Recruiting Process- Update from the Trenches

[Sweet Lou]

All I can say is, make sure those juco credits carry over to the 4 year institution. Some do not honor the courses from certain Juco's..............for some reason. Maybe not accredited?

my post is totally unrelated to softball but...

Juco's cover a wide range of subject matter, some of it below college level, as they generally take anyone with a pulse. Just check to make sure the specific courses you are registering for are transferable and you should be fine. At least that's my limited understanding of how the CA juco system works, other states may vary.

Oh and this is NOT meant to be a knock on juco's I know quite a few who went the juco route and got into excellent 4 year academic colleges after completing their 2 year program. Just noting that some of the juco courses can be, shall we say, less than rigorous.

 

[iMlearning]

how

The only schools we've talked to that allow you to be a trainer/nurse/PT etc... Are D3.

Interesting. ... How do you find out what schools allow what majors for softball players? Do you have to ask one by one?

We've had two D1 schools come right out and say it at their prospect camps. At one camp during their "talk" DD asked and a D2 school said they try to work with the nursing department but had problems with the Athletic trainers. She said it's hard when they want you 40 hrs a week too. The D1 schools there said it was about impossible unless you want to stay an extra year or so.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

We've had two D1 schools come right out and say it at their prospect camps. At one camp during their "talk" DD asked and a D2 school said they try to work with the nursing department but had problems with the Athletic trainers. She said it's hard when they want you 40 hrs a week too. The D1 schools there said it was about impossible unless you want to stay an extra year or so.

Yeah we found out about the same. My DD is getting her RN in nursing, she was the first/only in her juco to go that route while playing SB. She ran into a lot of class scheduling vs softball problems. Not to mention "clinics" she has to do this year. She had 2 professors who refused to work with athletes on game days ( projects, papers, tests )

20 years ago, the college "worked" with athletes, at least for me. But unfortunately that could be a gender ( male vs female ) or classification ( D1 ) deal. By comparison, my nephew plays D1 now, they have 8 dedicated professors who fly with them on away games for studies.

 

[JAD]

Interesting. ... How do you find out what schools allow what majors for softball players? Do you have to ask one by one?

If your DD wants to study a major that is academically rigorous, or requires a lot of clinical classwork, it is worth asking the question. The school my DD committed to does allow nursing, but it is going to be a challenge, I will have to wait and see if my DD dedicates herself to the task. 3 years ago she wanted to be a hairdresser, so a lot can change before she gets to college! LOL

 

[JAD]

My $0.02 on recruiting. If your DD wants to play for a big D1 school (SEC, PAC12, BIG10, BIG12, ACC), I would recommend playing 16U TB vs. 18U TB. Most of the bigger schools are a year or two ahead of the smaller D1, D2 and D3 schools on recruiting. There are a few 2016 spots left, 2017s are in the spotlight, and 2018s are starting to verbal.

GoldFastpitch.com Verbal Softball commitments

 

[Greenmonsters]

IMO this thread is primarily focused on what I would call big-time D1 softball so I thought it was important to interject and just note for the lurkers/new/newer members that there are sufficient opportunities so that almost anyone who wants to play college softball can find a school that is a good fit athletically and academically.

I sincerely say congratulations and best of luck to the kids that are truly gifted and driven to work on making their D1 softball dreams come true. To the majority of the rest, who don't have the ability and/or desire to play at the D1 level, don't forget that the universe of college softball outside of D1 is much bigger! This DFP thread http://www.discussfastpitch.com/playing-college-softball/4172-school-me-d3-softball.html provides some insight to the D3 college softball experience. D3 been a perfect fit for my own DD, who is a junior studying abroad this semester.

 

[sbmom19]

Great post.

Two questions -

-Can you have a scheduled on-campus visit w/ a coach before you are a rising senior?

-Does every softball player want to be a physical therapist or athletic trainer? Honestly, seems like it's 85 percent of softball players. Makes me wonder if schools offering those majors are even more competitive and everybody is getting a list of those schools and their softball coaches.

Mine wants to be a nurse practitioner. I have had long conversations with her regarding tackling such a rigorous major and playing ball. She understands that she will have to spend extra time in school if she plays ball too. At the end of the day, it's just another sacrifice that she would have to make to play the game that she loves and she understands that.

 

[Slappers]

Anybody have any luck with getting a teaching degree and playing?

 

[iMlearning]

teaching

Anybody have any luck with getting a teaching degree and playing?

Quite a few do successfully. The big issue is when it comes to student teaching but an extra semester would take care of that. I stayed an extra semester to do my student teaching and I wasn't even playing;

 

[iMlearning]

scholarships

D3 schools cannot give Athletic scholarships but many give academic scholarships to "scholars with athletic ability".