The softball recruiting process can be daunting with letters to coaches, trips to clinics, making your skills video, and playing in showcase tournaments all while keeping up with your studies. The process usually starts your sophomore year with identifying your academic area of study and potential colleges. The spring of your junior year and fall of your senior year you are trying to get maximum exposure to your interested college coaches. Finally coming to an agreement with a coach on your short list to play softball on his team the following year. Below are six articles that can help manage the successful college recruiting experience.
Are You Paying Attention to the Little Things?
I talked about the reality of college softball, the recruitment process, the academic requirements, what coaches are looking for, and so on. I also spent time explaining to the young athletes that were present that besides refining their softball skills and having the best marks possible in school, they have to pay attention to the little things.
A parent's role in college recruiting...
Finding colleges, let alone ones where you can play a sport, is a daunting challenge for high school students. The sheer number of colleges is enough to make most 17 year olds a little jittery. To be successful in recruiting, the athlete has to drive the recruiting process forward. But there are lots of moments in the process when a parent's guidance and assistance are invaluable.
Tips for Maximizing Your College Recruiting Visit to Campus
One of the best recruiting things you’ll ever do is visit college campuses. Visits show you what colleges are really like. They take you way beyond glossy websites and brochures and show you all the bumps, scrapes, and hidden delights colleges have to offer.
Building Relationships is the Key to College Athletic Recruiting Success
College recruiting is not an event; it is often a lengthy process. And finding the perfect college match is hard work and often involves developing relationships with 50+ coaches. But most important, becoming proactive leads to college recruiting success. Sitting back and waiting for the perfect offer is a recipe for disaster. Get exposure, get it early, and make yourself stand out from the rest.
What can you do, as a high school coach, to help your athletes?
As coaches and mentors of young men and women you will be looked to for guidance with what some consider the most important decision of a young person’s life. Guiding a high school student athlete through the recruiting process and ultimately helping them find the perfect fit for their college experience can be a difficult process. With the recruiting process changing on a yearly basis it’s understandable that some coaches feel unsure as to when their athletes should get started with their search for a college. It’s important that your student athletes and families understand that not all doors remain open forever, rosters are filled, scholarships are given out, and opportunities can be missed, regardless of the talent level their son or daughter possess.
Looking for High School Ball Players!
I believe the more college programs know about you and the things you can do as a player, the more it will help you in the overall college recruiting process. Our goal is to help high school players gain exposure to a huge number of college programs. I believe this can be done by writing a detailed athletic profile on student athletes. <Woods Recruiting is currently offering a free college recruiting service. This is not a recommendation, since I haven't used it, but information about a potential option to pursue.>
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