D3 Letters To Compete

Are you talking about an official NCAA "celebratory signing form" that the school sent them? I've never heard of a D3 letter to compete.

Never heard of it, and, a search on HSBBW turns up nothing, either.  For that matter, neither does a google search.  Sounds like what MidAtlanticDad said.

@MidAtlanticDad posted:

Are you talking about an official NCAA "celebratory signing form" that the school sent them? I've never heard of a D3 letter to compete.

Yup. Same thing.

It appears meaningless to me. It appears to be nothing but a paper that provides the appearance of official for signing day at schools.

https://www.nsr-inc.com/scouti...ment-letter-to-sign/

By the way, a kid at our high school got six garbage innings senior year. He never came to the plate. He pinch ran a few times. The team did win its conference, go deep into districts and place twelve players in some level of college ball. He was kept on JV junior year due to the depth of varsity talent.

He played Legion in the summer (mostly varsity bench and JV players in our area). He left his losing record HA D3 on the all time leader board in most pitching and hitting categories. On his best days he cracked 80 on the mound. But he could knock the zit off a gnat. While losing D3 teams are less likely to facing opposing team aces the kid left with a .300+ career batting average. He played in a conference posters here have recognized as competitive.

Just to add on...

It's two different kids, two different high schools and two different D3 programs. The common thread is that they play for the same travel team.

The person who told me about it has this theory: Guy who runs the travel program has friends who are volunteer assistants at the D3s. The thought is that he called his friends and got the kids the intent to competes because it's good for his program as a selling point. ("Hey, play for me and I will get your kid in college baseball!") And, it's good for the school - no commitment and you get tuition from kids who would normally not attend that school. And, it's good for the kids and parents because they get to say they are going to play college baseball.

If these are not strong D3 programs, they may be happy to get those kids. Those kinds of programs aren't turning many kids away. If they're private schools, the coaches may have (unofficial?) quotas to bring in paying customers. Just like most other schools, they'll set a roster size and fill it with the best players who showed up for fall ball. But in the case of non-HA low level D3 programs, I don't think those schools usually have the volume of recruits to be making many cuts in the fall. At least that's my experience.

Our high school had D3 athletes signing a copy of a NLI with the name blurred out. It’s not as if you can see the name of the college in the signing picture.  The kids wear their college hat. Our high school had its share of D1 athletes. But it looks good for the high school to have a hundred kids lined up at tables across the room.

@MidAtlanticDad posted:

If these are not strong D3 programs, they may be happy to get those kids. Those kinds of programs aren't turning many kids away. If they're private schools, the coaches may have (unofficial?) quotas to bring in paying customers. Just like most other schools, they'll set a roster size and fill it with the best players who showed up for fall ball. But in the case of non-HA low level D3 programs, I don't think those schools usually have the volume of recruits to be making many cuts in the fall. At least that's my experience.

I know a kid who played at a LA* D3. The kid knew he was going to work for his father in four years. He wanted to say he played college ball. The kid practiced, then sat for four years at a program our high school team would have beaten.

* low academic, pay to stay

Never heard of a "letter to compete".  Your friends theory is great conjecture, and probably not far from the truth.

So, my son was one of those kids who signed a blank piece of paper.  His D1 school offers no athletic scholarships, everything is verbal until an early admission letter is received in early December.   The high school setup a media day just for my son and the local newspaper did a story.  My son was petrified and annoyed at the attention of signing a blank piece of paper.   He did it none the less.   When it comes down to it, I'm not sure it really mattered if he was signing a blank piece of paper or the Magna Carta.  What mattered (in my mind) was that the school and family were celebrating an accomplishment....one of theirs was going to pursue a field of study he loves and play a sport he loves in college.

Certainly, my son's magnet high school was wanting to raise their profile in the community that their students can get into one of the better engineering programs in the world just as the travel program wanted to raise their competitive profile in Francis' example.  Sounds like business 101 to me.   Call it a "letter to compete" or a blank piece of paper, what matters is how it makes the participants feel.

