Uninitiated contact

[absdad]

Would appreciate some other's throughts on this...

My dd (2016) has received her share of recruiting garbage in the mail and her email about camps and clinics promising the world, that junk just goes in the trashcan. She's been pretty selective about what schools she contacts, and what camps and clinics she attends. By selective, I mean realistic. The other day she received an email from a coach that she had previously not contacted. It does seem to be a decent in-state school, specializing in her desired major, with a good softball program. Don't know why, but it just wasn't on her radar previously. The email came in, mentioned that he has seen her play before, and inviting her to their camp this summer. The email was addressed to her, and didn't have the typical bulk email characteristics to it. It seemed personal in our opinion.

My question is, are coaches allowed to contact a player out of the blue that they're interested in? And if so, is this typical? She has had email contact with other coaches, who've replied to her initial emails, but nothing out of the blue like that. They could have gotten her email from one of the exposure camps/tournaments this year I suppose, or could they have gotten it from the clearing house? She is registered, and this particular school is a D2.

[PDad]

Hard to say whether it would qualify as athletically related recruiting material from your description. Some schools are better than others at making their camp solicitations sound personalized and interested. My DD received one from a school that we knew already had 2 pitchers committed from her grad class. Here are the regs from the D-II manual:

13.4.1 Printed Recruiting Materials. An institution may not provide athletically related recruiting materials (including electronic mail and facsimiles) to a prospective student-athlete [or the prospective student-athlete’s relatives or legal guardian(s) and coaches] before June 15 immediately preceding the prospective student-athlete’s junior year in high school. [D] (Revised: 1/10/91 effective 8/1/91, 1/10/92, 1/11/94 effective 8/1/94, 1/10/95 effective 8/1/95, 1/9/96 effective 7/1/96, 1/11/00 effective 8/1/00, 1/14/02, 1/9/06, 4/21/09, 6/22/11, 1/14/12 effective 6/15/12; for any prospective student-athlete entering his or her junior year in high school 6/15/12 and thereafter)

13.4.1.1 Exceptions.
13.4.1.1.1 Permissible Date. An institution may provide educational information published by the
NCAA (e.g., NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete), institutional camp brochures (see Bylaw 12.5.1.6.1), questionnaires and nonathletically related recruiting materials (e.g., institutional admissions publications, academic publications, student services publications) to a prospective student-athlete at any time. (Revised: 10/20/03, 1/9/06, 4/11/06)

13.4.1.1.2 Reproducing Printed Recruiting Materials in Any Electronic Format. An institution
may reproduce media guides in any electronic format for purposes of recruiting; however, all of the material contained in the electronic format must be able to be replicated in hard-copy format (i.e., the electronic format may not contain audio or visual materials pursuant to Bylaw 13.4.5) and must be permissible according to Bylaw 13.4.1. (Adopted: 4/11/06, Revised: 1/25/10)

13.4.1.2 Responding to Prospective Student-Athlete’s Request. Institutional staff members (including athletics staff members) may respond to a prospective student-athlete’s letter requesting information from an institution’s athletics department before June 15 immediately preceding the prospective student-athlete’s junior year in high school, provided the written response does not include information that would initiate the recruitment of the prospective student-athlete or information related to the institution’s athletics program (e.g., the reply contains an explanation of current NCAA legislation or a referral to the admissions department). (Revised: 1/14/12 effective 6/15/12; for any prospective student-athlete entering his or her junior year in high school 6/15/12, and thereafter)

[hit4power]

The email came in, mentioned that he has seen her play before, and inviting her to their camp this summer. The email was addressed to her, and didn't have the typical bulk email characteristics to it. It seemed personal in our opinion.

Obivously, I have no way to know if your email was personal, but my DD got several seemingly personal emails that turned out to be pretty well disguised bulk mailings from smaller schools. If you want to know for certain, have your DD call the coach. It will be pretty obvious if she/he has really seen your kid and is interested or if this is just a bulk mailing.

[absdad]

I probably am a bit over-thinking this. You're both probably right, it just seemed odd the way it was worded. The email seemed personal, but I guess I have to realize that these camps are money makers for the team. It was just this line that made me wonder "..we like to have players attend who are interested in us, and who we have an interest in as well." Then had the date/time of the camp, and a link to the page for it.

I suppose if the shoe were on the other foot, I'd be sending emails like that too.

Thanks for the replies.

[jonriv]

When my Daughter was recruiting- I used to talk a lot with the parent of one of her HS teammates who was also in the process. There were many times our daughters received the same "personalized" e-mails or letters