college scholarships and High School Ball

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Bouldersdad brings up a lot of good points.

Naturally, everyone has had different experiences as their DD went through their journey to college and opinions will very as it relates to the importance of playing for your HS.

I encourage the ladies to support/play for their school but I also understand why some choose not to.
From my experience in the process working with HS and TB teams there are some good and some not so good programs with both.
Not all coaches work to help the ladies into post secondary play or are willing to learn the process so they can help their ladies. Some HS programs are safety issues as well... I have seen some very bad programs and most do not even come close to a LEB., Mason, Lakotas, GE, Milford or one of the top programs in our area. HS ball for the most part does not even come close to a college experiance. Grades in some schools...classwork again not the same expectations as college and the athletic/practice requirements not close for the majority of programs...

After working and attending many combines, clinics and showcase tournaments this discussion comes up periodically and I have had a couple coaches tell me they would like to see their players play HS ball however; with that said if the lady is a 'player" she will get looks and offers regardless if she plays school ball or not.


During my DDs recruiting process she had several school from D1 to NAIA looking at her (none asked about HS ball). They did ask about grades, attendance and summer team info. (who/where she played)?
As far as the posters that post about HS awards. My DD basically played one full varsity season to collect a lot of hardware her senior year. She played 14 Varsity games as a freshman2010, sat out her Soph. year 2011. Broke her ankle the 10th
game of the season in 2012 and played a full year in 2013 leading her team and conference in several categories hitting/fielding, Paper clips, all star app etc.

HS ball for her was more for her and her team more than anything that would help her in the recruiting process. She loved her HS coach her JR/SR years and it is cool to get into the paper/news and that is something HS ball can do that TB cannot.

A little off topic but still relevant; the dedication from the 93,94,95 age groups is something special. I am working with the younger age groups now and our HS and the level of commitment is not the same.

Now there are some good players outside of these age groups but nothing like what I seen out of these age groups the past 10 years. This year with our HS team we had one TB player. The rest were All Stars on their Rec.team and thought what they did in the past was good enough for HS. We went 4-20! Off of, back to back sweet 16 D1 appearances.
A lot of players also now have no interest in playing beyond HS add in higher pay to play and a lot of TB parents have to decide on the ROI of playing HS ball and the cost of summer ball.
 
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Hi-Jack alert
Who is Jack and why should we be concerned about him? :p

I am surprised to find that as a HS Coach that I am paid to win games.

I thought I was paid to educate and mold the young women of my community so that they can become contributing members of our society utilizing the venue of sport to teach those valuable lessons.

I could certainly win more games if I cut the 12 kids that have never played ball before and only worked with the competent athletes, but few of these kids will do much softball in college and none beyond. They will however, go onto to become Emergency Room Nurses, Teachers, Engineers, moms etc..... The lessens these girls learn have very little to do with softball and a lot to do with life. Any high school coach that thinks this is about HIS wins and losses needs to move on, the sooner the better.
His point was his job as head varsity coach was dependent on how the varsity team fared in season and he was correct. He is a math teacher and the 6th period athletics class counted as one of his classes. He received an additional stipend for coaching the team in season. Three (3) seasons later he was relieved of his coaching duties after the varsity team had a losing season and consequently failed to make the playoffs.

Back on subject:
...
I would also like to point out that most (all) college rosters list the players hometown and her high school but none that I have found list her travel ball team or her other sports/activities. If high school softball is so unimportant to a college coach you would think that they would have a different list of data on those rosters...like how fast she can run the 440....but they don't.
College rosters list their previous school which is usually a HS. The Nebraska roster also lists their travel ball club - Softball Roster - Huskers.com.

I now understand BouldersDad was talking about posters like yourself.
 
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And I have never had a college coach tell me that because a kid played another sport they were not interested in her. ...
That's not the issue.

Sure it is, I have never had a coach say a single word about hs ball in the 30 plus kids I have helped go to college. That has been the crux of this entire post.
I don't recall anyone saying playing HS is a prerequisite for playing in college, so that's not being discussed. Some people have posted that learning to deal with the unpleasant aspects of HS ball will prepare them for college ball.

I agree most college coaches don't pay much attention to what happens in HS ball, but some will be interested to hear why someone didn't play HS.

College rosters do list their home town, besides their bio I have never seen their hs listed.
Wow, are you serious? Take a look at this one - Official Softball Roster - Louisville Cardinals Official Athletic Site. smh
 
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OK ya got me there, I will give on the high school, I never paid a ton of attention to the HS being there.

I don't recall anyone saying playing HS is a prerequisite for playing in college, so that's not being discussed. Some people have posted that learning to deal with the unpleasant aspects of HS ball will prepare them for college ball.

I agree most college coaches don't pay much attention to what happens in HS ball, but some will be interested to hear why someone didn't play HS.

No they are saying its a huge red flag to college coaches if you dont play hs ball. My contention is college coaches as a majority could give a **** less as long as that time not playing hs ball is well spent. Like in using it to make her a better athlete and student
 
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"Coach you are responsible for wins and losses. The kids get the credit for the wins the coach takes the hit for the losses."

Good point
 
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While recruiting isn't done at regular season high school games, you better have a good reason for not playing high school which includes doing something else instead. Every college coach I've heard who has been asked this subject has pretty much said it sends up a lot of red flags. People unhappy with their high school coaches can keep telling themselves it doesn't matter, but at least know if you use that as an excuse you're going to scare some college coaches away.

So is it a huge setback if their school does not have a softball team?
 

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