JMO.

True story: I went to a D3 with a not strong baseball program. Keep in mind I was a freshman in 1980. There was no travel ball back then. It was Little League, some form of summer ball, maybe, and High School ball.

Fall freshman year, I see a posting for a baseball meeting. (No internet in 1980. This was a piece of paper on a bulletin board.)

Even though I wasn't any good, I had time to kill and went to the meeting out of curiosity.

The only question they asked me was my height and weight. No one asked me what position I played. No one asked me if I played in High School. Seriously, just "what's your height and weight."

Then the coach went into detail on all the mandatory fund raising that we were required to participate in as members of the team. He closed with "We will fund raise for the next 5 months and we will hit the fields in the spring."

I never went back to another meeting because I wasn't going to fund raise and I knew that I would only embarrass myself on the field in the spring anyway.

But I always wondered if everyone in the room that day automatically made the team?

Again, it was a school not known for sports and certainly not known for baseball. They practiced and played in a public park. But it was and still is a D3 baseball program.

there is an underlying theme on here by many that is all college players should be celebrated but then when you break it down it really means scholarships players should be celebrated because it is all about the money...if you don't get any money you aren't really successful. i don't agree with it but i don't see it as being an intentional thing. The truth is many posters on here who are only familiar with the D1 level and so forth have a very limited experience with D3 it if any at all. I see it consistently with HS age parents locally as well, i kind of find it humorous at time and irritating at others.

if you really truly understand money the cost of college and the savings of a baseball scholarship is a pretty much not even a blip on the radar screen.

Francis - I concur with above comments...likely a marketing type move.  These days the majority of top players know there is no NLI at D3.

Sons HS and Club program had a ceremony to acknowledge all the players advancing to play in college.  The D3 players signed a celebratory letter at the same time and table with their peers opting D1 signed their NLI. It was a nice ceremony with photos and all. Son knew there was no such thing as an NLI type letter at D3. He chose HA D3 over several mid D1's because of the unique opportunity to attend a top school and a chance to be on the field right away.

@Francis7 posted:

True story: I went to a D3 with a not strong baseball program. Keep in mind I was a freshman in 1980. There was no travel ball back then. It was Little League, some form of summer ball, maybe, and High School ball.

Fall freshman year, I see a posting for a baseball meeting. (No internet in 1980. This was a piece of paper on a bulletin board.)

Even though I wasn't any good, I had time to kill and went to the meeting out of curiosity.

The only question they asked me was my height and weight. No one asked me what position I played. No one asked me if I played in High School. Seriously, just "what's your height and weight."

Then the coach went into detail on all the mandatory fund raising that we were required to participate in as members of the team. He closed with "We will fund raise for the next 5 months and we will hit the fields in the spring."

I never went back to another meeting because I wasn't going to fund raise and I knew that I would only embarrass myself on the field in the spring anyway.

But I always wondered if everyone in the room that day automatically made the team?

Again, it was a school not known for sports and certainly not known for baseball. They practiced and played in a public park. But it was and still is a D3 baseball program.

When someone who played there tells someone else they played college ball that person will visualize the college baseball they see on tv and say “wow.”

A good friend of mine tried for two years to walk on for a team that went to the CWS and came in 4th. He never made it past fall ball before giving up after soph year. But in his home state when he tells people he played college ball with X, Y and Z people know those other names and that they went to the CWS. People are wowed.

I cringe because one year in summer ball a couple of my college summer teammates from that school mocked my friend when he started against us. They couldn’t remember his name. He was just a guy they remembered hammering in fall ball. He didn’t make it through the second inning. I’ve never told him what these guys said about him.

