Questionarres

Novak08,
It is always a good sign when a college requests more information however, different colleges do things differently. Some colleges mass mail while others seem to limit their mailings. I would respond to all requests for questionnaires unless you are absolutely sure you would NOT attend that particular college. It's up to you but on the colleges you wouldn't attend, you could drop the coach a note attached to the questionnaire and decline. Sorta sends a positive message about yourself.

Best of Luck,
Fungo

Nova,
Fungo offers, as always, excellent advice!

Fill them all out and send them back in, even if you have no interest in the school; it is amazing the communication lines between college coaches all over the country, and if your name rings a bell for someone in a conversation, if only because they saw the form come back in, it can't hurt. We're from Virginia but had a coach from the Miami area come to Ft. Myers, Florida for a look-see at my son, at a showcase, based upon a reference he received from a contact in Massachusetts, that saw my son in a tournament. You really do never know who's watching,and likewise, you don't know who talks to who....

Fill them out and send them all back !!!!

It is funny how things happen--- we played this past weekend on the Western Carolina University Campus--the Head Coach recalled me from nearly 10 years back when he was recruiting my son at another school.

NAMES STICK and they do get passed around

You never know what can happen---perhaps you you do not get reciprocal interest from the schools you have on your wish list--- one of your "unwanted" schools may be where you end up.

My sons final destination for college wasnt even on his radar screen until MAy of his senior year---they had heard of him and called--the rest is history.

OK, from what I have read so far, we probably have little to worry aboout yet but here's my questions.

My 2005 6'2" southpaw pitcher plays for a school that is normally not considered a "sports" school, consequently not normally scouted. They did give 2 of the "powerhouses" a run for their money in the districts however.

We just did a showcase in Tampa this month and are waiting to hear an "impartial" view, however most coaches and "players" who have seen him state that we have "nothing to worry about". While is is not a speedster, probably in the lower to mid 80's, he does have the control and command of the ball and the game. Additionally he has 1150 Sats and 3.3 GPA. Because of his GPA he is entitled to 75% scholarships in Florida, which would be nice. He wants to go to a school wher he can play and be competitive

QUESTIONS: 1)When should we start receiving letters from schools?
do we need to be far more proactive in searching out

Oops, pushed the wrong button!

As he has no real idea what he wants to study, he's trying to decide what schools he wants, ideally a "Florida University" so how proactive do we need to be on contacting coaches? I'm assuming we should be contacting them and not sitting back and waiting for them.
2) At what time frame should we begin to "worry" that he hasn't been contacted?

Thanks for all the good info on the site! I'm a "rookie" at this, so I'm on a steep learning curve here!

Miamidad

Your son has plenty of time to get recruited. If he has recieved no letters yet, I would become more proactive. He can start getting letters Sept. 1 of his Jr. year. I would be concerned if he had exposure from playing on a team that travels in the spring or fall, attended multiple showcases and not gotten attention. Go to the recruiting timeline and recruiting tips section of the website for specific tips.

If I had a 6-2 lefty, throwing in the 80's, in my house, going into his Sr year, I would get him on a fall scout team and hit the fall showcases in FL each weekend. If he can throw strikes, he'll have offers by Halloween. I wouldn't wait for coaches to show up in the spring. Sometimes by then, its too late.

Get him into showcases NOW.... and WRITE the coaches NOW..... This is the BIG time for scouting 2005s... Many 2005 Players already have OFFERs.... and have verbaly committed.

The 2005 NLI early signing is the second week of November, but Offical visits are being scheduled NOW and UNOFFICIAL visits are occuring...

This is the big RECRUITING Time and coaches are out looking NOW.

Miamidad,

Take the advice that is being given and use it.If not for it taking to long I could give you examples of most of the above that has occured with my son this summer. He is an 05 as well.
The rule at our house for the last year has been to respond to everything that comes his way.It seems to be paying off at this time.
Being proactive for your son only increases his chances of being heard of.They won't go look if they don't know about him.

Miamidad

I did not reflect the urgency I should have, as SDBB has. He needs to be seen in showcases starting ASAP.

Here is a good showcase in 3 weeks

http://www.tcc.fl.edu/dept/studentserv/athletics/news/7-21-04-mbb.htm

Here is a scout team run by a good coach that will be a a bunch of showcase and playing JUCO teams looking for players.

http://www.sunshinestatebaseball.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1396

Miami,
If your son is an 05 and he wants to play in FL, you better get a move on it. Not sure where he wants to go, but I would start calling schools NOW. He is a southpaw with that height and his velocity should improve, good grades, where has he been hiding?
You need to sit down with your son and get together a plan, maybe go visit unofficially in the next few weeks. You have time, but down here in FL lots of kids have made very early commitments. That's the way it is in FL.
If you are looking for an early signing, it may or may not happen. Just because your son qualifies for Bright Futures, doesn't mean baseball, however, trust me, less money for the coaches to spend (on 11.7 schollies)and they LOVE getting the state money to support their recruits.
You need to get the word out on your son now, and please do make sure he gets to the wood bat in Jupiter in October (call or write PG, they have great connections down here).
Hope that this helps!!!!

Miami...Pick up the phone and make some calls to schools in which your son has already expressed an interest. It is a positive that he is a good student. It's true...coaches like good students, too.

By making some contacts now, it can serve as an introduction of your son to the school (if they haven't heard of him although I doubt that someone doesn't know about a 6'2" lefty in Florida). If the school has some interest, you find out early. If not, you can go on to the next one.

Contrary to many peoples opinions (I'm a contrarian in some aspects of this recruiting process), I believe that you can eliminate schools just as easily as schools eliminate your son. Happens all the time.

Ditto...Beenthere.

Folks,

I can't begin to thank you all enough for the info so far! I guess I need to be worrying a lot more than I thought, or at least get on the ball!

Like I said, we just really changed gears big time 3 weeks ago when I started to feel that promises and commitments were not being kept by a coach. I went on line and started digging out info and websites just like this and I am amazed at some of the BAD info we have received in the past.

Here in Miami, it seems that finding the "QUALITY" travel teams is a lot more difficult than I thought! We just switched to Team USA and were very happy with the limited experience,(3 weeks), but today was the last game, so we are back to no team at the moment!

We did go to Tampa for Perfect Games ID, hopefully we see some results from there. We also went to UCF for a camp and spoke to Coach Cozart there and got good info from him also!

Dad04, Thanks for the info on TCC, we will sign up in the AM! I will also contact the Daytona coach, but as Miami is 5 hrs away, makes the commute hard, but not impossible! Finding travel teams here is hard part, finding teams that deliver what they promise is even harder! I have NO hesitation in driving for him to play or be seen somewhere, as I work on the fire dept here and can swing different days off as needed.

TRhit, I think you and I probably spoke at the beginning of summer, but I could not justify the cost of travel and accomdations from Miami to the New England area for the tournaments at the time! I will call you about Jupiter again!

Tiger Paw mom, I'm wondering if we could call you and talk, as you are around the corner and maybe could help us out here! I'm out of S Dade, Coral Reef Dr area and maybe you could point us to some Broward travel or fall ball teams!

Again, I cannot begin to thank you all for the info so far! We are working to catch-up here, but I see that I found a GREAT source of info!

Miami,
You have a private message.

Barb, Thanks for all the info! I'll check into PG at Ft Meyers!

Let me know how things progress......