College camp invites- are they ever personal???

They can be more personal but this sounds generic.  An example of a personal one my 2017 got a while back was something like, "You had great at-bats at _____, but I think you can generate a lot more power with some work on your lower half."

Yup, some are getting better than others at making it sound like it is personal but, most often, it is not.  If in doubt, have son call sender and ask where they saw him and have other questions prepared that will tell you quickly whether they actually are familiar and/or interested specifically in your son.

And their response will be "sorry you're a sophomore-we can't talk to you!!!"

KilroyJ posted:

And their response will be "sorry you're a sophomore-we can't talk to you!!!"

They can talk to you if you call them; they just can't initiate the call. And I think the rule only applies to D1.

KilroyJ,

Please accept this personal invitation for your son to attend our  January "Flame Throwing with Tim" college camp. Please be aware that spaces are filling fast and we expect it to be sold out within the next week.  We realize you may have other options, but really? Where else can your son learn the how to be a true flamethrower? The return on the investment guaranteed because once your son becomes a true flamethrower he will be guaranteed a 100% scholarship to the school of his choice. Everyone knows all colleges need flamethrowers!

There is an added benefit for you and your son to start a winter business once your son learns to control his flame throwing there is the added bonus that he can quickly clear your driveway of snow in seconds. Think of the possibilities! He can sell his services to your neighbors and friends so he can quickly pay back the small fee of $2,500 for our camp. 

As an added bonus, if you sign up today there is a gift of a  Holy Hand Grenade personally signed by Tim that will be included in your camp gift bag, which also includes his own personal horns, expertly fitted at our camp by our surgeons. Just think the fear he will instill in his competitors when he takes the mound with his real "Tim the Enchanter" horns. (never mind Mom when he gets home)

 By signing up today you can also get a 25% discount on our upcoming camps: 1) Managing Flint and Tinder. 2) Raising unladen African Swallows for money. 3)  Slaying the rabbits in your mind. 

Sign up today and be sure to include your credit card number and security code and I will personally confirm his space in our hard to get into camp. 

What could be more comforting as a father knowing that your son can become a true flamethrower!

Yours truly, 

Tim. 

TimtheEnchanter posted:

KilroyJ,

Please accept this personal invitation for your son to attend our  January "Flame Throwing with Tim" college camp. Please be aware that spaces are filling fast and we expect it to be sold out within the next week.  We realize you may have other options, but really? Where else can your son learn the how to be a true flamethrower? The return on the investment guaranteed because once your son becomes a true flamethrower he will be guaranteed a 100% scholarship to the school of his choice. Everyone knows all colleges need flamethrowers!

There is an added benefit for you and your son to start a winter business once your son learns to control his flame throwing there is the added bonus that he can quickly clear your driveway of snow in seconds. Think of the possibilities! He can sell his services to your neighbors and friends so he can quickly pay back the small fee of $2,500 for our camp. 

As an added bonus, if you sign up today there is a gift of a  Holy Hand Grenade personally signed by Tim that will be included in your camp gift bag, which also includes his own personal horns, expertly fitted at our camp by our surgeons. Just think the fear he will instill in his competitors when he takes the mound with his real "Tim the Enchanter" horns. (never mind Mom when he gets home)

 By signing up today you can also get a 25% discount on our upcoming camps: 1) Managing Flint and Tinder. 2) Raising unladen African Swallows for money. 3)  Slaying the rabbits in your mind. 

Sign up today and be sure to include your credit card number and security code and I will personally confirm his space in our hard to get into camp. 

What could be more comforting as a father knowing that your son can become a true flamethrower!

Yours truly, 

Tim. 

That's helpful...said nobody ever

The invites usually aren't personal. What is are my son's responses, usually saying why he can't come, or asking for more info. Sometimes, he gets a "you should come cause we are awesome." Sometimes he gets a conversation started. So answer it. List a web site or video link. Maybe worth nothing--but why not?

Ironically, my son attended one last Sunday which was the result of me reaching out to a school on his behalf to express interest. I spoke with the RC a few weeks back and he asked me to bring him to the camp because they wanted to see him. 

Notwithstanding, most of the invitations that he's gotten have been generic. 

