mcphesh, there are a lot of opinions regarding camps in here at hsbbw. Some believe they are just money makers for coaches, other believe they have merit. And in between.
I would do a search on college camps, camps, college showcases, coach camps.
I think you will come to the conclusion that. As far as camps go, it depends on the situation.
There was a post I thought was pretty good, I will try to find it.
Here it is
College camps exist for 4 reasons
(1) To make money for the school and baseball program
(2) To make money for assistant coaches who in most cases don't get paid very much to do their job.
(3) To provide youth athletes with a venue to increase their skills, get out of the house, and have some fun.
(4) To give coaches access to players that may be interested in attending the school and playing for the program.
Most players that attend camps and then don't get recruited by the school can unfortunately blame themselves in most cases.
The reality is two-fold....
(1) They attended a camp at a school that was/is too talented for their current skill-level and no amount of camp exposure is going to get a coach to recruit you if you simply cannot play at that level. You are more than welcome to go to the Ohio State, Michigan, and Notre Dame camp, but if you can't physically compete at those schools, all you will be doing is going to camp for a week and then going home. That's the reality. This is a simple concept lost on many families and these are usually the people who say, "ya, it's a waste of time and money, don't do it, you won't get recruited."
(2) They didn't communicate with the coach prior to the camp to either (A) determine if their might be a potential match or more interest or (B) determine if the coach was actively recruiting for that position. Most coaches have specific needs they are trying to fill and may only be recruiting 6 or 7 players a year. You have to factor in their normal recruiting habits and the fact that there may be a few hundred campers at the camp as well. Even if the coach needed players, he simply cannot recruit every camper in attendance even if they all have the skills to play there.
Most players who benefit from camp exposure have done the following long before they show up at camp.
(1) Determined that their skills might be a good match for the program
(2) Communicated to the coach (in any way they can) their skills through resume's, video, coaches recommendations, spoken to the coach and expressed interest in the program, asked the coach what his recruiting needs are, and gotten some feedback from the coach.
Showing up at a camp with 200 other kids and expecting the coach to know you are interested in that paticular school and expecting him to pick you out of 199 other kids is simply a long shot.
If you match up your abilities and interests with a school and communicate with the coach, you have a far better chance at making the camp circuit work better for your recruiting process.
One of the things we try to stresss is that many summer camps have coaches from other schools that are working the camp (usually schools that don't compete for players). It obviously helps to know what coaches might be in attendance and I have met many players who have attended one camp and been recruited by the coach of another school that was working the camp.
