Good time for recruiting

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My DD is a 13yo 7th grader. Plays for a team that is very much involved in college placement of their players. This is her first year of travel ball. They are telling us to start the recruiting process NOW (emails, short vids, profiles ect). If we wait it will be too late. Seems a little dooms day to me.

People always told me to get her on a travel team (@ 10U) or it would be too late to find a good team. I wanted her to enjoy playing with her friends with out feeling the pressures of travel ball that early. I didn't want to burn her out (my biggest fear). This year, she made the only travel team she tried out for, which was the only travel team she was interested in. Now this (recruiting) seems a little of the same. Asking her to choose 5-10 schools (at 13) that she wouldn't mind attending and start communicating with a coach. She's just figuring out the difference between high school, college and pros. Oh, and I'm suppose to know whether she is D1/2 or 3 talent so I can start targeting those schools. Can't I let her develope till she's in H.S.?

I am fairly new to this forum but it appears their is a vest wealth of knowledge and maybe even some college coaches that share their opinions. Is this an over reaction by an organization that is all about numbers and their reputation or an under reaction by me, who is concerned about their kid and maybe I don't realize this is today's world.

 

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My DD is a 13yo 7th grader. Plays for a team that is very much involved in college placement of their players. This is her first year of travel ball. They are telling us to start the recruiting process NOW (emails, short vids, profiles ect). If we wait it will be too late. Seems a little dooms day to me.

People always told me to get her on a travel team (@ 10U) or it would be too late to find a good team. I wanted her to enjoy playing with her friends with out feeling the pressures of travel ball that early. I didn't want to burn her out (my biggest fear). This year, she made the only travel team she tried out for, which was the only travel team she was interested in. Now this (recruiting) seems a little of the same. Asking her to choose 5-10 schools (at 13) that she wouldn't mind attending and start communicating with a coach. She's just figuring out the difference between high school, college and pros. Oh, and I'm suppose to know whether she is D1/2 or 3 talent so I can start targeting those schools. Can't I let her develope till she's in H.S.?

I am fairly new to this forum but it appears their is a vest wealth of knowledge and maybe even some college coaches that share their opinions. Is this an over reaction by an organization that is all about numbers and their reputation or an under reaction by me, who is concerned about their kid and maybe I don't realize this is today's world.

Sent you PM

 

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My DD is a 13yo 7th grader. Plays for a team that is very much involved in college placement of their players. This is her first year of travel ball. They are telling us to start the recruiting process NOW (emails, short vids, profiles ect). If we wait it will be too late. Seems a little dooms day to me.

People always told me to get her on a travel team (@ 10U) or it would be too late to find a good team. I wanted her to enjoy playing with her friends with out feeling the pressures of travel ball that early. I didn't want to burn her out (my biggest fear). This year, she made the only travel team she tried out for, which was the only travel team she was interested in. Now this (recruiting) seems a little of the same. Asking her to choose 5-10 schools (at 13) that she wouldn't mind attending and start communicating with a coach. She's just figuring out the difference between high school, college and pros. Oh, and I'm suppose to know whether she is D1/2 or 3 talent so I can start targeting those schools. Can't I let her develope till she's in H.S.?

I am fairly new to this forum but it appears their is a vest wealth of knowledge and maybe even some college coaches that share their opinions. Is this an over reaction by an organization that is all about numbers and their reputation or an under reaction by me, who is concerned about their kid and maybe I don't realize this is today's world.

let her enjoy the experience first and formost... She will tell you at the end of season if she wants to continue with travelball and how far she wants to takes it.

 

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good point. thanx

 

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maddball44, I can relate to what you wrote. I have 4 daughters. #1 is an 18 y/o college softball player and #4 is a 10u girl who thinks she wants to follow in her sister's footsteps and play in college. With both of them the recruiting "process" was and is exhausting. My middle two also play sports, but with them it is more for fun and the social connections. There are probably a million reasons why softball (sport in general) is a great thing to be a part of, but it should definitely not be ALL about college recruiting. I have never asked one of my middle two daughters to write a letter to a college coach and I doubt I ever will. The problem though is if your daughter later decides she wants to play softball in college, the road just becomes much steeper and more difficult to get scholarship money for every additional year that you wait. If she is not telling you now that she wants to play at the college level, then I agree with you... it would be a little silly to start sending letters to college coaches. What would you say to them???

 

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She definitely wants to play college ball. The timing took me by surprise. I guess if we had started at 10U this would all be second nature. I'm finding out from all you fine people that this is pretty much the norm.

 

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This is a 13 year old girl playing her first year of travel ball. Why don't you see how she likes the game, see if she is really good at it and see if she has the fire to continue before you start bothering college coaches. If you turn around and she has the highest batting average in the region along with all 5 tools then she won't have to worry much, the college coaches will find her.

For Pete's sake don't make every game a job interview; let her have some fun, let her find her own pace.

If she wants to play in college then she will have to be a year ahead of her s---r playing friends. Her junior season will be the last season/last summer that college coaches could really see her before the applications/acceptances are completed. All the spring sports have this dilemma. You will need to be priming the college pump by her sophomore season and that summer with a full out effort her junior year. If she is a superstar this will be easier but if she is an average player-then she'll have to work a little harder. Remember that there are very few D1 programs in the nation; let alone the region. Ohio has some supurb D3 (Academic and Athletically) schools that might have the education component that she should be looking for.

