For all of you experienced veterans of HS Baseball, what is the “Best practices” in regards to filling out college questionnaires. If you get questionnaire from a D1 school you have no interest in, should you complete it and send it in anyway?
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IMO, I don't see why you would not fill it out and send it in. Until your son signs a LOI, anything is possible. Don't shut any door, because it may not re-open if you need it to.
I agree. 2015 got a questionnaire from a major D1 ACC team. He was tickled, I was more pragmatic and cynical thinking they wanted to update their database for future camps etc. Frankly, IMHO he's not upper tier D1 material (he'd agree but it's a goal for him) but we played along and 2015 filled out the questionnaire and submitted it. Certainly can't hurt!
We've taken the approach of never closing a door until you have an agreement in place. If there is a remote chance, he fills it out. The exception would be a school that we just don't see any way possible, maybe due to geography or education quality.
While on the topic of questionnaires, I'll also suggest that the player develop a system early on that helps him keep track of the ones he's completed. As they come in, he should make a note of the contact information, and check each one off of his list as he returns it. Later, that same list can be used to record follow-on communications in both directions.
With those questionnaires that asked for some information from the high school or summer team coach, my son got in the habit of returning a copy of the questionnaire to the college baseball office; completed with all of the information that he was asked to provide. When he did so, he'd attach a note, saying that he'd passed the original on to his coach for completion. Once the college received the coach's completed form, all they had to do was add the information that the coach had provided to their database. When the questionnaire was passed along to the coach, he made sure that it was accompanied by a pre-addressed, pre-stamped envelope.
Once a month or so, my son would loop back with his coach and confirm that all of that month's questionnaires had been completed and mailed. Then, he'd check the "coach's returned" box on the list he was keeping.
The process was simple and came in really handy as the recruiting process continued.
