College Coach First Look Survey

[Fastpitch4Life]

For lack of a better subject title, could veteran HeyBucketeers weigh-in on where their DD's college coach(es) first saw them or made contact? A recent post concerning the value of camps and showcases peaked my curiosity as to whether these venues really lead to a verbal commitment or NLI. There seems to be varying opinions on the value of these events, so an informal poll with actual data might be interesting for those of us who haven't gone through it.
Thanks!!

[jonriv]

A Friday night game at the ct tradition showcase in Meriden/Wallingford ct

[DDG]

Week night game in CO at the Fireworks/Sparkler showcase, June 2011. Coach called DD the morning she returned. I had to wake her up from her post flight nap. Poor kid was wiped out and probably didn't sound real impressive on that call. Fortunately, it all worked out.

[artomatic]

My kid went to the On Deck national elite camps at Mt Sac in 2009 as a freshman, and 2010 as a sophomore.
We stopped counting after she got about 25-30 letters/questionnaires from assorted colleges that saw her at those camps.
Then she went to the On Deck zoom into June camps in 2010 and 2011.

Her college coaches saw her at the 2011 Zoom into June camp/showcase, then 3 weeks later they watched her all week at the CO Fireworks tournament.

She verballed the following week, in the summer before her junior year of high school, which was still considered somewhat early at that time.

[PDad]

First contact was at Champion's Cup and strong interest was shown at Surf City's Summer Showcase. Hard to say where they saw her first since they may not have said something to someone. The school was one DD had emailed and they came to see her. This is an important distinction that people should share.

Camps put on by colleges are usually a mix of program fundraiser and recruiting. Since you seem to be looking for exposure, the best ones are where DD was specifically encouraged to attend by the school - not a blanket invite to the team or a mass emailing. Definitely look into camps run by schools of interest, however you want to make sure they know DD is interested in them and coming beforehand. If possible, prequalify their interest in DD before signing up.

Camps put on by 3rd parties are a separate category.
- OnDeck National Elite Camps and Jamborees are invite-only and probably the most highly regarded. You may have to go to a tryout to get invited.
- Some camps held before a showcase (e.g. NFCA, PGF, OnDeck) are helpful in catching a coach's eye and/or drawing them to games.
- There are additional for-profit camps and reviews are mixed on them.

[Cannonball]

DD's HC was an assistant at a school that was interested in my dd and had followed her since she was a freshman. DD's HC had not seen her personally as he was recruiting others. So, at an invitation camp (LOL) he saw her for the first time. When he became the HC at another school, he called her right away. (He did let his former boss know about the contact.) She really like him and so after a few visits to other schools, took her official visit to his school. The rest is history.

[exD1dad]

When my DD (class of 2015) got invited to the Mt Sac OnDeck Camp she immediately got her top 4 choices (all Ivy's) to return emails & start communicating weekly/monthly. This after lots of emails trying to get coaches to come see her play (including telling them she had an 1800+ SAT score 1st semester Soph year without even studying) including PGF 16U

At the Pennsbury Academic Camp & Tourney (where she played on 2 different teams) she got tons of attention & over a dozen unwanted offers from DI, II & III. The schools she showed interest in (returned their emails &/or spoke on the phone) did come to watch her at PGF. She continued to get solicited by another 9 or 10 colleges throughout this past fall that had seen her at the camp & even had a couple emails from DIII's early this year

If I had to do it over again & had the money at the time I would have gone to the Ivy Camps.

[Sid Barrett]

Figure I will throw my .02 cents in. I am a big believer in showcase camps. DD went to three camps during the later part of her freshman year, caught the attention of coaches at two of the camps and received offers by the end of that summer. Several of her teammates had similar experiences. My caveat is that the parent should be realistic in the camps they recommend to their daughter to attend...not every player is UCLA, Cal or U of A materiel. It also helps if you have a hard working TB coach whose recommendations are respected by the college coaches.

[Blind Squirrel]

My kid went to a Louisville camp during the winter of her freshman year. The recruiting process was a very new concept to us as we hadn't thought about whether she would even play in college or who, if anyone, would be interested in her. (She decided not to return and play 14U and instead got picked up by the local 18 "Gold" team who introduced us to the idea of her being recruited 3 months earlier.) Anyway, after the camp had ended we spoke to the coach who seemed good with her but made no offer. The first thing she did say was my kid shouldn't be comparing herself to the other kids at the camp but rather should be comparing herself to the current Louisville players at the camp. Odd thing to say to a 14 year old. Seemed pretty unfair to me.

Before that camp my kid played in a Florida showcase. After the tournament the ASU coach called my kid's coach raving about her and saying things that I considered complete smoke. No hard offer was made. During a subsequent showcase tournament in Irvine at Bill Barber the Oregon coach happened to be walking by where my kid was playing. The manager approached her and asked if she was coming over to watch my kid. The Oregon coach said no but tell me about her and then watched her play. And that is essentially how she became a Duck.

One camp and being seen at tournaments, never on the best fields except at small tournaments. She never played on a team that qualified for ASA Nationals until after she verballed. Never close. She was having fun so we didn't care about anything else.

Everyone is different, has a different situation. No one right way for all.

Nutless P. Squirrel

[DonnieS]

DD1 was seen at the Ronald McDonald tournament in Houston by both the school she played for first, and the team she later transferred to. DD2 , who was little tougher to get interest in because of wanting to play both SB and VB and a D1 school, was also , we thought first seen at the RMD. We learned later that a junior high coach watching DD2 play sports, mentioned her to a coach at a D1 school, and according to him , had been watching her play not just softball but other sports , before she got to high school.