what to do to make sure that your daughters get scholarships

[frito_burrito]

try to get on a team that plays the best tournaments on the best fields. if that means bombers, impact or crackers.

[frito_burrito]

I was referencing the previous post. yours either. don't hijack my thread

[softballmomz77]

I would say make good grades as #1

Does going to the individual college camps really help the kid get a looksie?
Should your kid directly tell the coach this is her #1 school that she would like to go to?

What are some questions does DD ask a coach?

[Luther]

I would say make good grades as #1

Does going to the individual college camps really help the kid get a looksie?
Should your kid directly tell the coach this is her #1 school that she would like to go to?

What are some questions does DD ask a coach?

Q1: Yes; I think an individual camp gives them a great idea of whether they are interested in your DD. If they like what they see at a camp they WILL come talk to you.

Q2: Your kid should tell the truth. If the school is indeed their #1 choice then YES they should make that very clear. I believe schools want to give scholarships to kids who truly want to play for their school as opposed to a kid who will play for anyone.

Q3: It is good to know how many other athletes have a similar major to your DD. This will allow you to see how feasible the chosen major is. My DD brought a binder with her for the campus visits so she could ask questions and record the answers. This helps because the visits start blending together after a few.

[sward]

Grades
Grades
Grades

[Cipher]

Put her in the hands of top notch RECRUITING Gold program; Impact, Sudden Impact, Peppers, Aces, etc. and then SIT DOWN AND BE A PARENT! Make sure they keep their grades up and then just watch and be a fan. Colleges watch how parents act in the stands and if you are a jackass, it DOES come in to play when recruiting kids! These programs have put hundreds of kids in college. They KNOW what they are doing when it comes to recruiting. If your kid makes one of these teams, trust the coaches and stay out of the way.

[NRH Sooner Fan]

I wanted to weigh in on this subject, because as a parent of a daughter that has gone through the recruitment process, I wanted to give a little insight to parents that are currently trying to understand what is the best way to get your daughter recruited.

First, although I am a Sooner fan, I am about to also become a fan of another school. It is the school my daughter will be playing her college softball for. It is a Big 12 school and I could not be happier with her choice. Second, I live in the DFW area, thus I don’t want to suggest this is the way it works in Houston or Austin or some other area of Texas. However, I believe there are some generalities that apply no matter where you are located. Third, I know there may be many ways to get recruited – but these are my observations for what I have seen in the DFW area and there are always exceptions. Over the years I have read several notes from parents in Hey Bucket that had daughters that had secured scholarships and offered suggestions that I benefited from, thus I thought I would add my views and hopefully benefit someone else. My last lead-in point is that I tend to be long-winded, so I apologize about the length of my comments.

If you have a daughter that you think has the talent and desire to play softball in college, then you really need to start mapping out a recruitment strategy when your daughter reaches the sixth or seventh grade. Believe it or not, you really can’t start exploring the options available to help your daughter realize her dream too soon. Prior to 16U, that begins with finding teams that have good coaches that teach the fundamentals and surround your daughter with other players that will compete hard against her in practice. Overall you want her on teams that will drive your daughter to constantly improve her performance.

When your daughter reaches the 16U level, you must be honest with yourself and her level of talent. I have seen some parents spend a lot of money and ultimately not be satisfied with their recruiting options and I have seen some parents try to economically chase their daughter’s dream and ultimately be disappointed that their daughter is not going to a higher profile school. Make sure you are not fooling yourself and be honest about the money you are willing to spend to help make it happen. It will not be cheap regardless of the path you choose. Generally the path for a girl to play for a DII or smaller D1 school in Texas or the Southwest area does not have to be the same path that girls typically follow to reach a high profile conference school in the Big 12, SEC or Big 10. Talent gets the scholarship, but your daughter must been seen by the right school for her. Selecting the right organization to display her talent is important.

When exploring the options for your daughters, the first place I would start is the Website of the various organizations you want to consider. See what schools their players are securing commitments from. There are very few organizations where you will see Big 12 and SEC schools represent a high % of the commitments listed. There are other organizations where you will see a much higher % of small D1 and DII schools listed. You will also notice some organizations have girls committing as Freshmen and Sophomores and others will have more commitments in their Junior/Senior years (this is often when the other DII and JC schools get their commitments). For the parent, it shows a bit of a track record for those organizations when you are considering options for your daughter.

Another consideration is to review the schedules and determine where the organization is traveling. As a parent, this will also give you a bit of a track record for the organization regarding their philosophy for showcasing your daughter. Where you “showcase” your daughter does matter. Several organizations will earn a trip to a national event and most of the year-end championship events are attended by a range of colleges. The reality of the current recruiting environment is that girls have to be seen by the colleges and you have to play at events that the colleges you are targeting are likely to attend. Colleges are limited in the number of recruiting days they can use and thus have to get the biggest bang for their recruiting dollar. If the organization you are considering only plays local tournaments and the Ronald McDonald and at one of the year-end national championships, that probably is not enough of an opportunity for your daughter to be really seen by major D1 programs. Maybe if your daughter is a standout pitcher, it may work, but for position players – your daughter needs to play frequently in front of these schools so they have a chance to notice her. My daughter played a number of games in front of the school she ultimately will attend, but did not truly get noticed until they attended a game where she had multiple chances to display her talents. No doubt D1 colleges want the recommendations of the Travel Team’s head coach, but generally they want to see your daughter’s talents on display. In addition for D1 recruits, they want to see her perform against top competition, thus your organization needs to travel to the showcases where they will get to play top national level teams. Your team does not have to win, but they need to be able to compete against the best teams. Obviously the more a team travels, the more cost to you – so again – if you are aiming for a DII or smaller D1 – pick an organization that plays in front of that audience and limit your expense.