Related to this question for PG......do you have separate lists that go out to coaches?  List one is for guys who played in a PG tournament over the summer and list two are those kids who were named All Tournament Team from those tournaments?   I seemed to notice a huge uptick in those emails after my son played the WWBA (U15) Lake Point this past summer and was on the All Tournament Team for pitching.   Just curious.  BTW....love Lake Point and the PG tournaments......if only you could get rid of the traffic on Friday afternoons!  HA!

TimtheEnchanter posted:

KilroyJ,

Please accept this personal invitation for your son to attend our  January "Flame Throwing with Tim" college camp. Please be aware that spaces are filling fast and we expect it to be sold out within the next week.  We realize you may have other options, but really? Where else can your son learn the how to be a true flamethrower? The return on the investment guaranteed because once your son becomes a true flamethrower he will be guaranteed a 100% scholarship to the school of his choice. Everyone knows all colleges need flamethrowers!

There is an added benefit for you and your son to start a winter business once your son learns to control his flame throwing there is the added bonus that he can quickly clear your driveway of snow in seconds. Think of the possibilities! He can sell his services to your neighbors and friends so he can quickly pay back the small fee of $2,500 for our camp. 

As an added bonus, if you sign up today there is a gift of a  Holy Hand Grenade personally signed by Tim that will be included in your camp gift bag, which also includes his own personal horns, expertly fitted at our camp by our surgeons. Just think the fear he will instill in his competitors when he takes the mound with his real "Tim the Enchanter" horns. (never mind Mom when he gets home)

 By signing up today you can also get a 25% discount on our upcoming camps: 1) Managing Flint and Tinder. 2) Raising unladen African Swallows for money. 3)  Slaying the rabbits in your mind. 

Sign up today and be sure to include your credit card number and security code and I will personally confirm his space in our hard to get into camp. 

What could be more comforting as a father knowing that your son can become a true flamethrower!

Yours truly, 

Tim. 

Hahaha I about died when I got to the holy hand grenade part. Ok I will let my son attend as long as you can garuntee there are no bunnies at your facility. 

Tim the Enchanter's portal to our universe only opens up in rare circumstance.  He probably didn't get your response.  Wifi in his world is kinda spotty.

2018 has picked up lot of camp invites as well.  The only personal camp invites son received were directly from a coach after watching his play at showcase's.  

Anybody on "CaptainU"?  We signed up for the basic service at no cost - son added enough info and video's to get his points above 1000.  I upped to the fee per month service, because I was curious.  The result was a ton of camp invites.  Seems to be a portal that the player pays for camp invites.  Kind of a joke...  Curious if anyone has a different take on CaptainU ?

Gov posted:

2018 has picked up lot of camp invites as well.  The only personal camp invites son received were directly from a coach after watching his play at showcase's.  

Anybody on "CaptainU"?  We signed up for the basic service at no cost - son added enough info and video's to get his points above 1000.  I upped to the fee per month service, because I was curious.  The result was a ton of camp invites.  Seems to be a portal that the player pays for camp invites.  Kind of a joke...  Curious if anyone has a different take on CaptainU ?

We did the free basic and just get generic invites. I am going to subscribe to a service my son's travel team uses in January. Just added video to his profile, so we will see what comes of it.

SanDiegoRealist posted:

Gov posted:

2018 has picked up lot of camp invites as well.  The only personal camp invites son received were directly from a coach after watching his play at showcase's.  

Anybody on "CaptainU"?  We signed up for the basic service at no cost - son added enough info and video's to get his points above 1000.  I upped to the fee per month service, because I was curious.  The result was a ton of camp invites.  Seems to be a portal that the player pays for camp invites.  Kind of a joke...  Curious if anyone has a different take on CaptainU ?

We did the free basic and just get generic invites. I am going to subscribe to a service my son's travel team uses in January. Just added video to his profile, so we will see what comes of it.

What service is the travel team using?

TimtheEnchanter posted:

KilroyJ,

Please accept this personal invitation for your son to attend our  January "Flame Throwing with Tim" college camp. Please be aware that spaces are filling fast and we expect it to be sold out within the next week.  We realize you may have other options, but really? Where else can your son learn the how to be a true flamethrower? The return on the investment guaranteed because once your son becomes a true flamethrower he will be guaranteed a 100% scholarship to the school of his choice. Everyone knows all colleges need flamethrowers!

There is an added benefit for you and your son to start a winter business once your son learns to control his flame throwing there is the added bonus that he can quickly clear your driveway of snow in seconds. Think of the possibilities! He can sell his services to your neighbors and friends so he can quickly pay back the small fee of $2,500 for our camp. 

