Seeing college softball differently

[GOINGDEEP]

This is kinda a spin off from o2crush "who is in favor of".

I've been following that thread, lots of opinions on moving up or staying down for various reasons. Competition, trophies, talent, confidence, team building, college.

It's that time in life where my DD, girls we've played against, girls I've coached are juniors and seniors in HS. I've tried to put the girls in the right "position" for a chance of college level play since they were young.

Following the college softball for dummies manual.

1. Proper instruction young.
2. Starting off 6-8 playing in a good rec organization.
3. Moving into TB at 8u.
4. Practice.
5. Private instructors for some.
6. Starting at 10u, playing TB in multi states with better competition.
7. Starting 12u, playing at national events with better competition.
8. High school, playing in multi state HS tournaments.
9. High school, getting the team and players some ink in the paper.
10. 18u college exposure tournaments.
11. College camps.


These last 10 years were my first with fastpitch. ( I've loved every second ) For years I've been worried that none of "my girls" would get that college experience of ball, primarily because I felt the masses were implying there were only a handful of scholarships for the millions of FP players.

But now I see that very different. There are actually plenty of opportunities for scholarships of all size "rides" and all size divisions of colleges. Basically, if you want to play college ball and hit even a few decent exposure tournaments, some college somewhere needs you and wants you.

I'm watching players from these neck of the woods doing official visits, one on one evaluations, getting emails, getting letters, offers, signing National Letters of Intent, signing now with NAIA's. Heck, I can't wait until November to see who is going where and then another rush on January 15th.


I wanted to share my opinion with the parents of younger girls to let them know it's not nearly as scary as we make it out to be. Almost EVERY girl who wants to play college is getting courted by a college somewhere. I've also learned most of their tuitions are paid for. Shopping for a school that allows "stacking" of scholarships can get you a full ride, or very close to one.

 

[CoachKevin]

GD, just forgot 1 item.... Good Grades.

This is what I have been telling my DD. She isn't a star, but she is pretty solid. If she decides she wants to play in College, there is a School for her (even through it may be the College of Farming in the middle of Iowa, she can play College ball).

 

[PEPPERS]

My daughters and my experience is very similar to what you described, a young lady with the desire to play college ball the opportunities are out there. Once you get there you have to perform, because kids are cut every year because of lack of production.

One college that talked to DD told us they did not give scholarships for sports, but advised they could get her $30,000 worth of scholarships in other areas if she played for them, and her academics scolarships with be an addition. DD recieved Sell Miller academic scolarship.

Two kids I know of received full rides at JR Colleges and I’ve heard that never happens, one is a catcher and the other an outfielder.

 

[rdbass]

A good friend of mine DD just got a nice scholarship to pharam.school. When he and DD met with the HC he said he(HC) was going to be honest with why they offered her the scholarship. The HC told his DD that she wasn't the best softball player they've seen nor was she probably the 5th best player. The reason they picked her was because of her grades. They were confident that she would be able to handle the school work and keep up her GPA.. This was more important to them.

 

[RichK]

Good topic. We just had the parent meeting for our first year 16U team...I think two things stood out:

1. yes, there are lots of opportunities. this was my message to the parents. this is my second time through this (had older DD) and couldn't agree more that if you want to play (and honestly, first you've got to run through the first 8 or so checks on GoingDeep's list in order to become a strong player), you can find an option at the next level. This is GREAT.

2. parents/kids are becoming more realistic as to whether they WANT to play in college (just because they can) and especially whether they want to spend ridiculous amounts of money to chase that opportunity. THIS is even GREATER, because one of the big problems is a mismatch between what a team SHOULD be doing and what they CAN be doing to help ALL the girls on the team. On too many teams, a lot of families pay a LOT of money for a few girls to chase their opportunities. Also, just because you CAN play in college doesn't mean your DD will WANT to play in college--have that talk early with your DDs, teams and parents.

 

[PEPPERS]

A good friend of mine DD just got a nice scholarship to pharam.school. When he and DD met with the HC he said he(HC) was going to be honest with why they offered her the scholarship. The HC told his DD that she wasn't the best softball player they've seen nor was she probably the 5th best player. The reason they picked her was because of her grades. They were confident that she would be able to handle the school work and keep up her GPA.. This was more important to them.

I saw it posted somewhere that good D1 schools have a few kids on the team just for grades, they are there only to boost the grade average of the team.

 

[CPSBDad]

GOINGDEEP, I'm glad you brought this up. Great topic!

DD informed me this summer that she wanted to play softball in college. She also said she wanted to play on the varsity team in HS. She was being recruited by some mom's to enroll in their Catholic school and she would be guaranteed to play varsity ( no JV ). She declined and said she would prefer to earn it. Gotta love that.

I've taken DD to Mike Candrea's Holiday camp this past December. She loved the camp and learned alot, but hated the plane ride. Took her to Washington Husky's Academy Camp ( 25 campers only ) and that was when she decided college softball was in her future. Loved the coaches, the players and everything about the camp. But what sold her was the locker room! She just turned 13 a couple of weeks before she went to the Husky camp--got factor that in.

She is a member of the NJHS, and was recommended by one of her teachers to be a mentor to incoming 6th graders in her school. Plays volleyball, but softball is her main sport.

I talk to her alot about sacrifice, hard work, and commitment. She could have easily pick the local TB team to play for next spring and summer, but chose a team about 1 hr drive away. Had a scrimmage last night and she caught two innings, played OF for an inning and played 2nd for another. She loves how the coaches put her in different positions to see what she can do ( was awesome catching if I might add ).

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that there is a possibility DD can play softball in college, especially if she wants to.

