Interest

If "he has an interest in......" or "his dream school is ....." the next most important question is; Have you been to the school yet? Have you introduced yourself to the coach? Have you taken the tour of the school? Have you met with an admissions officer?

You will have a far better chance of getting any kind of interest if you tell them of your interest. I am amazed all the time the number of kids and parents that say "we will visit the school once he gets in." To me that does not sound like a real they are committed to getting their kiddo into a particular school if you are not willing to invest a little time to find out if it really is "the school."

Then I will hear; "we sent a letter." Great; but what is more impressive a letter (which they receive hundreds of) or a person that makes an appointment for the purpose of introducing themselves.

My son wanted to go to his dream school in South Carolina. There wasn't a chance in h@ll that he was going to be seen by the coach or the program being from California. We made a point of visiting the coach, making an appointment and being prepared. Five months after visiting him, sending periodic updates during his senior year of HS, he gets a call with an small scholly offer. They never saw him play; they only knew him from our visit, the video they requested and their reference call to his HS coach.

This would not have happened without us making an appointment, being prepared and with consistent follow-up.

TR your point is important; but equally important is having the player let them know "I want to come to your school."

Telling a coach "I want to come there" means nothing if the player does not have the talent to play there or they already have players at his position.

The interest has to come from the college

Nothing makes a difference if they don't have the talent. However, if they do have the talent telling the coach they are interested is very important. Colleges only have so many resources and they are going to go after players who show interest before they go out searching for players of equal talent who haven't shown any interest.

quote:

Nothing makes a difference if they don't have the talent. However, if they do have the talent telling the coach they are interested is very important. Colleges only have so many resources and they are going to go after players who show interest before they go out searching for players of equal talent who haven't shown any interest.

Only two schools showed interest in my son out of the blue; all the rest who showed interest heard from him first -- through emails, letters, unofficial visits to campus, etc.

The point I think you are missing is that the program has to like your talent and need your position to be filled---if that isn't there it matters not how many letters. emails phone calls you make
The initial contact on your part is great but you but they still have to want you

TR,
I don't think any of us have missed the point. We understand. We also realize that "the interest has to come from the college." could be misinterpreted. Often the interest from the college only comes after the player has shown their interest.

CADAD

But that at many times is not "valid" interest---I have seen too instances where the player contacted the program and got a very gracious response---the player took that to be "interest"--it wasn't --it was merely a courteous response to the young mans email--

This is where a travel team can be very valuable--I would hate to tell you how many times we are at events and a college coach will come up to me or one of my coaches and ask where is "# so and so" thinking of attending college---the TRUE interest on a college coaches part comes when they see the players talent and react to what they saw on the field

Too many players and parents are disillusioned by emails and letters from coaches--if the coach phones in response to the players correspondence then you have "interest"

I am not saying that what describe cannot happen but in my experience it has not been the norm---but then, and I am not being a wise guy when I say this, things on your coast are done differently

TR,
Good post. We are both talking about the same level of interest. I don't think things are done differently on either coast though. There just seem to be more schools to choose from in the East, North and Northeast and not many West Coast Players willing to head that direction as our friend in NorCal often reminds us.

CADad

The baseball out your way at the college level is totally different---your JUCO baseball probably can match many of the D-1 baseball programs in the country-- and then we have super Division II and III baseball programs back this way

Can't disagree with that, although there are a few very, very strong DII programs out here and a couple decent DIII programs.

And our JUCO programs are basically community colleges