As an added bonus, if you sign up today there is a gift of a  Holy Hand Grenade personally signed by Tim that will be included in your camp gift bag, which also includes his own personal horns, expertly fitted at our camp by our surgeons. Just think the fear he will instill in his competitors when he takes the mound with his real "Tim the Enchanter" horns. (never mind Mom when he gets home)

 By signing up today you can also get a 25% discount on our upcoming camps: 1) Managing Flint and Tinder. 2) Raising unladen African Swallows for money. 3)  Slaying the rabbits in your mind. 

Sign up today and be sure to include your credit card number and security code and I will personally confirm his space in our hard to get into camp. 

What could be more comforting as a father knowing that your son can become a true flamethrower!

Yours truly, 

Tim. 

I can appreciate a Monty Python reference under ANY circumstance, constructive or not. Thank you for your submission.

Yes it is Rare when Tim Stops by, but it is always an enjoyable experience.

hshuler posted:

Ironically, my son attended one last Sunday which was the result of me reaching out to a school on his behalf to express interest. I spoke with the RC a few weeks back and he asked me to bring him to the camp because they wanted to see him. 

Notwithstanding, most of the invitations that he's gotten have been generic. 

My son has reached out to one of his top schools RC on his list , from the ACC . 

In short -He said  coach I'm looking on attending your camp in Jan, , the coach didn't answer him on if they were still looking for his position on the class of 2019 , but I just looked on PG and see they have committed 2 players at that position . 

But the coach has been telling my kid to come to camp , not sure what that means . 

Coaches repliy was 

"See you at camp. Thanks for coming"

Sent from my iPhone

My 2021 son received his first 2 camp invites recently.  Guess I better get used to it.  

Gov posted:

2018 has picked up lot of camp invites as well.  The only personal camp invites son received were directly from a coach after watching his play at showcase's.  

Anybody on "CaptainU"?  We signed up for the basic service at no cost - son added enough info and video's to get his points above 1000.  I upped to the fee per month service, because I was curious.  The result was a ton of camp invites.  Seems to be a portal that the player pays for camp invites.  Kind of a joke...  Curious if anyone has a different take on CaptainU ?

Yes, my oldest and I used the site.  It was helpful to get us organized for the price.  For us it was a great help, but many misleading invitations came from the site, not due to the site, but due to the delegation of authority that comes from the Recruiting schools HC to the assistant fund raising coach (or whatever title they had).  We believed we were in discussion directly with a RC in the beginning, exchanging email, phone numbers, video, etc., and as we probed deeper into the correspondence and conversation, the person was delegated by the coach to pack the camps. (I asked him outright if the HC had ever seen the profile or the video or if the assistant had - answer was no). HC had a benefits package that included revenue from all camps.  Personally, I liked the site because it helped with organization and the various canned letters that come with the subscription were helpful when you have not written those letters before.  If you want more info, let me know.  We did receive several invites that were personalized, email addresses, cell numbers, desk numbers, all screened by the assistant at various schools.  I do not know if this is typical, but very misleading and initially disappointing.

2forU posted:

Gov posted:

2018 has picked up lot of camp invites as well.  The only personal camp invites son received were directly from a coach after watching his play at showcase's.  

Anybody on "CaptainU"?  We signed up for the basic service at no cost - son added enough info and video's to get his points above 1000.  I upped to the fee per month service, because I was curious.  The result was a ton of camp invites.  Seems to be a portal that the player pays for camp invites.  Kind of a joke...  Curious if anyone has a different take on CaptainU ?

Yes, my oldest and I used the site.  It was helpful to get us organized for the price.  For us it was a great help, but many misleading invitations came from the site, not due to the site, but due to the delegation of authority that comes from the Recruiting schools HC to the assistant fund raising coach (or whatever title they had).  We believed we were in discussion directly with a RC in the beginning, exchanging email, phone numbers, video, etc., and as we probed deeper into the correspondence and conversation, the person was delegated by the coach to pack the camps. (I asked him outright if the HC had ever seen the profile or the video or if the assistant had - answer was no). HC had a benefits package that included revenue from all camps.  Personally, I liked the site because it helped with organization and the various canned letters that come with the subscription were helpful when you have not written those letters before.  If you want more info, let me know.  We did receive several invites that were personalized, email addresses, cell numbers, desk numbers, all screened by the assistant at various schools.  I do not know if this is typical, but very misleading and initially disappointing.

