How Do I get my son noticed by Southern Schools

Check the "recruiting tips" on the home page of this web site, also go onto the web sites for the universities that are close to you and/or that you like and see when they have camps, many times local papers will advertise for traveling/select teams, possibly you could call your high school coach and/or the parents of some of the varsity players and ask if they know who are the best traveling/select teams that your son could contact and possibly tryout for, also ck the web sites of the local high schools, often they will have baseball links that will get you to other sites for information. Good luck!

Welcome, Tobette.

Here are a few, off-of-the-top-of-the-head suggestions:

(1) Read, study, and put into motion the recommendations made in this website's "Recruiting Timeline (some of which follow)."

(2) Spend a fair amount of time looking through the many other resources provided by this website.

(3) Make sure that your son is playing on the best summer and fall baseball teams that your circumstances allow.

(4) Familiarize yourself with the showcases that are available and consider having him attend one or two this coming summer. While he will be younger than most in attendance, it will be good experience for him.

(5) Once your son knows something about his summer team/showcase schedule, communicate with the baseball offices of those schools that are of interest to him, letting them know of his interest and where/when he can be seen.

(6) Consider attending several, carefully selected camps over the next couple of years. Don't forget that the holday break between semesters can be a good time to do this.

(6) Make certain that he's aware that his academic standing is extremely important to prospective college coaches. Good grades are a tremendous benefit.

Best of luck to your son!

Thank you Texbbfan. We moved up here from Houston. Went from 120 games a year to 22. The coach only knows about a traveling team in Illinois. No traveling teams that we know of in the state of Wisconsin. What about summer/winter camps at the colleges? I know some are great and some just so so. Are they based on ability or age?

Forgot to mention earlier:

Use the gegraphy-specific forums on this website to learn about travel teams, camps, showcases, etc. For example, I would think that the Midwest Forum would be a great place to inquire about travel teams.

Thank you prepster. I know that not a lot is offered in Wisconsin. He is very dedicated to his sport. He made a few errors (I think from nerves) his first 3 games, but dragged dad out to the ballfield to correct them. He wants to be challenged on the field and to gain as many skills as he can. I am going to show him your reply about grades. Thank you again.

Tobette

Welcome. There are travel teams in Wisconsin. Send a private message to rz1 and/or BigWi, board members in WI. They can put you in touch with the right folks. The Wisconsin Blazers travel nationally. I think one or two more do as well.

I think the 1st thing you should do is narrow down the southern schools that your son would like to go to. 15-20 schools that he and you think would be a good fit. Pick ones that are both academically and baseball wise the type of school your son would like to attend.
Start an e-mail campaigne with the head coaches to introduce yourselves to them. They will probably pass you off to the right person to stay in contact with. Call them and express your son's interest in attending their school.
Make a video and don't cherry pick the video just to show his good games. They like to see him under fire aswell. My son's video was DVD format. It contained several videos of games he won and lost. I put a cover letter describing each video, news clip and still shots of his mechanics. I did a lot of research on each school to see who they played and their roster.My son wanted to play against the ranked schools but not neccessarily on a ranked school. The roster told me where they picked most of their players from and if my son pitched against some of them I would point out that he pitched against them. One JC had 2 players that he played against and I sent a news clip of him beating the team they played on. This gives the coach a reference point. I sent each school that showed interest a video. Several of them said they enjoyed the videos and asked me to send more as he played through the summer. They put him on a recruiting list and sent e-mais and phoned as permitted and I updated them as the season went on.
Find out what showcases they attend and let the coaches know that you will attend one of the showcases that they attend if possible.
The whole point is to narrow down where he might like to go. Contact them. Find out who shows interest . Put together a video and attend showcases that the coaches attend. PG would probably advise you which showcases they put on that would be good for you based on the schools you are interested in.
Target where you want to go and go after it.

Tobeytte,
#1. Welcome to the HSBBW. #2. Be proactive!

Good question and some great responses. I know nothing about the baseball in Green Bay but I do know they play some pretty good football in that area. At this point we (and you) aren’t sure where your son would fit. For sake of discussion let’s say he wants to attend a D-1 down south. Let me make a suggestion that might work. If things don’t seem to be panning out with the larger southern schools, don’t overlook the JUCOs down south. They play some great baseball and are natural feeder schools for all the D-1’s down here. My son played in the SEC and we had many players from the northern states and 2 from Canada that went the JUCO route prior to coming to the SEC. Just a thought.
Good Luck,
Fungo