So you want to play in college . . .

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Can I say something that some people need to hear?

COLLEGE COACHES WANT YOU BECAUSE OF WHO YOU ARE, NOT WHO YOU PLAY FOR.

We have had many discussions on OFC lately by people thinking that if you're on EliteTeam A or Gold Team B, your path to college is guaranteed. The points that many of us miss: Colleges want a player with skills/grades/good attitude. The good tournament teams - Beverly Bandits, Lasers, Doom, Tidalwaves,whoever- want the same qualities. You don't get on these teams hoping that they will turn you into a blue chip recruit, if you're on the team you've got what it takes already.

Perform the steps that are necessary ; contact the college coaches, attend their camps, Queen of Diamonds, skills videos, campus visits,etc... and, if the coach wants you, they will contact you whether you're playingfor the Corona Angels or the Holmes County Rec League. Who you play for is irrelevant.

And while we're talking about "performing the steps", do not go to an Exposure Tournament hoping to be "discovered". Colleges are there to see people that are already on their radar; be it from letters, recommendations, or previous observations.

I've been involved in softball from the T-Ball days through my daughter playing in college, and I've seen so many people wanting to jump to this team or that team because their expectations were never being met. Oftentimes I felt like saying "Could it be that your daughter simply isn't at the skill level you think she's at?"

'Trying to be recruitable? Have what it takes, and do what it takes. :cap:

 

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Good info....hard to read.

 

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I fixed it. Letters composed in Microsoft Word don't copy/paste very well ...

 

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Many, many good points - but your comment about "who you play for is irrelevant" is a tad misleading. Given all the prep work you discuss coaches will know who you are. But the better the player is, and the better college program she wants to play for, those coaches want to see her play against better competition. Doubtful that Holmes County Rec League can provide that. As we have been told many, many times - camps are camps, skills events are just what they are. Coaches want to see kids in action, working through tough on field situations, dealing with adversity, handling coaching, coming through in the clutch, being a TEAMMATE, etc. For every one player that earns her way on to a college roster playing for a community rec team there are 10x's that many that were recruited from strong teams.

Your point about - maybe your daughter just might not be good enough - is usually realized at the 16u age group. There is no shame in just being a "good high school player" these days. You can't take that away from kids.

 

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The better competition your dd plays the better chance she has being seen, I agree recruiting is a 4 legged stool, contacting coaches, attending camps and clinics, Playing in the right tourneys, and having your coach go to work talking to colleges. But as a parent or player I wouldn't down play the importance of playing as many high profile teams as you can. These teams draw coaches. Coaches will set and watch games and take profile sheets from both teams if a player catches their eye. I have seen it happen many times.

In todays recruiting you have to use what ever tool you have. There are times its better to be lucky than good. Meaning you do the right thing at the right time in front of the right person. Is that a 100 to one shot? Yes it is but you never know who is watching.

There is a reason these kids play on high profile teams. And there is a reason as a coach I want to play all of them that I can. It can do nothing but help my kids in the long run.


Tim

 

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I would strongly disagree that "who you play for does not matter." My daughter played for a team and they attended showcases, she made contact with coaches, she went to camps, clinics, etc., and that year no coaches contacted her at all (this was the summer after her junior year in H.S.). The next year, she played fall and summer for one of the elite teams in our area. Coaches came out of the wood work to talk to her. Like was mentioned above coaches came to games to see one player and saw her and to make a long story short, one of those coaches is helping to pay for her college education. Don't down play the importance of playing for a well known team that plays a tough exposure schedule. And to answer the question, no she did not improve drastically from one year to another. The MAJOR difference was her coaches worked to sell her and the exposure tourneys that the elite team played in.

 

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You know... When I was writing "who you play for is irrelevant" - a little voice said to add something like "up to a point" - but I ignored it because I didn't want to get long winded. You're all correct about those reasons.

 

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Sounds like who you play for is more important than who you play.

