Tell me about college camps

[JumboJack]

My daughter is getting invited to collage camps. What should she expect? Is it worth the cost of its school she is interested in?


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[softball dad 6]

College camp invites fall into 2 different categories. Ones that the coach has shown interest in your dd already and those that you are filler to put money in the coaches pockets. DD could fill a large lake with the camo invites she has gotten. Most of these schools she had never even heard of. When she went to a camp where the coach had personally been in contact with her she definitely got special treatment. At a couple of the camps one of the coaches stayed with her group the whole time. Her experience at other camps trying to catch a coaches eye just from being there did not result in much attention. Of course this could have been do to her relative performance.
If camp invites look like a generic email that has just had the name changed I would not go unless dd really had it as one of her top 1-3 schools. If your DD is getting personal emails from one of the coaches, they are interested in your dd. Attending camp is a good way to show you are interested in that school. College coaches have a lot of choices as far as players go. Many times they need to see a player has interest in their school before they spend much time and effort recruiting.

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[InsidePitch]

DD's experiences were similar to those of softball dad 6. If the coach wants your daughter you will see them or staff spending time that not every kid is getting. Sometimes you can tell by the groups that they are broken into. For the most part the post cards and generic emails are the money generators. Sometimes camps are put together with multiple colleges listed. Often those are camps that hire assistants and a chance for them to make money.

 

[JumboJack]

Good to know. The first one she was invited to was via an email from the HC. Still not sure if she is going to attend.


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[Orange Socks]

Is the school on her short list? If so, I would highly consider going. If not, make sure to thank the coach for the invite. You will need to learn to filter through genuine interest and mass camp invites? How does this coach have her email address? Has there been any back and forth? Has the TB coach been involved in some fashion? Did she fill out the online recruiting questionnaire?

 

[JumboJack]

Is the school on her short list? If so, I would highly consider going. If not, make sure to thank the coach for the invite. You will need to learn to filter through genuine interest and mass camp invites? How does this coach have her email address? Has there been any back and forth? Has the TB coach been involved in some fashion? Did she fill out the online recruiting questionnaire?

The coach saw her profile on FieldLevel. It’s in our geographical area but that’s about it.


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[BT3100]

I've been saying for a while that one of the reasons I love the website Captain U is that you can see which schools open emails and which do not. When DD was in the recruiting process she would send out emails to the schools on her list. She would know within hours which coaches opened her emails and which did not. She would send her schedule and again schools that opened the email would attend her games.... after they read her emails and attended games we felt really good about attending their camps. Camps are expensive as we would fly down to some of her target schools. $1500-$2000 for the trip. I was not going unless we were sure of some level of interest. Even local camps can be expensive without travel. Some are $350 for the weekend. Plus you are tying up your time where you could be at a camp of a school with interest.
Spent the $20/month on captain U or a similar service.

 

[ez_softball]

I think that you are getting good advice. There are two types of camps, fundraising camps to support the program and actual recruiting camps. The first type is the generic college camp $400/player, come join 90 other youth players for a day or two and practice/play. The actual recruiting camps typically don't cost a dime and are invite only that might include 20-25 actual players on the coaches radar. Those are more intimate and usually consist of campus visit, practice with college team etc.

 

[Cannonball]

We had a lot of different experiences. You have your typical summer camp that is about making money. You have your "invite only" camps that are often not invite often. Then, you have real invite only camps and they look totally different than the aforementioned camps. We were always lucky that my dd was placed in the better groups. Yes, it won't take long in many of the camps to know exactly where your dd stands in their hierarchy of recruitable players. I could bore you with a dozen stories. The simple truth is that there isn't a one size fits all when it comes to these camps. Determine what the camp has to offer like will they film and analyze her swing or pitching, determine if the cost fits your budget and then you have to look at the academics of the institution to see if it offers degrees in areas your dd might be interested in. (I am trying to help one young lady get into a school and she wants physical therapy. The school she wants to go to does not offer that. It does offer occupational therapy. It would have been good to know this earlier in the process.)

 

[livingontheroad]

1. Camps make money for school and coach.

2. It lets them work with players who they're interested in and have specially invited.

3. They might stumble on an awesome player they want if they have their eyes open...and the player is just a Head and shoulder standing out from everybody else.

My DD went to a camp at relatively nearby D1 school once. She had had some contact with the previous coach. But he left. The new husband-wife coaching staff had invited a few players from across country where they came from. AZ. Those were the only players they paid attention to. And they were not necessarilly the best players there at the positions they worked at. It was pretty clear they were only ones interested in though, the ones they were already engaged in recruiting for positions.

Thats the rub.....recruiting starts early.....most roster spots at major D1 softball schools are already earmarked a few yrs in advance. They might be looking for one or two positions, or extra speed . Things change...... But it's never like they need a whole team..... And they're going to look at all the positions to fill it.

A standout that everyone notices.wull be noticed though.