Do what's right and Please sign

[fastpitchdad05]

Or since Verbals are worthless make them wait until a NLI has been signed...

"Legally non-binding" does NOT mean "worthless" ...

The overwhelming majority of unofficial verbal commitments come to successful full fruition.

The biggest problem with the recruiting process (whether early or late) is that a great many kids make decisions on universities with very little serious consideration beyond the softball element. For it to be the best possible university experience, a kid should give thorough consideration of the best overall “fit” of a university to them personally.

Additional regulation from a quasi-government agency (NCAA) will do nothing to solve that root problem. Parents need to step-up and assume their responsibility to guide their kids to identifying specific universities that are their best overall “fit” (athletically, academically, culturally, and socially) to them personally. Then pursue recruitment to those specific universities with an effective action plan. The earlier a kid starts this process, the better.

Some travel ball coaches do a great job of supporting the process of a kid identifying their best overall “fit”, but most do little to nothing in this regard.

Bottom line, the most effective way to address any problem is to address the root cause, rather than trying to regulate for a desired result.

I agree that change needs to be made, but I disagree slightly with your assertion about the biggest issue being that, "a great many kids make decisions on universities with very little serious consideration beyond the softball element."

I agree that what you say is definitely a huge issue, but the biggest issue in my opinion is that the majority of these young ladies will likely change their minds (more than once) about where they want to go to school and what they want to study in college. Trying to decide this at such early ages and locking them into that decision is a huge mistake.

A lot of them will regret being allowed to make those decisions and wish they had a do-over, resulting in:

- Transferring
- Staying where they are but not being happy about it
- Quitting altogether

Allowing them to wait until they are at least Juniors to make these decisions will help tremendously.

[SDTitans]

Or since Verbals are worthless make them wait until a NLI has been signed...

"Legally non-binding" does NOT mean "worthless" ...

The overwhelming majority of unofficial verbal commitments come to successful full fruition.

The biggest problem with the recruiting process (whether early or late) is that a great many kids make decisions on universities with very little serious consideration beyond the softball element. For it to be the best possible university experience, a kid should give thorough consideration of the best overall “fit” of a university to them personally.

Additional regulation from a quasi-government agency (NCAA) will do nothing to solve that root problem. Parents need to step-up and assume their responsibility to guide their kids to identifying specific universities that are their best overall “fit” (athletically, academically, culturally, and socially) to them personally. Then pursue recruitment to those specific universities with an effective action plan. The earlier a kid starts this process, the better.

Some travel ball coaches do a great job of supporting the process of a kid identifying their best overall “fit”, but most do little to nothing in this regard.

Bottom line, the most effective way to address any problem is to address the root cause, rather than trying to regulate for a desired result.

I agree that change needs to be made, but I disagree slightly with your assertion about the biggest issue being that, "a great many kids make decisions on universities with very little serious consideration beyond the softball element."

I agree that what you say is definitely a huge issue, but the biggest issue in my opinion is that the majority of these young ladies will likely change their minds (more than once) about where they want to go to school and what they want to study in college. Trying to decide this at such early ages and locking them into that decision is a huge mistake.

A lot of them will regret being allowed to make those decisions and wish they had a do-over, resulting in:

- Transferring
- Staying where they are but not being happy about it
- Quitting altogether

Allowing them to wait until they are at least Juniors to make these decisions will help tremendously.

Who is not allowing them to wait until their jr year to make a decision?

[fastpitchdad05]

Or since Verbals are worthless make them wait until a NLI has been signed...

"Legally non-binding" does NOT mean "worthless" ...

The overwhelming majority of unofficial verbal commitments come to successful full fruition.

The biggest problem with the recruiting process (whether early or late) is that a great many kids make decisions on universities with very little serious consideration beyond the softball element. For it to be the best possible university experience, a kid should give thorough consideration of the best overall “fit” of a university to them personally.

Additional regulation from a quasi-government agency (NCAA) will do nothing to solve that root problem. Parents need to step-up and assume their responsibility to guide their kids to identifying specific universities that are their best overall “fit” (athletically, academically, culturally, and socially) to them personally. Then pursue recruitment to those specific universities with an effective action plan. The earlier a kid starts this process, the better.

Some travel ball coaches do a great job of supporting the process of a kid identifying their best overall “fit”, but most do little to nothing in this regard.

Bottom line, the most effective way to address any problem is to address the root cause, rather than trying to regulate for a desired result.

I agree that change needs to be made, but I disagree slightly with your assertion about the biggest issue being that, "a great many kids make decisions on universities with very little serious consideration beyond the softball element."

I agree that what you say is definitely a huge issue, but the biggest issue in my opinion is that the majority of these young ladies will likely change their minds (more than once) about where they want to go to school and what they want to study in college. Trying to decide this at such early ages and locking them into that decision is a huge mistake.

A lot of them will regret being allowed to make those decisions and wish they had a do-over, resulting in:

- Transferring
- Staying where they are but not being happy about it
- Quitting altogether

Allowing them to wait until they are at least Juniors to make these decisions will help tremendously.

Who is not allowing them to wait until their jr year to make a decision?

Steve,
Perhaps "allow" isn't the best choice of words there, but I think it's the entire system as it is that makes parents feel like they need to have their girls commit early.

