2010 Kids Receiving Letters

bb

We have 2010's on our team getting the same treatment and IT IS REAL----fill out all the questionaires as soon as you receive them-- is this players travel coach involved in the process----if so he can find out how real the letters/emails are

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is this players travel coach involved in the process----if so he can find out how real the letters/emails are

Or maybe his HS coach too/instead!

Pick up the phone and call the coach. Send him an email. Write the coach a letter in response.

Have your HS coach and or your summer / fall coach call the coach that sent you the letter / letters.

If they are serious they will make sure you are made aware of it.

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Originally posted by bbknut:

His son is VERY excited and can't stop telling people he is being recruited by this school and that one.

It is what it is. It's an exciting time for this player. My son couldn't help but let his friends know when he received letters. Hopefully his dad will let him relish in the moment.

bbknut
Tell your friend to have him and his son fill out all of the questionaires and sent them back. The ones that are really interested will keep in touch with you by e-mail or other letters. The coaches can't call the kids right now. So if his son is really interested in a particular school he needs to keep in contact with them by either e-mail or calling the coach. The kids can make unofficial visits right now if the coaches are interested in them. My son is a junior and he has filled every letter he has gotten and sent it back and he has made one unofficial visit. It was a real good experience for him. A real eye opener. Have his son send a schedule of his games to the coaches also.

Good advice, but whatever you do, make sure you or preferably your son should contact the coaches, find out if they have actually seen him play. Many get names off of prospect lists/showcases and send hundreds of letters out. My son wasn't too worked up when the first one came, and others he glanced at and that was the extent. He never contacted the programs and with that and his grades they all dropped him. I did send one or two responses myself asking them what position/s they were looking at him for, but never got a response. To me that was a red flag that he was just another number. Coaches would prefer to have the player contact them over the parent.

My 2010 is experiencing the same thing. There are 3 or 4 schools that we can tell are serious, but a lot of them we aren't sure whether he is just one of many on an email list.

Calling the coaches is very difficult for my son. Do parents actually call the coaches at this stage? How can I help him get better at this?

How do you go about requesting an unofficial visit? Do you just call or email the coach and tell him you will be in the area and ask to come by?

Sportsmom, a call may be better, most likely you'll play phone tag. Some coaches are reluctant to respond in writing.

Sportsmom, one more thing, I know how your son is, many are reluctant to call a stranger. Not sure why, but you have to find out a way to get them to do this. Coaches do not want to speak to the parents.

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Calling the coaches is very difficult for my son. Do parents actually call the coaches at this stage? How can I help him get better at this?

if there has been hand written letters then that is a good indication that a coach is serious about recruiting your son. calling is absolutely what you need to do. coaches can't call you during the junior season but you can absolutely call them. what you will find out is just how serious they are at the current time. if they are serious then they will set up another time for you to call back.

As far as your son being shy about it, let him know that coaches want to build relationships. they want to learn who your son is prior to offering him a scholarship. he will be evaluated in all of his phone conversation. the ability to handle the phone calls in a professional and mature way will definitely spark the interest of a coach. put it to your son this way. he's not the only junior at his position that received the letter. and he's not the only one who is going to call that coach. if he doesn't call, then the coach is building a relationship and learning about another player.

if the coach doesn't ask you to call him back, they are interested in you but not to the point of pursuing you yet. i'm sure they would be out this spring or summer to watch you play.

Ours went like this, after several back and forth e-mails with the recuriting coach they asked my son in an e-mail if he wanted to come out and see the field and the campus and to watch the players lift weights and practice. We spent most of the day out there. He got to meet all of the coaches and the players. My son was seen last fall in a scout league by the pitching coach of this school. As far as getting your son to call and talk to the coach. That is something my son learned to do. It was hard at first but it gets easier. I don't know how to help your son. But I always told my son that he was going to have to do it if he really wanted it. And that I would help and support him how ever I could but I was not going to do it for him. So over the past two or three years he has gotten quite good at it. Just my two cents.

A couple of things here from a guy who has been around the block more than a few times:

01--as a 2010 there can be no phone tag at this time---coaches cannot return his calls until July 1 of this summer--when a player calls he has to hope the coach is in his office

02-- coaches do not want to speak to parents--they are recruiting the son not the parents--they will talk to the parents when the time is right in their minds, not yours. Actually coaches at our seminars last year stressed this point to the parents and kids in the audience

03- return each and every questionnaire---you never know what will happen down the road

04--- the player must realize that he is not the one making the choice, the college is. Just because a player want to attend College X does not mean they want him or need him---the player may not be , in the schools eyes at least, a player with enough talent for them

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Originally posted by bbknut:
His son is VERY excited and can't stop telling people he is being recruited by this school and that one.

Everyone walks a different road but my son kept the letter s and phone calls close to his vest sharing only with his coach. He did not want the "I" brought into the team concept.

I know that is hard for some kids to do but IMHO it is a lesson that can be used throughout life....why not start now?

rz

Your son and mine sound quite abit alike. My guy hardly ever spoke about it outside the house or with his coach and AD.

To this day I am not sure he was certain it was happening until he registered for classes on campus

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My guy hardly ever spoke about it outside the house or with his coach and AD.

Every school contacted had a folder, every folder had every piece of paper, or copy of a piece of paper ever sent or received, after every phone call date/time was marked and a note was made bout the conversation and put in the folder. He took it seriously and his serious attitude about the importance of the issue made the process "his own" and no one else's concern. His coach was involved not only because he was interested but the kid wanted to know what was going on from that angle. The game does not only happen within the lines but continues after the last pitch. Respect the whole process.

Hi bbknut,

Some sound advice provided above.

One thing I found that really made a difference for us was to pursue the schools that you have a chance of really playing at as much as you want the coach to pursue you. I believe the coaches like it when they "KNOW" you really want to go there. But you must understand what the school is looking for as well. How deep are they in the position you play.

My son started going to his top choices as a sophomore. We went to watch fall practice, unofficial visits coordinated with the coach at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then went to as many regular season games as we could fit in. I believe this lead to the early offers recieved in January of his Junior year.

Great advice in this topic.
I strongly agree that the player needs to take control of the recruiting process, no problem with advice and support from parents, coaches, etc.
Read carefully to what TR has said about parents speaking with coaches, they do prefer to get to know the recruit before they get to know the parents. And I am sure that since it is your son possibly going to play for that coach, you want him to establish a relationship as well.

This can only happen with them communicating with each other, not by way of parent. JMO.

I also beleive that a player should keep is business to himself during the recruiting process. Sometimes it makes for hard feelings. And since you never know the outcome of how far those letters and phone calls will take you, telling the whole world you got letters and phone calls from X coach means nothing until he makes that offer.

I would add to TR and TPM, who I agree with completely (not that my input is all that important, however...). When only considering baseball (that is, NOT including all the other important factors - academics, cost, location, size), keep a very open mind. In our experience, colleges that at first appeared very interested ended up not being so interested later on in the process, colleges who showed no interest early on - that we had never even heard from - actually ended up being high on our list (and our son ended up being high on theirs), and then there were those colleges that showed interest all along and continued to show interest up to the day he made his decision, including the one he eventually committed to. You never ever know what is going to happen, and unless you have 100% ESP - reply to everything, persue those you like best, contact those you like who have not yet contacted you (via email or on line questionaire). It is a process - start with a relatively large net ("large" is something you must decide for yourself, be it 30 or 10 schools) - it will narrow itself down as time goes on.