Finding a Collegiate Softball

Match“College is a not a prize to be won, but a match to be made.”-Frank Sachs

Help me help you.

https://youtu.be/Mzfc9rjow9g What is the role of the coach? The college

advisor? The parent? The player? Do the search the right way – for a fit, not a

prize. Grades matter!! http://scholarships.vcsu.edu/vp.htm?p=2588

The Process:

I. Exploration Get to know colleges Get to know yourself

II. Investigation Developing a Target zone

III. Decisions Asking the right questions

Timelines & Recursive Loops END OF THE NINTH GRADE YEAR: In conjunction with your travel coach, generate a

“wish list”. In advance of an aggressive summer travel schedule, send out an introductory letter and your tournament schedule to the schools on your wish list. Complete the recruiting on-line questionnaires at these schools.

START OF THE 10TH GRADE YEAR: Begin to investigate the wish list schools, ranking them in terms of athletic and academic selectivity. Continue to send out packets to other schools as your target list takes shape.

MIDDLE OF THE JUNIOR YEAR: Schedule the SAT and ACT and begin to identify schools you will send packets to. Begin setting your resume up on the computer and working on a letter of introduction. Update your profiles and coach’s evaluation.

SPRING OF THE JUNIOR YEAR: Retake SAT and ACT. Make your skills video, following the guidelines in your packet. Begin putting together packets to send to coaches. You can include the video or wait until it's requested. Include a schedule and highlight dates when you are playing in that coach’s area. As soon as school ends, start the NCAA Clearinghouse process. Arrange for your high school to send the 6th semester transcript. See NCAA clearinghouse website for details.

START OF THE SENIOR YEAR: If you haven't heard back from the schools initially contacted, follow-up with phone calls once per week. Adjust your target list in accord with interest, generating 8-10 schools in your “3 zone”. FALL OF SENIOR YEAR: Retake Sat or ACT. Narrow choices. Polish and submit your applications.

Phase I: Exploring Collegiate Softball

Don’t generalize or read too much into letters and Roman numerals: Div. I, II, III; NCAA, NAIA, etc.

Do know the differences between programs – training, travel, levels of competition.

Watch games, check out schedules, ask current players about the tenor and demands of the programs.

Exploring College Academics You can learn a lot about schools by researching college

guides, visiting web sites, and working with your guidance counselor. Know the resources at hand on our site!!

Look at the numbers: acceptance rates, median board scores, admissions requirements, and rankings to get a sense for selectivity.

Look at programs, attrition rates, gender percentages, undergraduate/graduate ratios, housing, etc. to get a broad picture of the academic life.

Look in more detail at the curriculum and departments of interest by visiting web sites, attending visits from college representatives, visiting classes, etc.

Talk to current students or recent alumnae to get an insider’s view of the student experience. Take notes.

Exploring You As A Collegian – Question #1 – Distance.

Do you want to go to school close to home? Do you want to go away to school?

How far from home would you be willing to travel? Think in terms of driving distance. What sort of radius would be your maximum distance from home?

Are there regions of the country which you would consider? Any you would eliminate? Check the regions to which you would consider attending college:

Northeast (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, etc.)

Northwest (Washington, Oregon, etc.)

Midwest (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, South Dakota, Missouri, etc.)

Mid-Atlantic (Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland)

South (Oklahoma, Texas, etc).

Southeast (Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida)

Southwest (Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico)

Exploring You As A Collegian – Question #2 – School Size.

What size of a school are you looking for? Rule of thumb: A college population will feel like 2-3 times the size of your HS crowd.

Are you looking for bigger or small student bodies - the energy of a large crowd or the intimacy of a smaller community?

Are you looking for a larger, urban, research institution in downtown Chicago? An intimate, small liberal arts school tucked in the mountains of Vermont?

Visit a range of schools to gain a vocabulary for all of this!

Exploring You As A Collegian Question #3 – School Tenor

What kind of atmosphere or school climate are you looking for?

What kind of intellectual environment appeals most to you? Are you seeking a more conservative, parochial education? A liberal arts curriculum? A vocational or technical training? Try to think in broad terms here – not in terms of specific professional fields yet.

Is there a specific field or pre-professional program which you are absolutely set on pursuing?

An Exercise: Envision yourself returning home for Thanksgiving.

You open up a scrapbook to show friends or parents a series of photos that feature you living out an ideal college experience. What pictures do you see?

Close your eyes and think about this for two minutes. Then list some of the images you might see here.

Share this list with parents or a partner. Consider some other aspects of student life you may

not have considered: classrooms, roommates, team travel, a conversation with an academic advisor, study abroad, research in a library. Then repeat the process.

Exploration On Your Own

Go to a variety of schools and just visit with an eye to getting the feel of certain types of schools. Camps are great opportunities to do this!

Visit a large urban university, a small rural college, a middle-sized state school, a middle-sized urban parochial college, etc.

Try to develop a living vocabulary for the search to come.

