Scholarship Question?

How important is it to play high school softball when it comes to scholarships.....DD teams is more of a social club than team! They don't seem to have the desire to play ball. Really taking toll on her-mentally.
Can scholarships be achieved by only playing tournament ball? Or does high school ball play a major role too?

 

In our experience, playing for a good traveling team that is willing to go to the better showcases is where you will get the exposure. High school ball will get you some local exposure but nothing like the showcases. The player has to work hard at it too-contacting schools she is interested in.

 

Scholarships

I coached HS ball for a while. I also coach an 18U team. I can only remember seeing 4 college type people at any of our HS games over the course of 2 seasons. I would venture to say the majority of athletic scholarship opportunities come from the better exposure tournament.

 

I have been told, by a coach who has coached at all levels of the sport, excepting pro, that it is very important to contact the schools your child is truly interested in during
her junior year. Go work out for them, etc. Keep it limited to about 4-6 schools and hope for the best.

 

I went with my dd to Cheri Kemp's seminar on this specific subject. True exposure to colleges will come from playing travel ball. It is neither cost efficient nor productive to go watch a one girl play one game in high school when they can go to a showcase and watch tons of them, however it is good to have a good relationship with your high school coach and team. The college will have to go through your school to get transcript's and a general idea of what kind of PERSON the kid is. Never ever limit the number of schools you contact. My daughter is a soph. and we have already contacted at least 30 schools. Most colleges have a website where you can contact them or fill out a questionarre. They will be in touch. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

Basically, you obtain your scholarship. Pick the schools you want to attend and sell yourself to their program. I was unable to play my senior year in college, but ended up being a student coach. Learned alot. I hve many close friends that coach at all different levels, (DI, DII, DIII) I know what they do when they recruit. Coaches don't have time to go to high school games, it's during their season for the most part. Many coaches don't feel like going to a ton of showcases. They may hit a few, but not many. During the summer are when good coaches run their camps and then spend the rest of their time with their family that they never see. My advice high school ball or travel ball it doesn't really matter. Make videos and attend the camps to the colleges that you want to attend. Pester the coach you want to play for. YOU NEED TO SELL YOU ABILITIES TO THAT UNIVERSITY!! What makes you better than the girl beside you?

 

If your an intelligent college coach, stats don't mean too much. Anyone can pad stats. That's a proven fact. If a coach is recruiting out of state, they are never familiar with the high school conferences. You could be a super star in that conference and never be able to play college ball. I've seen that before.