Opinions on college recruitment

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PurpleJack that is the best advice to parents and players !!!!
It must be kept in mind during the thinking process.

Decide what you want to be educated in for the "future", what committment level is demanding and can be maintained to keep the academics up, which should be the goal, and selecting a enviroment they are comfortable in and will excel.

 

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On a side note, I got an interesting "take" today on why so many Cali girls come east. The simple answer is that out west the players far outnumber the available programs with decent scholarships. Unless your DD is a cream of the crop athlete - AZ, UCLA, Stanford, etc. - it's slim pickings.

It makes sense to me now why nearly every one of the larger DI programs out west are such powerhouses compared to the east. It's simply a matter of supply and demand. There are FAR more DI schools with money available than the west has, so everyone but the "first tier" talent is looking elsewhere. DII schools are not as prevalent out west, and usually are private, expensive schools. Same with DIII. I'm guessing the majority of the Big 10 Cali girls are here by default; not being a first choice in the west.

My source told me that it's very common for kids out west to start looking at a chosen academic field in an eastern school FIRST. There are far better opportunities for them to compete against eastern kids for both academics and athletics. It seems a good analogy would be the Latin American baseball players competing against Americans for the few MLB spots.

 

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My oldest daughter's college recruiting system was similar to the one above, but we didn't know what needed to be done until her junior year. It hurt her chances because a lot of schools had already made their choices. She also played on a team that didn't give her good college exposure until the summer before her senior year. That summer she sprained her ankle right before Stingrays and GAPSS and lost a lot of exposure. However, she had several coaches interested in her.

Her situation is a little more unique as she chose a school whose coach offered her a scholarship without seeing her play. She was recommended to him. After one visit, she fell in love with the school and is now playing there.

My youngest daughter started much earlier. She is a junior, and she has several schools that would like for her to join their softball program.

It is important to start early and play in tournaments that will get you college exposure. If your team is unable to get into some of the college showcase-type tournaments, try to get in as many ASA tournaments as possible and do a lot of writing. My younger daughter and a teammate invited college coaches to every tournament they played in. For the last two summers, there were college coaches watching our team every tournament, including the Westerville Warcats and ASA B States. Emails and letters are important.