What will turn off a college coach about a player?

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Just so as not to panic some parents with younger girls, the Division I schools are probably almost all done with the 2010 class and well on their way for the 2011 class, but most Division II and III schools are probably still looking for good players in those 2 graduating classes.

 

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4. Have parents taught her to be a self-starter?
5. Can she be counted on to be a good ambassador for the school?

Those attributes will take her a LONG way!

#5 is a BIGGIE!! If a kid is a complainer, a blamer, lazy, etc. it will eventually show through for all to see. Coaches want kids who are a part of the solution - NOT a part of the problem.

When the girls arrive at a college, #4 listed above is huge, at least for me. And #5 in terms of being a leader is huge for me.

I have been at my job for 18 months now and our program just now, in the last couple of weeks, is finally starting to get player leadership. Because of that, we're now starting to have our players looking for things to get into instead of things to get out of. We had extra girls working our clinics this past weekend, over and above what I had asked for. Pretty much everyone came to the open gym session last night. A couple of freshmen pitchers who had the nerve to report last week out of shape have been shocked into what's expected and are now working beyond the prescribed amount to get themselves into shape.

We had one senior step up (with some gentle and not-so-gentle prodding) and do a 180 from her attitude last year and it's changing the culture of the team. The freshmen mostly love it, the sophomores seem to like it, and the juniors and seniors are either ok with it or are tolerating it. It's not quite that specific, but our team is now acting like a team instead of a team that believes they will just show up for a couple hours of practice and that will have to be good enough.

The point is that we want girls who are self-starters and self-motivated and who have the ability and desire to get their teammates on that same bus. We want girls who are looking to find extra time for hitting, fielding, conditioning, etc. and not girls who whine about every little inconvenience. We want girls who will report in the fall and in January in shape and who don't expect the coaches to spend a month getting them in the shape they should be in when practice begins.

 

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The team jumper comment wasn't by a travel coach Uber, it was from an actual college coaches mouth.

I am the head coach of a small women's college team also, and I was on the field on Saturday morning for the catcher's/hitting part of the Kent State camp, and I over heard two coaches saying "what concerns me is she has played for 4 different travel teams in 4 years................ either she isn't a team player, or she isn't ever happy and causing problems, and must have issues or baggage." I won't say who it was, but I don't want people to think I made that one up.

Plenty of good information on this post. More kids should read it to know what to look for and what not to do.

 

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Dan:

What IS the current rule for email contact with freshmen? I reviewed the current NCAA recruiting guide and it really wasn't clear. Does it have to be an email that contains "standard" information or can it be a more personal communication from the college coach?

I assume that Division III coaches can send the personal messages since they can make calls during all four years of college, so what I'm really interested in is the Division II and Division I rules on emails for freshmen and sophomores.

 

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This might help shed some light, its pretty close, with a few changes now.

http://www.empirestatehuskies.org/pdf/College%20Softball%20Recruiting%20Tip%20Sheet.pdf

 

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Sorry CC I am not buying team jumping as an issue for college coaches. My DD played on 1 team for 6 years but all the coaches she has delt with to date have only inquired about her current travel coach


Speaking of you as a small college coach, I take it your the coach of Penn State Greater Allegheny? What exactly is USCAA? Are they governed by NCAA? Just curious

 

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BTW I am not saying it wouldn't be a reason for concern if they knew the kid was a team jumper, I just don't think its a top issue for coaches, otherwise it would be on their questionaires or on visits they would ask LOL, been on visits with my DD and that subject never came up. Her game, grades ,outside interests, the softball program and the school have dominated the conversation

 

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If you want to check out a college and or a program here's agood place to start. IMO pick the school and degree 1st then softball.http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ/state/

 

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This might help shed some light, its pretty close, with a few changes now.

http://www.empirestatehuskies.org/pdf/College%20Softball%20Recruiting%20Tip%20Sheet.pdf

CC--coaches are no longer allowed to text message or instant message as that sheet says. Also, there are some exceptions regarding emails that coaches can send prior to their junior year.

 

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Uber, we are USCAA, that is the governing body. It stands for United States Collegiate Athletic Association. We are not affiliated with the NCAA, our rules are different. Most of our schools are on the smaller side, so the schools decided to form their own governing body. The web site is http://www.theuscaa.com/sports/sball/index

Verbatim From their web site: The United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) is a national organization that exists to provide quality athletic competition on a regional and national level for smaller institutions of higher learning and their student-athletes. The goal of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association is to provide opportunities for small colleges to compete on an equal level of competition with schools of like size and athletic programs. Our association seeks to conduct national championships, name All-Americans, scholar athletes, and promote USCAA member schools.

We don't have much limitations in recruiting being that we are so small also and can't offer athletic money. Our school is also a member of our conference which is primarily other Penn State branch campuses. The majority of Penn State graduates get started a branch campus because their is such a high demand for a Penn State degree. A little about our conference http://www.psu.edu /dept/psuac/ We would be a mix of between DIII and a Junior College. We do however have a few 4 year programs at our McKeesport campus. We play a full 38 game schedule in the spring and that includes a spring trip to CoCoa Beach, Florida.

Best of luck to you, and take care.

