Travel team vs. camps

first of al if he is playing on a showcase travel team that is his committment

if his coach is doing the right thing the camps take care of themselves---perhaps my relationship with college coaches is different than others but rhey contact me when they would like to see one of our players athi er camp

My 2 cents is to play the summer season and get in front of as many coaches as possible. Be proactive with your (rather his) communication. If his coach is not communicating with schools or does not have the relationships with schools it might be time to reevaluate your choice of team.

Some self evaluation may be needed. Does the coach lack relationships or do the players lack the talent for the next level?

After the summer, hopefully you will have some schools narrowed down. Then you can and should do those camps in the fall.

I'm actually offering a service that your son might benefit from this summer. I'm running a Virginia College Bus Tour where we will see 21 colleges in 4 days at the end of June. Campus and baseball facility tours led by the baseball coaches from each school! It will be a great chance to see a variety of schools...variety of academics, geography, campus styles, athletic divisions, etc. This trip is first come, first serve and open to players from any state. Full details can be found here... http://www.playinschool.com/bus_tour.html

Rich
www.PlayInSchool.com
www.twitter.com/PlayInSchool

Does your son play legion baseball? That may be the problem. I'm not sure about your area but in most parts of the country legion baseball is a step down from true "top" travel teams. The scouts may be going to the travel team tournaments and skipping the legion tournaments.

Camps are not the best way to get exposure. A better alternative is showcasing. Look up Perfect Game and attend a few of their events. Trust me on this, if he has talent it will be exposed at a PG event and he'll be contacted.

Thank you, everyone, for your help! My son is on a travel team, but did legion in the fall so that he could do the camps and the legion coach has strong connections in this area. He absolutely wants to do a PG showcase, but he is a varsity basketball starter and will have to wait for summer to do one. What about the Commonwealth games? And, thank you PIS, we will look into the bus tour!

I am a little bias on this subject but if possible and if he has good to very good tools, have him do a PG Showcase so that you can get an "honest" assesment of his skills. If he does well, it is my belief that this may help him get the exposure you desire. It will also allow you and him to see how he stacks up against other players in his area and across the country. I beleive that alot of coaches look at the PG Showcase results to get an idea of how a player is rated by them. Just my 2cents, hope it helps.

With regards to commonwealth games, some regions do a try out others do invites. Not sure off top of my head. You may want to post in the Virginia forum to ask about that.

The conundrum that many players have run into lately is that the commonwealth games overlap with the 17u PG tourney in East Cobb. If you are lucky enough to play in commonwealth games you will play in front of 100% of Va colleges and many other colleges from other states. But of course if you go to East Cobb you have chance to play in front of 100's of scouts. Again, some self evaluation is important. Should you stay in state and play in front of the Va schools (including all D3's) or go to GA to maybe impress out of state schools?

There have been lots of discussion (complaints, hoping, wishing, wanting) for commonwealth games to move baseball event. Nothing's come of it to my knowledge.

Feel free to call if you need a sounding board. I'm familiar with all showcase teams in VA and would be happy to chat with you regarding this. My number and email is on my website.

Rich
www.PlayInSchool.com
www.twitter.com/PlayInSchool

If your son is on a showcase team that plays in front of college coaches on a routine basis then he is being seen. Some teams garner more attention that others that obvious. But at the same time those teams do play other teams and coaches watch all the players regardless of the team when they are at a tourney. And word travels throughout the showcase circuit on players. Maybe your son is being seen by the wrong set of eyes? Is he only being seen by high level D1 programs? Is he only being seen by D1 programs? If he being seen by D2 and D3 programs as well playing on this showcase team? Has he gotten any serious interest from any of these programs? And what levels of interest and from who? Do you have the type of relationship with the showcase coach where he keeps you informed of interest no matter what level of interest or school?

Do you know what level he can definitely play at? How do you know this? Have college coaches told you? Have any scouts told you? Has anyone that you trust to know told you? Maybe a camp at a D1 and a D2 or D3 would help you out. Feedback from the coaches would be invaluable to helping you understand where your son fits in. A realistic understanding of what level your son can definitely play at and then what would be a stretch situation for your son. Its not enough to get in front of college coaches. Its important to get in front of the right coaches for your son's ability. And in some cases the program that see's value in him for them. One program may see no value and another love him for what they are looking for.

From experience I have seen parents spend thousands of dollars getting their son in front of the UNC's NC State's ECU's So Car's of the college baseball world and not understanding why its just not working out. When they would have been better served getting in front of the Methodist, Barton College, Louisburg College, Randolp Macon, Newberry, coaches at a camp where they can evaluate him.

What good does it do to set up the best Snow Cone shop in the world on the North Pole? And the same Snow Cone shop in Az in the summer would flourish? In other words get him in front of the coaches he can play for and see what happens. If you have been seen by the D1's and its not happening it may be more than the coach not working for the player if you get the drift.

Please there is no need to answer any of the questions I have asked on this site. Do an internal evaluation of this whole thing. Camps at specific schools of the level of ability of where your son can play are way more beneficial to a player than being seen multiple times by coaches who are not in play. Games on showcase teams in front of coaches you can play for are outstanding as well. Playing in front of coaches that are not interested is not a good bang for your buck.

