Getting recruited to play college softball becomes a real priority for the fastpitch softball player and parent as soon as the reality sets in that the young athlete loves the game of fastpitch softball. Playing on into their college years becomes a major goal, and figuring out your college recruitment path becomes the focus. In this Softball Clinic blog we point you towards some tools that just may help with this college recruiting process.
College Recruiting - When to start
The first question that seems to be asked is what's the right age to begin the college recruitment process? Well, you've heard that old saying "time fly's when you're having fun" it also fly's as soon as your kids reach High School, so don't wait until they're junior year because that really is too late. If your daughter is playing on a decent 14U travel team, that is playing at a competitive level, it's time to start the process.
Getting Recruited to play College Softball - Where to start
We're living in the information age and they're plenty of college recruiting websites out there. Most of these softball recruitment websites offer you the opportunity to post your latest fastpitch softball skills videos, some are free and some charge a small fee. At The Softball Clinic we endorse National Fastpitch Coaching Association or nfca.org. This site provides a list of Colleges ranked by division and conferences, and also provides links to these college websites. Many (if not all) of these colleges have softball recruiting camps at various times during the year. While most of these softball camps are merely fundraisers for their college programs, they still offer the opportunity to be seen by the coaching staff of that particular college. NFCA also does a fine job of Summer and Fall ball tournament camps, here there list of college recruiting camps for 2011. In addition to searching the web, as we just mentioned above finding the right college recruiting softball tournaments to play in is also important. Use your judgment here as to which team you play for etc.. while the intentions of these teams are good, not are all what they're made out to be and it can be pricey. Do your research!
Get Recruited - Play College Softball
Getting recruited to play college softball does not happen by accident. It is a marketing process done on the part of the softball player, and/or their parents. In today's highly competitive college athletic environment, it's hard enough just to get noticed. You'll need every advantage possible to get recruited. As we just stated above we live in an information age and "information is power". Arming yourself with the right "how to get recruited to play college softball" information is a must. Parents never want to say it out loud, but we know you think it; "How did she get recruited over my daughter?" Happens all the time, kids of similar ability, one gets a scholarship and the other one doesn't, how did that happen? Some of it is pure timing, like excelling on the field when a coach happens to be watching, but most of it's doing the proper leg work. Like anything, there isn't one clear path, getting recruited to play college softball is a very competitive endeavor. The key is to better your chances, and avoid the classic mistakes and gain as much information as you can about the entire process. Here's a quick read that will give you a solid foundation to the process College Softball Recruiting Success.
Best of luck with your college recruitment process. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have any further questions, we'll do our best to answer them. If you like this information a tweet or retweet would be appreciated.
Best of luck with your college recruitment process. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have any further questions, we'll do our best to answer them. If you like this information a tweet or retweet would be appreciated.