surprising letter

Good question. I wouldn't read too much into it nor would I ignore it. I think you should remind yourself that the recruiting of your son is a PROCESS and not an EVENT so his future doesn't hinge on this camp or this letter. No one can say for sure but I think the letter is a form letter and wouldn't be surprised if every camper received one. (If you know any other attendees you might ask them). I think the letter is two fold.

1. It allows the the college to enter your son into their database from which they select their players. That's good!

2. They enter your son into their database from which they generate invites to their future camps which generates money for their program. That's business!

As your son advances you will receive more of these and they will come from different directions with the different senders having different goals. Some are PURE BUSINESS (we want your money) and some are PURE RECRUITMENT (we want your son) and some will be a combination of both. Ask questions, educate yourself and trust your instincts as things unfold.

Fungo has good advice as always.

Since the coach provided his NUMBER, why not call them and find out what the letter means rather than try and read tea leaves from a message board?

They might tell you that they see great promise in your son and intend on following him. That would be useful information to know. They might also have some specific feedback on your son (strengths/weaknesses) that would also be highly useful to know. Moreover, if they have nice things to say specifically about your son, that might provide a nice boost to his confidence and motivation.

On the other hand, they might say that they send the same letter out to all campers in order to maintain an accurate database. They also might not have any specific recollection of your son. That would tell you something as well.

A message board will never be able to determine these types of things for you.

The school is simply building a contact base for the coming years---your response will show interest to them and they will follow your progress---they apparently saw enough in the player to show interest


Any interest is a positive---run with it

Fungo is right, as CD says. His a possible camp revenue source and also a possible recruit. Schools use camps for both purposes. It is hard to tell which catagory a kid falls in until phone calls are allowed.

Thanks for the insight. I kind of had that same feeling. I think my son will write back the coach and fill out the on-line questionnaire after a full season of HS baseball is completed. That way the questionnaire won't have too many blank areas. I think my son would be a little intimidated if he had to call the coach at this stage in the game.

Great advice here.

And, the thoughts jogged my memory a bit.

wicked, if your son is truly interested in the school, I might go ahead and fill out the questionaire and send the coach a short note.

That would demonstrate a strong interest in the school from your son.

It's not often discussed here, but there are schools that young players are not interested in attending even if the school is recruiting them.

Maybe too far away, too much money, or not the right size.

So, often a coach is measuring your son's interest in the coach's program during the recruiting process.

I think that is part of the reason why they prefer to speak with the player for most of the process.

When the coach called from the school where my son ended up attending, I happened to answer the phone.

When he confirmed that he had the right number, he asked my if my son would be interested in attending his school and playing baseball for him.

THEN, he said, "We've seen him play and we'd like for him to play for us.

And, for those of you wondering about who should be on the call, I said, "Coach, I think he probably would be interested in playing for you, but let me hand him the phone and you can talk to him.

(Yes, I was nodding my head up and down the entire time my son was on the phone.)

quote:

When the coach called from the school where my son ended up attending, I happened to answer the phone.

When he confirmed that he had the right number, he asked my if my son would be interested in attending his school and playing baseball for him.

THEN, he said, "We've seen him play and we'd like for him to play for us.

And, for those of you wondering about who should be on the call, I said, "Coach, I think he probably would be interested in playing for you, but let me hand him the phone and you can talk to him.

(Yes, I was nodding my head up and down the entire time my son was on the phone.)

That is a cool story. I'll bet that was one of the best phone calls you ever received in your whole life.

It was an important phone call and more to the story than I should relate here.

But, Matt was outside in the car, I had closed the door into the garage when I heard the phone ring, and nearly didn't go back into the house to answer.

We were headed across the country to visit another school........................

I know it is probably high jacking the thread, and I'm sorry, but reading the above two stories, I was compelled to share ours. Son had been lucky and talking to a few schools over the summer, all of which would have been wonderful choices, and all were interested in him, including his top choice. A couple had told him he was their number 1 pick, but he and his top choice had still not come to terms. Coach from top choice was at a showcase son was playing in. That night, coach told him to expect a call the next day (gave a minimum indication that it might be a good call, but you never know for sure). We were at a family outing the next morning when son's cell phone rang. He answered and walked about 10 feet away from us keeping his back to us and out of ear shot - it was a long call - about 15 minutes long. We kept trying to figure out what was going on, and then son turned and was grinning from ear to ear - so we knew it was a GREAT call. We were lucky to snap a photo of him on the phone the second he turned to face us - the photo would make a great Master Card "priceless" commercial!