What To Do if HS Coach Doesn't Believe in Helping Recruit Players?

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There are alot of travel teams or showcase teams that are filled with players that would be better served getting more instruction and coaching. These players are hoping if they get seen enough they will get a scholley. The fact is they are not. I see no point in marketing something that is not ready to be showcased. They should be spending the vast majority of their time getting better and working at the things that would make showcase beneficial.

Coach May

you say they are not ready to be showcased? but they are. Why does this happen?

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by Will: He had to continue to work and make the high school team. Take it one step at a time

that is a very good response

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by Will: you say they are not ready to be showcased? but they are. Why does this happen?

here's the odd thing about it ... pretty simple really

some kids attending showcases which are open to everyone are not being showcased at all - they are just attendees - nobody is watching them

they are at the showcase doing their "thing", but ... they have no "thing", so scouts and coaches are watching other guys who have the "thing" and taking notes on them

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some kids attending showcases which are open to everyone are not being showcased at all - they are just attendees - nobody is watching them

they are at the showcase doing their "thing", but ... they have no "thing", so scouts and coaches are watching other guys who have the "thing" and taking notes on them

BEE

So basically they paid their money to do "their thing"

Is it possible to have the thing and not have to pay money for people to find out you have the thing? Had to ask

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Originally posted by Will:

quote:

There are alot of travel teams or showcase teams that are filled with players that would be better served getting more instruction and coaching. These players are hoping if they get seen enough they will get a scholley. The fact is they are not. I see no point in marketing something that is not ready to be showcased. They should be spending the vast majority of their time getting better and working at the things that would make showcase beneficial.

Coach May

you say they are not ready to be showcased? but they are. Why does this happen?

Because somebody at some point told the kid or his parents that the only way to get to college is by going to those showcases.

jmepop - When I get a questionaire for one of our players the first thing I do is go to the player and tell him I got a questionaire from so and so for him. I sit down with the player and we fill it out together. He gives me the basic information like telephone numbers , address , email information etc. I fill out the part where it asks the coach about the players baseball ability and his stats etc. I make a copy and give it to him. I mail the original back to the school. I am totally honest with every coach I deal with and player as well.

If they get a questionaire from a Top tier D-1 program and I know they are not capable of playing at that level we sit down and talk about it. I still turn in the questionaire and again I am totally honest in my evaluation of the player. Ive been around long enough to know if a player can play or can possibly play at certain levels of baseball. But the ultimate decision will be made by the college coach of that particular program. Its important for kids to have a good understanding of where they are , where they need to be , and what they need to do to get there. Both in the classroom and on the field.

As far as why do kids showcase that are not ready to be showcased there are a couple of reasons. Number one they are trying to keep up with the other kids that are doing it. They are afraid they are being left out if they dont do it to. Also they are misinformed. They think if they are seen enough times by the college coaches sooner or later someone will like them. And it seems everyone is doing it now. It is getting watered down to a certain extent.

I think it is very important to work at getting better at the game. Spend the majority of your time working at getting better. If you are the kind of player that has tools that make you stand out above the average player showcase events are very good for you. If you do not they are not very good for you. In fact in many cases they are a waist of money. Sorry but that is just the facts. The college coaches are looking for the guys that display the tools that stand out above the average player. They are looking for tools that will play at their level. If your not a top tier guy (top tools) Speed , power , arm strength , ability to consistently barrell the baseball , outstanding fielding actions , then you will not stand out at a showcase event. The ones that display these tools are the ones that will get noticed.

The players that can play but do not have tools that stand out are better served focusing in on schools that their tools will play at. Showcasing in front of D-1 coaches with D-3 tools is a waist of money. That is a fact. Is does not mean you can not play. You just have to do it another way.

Coach May

You are so correct in what you say about players performing at showcases in front of the coaches who are from the level they can play at.

I find that too many kids are being misinformed about their ability and attend the wrong events. We are fortunate that we are in an area loaded with great Division II and III programs--in fact the Division II and III programs outnumber the Division I programs---thus in attending our events they are seen by coaches who can use their talents

Let me give you an example---we had a young man play for us for two seasons ---he was a pitcher who threw in 75-78 range consistently and he threw strikes---I got a call from him one night and he is asking why I am telling colleges he throws 75 to 78---I said because that what you throw--he had just attended a camp run by ex pro players and they told him he was throwing 85 plus---I asked on whose gun?--he said they didnt use a gun--they eyeballed him---Let me tell you the kid played for us for two years and pitched regularly but his head got filled with this nonsense---he is now at a Division II program and doing well

Sometimes the truth hurts but it has to be told--we have even had HS coaches give us misinformation on a kid just in an effort to hype him---who are they helping? Cartainly not the kid !!!!!


Again we are back to homework on the part of the player/parents so that they attend the events they need to attend to maximize the players talent and ability.

