If You Had To Do It Over Again....

[Coach11]

Mixed feelings on this....while I still think it's a good idea, I know my daughter HATED it. So expect some grief from your own DD.

Visit as many schools as possible while you're traveling out and about during the TB season. Even if they're just drive throughs of the campuses. And I don't mean only schools DD is interested in. Anything in the area that will afford you a look-see.

Get a feel of the different layouts, and settings. Open vs. closed campuses. Rural vs. suburban settings. Large vs. smaller schools.

Aside from her older sisters school, DD had never been on a college campus prior to the recruiting process. She didn't know what to expect, let alone what she prefered.

The college they choose will be their home for the next 4 years. They have to feel comfortable in its surroundings. Especially if it's a school far from home. Took DD#1 almost her entire freshman year to settle in. But she's only 40 minutes away. Running out to bring her home for the weekend wasn't a big deal.

[Coach11]

Skills Videos....gotta admit. I'm not sold on these. Certainly don't think it's worth it to spend the big bucks. (I've seen them go from between $100 and $500)

The TB organization DD plays for offered to do them for all of the girls for a $100 fee. Her HS coach offered to do them for free so long as we supplied the video equipment. We had one of each made.

Only very few of the college coaches that initiated contact requested we send them one. And of those we sent out to schools DD was interested in, none of them said "we saw your video and would like to....." In other words, they were never referenced. (Don't know that that means they were never watched, but I gotta think that at least one of the coaches would have mentioned the video upon responding.)

As hypercritical of herself as my daughter is, I agreed with her after our initial viewing of the video, that she didn't "look good". As a matter of fact, a good portion of the videos I've watched of girls I know, don't do them justice. And this goes for the videos done for little cost, as well as those big $ was spent on.

Again.....maybe pitchers, or catchers, get more benefit from these.

If you've got a decent video camera, and even the simplest video editing software on your computer, you may wanna do this yourself. No one we ever spoke to mentioned a need for a high quality video. Keep it simple....just the basics....short , sweet and to the point.

I'd suggest letting them see a little personality. If they are actually watching the thousands of videos they are receiving, something better set your daughter apart.

[balou]

1. Play on the best team that gets on the best fields that has a history of placing kids in college
2. Grades
3. Hit really well
4. Perform well when they are watching
5. Play, practice and behave like someone is always watching, they are.
6. Visit as many websites as possible to formulate a recruiting plan that fits your situation.
7. Make a criteria list of what is important about softball and college. The school that has the most matches on your list is probably where she should go. Things like how long has the coach been there, quality of education, size of school, competitiveness of the program, does my intended major exist there, are there enough options that if I change my mind there are other good majors, would I want to stay in this school if I was injured and couldn't play anymore, etc....
8. Have a huge email list of 40-50 schools from dream schools to not so dreamy and see which schools start paying attention. After a while you will learn what level your kid will play at. When a coach comes to watch but never watches her at another tournament and you never get the private cell phone #'s, you are probably shooting too high.
9. When you get that cell number, call it right away and express interest. If you don't they will not believe that you are dying to play for them and they will move on.

Videos can be great if done right. No need for the expensive route, just a good solid video starting with hitting from the side showing hitting and bunting, then straight on. Next a little fielding and finish with contact info for player and TB coach. Length 2-3 minutes max, NO MUSIC, post on YouTube and include link on email to coach.

There is not one item that gets the coaches attention. It has to be a broad approach. Exposure tournaments, College camps, OnDeck, letters, letters, letters aka email, lots of phone calls until you make contact, unofficial visits set up with the coach on campus, video, TB coach help.

There used to be a survey that existed on the web that surveyed about 100 college coaches and what they looked for. Lots of similarities but all had different systems to find their players. Punch line: You will get out of the recruiting process what you put into it. There is a place for every kid that wants to play, just not at the D1 level.

[DonnieS]

One of the most important things is ignore other travel ball parents. What Balou posted has it laid out nicely, focus on 7 imo.

I hear so much crap being laid out as help information where ever two or more softball parents are gathered. The people that posted here on this thread have nothing to gain, they are not bragging about their kid, they are not trying to impress anyone.

One of the most hilarious things I ever heard was at one of the elite national tournaments, there was a dad squatting on a park bench, and he started off with "Well yall, what the college coaches are really looking for is ......." - there were a bunch of parents of young kids all hanging around there listening to this guy - a guy whose daughter never got an offer.

At a recent high school game, some family members of a kid who has never played 100 miles from home ( and home is a few miles away from the end of the world) telling people that some teams from California are interested in this kid - because she is from Texas and everyone knows that the California teams come to Texas to look for softball players. I'm sure that may happen sometimes - but give me a break.

Listen to what people who know this subject and dont have something to sell you and dont have a need to blow smoke into your various orifices - and do your research.

[hit4power]

Skills Videos....gotta admit. I'm not sold on these.

I think the value depends on what program you are aiming at. The smaller schools don't have the travel budgets to get around like the big programs do. I completely agree that a skills video is low value if your DD is headed to one of the big programs. If they are truly interested they will get around to watch her frequently. I think there was a thread last fall that commented on the Kentucky coach watching a recruit more than 20 times.

OTOH, for my DD, headed to a smaller program, the coach saw her briefly in Colo, we then sent off the skills DVD, and once that arrived, had her current coach call. College coach watched the video while talking to current coach. Proved very effective for us. It's what convinced the college coach to make the effort to come watch DD a couple more times.

[balou]

Thanks DonnieS. Here is an example of a website to search for " Metro Express". It is a little dated, but all the information has various levels of truth to it. There are so many websites out there that have little nuggets in them that will help you formulate "your" plan that fits "your" situation. No reason or need to pay someone to do it. Talk to everyone and anybody you can. Pretty soon you will be able to spot BS from real insight. There are lots of us that want to pay it forward. Just keep asking people, they will help.