Exploring You As A Collegiate Athlete

What level should you play? Talk to coaches familiar with collegiate softball at the various levels and ask for an honest assessment of your current and potential skill level. Your coach can, upon request, complete an evaluation form which will help you assess your potential. Value their honesty and do not be offended if they don’t label you as UCLA material.

What am I willing and eager to do to take myself to that level?

What will I have to give up to realize my collegiate potential? What do I want beyond softball in my collegiate life? Am I going to college to get an education and play

softball? Or am I going to college to play softball and get an education?

Exploring You As A Current Student

What is your current, CUMULATIVE GPA? This number must be reported accurately and updated on our brochures and online profiles.

What are your ACT/SAT scores? If you have taken them, you need to post these updated scores.

What sort of AP or CIS or IB classes or curriculum have you pursued?

If you haven’t taken the boards yet, have you taken a PSAT, ACT ASPIRE or any sort of a sample, predictive test? You can use these to gauge potential academic eligibility.

RECRUITING SERVICES – BUYER BEWARE

Recruiting services at best will do exactly what we do: help you with video, provide a time-line and structured process, write or gather recommendations and a profile.

At worst, they will cost $1,800-$2,000 and do you a disservice. The vast majority of college coaches DO NOT OPEN recruiting service emails.

WHEN THEY CAN HELP: athletes looking outside of the MN, SD, ND, WI, IA area.

Exploration Made Manifest: The Initial “Wish List”

Now that you have assessed the softball and academic demands of various programs and evaluated your own talents and interests, you should begin to generate a “wish list” of 25-30 schools.

Based on your answers to the questionnaires, exercises, informal visits, and conversations with coaches, generate a sub-list of 8-12 schools that really appeal to you.

Search through web sites, conference sites, college guides, etc., looking to add other similar schools. Expand this list again to 25-30 schools with high appeal.

Phase II: Investigation – Developing A “Target List”

Transform your “wish list” into a “target list”. Based on the feedback you get from your travel coach and from college coaches, begin to map out a list of schools that fit you both academically and athletically.

Rank these schools in terms of your target zone, considering both athletics and academics.

Once you have a target list of 20-30 schools, you will contact those programs.

Note that these lists are, and should be, fluid.

Investigation – Writing College Coaches

You can begin this process as early as freshman year. You may not get recruiting information back from

coaches, but they will, at the least, enter you into a database and put you on their radar as a prospect.

The peak time to contact coaches is during your sophomore and junior years in high school, but it helps to start even earlier.

Complete on-line recruiting questionnaires and update these each year.

If you contact a coach by phone, post-card or email regarding a camp, etc. use your name and graduation year in your phone message or on the subject line.

Investigation – How to Introduce Yourself

In your introductory packet include: a letter of introduction, a transcript, an athletic resume, your upcoming travel ball schedule, highlighting tournaments these coaches might attend. Samples are included in your guide.

Address the head coach and assistant coaches by name and title.

Write this well! Respect for your discourse expresses your respect for their program.

Use a template (form letter) but personalize it. Where possible, speak to what you might make out of

the opportunities there – what YOU, not they, offer.

Other Things You Might Include in Your Packet

A coach’s recommendation. Your coach can write a recommendation that can help your candidacy for admission and help your cause with the college coach. This will carry more weight, however, if it is sent under separate cover and not read by you.

Video. You can send a video out to coaches, and this can help, but it is better for them to see you in person. We would recommend making your video and sending it later in the process – or to coaches who cannot see you play because of distance.

Phone Calls After you, the athlete, have sent out packets or

videos to target schools, you may call coaches to follow up. This will indicate your interest in their program. College coaches may ask your coach to have you call at a certain day or time.

Prepare a script of what you want to say and what you want to ask. Smile and be personable.

If no answer, leave a message, including name, grad year, position and travel team. Div. I and II coaches can’t respond; they can only pick up.

As an upper classman recruited athlete, your coach should hear back. Call again, once per week for three weeks if you do not.

Tracking the Investigation

Keep your target list of schools on a spread sheet and track the record of contacts – what you sent and when; what you heard back and when.

Seniors – call to follow up on your status after you send on video or other materials.

Investigation - Camps Virtually all college softball programs hold camps.

This is a great way to get “a look”. If possible, try to attend some of these.

Look to attend camps when the numbers are smaller – i.e. “Elite” or “Prospect” Camps and be sure to attend the camps directed towards prospective athletes.

Attend only the camps at schools to which you are really interested. This is expensive. So pick your spots.

Investigation – Unofficial Visits

An “official visit” is one in which the host school pays for some or part of your expenses.

An “unofficial visit” is one in which you visit a school on your own expense.

You can visit a school unofficially as many times as you like.

Official visits must take place during senior year. You are limited to a maximum of five official

visits – only one per school.

The Recruiting Rules: NCAA Div. I and Div. II coaches may not contact high school age

prospective athletes before July 1 before their Jr. year.

Div. I coaches may not contact high school athletes in person, off campus or by phone until July 1 following your Junior year. For Div. II coaches, the date is June 15.

After this date, following your Junior year, Div. I and Div. II coaches are allowed only three in-person, off-campus contacts with a prospect or her family.

