Parents of Committed Players?

It is your time to give back to TBR. We have many members that are going through or will be entering the recruiting process. I would like for you to describe your experience and what advice you would give a player/parent entering the process.

The experience you share will make the path a little more clear for the next family entering this phase.

 

There are two things I think are really important:

1) Dont go to a school ONLY because you love the head coach or a coach. You have to love the school not just the coach. Will you be happy if he's fired or leaves? If your hurt and cant play anymore will you love going to school where you are at?

2) You can make lists of the pros and cons etc., but its amazing how many players just know when they get in the car after a visit at a school with that feeling they just found a home. Their gut tells them "this is the place I just know it". Trust your instincts! You need to love where you go

After those 2 points
3) Research what positions teams have graduating in their senior AND junior class so you know what schools you would be interested need

4) Dont expect your travel and hs coach to do the work for you. Pick some schools and send your bio information with your travel and/or hs schedule. Let them know how your doing. Keep it short.

5) DO YOUR SCHOOL WORK! There are so many players who lose opportunities because of grades. Dont let it happen to you...you'll regret it.

6) If you have the opportunity to visit a school and meet the coaches take it. If its a school thats not one of your top 4 or 5 you might be suprised what you find out on the visit. At a minmum you are learning what to ask and what you will be asked on a campus visit

7) Dont freak out because you see all these early committments by players as early as the Fall of their Junior year. Thats about 5 or 10% of the players that will be signed. Most players are signed starting during the Junior season and summer between Junior and Senior year. Dont panic and listen to your coaches who have been through the drill before.

Naturally the academics, location, etc and all the other factors enter into it, but to me the first 2 points are vitally important. (Naturally I'm assuming you have the academics in order)

 

Great advice dawgs...thanks for sharing!

 

Those are great tips. Here are possibly a couple of more...

First, sit down and talk with your kid. Have an open and frank conversation about where they are mentally about college. About baseball. About life. This winds up being the most difficult part of the process. Being honest about who you are, where you are and where you think your skill sets can take you. A great time to do this is while you are fishing or playing golf or over a burger at your favorite dive...

Think of the recruiting process as a job interview (it really is).

Get an objective opinion.


Have fun when you play and practice. It's a game. Sure, take it serious, but if it is fun and you love it, it should show. And everyone knows you WILL work at something you love!


Choose your top 5 schools… attend their camps. I will say that again… attend their camps.

When you attend the camp, think of it as a serious part of the recruiting process.

GPA can NOT be over emphasised. If you carry a 4.0+, then every school in the nation is available to look at and consider you. As your GPA lowers, so do the number of schools that can or will consider you. A high GPA shows that you are serious about school, that you have a work ethic, successful in life activities and are determined. It also shows you have priorities and have long term plans.


Many more points, which I know other more knowledgeables will post up!


Tips for the recruiting process or how you should be handling your business, the game and life anyway?!

 

Thanks Dawgswood and Diesel

Thanks for sharing so openly - great points and thoughts as these young men make an important decision.

 

KISS - Keep it Simple Stupid

All of the above points are great and very thoughtful...but you know what....my best advice is....just play the game! Keep doing the things you've done that has gotten you to this point to begin with. Play the game because you love being on the field, shagging flies, getting dirty, hammering line drives, high-fiving your buddy after a tank shot, talking smack to rival you just froze with a 91 mph fb on the black, making a diving stab and hosing the runner then running off the field like you do that for a living.

Everything else will take care of itself. Don't get caught up in the process to the point it takes away from your production on the field. Sure we all have our own agenda but at the end of the day what we want, or what we think really doesn't matter. It's what they (recruiters) want, what they need and what they think that matters. You do your job and let them do theirs. They do that for a living and are prety darn good at it. What is a small window for us (6-18 month process) is something they do all year, every year for a paycheck.

Now with that being said....go back and read what Dawgswood and Diesel said again!

 

Now THAT is the best, most concise piece of advice anyone can give anyone. It's what I was trying to say, but got long winded. lol... Play hard, keep your grades up, be a good student, person, team mate and citizen. Your love of the game will show and it will be recognized.

 

My two cents worth

When a coach or a scout shows up at a game or practice don't panic. Just play your game, it is what got them there to watch you. Most importantly it does NOT matter if you have a bad day at the plate. Going o fer and hitting hard line drives is good. They are looking at mechanics not just performance. Remember they are there early and are watching from the time you get to the field, stretching, BP etc... and watch how you handle yourself and others.

 

I second the comment that there's excellent advice here.

Another item comes to mind:

Parents: Stay out of it as much as possible. Of course, there's a role beyond just getting them to the game; but, try to minimize your involvement in the recruiting process as much as possible. For me, this meant that I could have some influence in the quality of the coaching he received as he developed and, later, help him understand what was important for him to do in order to be a "recruitable" player.

This also translated into my staying out of conversations with baseball people. They were the baseball experts, not me. The last thing they needed to hear from me was my opinion of my son's potential value to their team. That was their job to evaluate and my son's job to reveal to them on and off the field.

Properly informed about the recruiting process, a player who wants to play beyond high school ought to have sufficient motivation to apply himself in the classroom and accept the responsibility of handling most of the process' routine duties himself. This includes responding to questionnaires and following up with the coaches of particular interest at relevant points in the process. It also includes representing himself to recruiters, scouts, and admissions personnel.

If you'll allow your son to take as much responsibility as possible for his recruitment, I think you'll be amazed...and proud...of the amount of growth the process brings to him. I know that I was. It's striking how much better prepared recruited athletes who have accepted resposibility for most of their recruitment are for making good choices at the end of the process.

 

Great advice

This is a great thread with a ton of great advice.

Do not get caught up in the recruiting process to the point that it distracts you "the parents" and "the player" from enjoying the best years of their life. It will suck the fun out of the HS years and the enjoyment of playing HS baseball.