Real interest or being played to fill a camp?

[pattar]

What I personally would do after going through the process twice would be to try to gauge the interest further by trying to figure out how my dd got on their list. Ask our TB coach if they had heard something from this school. If contact seems legit and like I said - is doable - then we might entertain the camp. Dd attended camps starting in 8th grade (D1 and D2) just to get an idea of what they were like. These were camps local to us that were affordable.

Obviously if the interest is just a general “casting call” and would require a lot of money and effort to get to then, for me, it would be a no-go.

ETA: I pretty much had a good idea about which schools were serious or not based on knowing who dd had emailed and which coaches have attended our games.

So I guess the question is are there cases where coaches bring in kids with no real intention of getting them on the field or at the very least they view as a "project"...

Every few years there is a kid who is recruited by OU (and eventually signs) who is from OK who realistically has no chance of ever playing any significant amount..TBH I think Patty does it to make sure people don't complain about there not being enough OK kids on the roster.

Basically I am a control freak, cynic and narcissist and hence think I know more than college coaches about my kid's abilities and in general don't trust them. I know a few college coaches who I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw them (and they are fat..) So with that I am not a fan of just blindly using coaches "interest" as a means of determining whether my kid is ever going to play when that is one of her goals (eg to see the field at some point during her 4 years...). Unfortunately I have said worse things to my DD than "You cannot play there.."

 

[Vertigo]

So I guess the question is are there cases where coaches bring in kids with no real intention of getting them on the field (for whatever reason) or at the very least they view as a "project"...

I absolutely do believe that coaches will send out camp emails to kids who wind up on their list somehow. Usually this happens through recruiting services like Captain U, etc, which some showcases utilize to make up “prospect profile” booklets or jump drives to give the college coaches in attendance. Each team is required to enter player info into the database in order to play in the showcase. My dd was still getting camp emails last year as a kid already playing in college.

 

[pattar]

I absolutely do believe that coaches will send out camp emails to kids who wind up on their list somehow.

This I know. I was thinking more nefarious actions eg by "bring in" I meant sign to "play" for their school..(hence the rest of my rant..)

 

[PapaBear]

Camp filler at this time is my guess if she's never contacted them prior.

 

[angispeds]

Agree that this is where your coach and/or program director comes into play. If it’s somewhere she might be interested in have them reach out. If it’s not geographically academically or otherwise interested send a polite thank you reply


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[nikkilugi]

Camp filler at this time is my guess if she's never contacted them prior.

If it was an email (with an unsubscribe link) then I would be inclined to agree but this was a Twitter DM. You can only do those one at a time. Would they have a volunteer coach or grad student assistant sit in the office randomly clicking each player's twitter profile individually and then hit the DM just as a filler for the camp? Maybe - but my guess from what the OP wrote about the team his daughter plays on is that this coach probably saw a game and had interest piqued and/or has seen some of the Twitter highlights said player posted and has some sort of interest. Lots of schools like good catchers so it's not a stretch to think there is some interest. You don't send DM blasts on Twitter like you do on email - at least I'm not aware of that function.

 

[benjey]

So with that I am not a fan of just blindly using coaches "interest" as a means of determining whether my kid is ever going to play when that is one of her goals (eg to see the field at some point during her 4 years...)

You bring up an important point. I think the process of determining the maximum level you can possibly play at is best left up to the interest of coaches but in no way shape or form should every kid go to the maximum level they may be able to play at. Many other factors that should go into the decision of where to go

Also when I say "interest of the coaches" it still requires parents and players to use common sense. If you have no other power 5 interest and Gasso comes a calling you probably do not have a very good chance to play there and are likely being looked at for some other reason. If you receive September 1 calls from 5 Big 12 coaches and 2 Pac 12 coaches than I would feel confident you have the POTENTIAL to play at that level.

 

[PapaBear]

If it was an email (with an unsubscribe link) then I would be inclined to agree but this was a Twitter DM. You can only do those one at a time. Would they have a volunteer coach or grad student assistant sit in the office randomly clicking each player's twitter profile individually and then hit the DM just as a filler for the camp? Maybe - but my guess from what the OP wrote about the team his daughter plays on is that this coach probably saw a game and had interest piqued and/or has seen some of the Twitter highlights said player posted and has some sort of interest. Lots of schools like good catchers so it's not a stretch to think there is some interest. You don't send DM blasts on Twitter like you do on email - at least I'm not aware of that function.

Simple answer is yes. Easier than sending out mailers with kids name and address on it. Recruiting has gotten very lazy now.

 

[PapaBear]

Camps are all about getting coaches extra money and connecting with 10% or less of the camp as potential prospects. They will promote whatever words they need to make you pull the trigger faster - select, invitational, running out of space etc.

 

[YoungBuck]

Simple answer is yes. Easier than sending out mailers with kids name and address on it. Recruiting has gotten very lazy now.

Yup