Any services "worth" purchasing?

[justanotherguy]

As my DD enters prime recruiting age, I'm wondering if there are any "must have" services that can really help recruiting. A friend mentioned his daughter was using hudl but she's also a national star in basketball playing on the national under armor team. He said it's used for softball as well and you can see who watches your videos. I don't even see a softball option on their page though. That led me to the thought of services that can be a large help in recruiting. Mainly, coaches of schools we'd never even thought of seeing your DD. She's doing what she should by emailing her target schools regular updates with video. I'm just wondering about that broader exposure and services that have a good proven track record of getting your DD's info out to the world.

 

[murphdog]

We didn’t pay for anything but DD was pretty set in location and possible major so we were able to narrow it down to a handful of schools early on.
Making sure the school would still be a good fit if for some reason softball was no longer an option is huge.

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

Use the free resources out there. Hashtag your kids name on everything, Max preps, You Tube, Instagram account, and Facebook are great social media site. Make sure they only cater to softball. What I like about Max Preps is that if you upload a video in there it goes to CBS which owns MP. So the video gets out there for sure.

 

[sbdad03]

Here's how I did it without spending a dime:

I wouldn't purchase anything...me and my daughter did it all ourselves and I'll tell you exactly what we did. She has committed to a D1 program and we did it with NO outside help. This was my secret:

1. Get a gmail email account.
Use your head and get a very useful email address. I set this up with her graduation year followed by her full name. For example: 2020FirstnameLastname@gmail.com. This way, the coach would know exactly what year my daughter graduated and didn't need to open the email if he/she wasn't looking for a recruit for that specific year (this will make sense when you read a bit down the email). Once this is setup....here comes the goods!

2. you need to get a google chrome app (this app is free). The app name is Hubspot. It's a sales app, but believe me, once you start sending emails...you'll get it. Also, you can only use this app with the Google Chrome browser and a gmail email account. It won't work with any other browser, so download that if you don't have it. Install this app in your Chrome browser.

Here is what the app will let you do:

1. you can see if the email you sent to a coach was opened.
2. you can see when it was opened.
3. you can see where they opened the email (if they were on campus, if they are out of town, etc. It will give the city and state they opened the email).
4. you can see how many times they opened the email (this was the key for us! The more a coach opened the email, the more interested in my daughter they were. Some coaches opened the email 30 or 40 times over a period of a couple of weeks. I’m guessing they were in meetings discussing recruits and passing the email to other coaches who would open it. Hubspot would track it all).

Start sending emails! You can track what college is opening the email and put your efforts, and money (camps, visits, etc.), into these schools. If a coach didn’t open the email or just opened it once, we knew they weren’t that interested and we moved our efforts to another school. We sent emails with a link to a couple youtube videos I put together for free from my iphone. Nothing fancy!

My daughter was offered by 4 D1 schools based on the info I just shared and we did it all free!

 

[justanotherguy]

Here's how I did it without spending a dime:

This is definitely some good info. My daughter already uses a gmail account, but never knew about this other info. We've been using youtube vids sent only to a handful of college coaches, so I know if those have been watched or not. Never had a clue about the email stuff though.

 

[sluggers]

I suggest you buy the book, "Preparing to Play Softball at the Collegiate Level" by Cathy Aradi. (No, I don't get anything from Cathy.) You can get the Kindle edition for $10...a steal.

I have met and talked softball recruiting with Cathy. She is the real deal. She is really interested in doing what is best for the kid...not the Daddy, not the coach...the kid.

As far as your specific situation, your DD has to decide what she wants out of her softball career.

What I've noticed over the years is that Daddies (and I was one) think of this is terms of young *men* playing sports. Boys grow up thinking that if they are good enough they can make a living playing football/baseball/basketball. Who wouldn't want to play baseball every summer and make a million dollars a year?

Girls don't have that dream. Girls tend to be much more practical and realistic...it is the Daddies who are living in a dream world.

One of my DD's friends was the #1 basketball recruit in the US, NCAA player of the year, #1 draft choice, Olympian, WNBA rookie of the year, WNBA MVP. She has done well for herself, but a man with those credentials would be driving a gold plated Mercedes with a house on the beach in Malibu.

My point? Really talk to your DD about her future and what *SHE* wants.

 

[mj1569]

I'll 2nd Cathi Aradi. Check out her service, Collegiate Softball Connection, at www.fastpitchrecruiting.com. I also get nothing. Cathi is great to work with.

 

[EcoT]

Here's how I did it without spending a dime:

I wouldn't purchase anything...me and my daughter did it all ourselves and I'll tell you exactly what we did. She has committed to a D1 program and we did it with NO outside help. This was my secret:

1. Get a gmail email account.
Use your head and get a very useful email address. I set this up with her graduation year followed by her full name. For example: 2020FirstnameLastname@gmail.com. This way, the coach would know exactly what year my daughter graduated and didn't need to open the email if he/she wasn't looking for a recruit for that specific year (this will make sense when you read a bit down the email). Once this is setup....here comes the goods!

2. you need to get a google chrome app (this app is free). The app name is Hubspot. It's a sales app, but believe me, once you start sending emails...you'll get it. Also, you can only use this app with the Google Chrome browser and a gmail email account. It won't work with any other browser, so download that if you don't have it. Install this app in your Chrome browser.

Here is what the app will let you do:

1. you can see if the email you sent to a coach was opened.
2. you can see when it was opened.
3. you can see where they opened the email (if they were on campus, if they are out of town, etc. It will give the city and state they opened the email).
4. you can see how many times they opened the email (this was the key for us! The more a coach opened the email, the more interested in my daughter they were. Some coaches opened the email 30 or 40 times over a period of a couple of weeks. I’m guessing they were in meetings discussing recruits and passing the email to other coaches who would open it. Hubspot would track it all).

Start sending emails! You can track what college is opening the email and put your efforts, and money (camps, visits, etc.), into these schools. If a coach didn’t open the email or just opened it once, we knew they weren’t that interested and we moved our efforts to another school. We sent emails with a link to a couple youtube videos I put together for free from my iphone. Nothing fancy!

My daughter was offered by 4 D1 schools based on the info I just shared and we did it all free!

What am I doing wrong?

Hubspot keeps asking me for a webdomain?

Maybe I am not downloading the correct free software option?

 

[efastball]

I might add, create a separate youtube user with only recruiting clips.

Do not put complete games or innings. Pretend you are reading an ad for someone.

Sally strikes out top recruit. Sally hits grand slam against #4 team in nation. Sally throws out fastest runner in nation from her knees at 3B.