Div. III coaches cannot contact you in person off campus until after your Junior year, but there is no limit to these contacts.

Coaches may not talk to prospective senior recruits in person at games or tournaments until after a player’s team has been eliminated.

NAIA coaches may contact you at any time with no limits on contacts.

A Note On Early Verbals

By NCAA code, college coaches may not have face to face contacts (meetings) with players (or their families) off campus until after the player completes her junior year.  (June 15th for Div. II coaches; July 1 for Div. I.)  That means until those dates, college coaches can not call, talk to you at tournaments , visit your home, etc.  Any “official” or paid for visits to campus are not allowed until after you start your senior year.

SO HOW CAN KIDS VERBAL AS FRESHMEN OR SOPHOMORES?!!!

Coaches may, however, email, write, or send underclassmen a questionnaire in response to a player’s letter, and they can also let travel coaches know of their interest. If players hear, through such an email or letter, or more often, through their travel coach, of a coach’s interest, players can then freely visit college campuses at their own expense, and once there, they can meet with the team coaches. In such meetings, “early verbal” commitments are sometimes issued.

Note that there is nothing legally binding about a “verbal” commitment.

Making Contact If you are recruited, be a responsible recruit.

If a coach calls or writes, sends you a questionnaire, or asks for a video, respond right away, sending requested materials, thanking them, and letting them know when you can supply additional materials, updates, etc.

After you send materials, follow up with a phone call, email, or postcard. This can separate you from the pack!

If a coach expresses interest in you and you are definitely NOT interested in that school, express that clearly, politely, and immediately.

Investigation – Financial Aid Don’t plan on softball alone paying for college –the “full ride fiction” and a reality check:

Even “fully funded” Div. I programs have a maximum of 12 full scholarships and Div. II programs have an average of 7.2 full scholarships spread over five years and rosters often consisting of 20 plus athletes!! Full ride scholarships are the rare exception!

Fewer than 1% of HS athletes receive a Div. I or Div. II athletic scholarship Avg. Div. I or II athletic scholarship is $8,225 towards tuition bills between $20,000-50,000 annually. Such scholarship money is awarded on a yearly basis and is not guaranteed. The reality: in most cases you will at best break even with your travel ball commitment and college

scholarship dollars. Keep your grades up! Academic and merit aid is the better and surer route.

Don’t eliminate schools by Div. or rule schools out by sticker shock. Ex. $46,000 tuition – $30,000 avg. financial aid package = $16,000; $20,000 tuition - $4,000 avg. financial aid award = $16,000 – SAME THING!! Read beyond tuition! Endowments make a big difference.

Don’t eliminate Div. III schools because they do not offer athletic scholarships. Div. III “merit” aid far outstrips Div. I and Div. II “athletic” aid on an annual basis.

Athletic based financial aid can help with costs, and athletics can definitely help get you into schools.

Examine your finances and create a plan: 1. How much can family contribute to your education? 2. What types of financial aid might you qualify for? Academic? Artistic? Grants? Merit aid? Field based aid? 3. Do you have other sports that might garner scholarship aid? 4. Loans? Work study? Need based aid.

Some Other Resources

www.savingforcollege.com www.finaid.org www.fafsa.ed.gov Don’t give up hope! Work all possible sources,

look at all types of schools, and don’t balk at the forms. Fill out the FAFSA and give schools and yourself a chance to make it work.

Investigation – “What if I am not hearing from coaches?”

If, by the fall of your senior year, you are not being recruited by targeted programs, you might seek some active feedback from these college coaches. Find out where you are falling short.

Reassess your target list with this information in mind and work actively to contact schools that fit your adjusted contact zone.

Phase III - Decisions Assess your own personal needs. This is YOUR college

experience – not your coach’s, not your parents’, YOURS. Choose wisely with your own needs in mind.

Look at all types of schools and try to envision yourself there not only on the diamond but as a member of a college community. Consider the whole experience.

Clarify your goals. What do you want to get out of these four years? What school will offer the best means to fulfill this?

Ask pointed questions of coaches and admissions representatives. See the lists of such questions in your packet. Do your homework. Look beyond the surface. Ask the tough questions. You are the consumer here.

Visit the schools in person – if possible, more than once. Trust your instincts!

“College is not a prize to be won but a match to be made”.

Make this an exciting and enjoyable experience by being Active, Responsible, and Realistic.

The more active you are – both in your search and in your preparation, the more likely your success.

Success = you find a great fit – a school that helps you forge for yourself a rich and rewarding educational experience.

Supporting Material and References:

Aradi, Cathy. Preparing to Play Softball at the College Level. NFCA. 2012.

http://www.nfca-services.org/store/  

To obtain a copy of Cathy Aradi’s book click on the link above and then click on “Books/Miscellaneous”

MN Renegades College Recruiting Handbook www.NCAA.org http://web1.ncaa.org/ECWR2/NCAA_EMS/NCAA_EMS.html# www.NFCA.org http://www.fastpitchrecruiting.com/