Trying To Get a College Scholarship

For those of you that can't afford $2000.00 to $3000.00 for a scouting
service,or attend softball camps, find a good fastpitch travel team that plays
college showcase tournaments in front of college scouts. [size=-1]Write softball coaches. [/size]
[size=-1]Personalize each letter. College coaches are turned off by form letters.[/size]
Send summer softball schedules to college coaches. This is one of the best
ways to be seen by college scouts, it's free and very effective. Attend softball
camps whenever possible.

 

Investment

Well, I'm taking the bait. You probably expected me to chime in on this one. I agree with you. Scouting services are not for everybody. In our case, for instance, if you do not have good to great grades, will only consider a handful of colleges, or need to stay within an hour of home, our service is not for you.

Since figures have been tossed around, innaccurate as they may be (no offense taken), if you cannot afford our service, you can't afford to play travel ball, either, because the one-time investment you make with us is less than you pay to play one year of travel ball, and for how many years? Basically, your kid only has to receive between $375.00 and $635.00 in scholarship money each of four years in college to recoup your investment with us. On the other hand, our clients will see, on average, a four-year scholarship value of about $52,000.00. Not bad.

That aside, to characterize the effort to get noticed by college coaches as something easy to undertake is only accurate to a point. It's easy IF you have the time to devote toward getting everything done; IF you have some expertise in putting together an effective profile and resume; IF you know how to shoot and edit a decent skill video; and IF you can put all this together and deliver it to whole a bunch of coaches, not just a few, your kid might get noticed, evaluated and recruited. Want to guess how much time and money all that takes? And, what if there's no spot on the roster at one of those five or ten colleges? What if your kid doesn't have what a coach is looking for, or the school doesn't have her major, or when your kid finally gets on the campus, meets the coach and discovers she can't stand the coach, and she thinks the campus sucks? Happens all the time.

How about this? Only one in twenty four high school senior softball players goes on to play in the NCAA DI, DII or DIII (figures for the NAIA and NJCAA are unavailable at press time). With about 93,000 high school senior softball players in the US graduating and only about 4,000 roster spots available on NCAA teams, kids are facing tough odds. Agreed?

Finding a team that plays in showcase tournaments, ones that college coaches go to, is more difficult than it sounds. Most of those teams' rosters are locked up early on, as they should be, AND the coaches have registered their teams for the showcase events six to nine months in advance, as they should have. Typically, those coaches have been around the circuit, scouted for top notch area or regional talent, recruited and groomed these top players to compete in those top tournaments. For a good to very good player on the outside, getting a spot on one of those rosters is nearly impossible. So, where, oh, where does that leave the other good ball players who want to play college ball? Fending for themselves in second tier tournaments with no hope of grabbing the attention of a college coach? Well, maybe, but I like to think that folks who are hungry will find a way to eat.

Still, even playing in showcase tournaments is somewhat of a gamble, to be honest. It's not uncommon for there to be over 300 players in those events. The old adage, "If you are good enough, they'll find you," no longer applies. You need to have your kid's name on coaches' lists when they arrive so that your kid will become a priority to them to evaluate. Most coaches I meet at showcases come with a list of their top prospects and what they want most is to find out when and what field those particular kids will play on. If someone else catches their eye, say, when that player happens to make a great play or get a timely hit, great. Yes, the occasional "find" happens, but for the most part, you need to figure out a way to get your kid's name on those lists!

There are a lot of very good players who will not get to play in college next year because they were told that if they played on a travel team, made All-Conference, sent their resume to a few college coaches, and made a few calls they would get a scholarship. It doesn't work that way any longer, at least it rarely works that way. For instance, there's a team in my area that should have had three kids sign DI, yes DI (and I assure you that I do not say that lightly) scholarships back in the Early Signing Period in November. None did. I'll bet you a buck to a donut that those kids once, if not recently, had dreams of playing big time softball. Sadly, it's not going to happen because their parents were ignorant to how the process really works and believed that old adage, once again. Who suffers? While excuses are being made, the kids and their dreams are the ones who must face the violin music. There are other successful solutions and ways, but you have to be in the mindset to, my apologies, think outside the box when your facing the competitive numbers shown above.

For me, as a scout and recruiter, it's extremely frustrating to see talented kids not get the chance to play at a level that will truly challenge their abilities. You can see it in their eyes, the disappointment, the fire, the dreams all but gone. It's the one thing that keeps me awake at night.

 

No Alan, I didn’t expect you to chime in. This isn’t about you or any scouting service. This is about girls that can’t afford to hire scouting services no matter what their fee is. There are girls out there that fit into this category. I have personally paid player fees for girls to play on travel teams that could not afford the player fee, much less fees for a scouting service. Several of these played in front of college coaches and received scholarships. I believe that there are girls out there that have very high grades, and are good enough athletes that scouts will come after them regardless. For those that can afford a scouting service, I encourage them to use one. For those that can’t, I encourage them to use an alternative method.

 

Getting to College

Comet I agree with you in the fact that there are other avenues to get Coaches attention other than the Scouting service. Nothing replaces direct contact from the players to the Coaches,playing in quality SHOWCASE tournaments and being on a good travel team that promotes the players . Having done both of these I say the best thing you can do as Comet said and promote yourself but there is a place for scouting service for those who don't have the funds or the time to do this themselves.Just my obsevation from having done both .

 

College Recruiting

There is a place for "all" in this tough area of getting kids recruited by colleges. Scout is right it is hard to get a kid on a travel team that goes to Showcases, ASA regionals and Nationals where the top colleges coaches attend. In NC there are only a few teams that attend these events, less than 1/2 dozen. However, if a kid picks 10 schools, is realisitic about their ability, e-mails the coaches, sends letters, send videos, gets a couple coaches to send letters, especially opposing coaches, and starts their sophmore year and stays persistant, they can make it happen. It is tough to get coaches to notice but most travel coaches will help others if asked. Good luck to all of U this summer and Scout be calm, we all know U contribute to the art of getting kids recruited, thanks to all of U for your efforts. Let's all support each others efforts.

 

Checking in

CometFan and LBlues1, admittedly I tend to get riled up sometimes about comments about services, so my apologies. Especially you, CometFan, no disrespect intended. I respect both of you and your takes on what's happening out there. We all have our own perspectives and everyone cannot claim to have cornered the market on the only effective way to help kids get noticed. Thanks for your comments. Hey, that chill pill is working, LadyBlues1!

 

Good Point(s) Blues.....As you have stated there are many paths to getting recruited and finally signing a scholarship to play softball in college. Most of what has been written on this thread is accurate to a point. What I have found out after speaking with people like yourself, Chris, Ray, Paul, Tony, Alan and many many more is that you have to be careful where NCAA guidelines are concerned. Too much to write here but all of you are good resources for getting help if you don't have an answer to a certain question or a process. Thanks to all those who write on this board who help out with this and also to the Scouts who provide a much needed service as well. Comet's point I think was to just remind people of what they can do themselves if the money isn't there for scouting services or travel expenses. I know that I have learned much from this board and travel ball and appreciate everybody's input.

 

I have seen several players (3) go down the road of a scouting service. None signed. If you are good, you are good and colleges will sign them.