 

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I believe that who you play for is a big key. Example: a D1 coach sees two different girls hit 2 home runs. And both girls made a great defensive play. The one girl is the starting shortstop for a very well know travel team who has sent multiple girls to D1 who have been successful and the other is an unknown girl playing for an on known team who is getting killed. Put yourself in his or her spot... Who are you offering a scholarship.

 

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The reality is that college coaches are interested in players who are constantly being tested by competing against top level talent - just as they would be at the college level. (That was a quote from my DD's college coach) The coaches are not really concerned what team you are on, or even what the team's win-loss record is. College coaches don't hand out scholarships just because you are on a certain team, they award them because the player has proven to the college coach that she is worthy of playing at the college level.

It's a fact that certain teams take on a much more difficult summer schedule, and we know who those teams typically are. Players get better when challenged by like (or better) competition. Taking home trophies from easy wins won't get a college coaches attention, unless those wins are consistently against known top level teams. So, common sense says that the way to become one of those "top teams" is to find a way to play where those other top teams are in summer, and show you are worthy of the title. Not an impossible task, because I have seen several NEW teams do just that in the last 6 - 8 years.

Finally, a kid who is hungry for that college experience is going to do her best to get on one of those teams - not because of the team name, but because of the level of play. Believe me, college coaches will question why a kid with supposed talent is not playing in a challenging environment.

 

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You know sheriff, this is a very good post with great points. We have a very good friend who's dd plays D1 ball. She's been a starter for three years and will be again this year as she begins her senior year.

Her back story is this: she played for different travel teams in high school, none of which were the lasers, bandits, etc.

She never went to asa/usa nationals. She graduated from a rural school with 51 students in her graduating class.

She played hs ball but never went to states.

The main reason she plays D1 is because she and her parents did all the legwork and she was a great student.

She went to meet coaches individually, and made a fantastic video that her college coaches use to this day to recruit new players.

Hard work, strong academics and taking the initiative to put herself in front of coaches of colleges she was interested in made the difference for her.

She is living out her dreams playing college ball and getting a free education at the same time - can't beat that!!

 

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I agree. A good video and leg work by the parents and player makes a big difference.

 

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I want to add to my first post that the girl I referenced is not an "up the middle" player. She doesn't pitch play short or CF.

I don't know how unique her situation is but she was just someone who didn't have to spend the thousands and thousands of dollars that some families do traveling from coast to coast.

She was a girl who could get the job done, make the plays, hit the ball and promote herself.

Sounds simple but it worked for her.

 

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I'll add a lot depends on the college of interest. A school in NC that I thought my DD was going to further her education & play ball for, never heard of Stingrays, Lasers, Ice or any other team from Ohio. Never heard of Stingrays Tourney nor had any knowlege of any Ohio Tournmaent. And yes, this was a well known D1 school, albeit a small D1.

The coach wanted to see her at her camp, see her play ASA Qualifiers, and well known Showcases; Dynamite Classic, Orland Park, Colorado Sparkler for example. She knew my DD could pitch, but needed to see her against elite competition, see how she handled pressure & etc.

All the above are good points.

 

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I'll add a lot depends on the college of interest. A school in NC that I thought my DD was going to further her education & play ball for, never heard of Stingrays, Lasers, Ice or any other team from Ohio. Never heard of Stingrays Tourney nor had any knowlege of any Ohio Tournmaent. And yes, this was a well known D1 school, albeit a small D1.

The coach wanted to see her at her camp, see her play ASA Qualifiers, and well known Showcases; Dynamite Classic, Orland Park, Colorado Sparkler for example. She knew my DD could pitch, but needed to see her against elite competition, see how she handled pressure & etc.

All the above are good points.

This has been my experience as well. While we know the Stingrays & Lasers tournaments pull in the same type of good competition as say, Orland Sparks, both of these tournaments are not known outside the Ohio recruiting circuit (i.e. look at the small list of out of state schools that attended either of these tournaments). In my opinion, Lasers should team up with PGF to host their tournament (but thats another thread).