Confirms what I thought.  I recently cancelled it after a few months of service.  Felt like we were paying Captain U to put my son on their master mailing lists to colleges, which in turn invited my son to their camps.  I risked a few months of the service, not much of a loss.  I could tell his skills video had been looked at quite a bit....

Gov posted:

SanDiegoRealist posted:

Gov posted:

2018 has picked up lot of camp invites as well.  The only personal camp invites son received were directly from a coach after watching his play at showcase's.  

Anybody on "CaptainU"?  We signed up for the basic service at no cost - son added enough info and video's to get his points above 1000.  I upped to the fee per month service, because I was curious.  The result was a ton of camp invites.  Seems to be a portal that the player pays for camp invites.  Kind of a joke...  Curious if anyone has a different take on CaptainU ?

We did the free basic and just get generic invites. I am going to subscribe to a service my son's travel team uses in January. Just added video to his profile, so we will see what comes of it.

What service is the travel team using?

My son's team uses prospectsusa.org. Paul Meade runs it and has a TON of college coaching contacts. He has put us in touch with several coaches. 

Gov posted:

SanDiegoRealist posted:

Gov posted:

2018 has picked up lot of camp invites as well.  The only personal camp invites son received were directly from a coach after watching his play at showcase's.  

Anybody on "CaptainU"?  We signed up for the basic service at no cost - son added enough info and video's to get his points above 1000.  I upped to the fee per month service, because I was curious.  The result was a ton of camp invites.  Seems to be a portal that the player pays for camp invites.  Kind of a joke...  Curious if anyone has a different take on CaptainU ?

We did the free basic and just get generic invites. I am going to subscribe to a service my son's travel team uses in January. Just added video to his profile, so we will see what comes of it.

What service is the travel team using?

FieldLevel.com

Gov posted:

2018 has picked up lot of camp invites as well.  The only personal camp invites son received were directly from a coach after watching his play at showcase's.  

Anybody on "CaptainU"?  We signed up for the basic service at no cost - son added enough info and video's to get his points above 1000.  I upped to the fee per month service, because I was curious.  The result was a ton of camp invites.  Seems to be a portal that the player pays for camp invites.  Kind of a joke...  Curious if anyone has a different take on CaptainU ?

There is probably nothing wrong w/ signing up. But I'll tell you, the good baseball programs don't shop for guys on Captain U. As a matter of fact, the really good programs don't really use online recruiting sites. They might take a peak at PG and compare notes w/ what they have on a guy but that's about it

My son signed up at Captain U but all he received was emails from beater programs/ schools

KilroyJ posted:

And their response will be "sorry you're a sophomore-we can't talk to you!!!"

That is generic 'camp invite' bulk mail. And yes , D1 RC can't actually talk to a 2019 ( D3 can talk ) but D1 RC will make contact w/ HS coach or travel ball coach if there is legit interest.

I piece of unsolicited advice from a guy who spent way too much money on the wrong things:

-Only attend 'on campus' College camps that are academically / financially & baseball wise a good fit for your son. Don't waste your money or time w/ big programs like TCU, USC, UCLA , Vanderbilt, etc unless your son projects for the 2019 MLB draft......Assistant Coaches at the NCAA don't make a whole lotta money. They are overworked and underpaid. Camps are a huge revenue generator and a way for those guys to actually make additional money.

If your son is looking to play NCAA baseball and wants to get action in the recruiting cycle, try to focus his energy on developing his skills to a point where he can participate in a few of the events listed below.These are the only ones that really matter for recruitment.

Area Code Try-outs ( FREE )

PG Nationals

Stanford Camp

JO's ( Team USA Trials ) Florida / Arizona ( For rising Jr's )

Arizona Fall Classic & AZ fall Classic Academic game & try-outs

* I've also heard positive things about Headfirst for academic guys. But I can't vouch for it personally .

My son attended all of these events . Wall to Wall RC's , Radar guns and stop watches drawn and ready to go .

I can firmly say that all the events I listed above are the ONLY important events he attended.

Everything else aside from 'on campus camps ' at schools where he was a 'good fit' was a waste of time and money. 

Lot's of people selling camps, recruiting showcases. 90% of it is bullshit

Just my opinion based on my own personal experience

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