and 1-2 safety schools. All of this depends on the importance you place on playing softball in college. The more important playing softball is the more schools that need to be on the list.
In my opinion your priorities should be:
1. academics
1a. economics
3. softball
As far as this weekend's showcase.
1. Email any coach from a school on your DD's list and send them your schedule. If you have a link to video or anything else you can send this as well.
2. Coaches definitely pick up the brochures and look at them. They also get the contact info from them. Sometimes because they are interested in the girl and sometimes to get a name to put on their mailing list.
3. DD needs to take every opportunity to talk to coaches she can.
4. After the tournament email coaches from any school she might be interested in attending.
If you get an email back from the coach that is a good sign. I liken the recruiting process to high school dating. Trying to figure out if they not interested, like you, or really, really like you can be tough.
For my DD we split the emails into 4 categories
1. addressed to her and a personal comment = really interested
2. addressed to her but difficult to tell if it was a generic email = maybe interested
3. addresed to her but obviously a generic email = money grab for their camp
4. generic address and generic email = definite money grab
If your DD hits HR's, throws 60+ or has elite speed, she has a chance to stand out and get noticed by a random coach. If she is just good at everything but doesn't stand out at anything it takes a lot more work to get noticed. This is were the prior contact is key. DD's current team has 5 2020s. 1 has elite D1 speed, 2 hit HR's consistently, 1 pitches 60+ and hits HRs, and 1 is just average at everything. 4 are comitted and had their choice of lots of schools. We are struggling to get the 5th a place to play.
Hope this helps
Tonight you need to sit down with your DD and make a list of colleges that she would like to attend. I like a rule of 1-2 reach schools, 4-10 realistic schools and 1-2 safety schools. All of this depends on the importance you place on playing softball in college. The more important playing softball is the more schools that need to be on the list.
In my opinion your priorities should be:
1. academics
1a. economics
3. softball
As far as this weekend's showcase.
1. Email any coach from a school on your DD's list and send them your schedule. If you have a link to video or anything else you can send this as well.
2. Coaches definitely pick up the brochures and look at them. They also get the contact info from them. Sometimes because they are interested in the girl and sometimes to get a name to put on their mailing list.
3. DD needs to take every opportunity to talk to coaches she can.
4. After the tournament email coaches from any school she might be interested in attending.
If you get an email back from the coach that is a good sign. I liken the recruiting process to high school dating. Trying to figure out if they not interested, like you, or really, really like you can be tough.
For my DD we split the emails into 4 categories
1. addressed to her and a personal comment = really interested
2. addressed to her but difficult to tell if it was a generic email = maybe interested
3. addresed to her but obviously a generic email = money grab for their camp
4. generic address and generic email = definite money grab
If your DD hits HR's, throws 60+ or has elite speed, she has a chance to stand out and get noticed by a random coach. If she is just good at everything but doesn't stand out at anything it takes a lot more work to get noticed. This is were the prior contact is key. DD's current team has 5 2020s. 1 has elite D1 speed, 2 hit HR's consistently, 1 pitches 60+ and hits HRs, and 1 is just average at everything. 4 are comitted and had their choice of lots of schools. We are struggling to get the 5th a place to play.
Hope this helps
thank you that does help. It reassured me on some of the things I was already thinking.
To answer your question about player profile sheets, DD’s team played in one of the top showcases in our region this past weekend. Her team is 16U and consists mostly of 2022’s with a few 2023’s. We printed 50 profiles for this weekend and at the end of the weekend we had 3 left. Our coach tracked all of the coaches at our games and noted that there were 32 D1 coaches behind home plate over the course of the weekend, not in the OF where they could watch our games and the games going on the adjacent fields. Those coaches were harder to track. It was exciting to see HC’s from schools where our players attended camps this year.
P.S. Being on the main fields in these showcases is everything. Satellite fields got coach traffic but certainly not to the degree the main fields did.
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P.S. Being on the main fields in these showcases is everything. Satellite fields got coach traffic but certainly not to the degree the main fields did.
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- Apr 16, 2013
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Where did you play? Purely curious. My DD's team has done several "team camps" this summer - now, where college coaches are on the field during play. My DD has gotten some interest, but despite being a power hitter, super power hitter, I'm surprised at how little interest anyone is getting. I don't think we (well DD's team) is doing it right. I hear about all these showcases where tons of coaches are at, but I'm not seeing them.
Where did you play? Purely curious. My DD's team has done several "team camps" this summer - now, where college coaches are on the field during play. My DD has gotten some interest, but despite being a power hitter, super power hitter, I'm surprised at how little interest anyone is getting. I don't think we (well DD's team) is doing it right. I hear about all these showcases where tons of coaches are at, but I'm not seeing them.
Several big showcases are happening in the SE in November: Champions and Veterans are in Atlanta, Scenic City in Chattanooga, TN, and Birmingham T-Bolts in Montgomery, AL. TONS of coaches on the main fields for those.
We just got back from the Ronald McDonald Showcase in Houston and there were college coaches at every game at every field.
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