If you're just now at the beginning, you are waaaaay behind (I hate clichés)
Good luck to those who will be sitting by the phone at midnight Saturday Aug 31/Sunday Sept 1
- Thread starter Tazman
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Daughter is a 2026. Getting a little anxious to find out who is genuinely interested my daughter. She has done the emails, went to 6-8 high level D1 camps. Multiple schools have been in contact with her head coach, some of those schools have been in contact with her high school coach also.
She has her top 3 schools that have showed interest, plus two other schools that are not as high on the list but she is certainly interested in. We have put together a list of questions that coaches from schools are likely to ask on a phone call, and she has been preparing herself to give educated responses to those type of questions. This might seem weird but I am hoping some school calls that she is not very interested in first so she can get a better idea of what actually occurs during these type of phone calls.
To be honest, I personally feel pretty uninformed by how this whole process goes down. Like most things in life, until you have gone through the entire process, you don't really know. Everyone's situation is a little different.
She has her top 3 schools that have showed interest, plus two other schools that are not as high on the list but she is certainly interested in. We have put together a list of questions that coaches from schools are likely to ask on a phone call, and she has been preparing herself to give educated responses to those type of questions. This might seem weird but I am hoping some school calls that she is not very interested in first so she can get a better idea of what actually occurs during these type of phone calls.
To be honest, I personally feel pretty uninformed by how this whole process goes down. Like most things in life, until you have gone through the entire process, you don't really know. Everyone's situation is a little different.
Believe me. You have more knowledge than 97% of the TB parents out there, just by being part of this community.
- May 27, 2013
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Good luck to your DD’s and enjoy the process!
Here's my advice as someone who's gone through it with a lot of turbulence along the way.
I made a lot of mistakes with my younger daughter's recruiting. Some of it was my fault, and some were just being sold a bill of goods by people who promised the world and didn't deliver.
My daughter moved teams a lot through the years. She improved quality whenever she did so, but always being the new girl was still hard. In her last three travel seasons, she played with four organizations. The former LD teams out of NJ were a clown show. We left after they punished her for missing a game due to a flight delay and having to miss the next event due to a family funeral. Lesson learned.
We then returned to her previous organization, but we were now on their top team. The problem is the coach was a mean, fat SOB who was abusive to the girls. He got kicked out of 25% of the team's games for arguing or cursing. Lesson learned.
The next team was a "top" National team in the NE. We traveled the country to the best events and even had a recruiting coordinator on staff who was like a politician. He was shaking hands and kissing babies all the time. It might've gone well if she didn't get injured and tried to pitch through it her whole 2nd year of 16U, but she never told us, so she pitched poorly. The other main problem was this organization believed the mountain should come to Mohammed. Despite having a recruiting coordinator at all the games, they wanted her to do all the work. And because of the injury, her D1 interest dried up despite them following her around Top Gun and the IDT. Also, the coach played favorites, especially with the staff. Despite my misgivings, she wanted to return for her 18U year so she wouldn't be the new girl again. The fall season was even worse. The team had one coach for 19 players. The recruiting coordinator was now a player's parent who had no clue what he was doing. The team was terrible. She was so depressed after the season ended she nearly gave up pitching at a top level. Going into the last half of a season of 18U, she was on the move again. Lesson learned.
At long last, she found her home. She did the research herself and hooked up with an organization in Louisiana. They took a chance on her, but they believed in her and treated her with dignity and respect. The organization head was an animal with recruiting. She would drag a coach to watch one of her players if she had to. It was such a breath of fresh air. Imagine that. A coach who was an advocate for your daughter. A coach who would go out of her way to help her. A coach who only employed former D1 and D2 players and all female. I can't thank them enough for what they did for my daughter, and I am forever grateful.
The moral of the story is if your organization isn't actively supporting you through this process, find another one before it's too late.
I made a lot of mistakes with my younger daughter's recruiting. Some of it was my fault, and some were just being sold a bill of goods by people who promised the world and didn't deliver.
My daughter moved teams a lot through the years. She improved quality whenever she did so, but always being the new girl was still hard. In her last three travel seasons, she played with four organizations. The former LD teams out of NJ were a clown show. We left after they punished her for missing a game due to a flight delay and having to miss the next event due to a family funeral. Lesson learned.
