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Reply to "High School Jr. Recruiting Advice"

quote:
Originally posted by LHPMom2012:
Thanks for the input, guys. I didn't think the schools were tracking these emails all that closely because in another thread on the Maryland board, "Bear" got the same email my son got, and he's a little old to be a 2012 grad, or even 2011. When he posted that, I thought, "This whole 'You're one of the top prospects in the area' must be a phrase that's tossed around lightly."

And those questionnaires are lengthy. The poster whose son has already filled them out and sent them back... good for him!


It is hard to make the distinction with some of the emails. Clearly some are nothing more than attempts to get your kid to go to the schools camp. If you think they are possibly interested in your son, you are more likely to pay the expense to send them there. That happened with my son several times where he filled out the questioner that was sent, then shortly afterward he was sent an invitation to attend one of the upcoming camps. When I called to speak with the coach to see if there was genuine interest, the coach had never even heard of my son, much less have seen him play. I found out later that is program is well known for making parents believe it is a personal invitation when in reality it is a cattle call.
Do they sometimes recruit from their camps? Sure, because sooner or later if you cast a wide enough net, you are bound to catch a few fish.

I do not want to sound cynical, but as a parent I've experienced the good and the bad in the recruitment game.
My advice is to have your son respond to every inquiry just because it is considered proper manners, and there might be a genuine interest in him. For the long questioners, get a software program that fills out most of the standard info with one click, thereby reducing some of the time and effort. However have him keep a record of how the contact was initiated. That way you can backtrack later to see if it is genuine interest in him as a potential recruit, or just a means of funding the baseball program through camps.
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