Iowamom23 posted:tequila posted:RJM posted:My view is a database isn’t worth $2,400. My son and I sat down and came up with a list of fifty colleges of interest where he might be capable of playing. We each took twenty-five names each, looked up their websites gathering names of head coaches and assistant in charge of recruiting along with email and phone number. Then we called each athletic department to verify the information. Even if we had been given the data we would have called to verify.
The project didn’t take very long. It was done in small chunks over a couple of weeks. My son was invested in the effort. We were working as a team. I didn’t care about his tight schedule. I wanted him to know up front college baseball and academics was going to be a life of tight schedules and time management.
Totally agree here but I do think that the database and search tools are worth something, especially to folks who are not as equipped going into it as others. I quite literally knew nothing about the process, was not a college athlete, and neither of my older kids even played sports in high school. I found many of these tools around the same time but I do wish I had found hsbbw and keepplayingbaseball before NCSA.
We used a "guy" for lack of a better word--it was a service, but it was a guy who only did baseball. Yes, he provided access to a database, but he also had weekly contact with my son--what are you doing now, did you fill out this questionnaire, have you considered this school? He helped us put together video and a web site and suggested schools to look at, but only once actually reached out to a coach on my son's behalf. I saw it as more of helping us figure out how to market son and to whom. We paid a one-time fee that covered their services from son's freshman year through his commitment, and I think son still texts with him occasionally.
Like you tequila, I didn't know what I was doing. Do i think we would have ended up in the same place without the guy? Yes probably. Did he make it easier getting there (at least mentally on me)? Yea, I think so.
My son was just connected to a "guy" who provides a similar service. On the website, they say they are not a recruiting service, but can help with various things ranging from setting up a recruiting website with video, etc to organizing campus tours geared toward visiting and meeting with coaches at schools outside of the player's region. In my mind, I'm not sure I see much of a difference between these services and a "recruiting service" but maybe there is. I'm generally hesitant to pay for anything that resembles a recruiting service (based on the reasons often discussed here), but I guess I'm curious if there are some legitimate services that are worth paying for and at what point in the process? I'm thinking it may be too late in the process for us to maximize value from any type of service (even just using the "guy"), since we are halfway through his rising Senior summer and he has received some interest on his own already.