If a college coach see's your son at a showcase or camp believe me if they really like him you will know about it. It does them no good to spend the time and money to attend and then not get in contact with those they like. Good luck

Parents, you should all print Coach Mays post.

Well said.

Rich
www.PlayInSchool.com
www.twitter.com/PlayInSchool

quote:

Originally posted by 2014baseballmom:
..... I am noticing that some of the older players that are great ball players, don't seem to be getting any offers through the team, only through camps.....

It could be that college coaches saw these players during the summer/fall on the travel team and invited them to come to camp where they could evaluate them and get to know them a little better?

Mom, welcome!

There's more than one road which will lead to college baseball opportunities. Many folks will advocate for whatever worked for their son. But what helps a top D1 prospect won't do much for a player better suited for D2 or D3 teams. As usual Coach May described it well.

I would also add that your son should find a situation he will enjoy. Sometimes we focus so much on college baseball that we forget that enjoying baseball now is important as well.

Good luck!

2014baseballmom,

Welcome to HSBBWeb. I don't think it is a "vs" or "either or" discussion. Both offer different types of exposure, and both can be used together or seperate depending on what your son's end goals are. Once you know the end goal (ie...baseball, academic, and financial) it becomes easier to select the exposure venue.

One of Coach May's points is you've got to know the talent level of your son. I call it "fishing in the right pond". My oldest played for an elite VA travel team that I'm sure you;d be familiar with. He attended multiple PG events, mulitiple camps & academic showcases as well as played American Legion. Each one of these baseball venues offered a vastly different recruiting exposure & experience. Whatever your son's end goal is, then I would tie that back to the proper exposure type. For example: if your son wants to play for a Stanford-like or Vanderbilt-like schoool then his recruiting venue would be national showcases not legion baseball in Virginia. Conversely, if he wants to play in-state then possibly American Legion or the Commonwealth games would be more appropriate than national showcases. When you begin these discussions with coaches, ask them what summer recruiting events they attend.

My oldest son made the tough decision to forego travel baseball in the Summer & Fall of his senior year. Honestly, we weren't getting the offers that fit our goals. He attended a national academic showcase and a couple national camps, and voila....we were done. We found the right pond to fish. Please feel free to PM me if you want to discuss further.

quote:

I am noticing that some of the older players that are great ball players, don't seem to be getting any offers through the team, only through camps.

There could be a lot of reasons for the above observation. Possibly, they are "fishing in the wrong pond", or their communication to college coaches has been lacking. The travel team is there to facilitate, promote and advocate but the ulitmate responsibility is on the recruit. Travel coaches can and do help, but it has to be driven & managed by the recruit.

Wow, a giant "Thank you"-there is so much great information and ya'll are such a big help! It's great to know that there is somewhere I can go to ask these questions and help me navigate this fun,but intimidating path!

A few points:
1) I'd only attend camps at schools your son has interest in or have coaches from the schools your son has interest in.
2) Some showcases (Headfirst, Showball, etc), have coaches from numerous colleges to get your son infront of a number of schools at once. One issue with these is that there will be a lot of kids at these camps. Your son really has to stand out or he will go un-noticed. (You should also contact the coahes fro the schools he is intersted prior to the camp so they at least recognize your son's name)
3) You need to realistically reevaluate your son's ability. Does he have the ability to play in college? If so, what level (D1, D2, D3, JUCO)?
4) You should get your son on a team that plays in a number of the bigger PG tournaments (Jupiter, PG WWBA 17/18 in East Cobb, etc). Scouts attend these in large numbers.
5) Have your son contact coaches at the schools he is interested in so he can let them know how he's doing, and where and when he is playing.
6) You cannot rely on a travel coach or a high school coach to advertise your son. You (and your son) has to do it.

Good luck!

Playing is of course very important.  But playing alone is not what your son needs to be doing.

 

Your son needs to consider academics, campus environment preferences, finances, his playing abilities and the various opportunities.  The idea is to develop a short list of schools that are potential fits for him.  Then he needs to develop a strategy for getting into consideration at those schools in particular -- as opposed to just playing all over the place and waiting to see who comes after him.   A big part of this is that he has to become pro-active not only in determining his objectives, but also in initiating communications so as to try to persuade particular coaches to come and evaluate him at his games.

 

We are seeing a lot of this stuff with kids just playing in the summers following their sophomore and junior years, on the same model as when they were pre-high school, and the failure rate is very high.  Some travel programs help you through the recruiting process; others take your money and go out to win games and let the chips fall where they may.  If your son throws 90+ that's fine, but if he's "on the bubble", that model often does not work out.

 

The moral of the story is, the recruiting years have to be approached differently from your prior travel baseball experience, if you hope to reach your goals.

As to camps, you would coordinate with your travel coaches as to specific camps you would need to attend.  But you would only do that if the school was on your short list, and if it looked like the school was either pursuing you actively or was in need of a better opportunity to see more of you (both on and off the field).

 

Just going to camps here and there is no smarter than going to every showcase that sends you e-mail.  It's a great way to spend a fortune and get nothing for your money.