I want everyone to understand that in saying that the parents are making poor choices I am saying this from experience. I know that we would have "allowed" our DD to verbal to a big school early had that situation arose (with stars in our eyes and thinking we were doing what was best for her), and that would have been a mistake. We know now that she is a completely different person at 18 than she was at 13, 14, 15 and 16. Heck, for her she even changed her mind about what she wanted to do at 17.

The bottom line is that if your daughter is good enough to get a verbal offer at 13 or 14 then she will likely get even more offers at 16 ,17 and even 18. We need to take the pressure off the parents who feel that they need to accept the offer and the coaches that feel that they must make the offer at such a young age or they will "miss the boat".

[Columbro]

In my opinion this is a parental issue. But we all know parents don't always make the correct decisions and the child usually pays the price. That's why I think the NCAA should as least take a look at this issue. I believe if the child is good enough to receive scholarship offers in the 8th, 9th, or 10th grade then they should be good enough when they are juniors or seniors. Waiting a little longer gives all parties involved the opportunity to make sure the commitment is in the best interest of the child and university.

I know there are people out there saying, "nobody is making you verbal at an early age!" However, I can give a little personal history in regards to my families situation. My daughter was offered her first scholarship when she going into the 9th grade. She had gone to a camp at a major D1 university and they offered her 85%. She was jumping up an down and grinning from ear to ear. But I would not let her accept the offer. I was glad I did not let her because she had not talked to any other coaches, visited any other campuses, and did not know what type of degree she wanted to pursue (she had not even attended her first day of high school!). Two years later and after 7 visits to other universities she made her decision. And guess what? It wasn't the university that gave her the 1st offer. She thanked me for making her wait! I was happy too because the offer was better than the initial 85% . All kidding aside, if we had not waited, she would probably be looking to quit or transfer. I know every situation/offer is different but what is the harm of taking a little bit more time to know that your kid is certain about one of the biggest decisions she will ever make. Afterall, she is the one who has to go to practice and keep up her grades in college!

As I mentioned above, I do believe this is mainly a parental issue but until the NCAA changes the rules, it will be hard for most parents to change their way of thinking. What I mean by that statement is you always hear that this university or that school is done with recruiting or they have no more money for this recruiting class, etc. This puts a lot of pressure on parents/recruits to accept the first offer they receive. A rule change would give cover to these young ladies because it would give them time and remove some of the pressure to make that decision early.

[fastpitchdad05]

In my opinion this is a parental issue. But we all know parents don't always make the correct decisions and the child usually pays the price. That's why I think the NCAA should as least take a look at this issue. I believe if the child is good enough to receive scholarship offers in the 8th, 9th, or 10th grade then they should be good enough when they are juniors or seniors. Waiting a little longer gives all parties involved the opportunity to make sure the commitment is in the best interest of the child and university.

I know there are people out there saying, "nobody is making you verbal at an early age!" However, I can give a little personal history in regards to my families situation. My daughter was offered her first scholarship when she going into the 9th grade. She had gone to a camp at a major D1 university and they offered her 85%. She was jumping up an down and grinning from ear to ear. But I would not let her accept the offer. I was glad I did not let her because she had not talked to any other coaches, visited any other campuses, and did not know what type of degree she wanted to pursue (she had not even attended her first day of high school!). Two years later and after 7 visits to other universities she made her decision. And guess what? It wasn't the university that gave her the 1st offer. She thanked me for making her wait! I was happy too because the offer was better than the initial 85% . All kidding aside, if we had not waited, she would probably be looking to quit or transfer. I know every situation/offer is different but what is the harm of taking a little bit more time to know that your kid is certain about one of the biggest decisions she will ever make. Afterall, she is the one who has to go to practice and keep up her grades in college!

As I mentioned above, I do believe this is mainly a parental issue but until the NCAA changes the rules, it will be hard for most parents to change their way of thinking. What I mean by that statement is you always hear that this university or that school is done with recruiting or they have no more money for this recruiting class, etc. This puts a lot of pressure on parents/recruits to accept the first offer they receive. A rule change would give cover to these young ladies because it would give them time and remove some of the pressure to make that decision early.

THIS!^^^

[socalchoppers02]

In reading all of the posts about this topic, I can see valid points in all of them. As someone whose DD is just now experiencing the recruiting process and how it works, I have to admit is scary. When I played baseball, the rules were very clear: No recruiting until their junior year and, even then, much of it was done by the Major League Scouting Bureau and their ties to top colleges. I honestly don't know when the NCAA decided to change the rules and how, or why, they lost control of their own guidelines, but the fact remains that many of the blue chip recruits are giving verbals in the 8th and 9th grades. I think ultimately it has to be a family decision of what is right for that player. But shouldn't the blame fall squarely on the shoulders of those in the NCAA for allowing these changes to occur in the first place? It certainly is not an easy subject and I can only hope that the colleges keep their end of the bargain, short of a morals clause violation or insufficient grades, for all the young ladies that they deal with. There has to be protection on both ends. Maybe education and making the most informed decision possible is all one can do right now. It's not an easy process and I wish nothing but good things for those fortunate enough to have the opportunity to continue to play ball at the next level and receive a good education as well.