Helping Parents With College Plans?

I've never been a proponent of a recruiting service because most everything it entails can be done for free.

However, I do have a recommendation for you that can be very helpful. Can you do player evaluations that are detailed? Will they be respected? If you can, then you are able to give an honest appraisal whether you can help the DD into college at whatever level.

If you identify her as a college calibre player and are able to give great advice and wise counsel, then your service is greatly underpriced. What you can save the family in wasteful spending is much more than what you charge....and the relationships built with college coaches can't be dismissed.

The key to this, obviously, is your reputation and past successes. Good luck in your venture. It can be very useful and is greatly needed by the right person.

By the way, I have been doing this privately for a select few families for years in baseball

 

Well.....I'm not trying to sound negative, but anytime someone pays you for a service and you don't produce the correct evaluation on a kid what then?

Anyone who owns a business will tell you if you do it long enough there is always someone who you just can't please. So just keep that in mind and by all means.....sign the parents to a consulting contract with a disclaimer and make sure they understand EXACTLY what you will do to protect your butt. Then for the one or two down the road that things just didn't work out for you have that piece of paper and....you signed it right here. It's just good business.

Other thing.....HS and TB coaches are great resources for college coaches to talk too, and the really good ones are already connected. Elite TB make it a business to get a kid signed. so you've got some competition.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

 

Those services remind me of illegal bribes you see on tv.... "heres a $20 where what do you know?" You are basically paying them to introduce you to their contacts. You are paying them for access to their little black book.... it makes me laugh and sick to my stomach all at the same time.

Spend the money on SAT prep classes or sending your kids to camps. I know at every camp I have worked or been to as a player we always had a session where the recruiting process was explained to us.

Here is my advise: I played on 3 different gold teams and went to all the best tournaments but 9 out of the 10 D1 schools that recruited me saw me at camps.

 

I don't believe he is talking about a recruiting service. Many of those places put you in a database then mass mail it out...but camps are one of the best decisions one can make--as long as you are attending a school that has mutual interest. But you have to do your homework with those, too; many are used as a moneymaker for the assistants. I've worked some high profiled camps where the HC never appeared.

The #1 question most families have is how good is my child? Where are they going to go to get that information? A camp? a Tournament? Their coach?

In baseball there are professional scouts that evaluate talent for a living. They can detect one's strengths and weaknesses in detail in every phase of the game. They aren't concerned about one's feelings after their evaluations: But they can advise whether they can play the game at the next level or not? As a parent, isn't that what you really want to know? What are the benefits in having this? Well, ex-professional scouts are now doing this...and have been a tremendous help with many families. They advise the player in their strengths and weaknesses, then design programs to help them. If they identify a player for a particular level of baseball, the fact that they have every HC's cell phone on their speed dial and when they talk--the coaches listen. And why is that? Because they have a great reputation of evaluating talent.

I see families spend 4 grand a year for their son to play on a certain team. I see families spend a grand to send their son to an individual tournament being scouted by D1 coaches- unfortunately, the player was a D3 talent and never received attention. I see players jumping teams each year (a no-no in baseball) because the families didn't feel their son was being showcased enough. That's what I meant by wasteful $ being spent. How would you feel if a professional scout came to you and said, "Look, your dd's core is very weak. Let's work on that and prepare her for XYZ tournament later." There's no point to showcase your skills if they aren't ready to be showcased.

Yes, we are fortunate in baseball to have these guys available to us for evaluations and counseling. It's the first time I have read anybody in softball mentioning that here. But there has to be some that are qualified to provide this kind of service.

I know that Metro has played successfully at every level of baseball. He should be a tremendous asset to you guys in the softball forum. I can say with confidence, if he gives advice on one's talent...I would listen.

 

A great question. You can't be fearful of being honest. If they don't like the evaluations...well, they have the opportunity to prove you wrong. But to the very few people I know that conducts them, rarely has that happened.

 

The service would not tell parents that a kid could or could not play at a particular level. I would give an opinion if asked. The thing that seems to be needed most is showing parents how things work. It is done at clinics, camps etc.. how many parental sessions are given? There are GREAT travel ball coaches that are well connected and a bunch that are on HUGE ego trips. This seems to be the norm. Many teams do a great job with all of this. BUT, many kids and parents can't figure a GPA and or know the importance of getting started STRONG in the 9th grade plus taking the correct classes.I am in education and many folks are amazed at what they learn when we sit down and look at simple things. Positive and negative will be posted here and that is ok. As I stated ealier, looking for opinions. That is how we are all made to think and learn. I do know that many kids need help that ARE NOT getting it.

 

I truly wish you success. If you are able to help only one family, it's worth it.

 

Lets be honest, though how many programs does the head coach actually do the recruiting???? Yes I will give it to you that ultimately it is their decision to sign an athlete or not but the assistants are usually the ones out there on the scavenger hunt.

I do agree with you about doing some research on what the best camp before hand. I know a few programs that have high school coaches run their summer camps rather than their own staff and players. Please dont attack me on this one I know that there are some amazing high school coaches out there. My favorite person to talk about the game and hitting with is a travel ball coach in California. But these college camps should be about showing kids what its like at the next level and how to get there.

 

Perfectly said. If one has interest in the school or vice versa, a camp is a great decision to attend. It gives both parties a chance to get to know one another...especially during quiet and dead periods of the recruiting process.

and for those that don't know me in softball, I do not have a recruiting service of any kind. I've provided much help with families when asked, but I do that for free. All I have is TBR and have tried to provide a place to help inform families.

 

Thats what its all about. Someone helped me once and now I feel its sort of an obligation to pay that forward not make money off of it. This sport needs more people like you Braves.