The best advice I have to offer is to make sure that she begins to think about what she wants to be when she grows up and then find a school that has those options. If she can play softball there then so much the better, but as always it is education first. When you travel make sure you stop by and visit some of these schools, it is one of the benefits of travel ball, use that visit to start a conversation about her future. Have her look up the school on her phone and read some descriptions. One of the games we played was to see if her number was available and look over the bios of the softball team and coach. If you get really lucky stop by the Student Union and have lunch. All of these activities are so much more useful than having her write or send a video to a college coach.

Good Luck and do enjoy the ride. She will be 18 in a blink and then you'll be going to her college graduation a moment later. My older dd visited some 30 colleges in our travels and read about many more. We always had something to talk about and conversation would lead us back to her future. She is 26 now and I do miss those trips.

 

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Don't let 'em panic you....10U and college is not the norm. Most of her friends won't figure it out until the fall of their senior year. Why expect your dd to be 5 years ahead of that curve. Relax a little.

 

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I agree completely with 2 things said here. First choose the school as if you would go there softball or not. Second be patient don't start panicking yet every 13 year old wants to play in college that can change by 16. The aspect of recruiting that you did mention that I think you should start working on a little is the whole idea of where she fits, D1, D2, D3. This is very difficult to do especially when it is your own daughter. In order to do this I would start attending some college games at different levels, watch the level of play and be honest with yourself and your daughter. You will also probably learn that there are some D2 or D3 programs out there that can play with D1s. Then as your daughter progresses you will have a better idea of what colleges to focus on for her to go play. You will also need to talk to people who know and make sure you do not take it as an insult when they are honest with you about their opinions of where your daughter fits. If you seem defensive or bothered by their opinions they will not give you honest answers which will be of no help to you. Lastly you will need to talk to your daughter about what she wants out of college ball regarding her role on the team Does she want to be on a D1 school where every player brought in is pretty good, the competition for playing time is intense and she could find herself having to change positions or being a backup. Maybe instead she would rather go to a smaller school where her abilities give her more opportunities. I certainly wish you and your daughter the best of luck as you enter the roller coaster ride of high level travel ball, high school ball, and recruiting. There will be many exciting experiences combined with some incredibly frustrating ones.

 

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7th grade is a good time to prepare for college and recruiting.

- Academics: Get familiar with admissions and academic scholarship requirements for various levels of schools so you and your DD can make informed decisions about which classes she takes and she knows what kinds of grades and test scores she needs to get.

- Softball: Your concerns about burnout are well-founded. Choosing a team at this age should be based on her having a positive experience (i.e. so she keeps playing) and development (i.e. coaching, playing time and level of competiton). The kids that are catching the attention of college coaches at 7th-8th grade are the extremely rare ones that are playing head and shoulders above their peers and against the top players in the country.

- Recruiting: Colleges recruit by HS grad class and the recruiting window varies by school/coach and level of competition. Get familiar with the different recruiting timeframes so you do the right things at the appropriate times. Also get familiar with the recruiting rules and scholarship limits for each level (NCAA D1, D2, D3 and NAIA). The best resource in the past was Cathi Aradi's book, Preparing to Play Softball at the Collegiate Level.

Best wishes!

 

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While there's a lot of great advice and points in this thread, there's a couple things that I think are most important. The first is RELAX ... parents and DD should just really enjoy the game at this point in her life. If your DD is a true stud, then it's extra important to get on a good team with a good coach, and the big schools are going to start hearing about her and so yes, it will be nice to start thinking about college and things yourself. HOWEVER, most 7th graders don't have a clue about what kind of college they want to go to and what they want to do the rest of their lives. If she's not a stud D1 player, you will have plenty of time to think more about this down the road. If she is, chances are the big D1 schools will have about any major she is interested in. IN MY OPINION, 7th grade is too early to start worrying about anything other than getting on a good team with a good coach for 99%+ of the players out there.

 

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While there's a lot of great advice and points in this thread, there's a couple things that I think are most important. The first is RELAX ... parents and DD should just really enjoy the game at this point in her life...
... most 7th graders don't have a clue about what kind of college they want to go to and what they want to do the rest of their lives. If she's not a stud D1 player, you will have plenty of time to think more about this down the road. If she is, chances are the big D1 schools will have about any major she is interested in. IN MY OPINION, 7th grade is too early to start worrying about anything other than getting on a good team with a good coach for 99%+ of the players out there.

That's really good stuff jwb. It is so easy to get caught up in the hype if you are researching college softball recruiting these days because the hot topic now is all about how to verbal your DD by the time she is a freshman in high school. What's almost never given serious time on here is what is the time line if my daughter wants to play softball, but not necessarily D1 or in the SEC or Big 10, etc...
It's probably worth noting all of this hype is surrounding two things: (1) How to get softball $$$ for your DD, and (2) how to get her on what would be considered a more elite level team (note... these programs do also exist at the D2 and D3 levels as well). If that really is not your (or her) focus then you have plenty of time. And that is not to say that if she does change her mind late that D1/elite spots wont be open, it's just there will be fewer with much less money, and it probably wont be at Tennessee or Alabama.
Really, when you think about it though, this is not that much different then if your daughter wants scholarship money to go to Harvard or for a doctorate in nuclear physics at Stanford. Anytime you compete for such highly sought after things (i.e. in excess of 30-40 kids applying for 1 spot) the competition level goes way up and you have all kinds of parents pushing their kids and building their resumes earlier and earlier so they have a small chance at succeeding in that dream. I wouldn't even want to know what kind of GPA, ACT and co-curricular activities you would need these days to even be considered for admission to that kind of a program ... especially if you want the school to PAY FOR IT.
So I think there is excellent advice on here from everyone. If your DD hasn't started talking about her aspirations to pitch at Tennessee or play on the national team, delay that communication with a college coach until she is capable of looking them in the eye and telling them that's where she wants to be.