We then returned to her previous organization, but we were now on their top team. The problem is the coach was a mean, fat SOB who was abusive to the girls. He got kicked out of 25% of the team's games for arguing or cursing. Lesson learned.
The next team was a "top" National team in the NE. We traveled the country to the best events and even had a recruiting coordinator on staff who was like a politician. He was shaking hands and kissing babies all the time. It might've gone well if she didn't get injured and tried to pitch through it her whole 2nd year of 16U, but she never told us, so she pitched poorly. The other main problem was this organization believed the mountain should come to Mohammed. Despite having a recruiting coordinator at all the games, they wanted her to do all the work. And because of the injury, her D1 interest dried up despite them following her around Top Gun and the IDT. Also, the coach played favorites, especially with the staff. Despite my misgivings, she wanted to return for her 18U year so she wouldn't be the new girl again. The fall season was even worse. The team had one coach for 19 players. The recruiting coordinator was now a player's parent who had no clue what he was doing. The team was terrible. She was so depressed after the season ended she nearly gave up pitching at a top level. Going into the last half of a season of 18U, she was on the move again. Lesson learned.
At long last, she found her home. She did the research herself and hooked up with an organization in Louisiana. They took a chance on her, but they believed in her and treated her with dignity and respect. The organization head was an animal with recruiting. She would drag a coach to watch one of her players if she had to. It was such a breath of fresh air. Imagine that. A coach who was an advocate for your daughter. A coach who would go out of her way to help her. A coach who only employed former D1 and D2 players and all female. I can't thank them enough for what they did for my daughter, and I am forever grateful.
The moral of the story is if your organization isn't actively supporting you through this process, find another one before it's too late.
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I said they know the rules. I didn't say they follow them though in my experience most do.You would hope so, but I would bet quite few either don't fully understand them, or they don't follow them.
I remember one of the top 24 pitchers announced her commitment on 9/1/22 to an SEC school. It's almost as if the deal was in place before that day.
There are visits, conversations, offers, trade offs to come. We are far from behind but a ways from the end.
Honest assessment of player Talent Level is a big component.
Part of the conundrum folks run into is the family assessment of their kid Talent level they think they are
vs .
What the coaches are looking for. And the reality of the level of the talent assessment.
There may not be any best way for coaches to respond about recruitment.
They can either be blunt and say
'you are nowhere near what we are looking for.'
Or
they can put you in a group with a lot of others and say 'thank you for contacting us and attending camps. we are not ready to make our selections yet'
( which can leave a big door open of false hope. With a crack of reality)
Or
for the few that are actually going to be contacted they get The Upfront conversation. Which for many will be we are going to continue observing you. You're on the observation list. With no conclusion for some months to come perhaps. in that group there may be a long wait for d1's hopefuls... waiting till senior summer transfer portal settles down.
Within that immediate contact group is that 1% that will get an offer before anything else hits mainstream social media.
Honest assessment of the situation may be the hardest for families. But probability it is the most important!
Part of the conundrum folks run into is the family assessment of their kid Talent level they think they are
vs .
What the coaches are looking for. And the reality of the level of the talent assessment.
There may not be any best way for coaches to respond about recruitment.
They can either be blunt and say
'you are nowhere near what we are looking for.'
Or
they can put you in a group with a lot of others and say 'thank you for contacting us and attending camps. we are not ready to make our selections yet'
( which can leave a big door open of false hope. With a crack of reality)
Or
for the few that are actually going to be contacted they get The Upfront conversation. Which for many will be we are going to continue observing you. You're on the observation list. With no conclusion for some months to come perhaps. in that group there may be a long wait for d1's hopefuls... waiting till senior summer transfer portal settles down.
Within that immediate contact group is that 1% that will get an offer before anything else hits mainstream social media.
Honest assessment of the situation may be the hardest for families. But probability it is the most important!
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I'm in the unique situation of having always underestimated my daughter and her continuing to show me she doesn't really have a ceiling. I've always been supportive but needed others and experiences to let me know what she was capable of.
Supportive
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