Real interest or being played to fill a camp?

[wheresmycar]

DD will be a 2025 graduate and recently set up a Twitter account for recruiting purposes. Recently, she was contacted through Twitter by a D1 school greeting her by name and hoping she had a great Christmas. The message went on to say that the school is limited in their communication prior to 09/01 of her junior year apart from camps and clinics. They then sent her information about an upcoming camp. DD has never tagged this particular school or reached out to them in any way. The cynic in me thinks this is a ploy to fill out the camp but the excited Dad is wondering if there is a legitimate interest. I'd appreciate any thoughts more experienced parents can offer.

There are certain D1 programs that are more liberal with personal camp invitations than others.... they follow a LOT of kids on Twitter... Send out more individual invites. Who did the message come from? The head coach? An assistant coach? A recruiting coordinator? A grad assistant working for free?

My older DD received a DM inviting her to camp from one of these D1 P5 programs. It was one of the programs that follows a LOT of kids on Twitter, so I was initially skeptical. But, the message was from the pitching coach, not a recruiting coordinator, and she was very responsive when we replied with questions. So, I decided there was possibly some real interest, and we attended camp.

Upon arrival, she was greeted by name. Placed in the group with their 2022 recently committed players (she is a 2023). She received a good amount of attention from the Head Coach. And we left feeling there was some real interest. Ultimately, we did not receive an offer from this school. But I feel we were definitely on their short list... And I don't regret attending that camp.

 

[Vertigo]

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..)

Yes - I believe you see this at the Ivies sometimes. They’ll bring in an “ok” kid who most likely will never see the field but has a great academic index score to offset the great player whose AI score is lower. That way they are able to bring that kid in and also keep the team AI where it needs to be.

 

[3girls]

We got lots of letters for camps, which were really just money makers for coaches. However, the Twitter DMs or DMs through fieldlevel were all coaches that were legitimately interested.

If you respond to the DM and the coach responds back, they are interested. With her being a sophomore, they can’t communicate much, but they can answer some basic questions about the camp.

 

[MNDad]

Gauging the interest of schools was a difficult process in DD’s day and that’s when we were still allowed to talk to coaches. I can’t imagine how hard it is now. For whatever reason we as parents are afraid of offending coaches if we ask how much interest they have. In hindsight this made zero sense and I wish I would have just asked or at least had her coaches ask.

OU has come up a few times in this thread. They happened to be the first college camp DD was invited to. Some people dismissed it as a money maker, but they were the typical dismiss anything positive for other kids if it doesn’t involve theirs.

Having no clue what we were getting into DD and I hopped into the minivan and took off for Norman over Thanksgiving weekend. The “prospect camp” may indeed have been a money maker, but it was more than worth it. For about 80 bucks she got to train with some of the best athletes in the country for two days. She also got a free t-shirt, met her idol, a campus tour, football tickets and to be on the sidelines to greet the team as they took the field. Ironically they played Iowa State that day.

Realistically she had no chance of playing for OU, but neither did anyone else there. There’s just too many great players and OU can pick the best of the best. What I learned from attending is in this case anyway, they invited players who either had the potential to play for them or who would give other prospects a real test to show they can shine above other top recruits.

Over the years we went to other camps where they had a few hundred attendees and only gave real attention to a handful of recruits they were interested in. Some of these DD was invited to be in that group, some they had no idea who she was beforehand, but her play got her in that group. Had we listened to the “they’re just money makers” claims she would have missed out on attending the camp at ISU.

From our experience the only camps that were strictly moneymakers are the overnight ones. Even at those the players get a chance to be seen by the coaches. The only certainty is you won’t be seen if you don’t show up. If it’s a school the kid is interested in give it a shot.

 

[aaronbritton]

If it were me i'd look for the prospect camps were your kid has the chance to compete against other players. I also think some of these multi coach/school camps give you the most bang for your buck. Also learned during my DD's recruiting process that some schools won't consider you if you don't attend a camp. Ironically my DD never attended a camp at her school.

 

[Strike2]

I think the relevant question is whether your DD has interest in the school and is her playing level a match. If the answer is yes, I'd give it a shot. Even if there's no current interest from the coaches, that can change with a good outing. I'm not a big fan of the multi-school camps; they're usually WAY too big. The camps at DD's school, a small D1, are small enough that a good player can quickly stand out. They get a chance to show their stuff in small-group drills and then scrimmages. When they're at the plate or get a fielding chance, ALL eyes are on them. Do well, and it's impossible to not be noticed.

 

[clarity]

My older DD received a DM inviting her to camp from one of these D1 P5 programs. It was one of the programs that follows a LOT of kids on Twitter, so I was initially skeptical.

How many do you consider to be "a LOT"?

 

[wheresmycar]

How many do you consider to be "a LOT"?

Following thousands of players.