Showcases

why is baseball so different than softball???? This thought occurred to me as I read these almost frantic posts about being in CO, being in FL, being on the best team from the best organization, now its even being in the best bracket for crying out loud! This anxiety pervades softball and the brutal truth is it is the catalyst for a lot of the problems that manifest themselves as: travel coaches recruiting other teams players, disloyal parents, no nothing coaches and the list goes on.

On the baseball side my son will go to a HS where the coach gets calls from all level schools about his players.. at D2 and D3 he has good enough relationships with some coaches that they will offer without ever even seeing the player! I am sure he isn't the only coach in the state in that situation. I have never heard of it on the softball side.. at the HS level anyway. I have seen Rodney post that such and such a college is looking for this or that player. I am sure Ray gets inquiries as well. As far as I can tell there just is not this type of angst in baseball.

Everyone should take Bmac's words to heart in his post about getting offers. It will make your life a lot easier. As said in a previous post financially this is a no brainer... all of us in travel ball are LOSING money in the long run.

 

Please Dont Misinterpret...

Bmac,I too agree that the life experiences are priceless. We travelled with my DD for 10 years. On the other hand though,this season for example,5 players from my DD's travel team went on to play at the next level at D1 or D2 schools. I dont know one of them that got a "full ride" due to a softball scholarship. My point was merely that in MOST cases the academic scholarship $$$$ for the vast majority of the girls that DO go on to play in college will FAR exceed the softball scholarship $$$$ they're offered,particularly girls who either choose not to attend or aren't recruited by D1 schools. D2 and D3 schools simply dont have the budgets to award full scholarships for softball. I'm sure with your background that you're aware that 90% + of the girls that play at the college level are not playing at top level D1 schools with those types of budgets.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by "better" schools,but to me the "best" school is the one that most suits our childrens' academic asperations,and also a school that they are comfortable attending,regardless of that schools' being a D1,D2,or whatever.The softball opportunity at a given school should,in my humble opinion be secondary to MANY other criteria of college choice,particularly academics...In any event,we have had a GREAT softball life and met dozens of GREAT people,players,players' families and parents and coaches along the way. And lets not forget the thrill of the exciting games,the thrill of the girls' competitive attitudes and comraderie,and the overall experience of being part of a "team".
Another point about the financial aspect of the scholarships,is that most of scholarship amounts whether athletic or academic are going to be determined by the results of FAFSA,or the families' ability to pay for a given student/athletes' tuition, regardless of where they end up going to school.That EFC (Expected Family Contribution) is determined long before most scholarships of any kind are awarded.Then the school will typically calculate the balance of the tuition amount, AFTER EFC is established,and make offers to the student/athlete after deducting the EFC from the total cost of tuition.

BTW Bmac, I HIGHLY respect your opinions here and hope I'm not coming off as argumentative. I just see too many kids and parents talking about "full rides" early in the process and they frequently aren't SURE what has been offered to them by a given coach. When any parent asks me , I tell them to write down exactly what takes place in ALL conversations with ANY college coaches,and to be sure and ask questions when dollar amounts or any scholarships are discussed. (For example: If a coach says they'll be able to offer a $10K scholarship I urge parents to ask,$10K per semester,per year,or total over 4 yrs.?)That's the sort of thing that gets confusing at times.

 

Roo- excellent points, especially your comment on the "better" school is the one that fits your daughter academically with softball being secondary. So true. Another good point you made was about the amount of academic money available as compared to softball money.

A fully funded D-1 program gets 12 scholarships and with some teams carrying over 20 players, the softball dollars can be spread thin among the players. From what I have seen, but I'm sure others have experienced differently, the larger scholarships usually go to the pitchers, catchers and any player proves to be a great hitter. (if you can hit, there will usually be a spot on the field also!) I do know of some coaches that will offer a certain amount in year one, with the possiblity of getting a higher percentage in future years. But the coach stresses that's just a possibility and it would be based on the students performance in the classroom, locker room and on the field.