@old_school posted:

there is an underlying theme on here by many that is all college players should be celebrated but then when you break it down it really means scholarships players should be celebrated because it is all about the money...if you don't get any money you aren't really successful. i don't agree with it but i don't see it as being an intentional thing. The truth is many posters on here who are only familiar with the D1 level and so forth have a very limited experience with D3 it if any at all. I see it consistently with HS age parents locally as well, i kind of find it humorous at time and irritating at others.

if you really truly understand money the cost of college and the savings of a baseball scholarship is a pretty much not even a blip on the radar screen.

If a kid isn’t a pro prospect he should be choosing the best college he can afford regardless of division level. There’s no doubt athletes sacrifice time to their sport. But when it’s all over a kid should be able to say overall he enjoyed college (educationally, athletically, and socially).

@old_school posted:

there is an underlying theme on here by many that is all college players should be celebrated but then when you break it down it really means scholarships players should be celebrated because it is all about the money...if you don't get any money you aren't really successful. i don't agree with it but i don't see it as being an intentional thing. The truth is many posters on here who are only familiar with the D1 level and so forth have a very limited experience with D3 it if any at all. I see it consistently with HS age parents locally as well, i kind of find it humorous at time and irritating at others.

if you really truly understand money the cost of college and the savings of a baseball scholarship is a pretty much not even a blip on the radar screen.

I would like to address your last paragraph. As a blanket statement it is true more than not. But it doesn’t apply across the board. I’m well acquainted with your (regional) bias against JuCos. But in my area JuCos play great baseball and many of them offer full scholarships (up to 24 per year if fully funded). Full scholarship being defined as tuition, fees, room & board, and sometimes books. In these cases a family can send their son to his first 2 years of college for next to nothing. And he plays for those 2 years instead of sitting. Those are 2 huge benefits - one being financial and the other being developmental. Two years of college at a minimal cost makes a significant difference in the overall amount spent on a degree. Two years of playing (as a freshman & sophomore) makes a significant difference in the ability of any player to compete for playing time at the 4 year school he advances to. Both benefits are huge but not enough consideration is given to the financial one.

@RJM posted:

When someone who played there tells someone else they played college ball that person will visualize the college baseball they see on tv and say “wow.”

It's very possible.

And, people always embellish.

We have two dads in town who will tell you that they both played D1 baseball at a high level. Tell you proudly and often!

They must not realize there's an internet?

One played mid level D1, was cut senior year, pitched one inning freshman year and was a mop up guy sophomore and junior year- allowing 80+ hits in 60 innings pitched.

The other didn't play D1 but played D2 at a college that shares a state name with a D1 school. He was a back up catcher to the back up catcher for 3 years and maybe had 6 at bats in 3 years. He also was cut senior year.

But, when they talk about their college experience, you would think they were David Price and Buster Posey.

@Francis7 posted:

It's very possible.

And, people always embellish.

We have two dads in town who will tell you that they both played D1 baseball at a high level. Tell you proudly and often!

They must not realize there's an internet?

One played mid level D1, was cut senior year, pitched one inning freshman year and was a mop up guy sophomore and junior year- allowing 80+ hits in 60 innings pitched.

The other didn't play D1 but played D2 at a college that shares a state name with a D1 school. He was a back up catcher to the back up catcher for 3 years and maybe had 6 at bats in 3 years. He also was cut senior year.

But, when they talk about their college experience, you would think they were David Price and Buster Posey.

I added a story about a friend to that post.

My kid did not receive a letter just a lot of F2F and texts of what they can do to get his ED application through. He passed the admission pre-read so they did not have use their limited help cards, band or whatever the indicator was. They showed their commitment/love to him by getting the kid to play in a relatively local collegiate woodbat league before he starts school. Kid also has been in contact with the other coaches to discuss training and provided video of his swings.  They made no guarantees on merit aid, but the COA will be significantly less than an Ivy. A bunch of the kid's friends and former team mates are going  D3, not sure if they are LA and I am not sure how much real opportunity they will get.  Yes it could be a admission drive but it gets them to go to college!!! Regarding the signing, my kid's school staged an event and he and the other kids (several D1s) fake signed an attendance sheet as it is really only to provide social media content for the school and parents.