Nervous to call coach

There are two pains in life, the pain of sacrifice and the pain of regret. Trust me, the latter is much more embarrassing in the long run. Just pick up the phone and make the call. What do you have to lose?

One of the greatest compliments my wife and I have ever received was from a college coach commending our son on his maturity and professionalism on the phone.

Figure out what you want to say, practice it and DO IT! You will make huge points.

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I just found this online while surfing around...

Three Simple Rules In Life

1. If you do not go after what you want, you'll never have it.

2. If you do not ask, the answer will always be no.

3. If you do not step forward, you'll always be in the same place.

OK, I'll join the advice cliche-fest. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

Forget being nervous. That coach I am sure has been nervous at one point in his life as well I'm sure. He si no different than you other than the fact he has had experiences you haven't yet.

Something I learned long ago...how is anyone ever going to help you get what you want if you don't tell them what it is you want? If you want something in life, let those that can help you attain it know what it is.

My advice to get over your nerves (and in life)would be to get prepared. The more you know going into the conversation the more at ease you will be. Do some research and find out who the coach is and what his needs or wants are. I have heard it said that you can have everything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want.

Call them. Don't worry too much about the nervousness. They hear from potential athletes all the time. They are used to dealing with kids who are not used to these sort of conversations. If the coach is worth anything he will be able to put you at ease during the call. I was not recruited in baseball but another sport. I've been where you are at. I had numerous conversations with coaches from all levels (D1-D3). Though its been a long time (20 years) since I had to make those calls, I understand how the calls can be nerve racking. In the end what's the worst thing the coach can say, "I'm not interested". Hearing that is not he end of the world. All it really means is there is not a place in his program for you. It doesn't mean that you can't play at that level. All it means is he does not have a need, at this time, for your particular skill set in his program.

I was recruited primarily by smaller D1 and larger D2 schools. In the end I chose a D2 school because it was the best fit for me both athletically and academically. But during the recruiting process I was turned away by some smaller D1 schools and was recruited pretty hard by a Big 10 school. At the time I could not figure out how a big school wanted me and one of the smaller "less cool" schools could not be interested. Turns out that I would have filled a need at the bigger school that the smaller school had already filled.

Here is something that is used in the business world: role play. Just like you have to practice at baseball, you have to practice at communications.

Prepare some questions on a sheet of paper to use as reminders and then have one of your parents play the part of the coach. Practice the phone call. You can use props or even call your role play partner on your cell phone to make it feel more real.

As joes87 said, the coach has done this before and should be able to put you at ease. That first call may be a bit nerve wracking but it will get easier.

Good luck.