The Demarini Showcases, Rising Stars, ASA Nats, PGF Nats, Ronald McDonald Showcase and Sparkler are where the majority of D1 schools flock to. So if you kid wants to play D1 at an "out of state school", you gotta play in the tournaments where those coaches will be at (obviously you have to have their interest first, and then, play in showcases they will be at).

 

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I think an important point to understand is that the process is a series of things, all of which need to be understood and pursued, but not get too caught up in any one thing and feel defeated if one of the things does not happen...like being on a well known team. I know a kid in her third year at Cleveland State who was seen while playing against a Buckeye Heat team (she was playing for Central Ohio Ice/not a major organization), CSU was there to watch Buckeye Heat players. I know a kid who was only seen at the Kent State camp and is now playing at Eastern Michigan. The point is, learn to work hard, have the skills and personal discipline coaches are looking for and don't give up. Putting too much weight on any one thing will make a kid feel like it is a losing game, it's hard work, and all about your skill set being fine tuned. College coaches recruit players, not teams. It helps to be on a team that plays big tourneys, has players being looked at and all of the other things mentioned, camps, videos and hard work.

 

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I think the idea of who you play for and how much it matters is a very interesting question when it comes to recruiting. While I have my own opinions on the subject( which don't matter since I am not a college coach offering scholarships) there might be a way for some enterprising individual to put in some time provide some good data to consider. There was recently a thread listing many of the Ohio girls who are currently verballed to or playing D1 softball. This thread also included their travel teams in many instances. Somebody with the time and desire could break that list down and it would give a pretty good sample to look at percentages of Ohio girls playing D1 and the type of summer team they played for. I won't be doing this since thankfully I am done with the recruiting process, but more power to somebody who wants to.

 

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I think the idea of who you play for and how much it matters is a very interesting question when it comes to recruiting. While I have my own opinions on the subject( which don't matter since I am not a college coach offering scholarships) there might be a way for some enterprising individual to put in some time provide some good data to consider. There was recently a thread listing many of the Ohio girls who are currently verballed to or playing D1 softball. This thread also included their travel teams in many instances. Somebody with the time and desire could break that list down and it would give a pretty good sample to look at percentages of Ohio girls playing D1 and the type of summer team they played for. I won't be doing this since thankfully I am done with the recruiting process, but more power to somebody who wants to.

Agree- if you look at the list on that thread of girls playing DI ball, a pattern of certain travel ball organizations is VERY apparent

 

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The pattern is true but the other common factor that the list does not show is how hard each kid worked to be selected to these teams in the first place. My Daughter plays D1 now and was recruited while playing for The Central Ohio Ice (not a Major Organization)...she was selected to play for a Gold team at about the same time she was recruited. Both opportunities happened at about the same time and because she worked really hard to improve her skills, worked with the same trainers many of these girls trained with and made many personal sacrifices in the process. So, let's not send a limited message that the teams you are on gets you to the next level and that's it. The work you put in to be selected by these teams is the work you need to put in to be offered a scholarship. That work ethic and skill improvement can be offered up to any travel team and they would welcome you! I would like to hear from each girl on this list and find out what they did on their own to get better! That is the "common factor" that matters...

 

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I'll add a lot depends on the college of interest. A school in NC that I thought my DD was going to further her education & play ball for, never heard of Stingrays, Lasers, Ice or any other team from Ohio. Never heard of Stingrays Tourney nor had any knowlege of any Ohio Tournmaent. And yes, this was a well known D1 school, albeit a small D1.

The coach wanted to see her at her camp, see her play ASA Qualifiers, and well known Showcases; Dynamite Classic, Orland Park, Colorado Sparkler for example. She knew my DD could pitch, but needed to see her against elite competition, see how she handled pressure & etc.

All the above are good points.

The catch 22, we don't care what kind of team your on but we want you to see you in the big invitationals...but your not getting into those unless your playing for a big time organization.