Another easy way to evaluate what organization might be right for your daughter is go approach some parents of the 18U team of the organization you are considering. Be ready for the gambit of reactions and some may share mostly information about their negative experiences, but generally most will be willing to tell their recruiting stories and know what you are wondering about. Many have had experiences with multiple organizations.

Camps – I see this discussed a lot on the Bucket. Be careful, a lot of camps are run by the schools and are aimed at making money to augment salaries for their coaches. Take them for what they are. They are a great experience for your daughter and she can learn much to improve her game from these coaches, but few kids truly get discovered at these camps hosted by the school. The big schools often invite prospects to their various camps through your travel team. Sometimes it is to maintain good relations with the travel team. Sometimes your daughter is interesting to the school and they might like to get to know her better and even see her perform further to evaluate whether she is on their potential watch list. Sometimes you know in advance that they want to pull you aside to talk to you and your daughter about an offer while you attend the camp. It is always best to have your Travel Coach find out and share what category the trip falls in so you can manage your expectations and pocketbook. Multiple trips to visit schools before the Senior year can be very expensive. Unless you are invited by a College to a camp to discuss an offer, in my opinion, the best camps you can attend are the On Deck type camps where the colleges come and watch your daughter perform in a structured presentation of her skills. At these camps the Colleges are there to recruit and do not have to also play the role of host.

Don’t underestimate the role of the Travel Organization’s Coach. You want a Coach that can further develop your daughter’s skills, but their recruiting contacts are the critical factor. Most of the information provided about your daughter to the College Coaches and the information feedback from the Colleges about your daughter is getting managed by the Travel Organization’s Coach. Your daughter’s opportunity is really controlled by this Coach, thus it is critical to select the right organization/Coach that you can trust to manage this for you because of the NCAA rules. These Coaches are human are thus can fall short of your expectations in many areas. Make sure you get to know them and it is best if they demonstrate they want your daughter on their team because they know she will make the team stronger, rather than the fees you represent. Many of these coaches provide lessons and I would suggest developing a relationship early with these potential coaches. Have your daughter take hitting or pitching lessons from a Coach you are considering for 16U so you can evaluate the relationship between you and your daughter with the coach. Also when considering an organization, it is always easier to go to a situation where your daughter has a friend playing on the team or where she will quickly fit in and enjoy her experience with the team.

Skillset is the number one factor for getting recruited, but finding the right organization to display your daughter’s talents for the audience you want to reach is also critical. Coaches’ want as many of the 5 tools as they can find in the kids they recruit. There are other key considerations for getting your daughter recruited such as: (1) Grades to enable your daughter to enter the school of her choice. (2) Personality and Leadership. (3) Whether your daughter will consider a school that is out-of-state or if she needs to be close to home. (4) Costs to be part of the Travel Organization. (5) Your level of effort contacting the schools. Also, I would avoid organizations with parents that also coach – per my conversations with college coaches, they prefer to deal with organizations that don’t have parents involved with representing players in the recruitment process.

That’s my attempt to give back a little. Sorry for such a long first post under this name.

[6position]

I agree pretty much 100% with NRH. Also in DFW area. I'll add my brief 2 cents from experience. Bear in mind, my DD's goal was large D1 from the beginning, so we pursued accordingly. She verballed as sophomore to SEC school. In order of importance from OUR EXPERIENCE:

1) DD has to have talent level, or you are wasting your time and money in the wrong places
2) Travel ball coach who believes that your DD has athletic ability and other qualities necessary for D1 program and has the contacts to market those qualities. Relationship should be started at earliest possible time. Fall of 8th grade for my DD.
3) OnDeck recruiting camps run by Derek and Joanne Allister. Period!
4) Stay on 16U team until you are committed!! Very few coaches at 18U events compared to 16U, especially D1
5) Playing best teams on National Stage. West coast showcases (Zoom into June, Surf City, etc.),PGF Nationals and Boulder Independence Day all instrumental for my DD. Tons of major D1 schools at all of these events all the time. DD must be able to get playing time and perform on these stages.
6) Softball camps at target schools. Once you reach 8th grade, my opinion is that you only attend if there is positive dialogue already going on between your travel coach and college coach about their interest in your DD.


These are strictly based on our experience, but maybe they will help. Also, the more D1 schools that are interested in your DD, the more interesting she will be to her top school/schools. If your DD's goal isn't a major D1 program, there are many local showcases with less travel that will work just fine. Just continue to do the research from people who have been there. That's my 2 cents!

[6position]

Oh yeah! GRADES, GRADES, GRADES

One thing I left off my list was GRADES. Not because they aren't important, but because we didn't and don't have to focus on them during recruiting. We are blessed with an excellent student. I do believe that her grades and PSAT scores in the early high school years helped her tremendously in all of the other items listed, to make her more attractive to the college coaches. Without the athletic ability to play at your desired level, grades don't help you get recruited to play softball....

[Lunatic Fringe]

What is the objective of earning a college scholarship?

Just for grins, I checked out the roster of the OU softball team to see what the ladies are majoring in from the JR's and SR's.

3 undecideds or no mention
2 Heath & Excersise Majors
Multidisciplinary Studies Major
Pre-Major Studies
Journalism Major

Damn fine softball program though.

Many schools others are chasing hard after you couldn't pay me to send my daughter to. I not trying to pick on OU, just that OU was mentioned earlier in the thread.

What is the objective of earning a college scholarship?