Thanks for your insight.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Thank you all for the responses. I've really been surprised in the last month since school started at the number of college inquiries for the girls. It's like the flood gates have opened.

I have really been down in the dumps as DD chose not to play this fall. But we have and do still have a couple official visits to go, so that has helped a tad.

To me, the opportunities are there. ( that's not the impression I had 2+ years ago ) The problem is in the decision. Is it close, in or out state, room and board, living on campus restrictions for freshman, size of school, reputation of school, safety, courses, and what is the bottom line it will cost you out of pocket.

I'm actually seeing these young ladies make some really good choices. Most have pushed the pipe dream of playing for the top 5 softball programs........to weighing the best bang for my future and career. It's not all about how the team stacks up nationally, it's how the education stacks up for their particular field of study. ( Which blows my mind as that's not what I looked at deciding on college. I was looking at the BB program and the campus male to female ratio )

Another thing I've noticed is the amount of colleges doing Walk on tryouts this fall. I don't remember seeing this many last year. And I've also seen a few colleges accepting players who graduated in 2009'2010'2011. I haven't been able to confirm their scholarship details.


So now 3 of my fellow coaches from different areas of the mid-south play like 10 year olds on the phone each day. We try to see who is the first to find out where Sally is going this week for a official visit, where Susan is going for a evaluation, where Mandy has signed NLI, who has verbally committed, NAIA signings, who got this dollar amount. ( I'm really enjoying this time, glad I've got unlimited texting )

 

[Mrek]

This is kinda a spin off from o2crush "who is in favor of".

I've been following that thread, lots of opinions on moving up or staying down for various reasons. Competition, trophies, talent, confidence, team building, college.

It's that time in life where my DD, girls we've played against, girls I've coached are juniors and seniors in HS. I've tried to put the girls in the right "position" for a chance of college level play since they were young.

Following the college softball for dummies manual.

1. Proper instruction young.
2. Starting off 6-8 playing in a good rec organization.
3. Moving into TB at 8u.
4. Practice.
5. Private instructors for some.
6. Starting at 10u, playing TB in multi states with better competition.
7. Starting 12u, playing at national events with better competition.
8. High school, playing in multi state HS tournaments.
9. High school, getting the team and players some ink in the paper.
10. 18u college exposure tournaments.
11. College camps.


These last 10 years were my first with fastpitch. ( I've loved every second ) For years I've been worried that none of "my girls" would get that college experience of ball, primarily because I felt the masses were implying there were only a handful of scholarships for the millions of FP players.

But now I see that very different. There are actually plenty of opportunities for scholarships of all size "rides" and all size divisions of colleges. Basically, if you want to play college ball and hit even a few decent exposure tournaments, some college somewhere needs you and wants you.

I'm watching players from these neck of the woods doing official visits, one on one evaluations, getting emails, getting letters, offers, signing National Letters of Intent, signing now with NAIA's. Heck, I can't wait until November to see who is going where and then another rush on January 15th.


I wanted to share my opinion with the parents of younger girls to let them know it's not nearly as scary as we make it out to be. Almost EVERY girl who wants to play college is getting courted by a college somewhere. I've also learned most of their tuitions are paid for. Shopping for a school that allows "stacking" of scholarships can get you a full ride, or very close to one.

Since my DD started her Freshman year at a D3 college 2 weeks ago, this topic resonates with me.

I fully agree that if a girl wants to play at college, there is plenty of opportunities.

And certainly, any girl that goes through steps 1-11 should have significant interest.
And that plan is almost certainly the road to take if the desire is to play at D1.

But the travel ball industry and the private instruction industry sells to parents based upon the lure of scholarships.
And the reality is 40-50% of the women playing softball at 4 year colleges play for no athletic money.

My experience did not follow the plan...

DD played Rec Ball starting at 10
DD began pitching training at 11 (once a week group session)
DD first travel team at 13 (14U B level team)
4 year Varsity HS player
4 year 18U travel player (3 years at A ball, last summer played Gold just to try and keep sharp)

DD was recruited by about a dozen D3 colleges and 5-6 D2 schools.
Most of the D2 schools did not offer the academic programs she wanted. (This is an important issue, matching the softball with the degree)
Almost all of the interest was recieved from her skills video made in the spring of her Junior year in HS.
Only two schools on the list became interested after seeing her play in showcases as their first contact.

All in all, it would have been better to invest some our softball funding in more SAT prep and HS tutoring.

My recommendations would be to...

Play as cheaply as possible (Local Rec leagues generally have modest fundrasing and costs)

Get some economical personal training (Pitching for pitchers, Hitting for everyone)

Play HS ball. It's generally free (or minimal fundrasing). Play hard, do your best, get some press, get some awards.

Make a professional skills video, put it on line and send it to every college you might have interest in.

Play travel as a guest. In my expereince, guest players almost always get on the field.
( My DD sat the bench in her 1st year of 18U travel as a fully paid rostered player and a guest player played over her in 2 tournaments.
Needless to say we were gone at the end of the summer)

Paying to go to clinics held by the colleges you are interested in is always money well spent.
(Ultimately for my DD, 3 of these clinics ended up to be private workouts after the public session was over)


My DD is playing for her D3 school.
However, she would have gotten the same academic scholarship package regardless.

 

[InsidePitch]

Make a professional skills video, put it on line and send it to every college you might have interest in.

At a college run camp we were told don't spend the money on this and don't be George Lucas. Make one at home and don't slice and dice it. If DD punts one it happens. If the video is spliced together they think she's punted a lot of them. Keep them around 3 minutes and include them in emails as a link so they can watch right away. These were schools that do not offer athletic money.