 

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Check out pages 20-23 for recruiting info.

http://www.ncaapublications.com/Uploads/PDF/2009-10%20CBSA_Web5f0f3230-c5fb-422c-8c69-a572338d05be.pdf

 

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Carol. Maxx and IceBlack29, posted good information. No a college coach cannot call or e mail a Freshman. Basically the way they make contact is thru camps, clinics and showcases. For example at KSU showcase, many college coaches talked to the dd and we got camp information sent to us. If you are on campus at your expense you can visit and they can talk to you as many times as you /they like. Many Freshman and Sophomores are being recuited this way. We have 4 visits lined up.
Here is the four points that we were given. 1. Grades. 2. Attitude. 3. Ability. 4. Parents. Each play a part on if they want you. Now in terms of how many teams. Never heard any question us. Heck she played on 5 teams last year alone as a sub , playing up . Most of the teams she has played for since she started travel ball at 8, are gone. I even asked the question and they understood, many kids today outgrow the team they are on. They look more at the type of team you played for.

 

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Thanks everybody.

 

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No a college coach cannot call or e mail a Freshman.

Each division is different. At D2 they cannot call, but they can email soph. and freshman as long as it does not involve "athletic-related recruiting materials." Permitted materials include: "educational information published by the NCAA (e.g., NCAA Guide for College-Bound Student-Athlete), institutional camp brochures, questionnaires, and nonathletically related recruiting materials."

They can also respond to an email "provided the written response does not include information that would initiate the recruitment
of the prospective student-athlete or information related to the institution?s athletics program."

Please refer to page 75 of the D2 manual:

http://www.ncaapublications.com/Uploads/PDF/D2_Manual9ead2668-3745-49b1-9be9-93516c76c618.pdf

13.4 RECRUITING MATERIALS

13.4.1 Printed Recruiting Materials. An institution may not provide athletically related recruiting materials (including electronic mail and facsimiles) to a prospective student-athlete (or his or her parents, legal guardians
or coaches) until September 1 at the beginning of the prospective student-athlete?s junior year in high school.
Violations of this bylaw shall be considered institutional violations per Constitution 2.8.1; however, they shall
not affect the prospective student-athlete?s eligibility.

13.4.1.1 Exceptions.

13.4.1.1.1 Permissible Date. An institution may provide educational information published by the NCAA (e.g., NCAA Guide for College-Bound Student-Athlete), institutional camp brochures (see Bylaw
12.5.1.6.1), questionnaires and nonathletically related recruiting materials (e.g., institutional admissions
publications, academic publications, student services publications) to a prospective student-athlete at any
time.

13.4.1.1.2 Reproducing Printed Recruiting Materials in Any Electronic Format. An institution may reproduce media guides in any electronic format for purposes of recruiting; however, all of the material
contained in the electronic format must be able to be replicated in hard-copy format (i.e., the electronic
format may not contain audio or visual materials pursuant to Bylaw 13.4.2) and must be permissible according
to Bylaw 13.4.1. (Adopted: 4/11/06)

13.4.1.2 Responding to Prospective Student-Athlete?s Request. Institutional staff members (including athletics staff members) may respond to a prospective student-athlete?s letter requesting information from an
institution?s athletics department before September 1 at the beginning of the prospective student-athlete?s junior year in high school, provided the written response does not include information that would initiate the recruitment
of the prospective student-athlete or information related to the institution?s athletics program (e.g., the reply contains an explanation of current NCAA legislation or a referral to the admissions department

13.4.2 Electronic Media. An institution may not provide athletically related electronic media to a prospective
student-athlete (or his or her parents, legal guardians or coaches) until September 1 at the beginning of the
prospective student-athlete?s junior year in high school. Violations of this bylaw shall be considered institutional
violations per Constitution 2.8.1; however, they shall not affect the prospective student-athlete?s eligibility.

13.4.2.1 Exception?Community Engagement Activities. An institution may produce, show, send and
provide a prospective student-athlete with electronic media of its community engagement activities at any time.

 

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13.4.5 Electronic Transmissions. Electronically transmitted correspondence that may be sent to a prospective
student-athlete (or his or her parents, legal guardian or coaches) is limited to electronic mail and facsimiles.
All other forms of electronically transmitted correspondence (e.g., instant messaging, text messaging, message boards) are prohibited. Color attachments may be included with electronic mail correspondence sent to a prospective student-athlete, provided the attachment does not include any animation, audio or video clips and there is
no cost (e.g., subscription fee) associated with sending the item attached to the electronic mail correspondence.
(Adopted: 1/14/08 effective 8/1/08, Revised: 4/21/09)

 

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Thanks Maxx for pointing that out. I keep forgetting we are working with Divn 1 coaches.

 

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And as cgs pointed out above, Div. 3 is entirely different from 1 and 2. We deal all the time with people thinking we have the same rules as 1 or 2. I get e-mails from girls quite often that say I know you can't contact me...., when in reality we can. If you are sending e-mails or letters to coaches, do different ones for each NCAA division and NAIA.

I know pretty much everyone thinks that if they can't go Div. 1 or 2, then surely they can go NAIA or easily Div. 3, but we just cut 9 girls this fall, many of whom were 1st team all league in high school and played travel ball. If a girl isn't getting any sniffs from a D1 or D2, it's not safe to think she is automatically going to be on a D3 roster.

The other thing is that ability comes first. I have been on both sides of this as a travel/hs coach and now a college coach and I haven't run into any college coaches who aren't looking first at whether a girl is going to help the team on the field. Once that is determined, the girl must have the other things like grades, etc., but I don't think anyone is taking the class valedictorian if she is a .250 hitter in high school ball.