The bottom line I guess is there are many different scenerios based on what is best for your daughter and situation academically and financially. But if a school wants a dd, they will find ways to make it work financially, but she still must meet certain standards academically. .02

 

Full rides........

Rangeroo hits it on the head.....

A fully funded DI school has approximately 12.0 athletic scholarship dollars...which means that money is split between the team members over a 4 year period. While full rides occasionally happen, most of the time it is a combination of academic and athletic $$'s. In some cases, academic money awarded will reduce the ability of a program to award athletic money. A school cannot exceed the 12.0 ceiling, no matter where the money comes from. Also, the amount of the awards cannot exceed the cost of admissions per individual student. All athletic scholarships are renewable every year. I’m a big advocate of schools being proactive in educating student athletes about the rules. A student needs to understand that a $400 book scholarship can prohibit him or her from taking thousands of dollars of other institutional financial aid.

The rule of thumb to use at the DI level is - a student-athlete who receives athletic aid, must report all other sources of financial aid to the compliance officer for approval before acceptance. Schools should inform their prospectives on their visits of the financial aid limitations. The NCAA Handbooks are available on line and prospective student-athletes and their guardians should make themselves aware of the rules early in the recruiting process. There should be handbooks available for college-bound student-athletes at their high schools. If not, they can view or order them from the NCAA website.

Each university has a "cost of attendance" figure that they must use. There is also in-state and out-of state along with on-campus and off-campus equivalency figures that must be used to figure into the equation. It takes a lot of book keeping to make sure that everything balances out.

A fully funded DII school has 7.2 athletic scholarship dollars... see above for how it works.

DIII schools have ZERO athletic scholarship dollars. They award merit scholarship dollars based soley on academics...But their $$$ are good for 4 years as long as the kid remains in good academic standing...and the criteria has no ties to athletics...the kid can show up and decide not to play, and she keeps the money.......

Very few DI school start out fully funded. It usually takes a minimum of 4 years to achieve that status. Most of them never become fully funded.

Most DII schools are not fully funded...Scholarship dollars are determined
in some cases by the conference they play in. Check out the CVAC web site.

A couple of more thoughts....I have sometimes seen discussions on this board about how few kids get full rides, and that a full ride athletic scholarship is somehow superior to a mix of aid from various sources which totals to the same amount. I think this is parental ego run amuck. The mixed source package can be better, in that your DD's interests may change with time and she may want to stop playing ball. If a part of the package is academic money, she will continue to get a subsidized education without severe adverse consequences to your pocketbook. We always tell our kids the more academic money they get the more flexibility they have if goals change in the future.


Finally, I think the moral of the story is..."Grades and SAT scores are very important....the higher they are, the "cheaper" you become to the softball program, and hence the more desireable" ...so ladies crack your books and study hard!

 

That's It !!!!!

AMEN CHARLIE!

 

:notworthy

its pretty simple ..........work hard in the classroom and balance the softball into the mix.

Thanks for spelling it out again, Coach!!

 

grades and SAT's.... we all know of this or that good softball player who didn't play at the level we thought she could or didn't play college ball at all... we know why.

- best advice I have ever seen on this Board. Ray once said to me that he tells his girls to choose their college, not let softball choose it for them. Don't loose sight of the forest for the trees people!

 

Charlie hits it right on the head. Most programs are "not" fully funded and "full athletic" rides are the extreme exception. My daughter plays in the CVAC and while her athletic scholarship was really good her academic dollars far outweighed the athletic. She had 1 other similar offer from the D2 ranks. Grades (class rank) and SAT's are key in fulfilling your dream of playing at the next level. And it's like someone else said it's also about finding a place that's a good fit for the player and were they will be happy.

 

great info

this is obviously outstanding info for those seeking to play ball in college.

you all said that a "full-ride" athletic scholarship is an extreme exception in non-revenue college sports. so what kind of "super-kid" does actually meet the exception of receiving a full ride??

 

70 mph pitchers?!?!?!?!?