route to college softball

[humpty]

Id like here from some of the dads/moms that have been thru it. which route did your DD take to get to ncaa softball. Was your DD seen at a national tournament, college camp, a showcase team or some other way.

 

[sluggers]

For juco, we sent the coach a video. For D1, one coach saw her pitch and told a coach at a different school to recruit her.

We sent out lots of videos and email.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Sent out bunches of letters and videos. DII coach saw her pitch a one-hitter in a HS playoff game while looking at another player who sent her letters.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I'd say showcases are the normal venue to get noticed, they don't have to be national events as many get the eye at state or regional events. Most of our girls got "noticed" in TB or a showcase, many coaches followed up watching HS games, but we had a good program with the girls playing for the same school........and that might have helped.

Videos, emails, links to public stats, media articles help a bunch.

 

[JAD]

While I am new to the recruiting experience, I would like to offer my suggestions based on the information I have gathered.

1) Get you DD independently evaluated to determine what level college ball she should pursue. Every girl playing fastpitch wants to play for Oklahoma, but they only have 18 roster spots available, so if your DD should be concentrating on DII or DIII, now is the time to figure that out.
2) Make a list of schools your DD would like to target. We have a Top 5, second 10 and bottom 5. That give you 20 schools to concentrate on.
3) Send emails/updates regularly to your top 20.
4) Attend any camps you can of your top 5, and then add camps from the second 10 as possible.
5) There will always be a "needle in the haystack" story of some girl who gets "discovered" at a showcase, I would not make that your primary plan.

 

[Sparky Guy]

2) Make a list of schools your DD would like to target. We have a Top 5, second 10 and bottom 5. That give you 20 schools to concentrate on.

Send letters out to 100+ schools. All it takes is one yes. The softball world is very small. Many coaches know and trust each others opinions about player ability. Often they know what positions the others are looking to fill and they will recommend they look at a certain player. She may not be a fit on the contacted coach's roster, but she may be what another coach is looking for.

 

[humpty]

At the 12u and 14u level how much value is there in playing asa nationals. Do you just to see how you compare? I hear some guys say once your DD is 14 she needs to be on an 18u team. What do yall think about that statement?

 

[slingnit]

Make a skills video, resume, and intro letter. Shotgun blast, send to any and every school she may be remotely interested in, CC all assistant coaches, they may be the ones that give the initial look and pass on the info to the HC. In our case we started at local colleges with the letters. Went to a prospect camp and dd threw 65 in front of several D1,2, and NAIA coaches. Then decided to focus on only D1 schools, top 200 schools. Anytime we played they got an email with a schedule and link to skill video. Grades come out, a letter and link to her video. She had a great nights sleep, letter and video. Not really but any reason to have her name show up on their computer screen meant the more her name stuck in their minds. Our team had a recruiting coord. that did the same for the girls and gave a point of contact for the coaches.

Depending where they want to go and where you live, the ability to be seen may vary. The Firework, Independence Day, Premier Nationals, ASA(as long as they are not in OKC) are all great places to have major D1 schools see you. WARNING Just because you are in Colorado that does not mean coaches will be watching your team. You have to have a product they want and they have to know you are interested. If she plans to stay local then your regional showcases and local ASA qualifiers draw a good number of local/regional schools. Coaches will even come to your teams practice if you have a kid(s) they are after. They can only watch and make contact with the coaches. Camps are money makers, I wouldn't waste the money or time unless a coach personally invites you(not an email with a camp promo). We were fortunate to have many girls that will play D1 ball so the coaches were at every game we played at the Fireworks. After the Fireworks a coach connected us with a team that was playing in Premier Nationals and she got the chance to go play on her own, no mom or dad. After that he made an offer and it was a great offer at a top school with an amazing coach! The months leading up to the Fireworks was full of smaller exposure tourneys, tons and tons of emails, several camps(that she was invited to), and keeping constant contact with every school that showed the smallest amount of interest. It is not easy, it is hard dang work unless your kid is playing for the SoCal A's or Worth Rico. We kept a journal of camps, big tourneys, personal contact with coaches, it will go by so fast but it was great for our family! That's the short of it. lol

 

[JAD]

At the 12u and 14u level how much value is there in playing asa nationals. Do you just to see how you compare? I hear some guys say once your DD is 14 she needs to be on an 18u team. What do yall think about that statement?

My DD's team has played in a couple of showcases, and I would say that the majority of the D1 recruiting is being done at 16U now. There are still coaches recruiting 18U, but they were mostly smaller programs looking for girls who were not already committed. I would NOT recommend jumping from 14U to 18U even if your DD was able to compete at that level.

 

[iMlearning]

My DD's team has played in a couple of showcases, and I would say that the majority of the D1 recruiting is being done at 16U now. There are still coaches recruiting 18U, but they were mostly smaller programs looking for girls who were not already committed. I would NOT recommend jumping from 14U to 18U even if your DD was able to compete at that level.

It's a big jump. Dd struggled a bit at the plate at first, but did great at the last tournament and in this past weeks showcase. She had to wear a band to show she was 14 and we didn't see any other bands that color. The weird thing is seeing all the girls driving and we've seen many with babies. They also talk a lot about partying and are not always the best influence. Also, some of the girls are beasts! She had a few travel coaches come over after the games and tell her she did a heck of a job, but don't know if any college coaches were interested. She said a few talked to her about their schools though during the clinic.
In the parent meeting they pretty much said what JAD posted on what to do.