To add to what Coach May stated about meeting with a player, in the State of Illinois, counselors can no longer release academic information to coaches without parental permission. I created a form that I have the kids fill out starting their Junior year. I have them edit that form after they receive the results of their ACTs. During their senior year, we also try to get any retake info up to date as well as cement their class rank. These forms are not tricky to make. Take one that you receive from a college you respect, alter that for your use, add the info that you need in order to sell your student to the college and then save it as a template. Some of the info that might fall into the category of "info that you need in order to sell your student" might include any showcase results.

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by Will: BEE, So basically they paid their money to do "their thing"

Is it possible to have the thing and not have to pay money for people to find out you have the thing? Had to ask

I think you know it is possible

scouts are constantly searching for guys with the "thing" ... if someone with connections sees that a guy has the "thing" he could get an invite to East Coast Pro or Area Code where many can watch the guy do his "thing" and drool.

some guys with the real "thing" could be overlooked tho and an alternative is to make arrangements (pay) for an opportunity where many can watch him do his "thing". it seems to work well



Merry Christmas to all

Coach May brings up a good point with the questionaire. Have you seen what they ask on those?

Is he the best player on the team?

Is he the best player in the league?

That's what the D1's are looking for and there's only 1 per team and 1 per league. Make's it a bit tough for a coach in our league where 2 or 3 seniors per team may be D1 material each season. Now a coach could go out of his way to explain that but either the colleges already know that or the coach is putting his reputation and more importantly ability to help other kids out each time he promotes a kid who might be D1 material but ends up not quite cutting it.

In the end it is your and your son's responsibility to market him. If the HS coach can help then great, if not then press ahead and don't worry about it.

To all out there the following is from my perspective and yes experience so bear with me.


coaching today is a lot different than when I did it. The game is the same. The bases are 90 ' 40' 6" from the rubber to home plate etc etc. But the people who play it and yes their parents are different. I dont say this in a bad way but it is just the way it is. society is different so it is just a reflection of that.

My coaching experience dealt with teaching the game and working the team concept. I put my players in a position to be successful but the team came first. If we needed to move a guy to make us better we did. It was not about stats it was about the team winning. I moved guys all over the place. I kid came in as a freshman and was a pitcher and if we thought he would be best served moving to another position we did it. Just did it. for the team. I was fortunate as the parents were of the mode to let the coach coach and the kids play.
I did not have pre season meetings with the parents to tell them what was expected of their kids it was just understood. I never had a problem. But I see where coaches today feel the need to do so as so many other things are pulling and tugging on the players. What was a showcase? A private instructor?
I read on this site and I hear all the stuff about some conflicts between coaches and parents and players. I guesss it is because there are so many forces pulling and tugging. Who is being served the best.
In my experience we worked hard we played hard and that was the measuring stick. Do like what is going on today? not particularly but even this old timer has to admit it is the way it is and the guys who coach today have to deal with it.

We never got into the showcase thing.
My son and I knew he was capable to play D1 and never filled in info on HS or even elite teams. We let the video show what he could do. We couldn't care less what others thought or said.
We also didn't care what level the team was to a point but it was more about the competition.
We had a couple years of video that showed what he could do and from the point of having everything organized and ready to send out we were basically done. HS BB was not a part of the marketing video. We only included top level games,awards and news clips. He didn't even play his last eligible year of HS ball.
As far as the level of D1 school we didn'y even consider that. We sent out stuff to all levels and got responses from all levels.
Coaches in my opinion in our area were in capable of judging how a player would fit in at any school. My son was well liked by all his coaches but I saw too many horror stories to even begin to rely on other peoples opinions. We just left the HS stuff blank.

Bobblehead


Where did your son play HS baseball ?

TR in St Catharines Ont at Governor Simco HS. There were 25 or so teams in the loop and several players in the league went on to D1 and pro ball. It was more of a basket ball school than BB although we won the championship a few times while my son was there. Some players in the league like David Davidson and Nick Weglarz are in the pros and many went to College ball in the US.
He also had a HS in Georgia ask him to do his senior year in Georgia on an exchange program but he wanted to graduate with his friends and was alraedy qualified to graduate when they approached him.

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Originally posted by BobbleheadDoll:

He also had a HS in Georgia ask him to do his senior year in Georgia on an exchange program but he wanted to graduate with his friends and was alraedy qualified to graduate when they approached him.

If I may inquire..what HS in Georgia wanted him to be an "exhange student"? What year?

Younggun that was 3-4 years ago and I have forgotten the name. The coach was going to house him and feed him. He also said he had contacts with U Georgia. I have forgot most of the converstaions as my son wanted to graduate with his mates. His senior yearwas basically over but the coach said he couldn't graduate in order to be elligible.

TR, you bring up a very good point that should be in a different thread. That is the preponderance of schools at the D2 and D3 level back east. Out here in California, we have quite a few top D1s and a lot of juco teams, but there really aren't very many D2 programs, and even fewer D3s.

Six summers ago, we took a team of kids to Oneonta to play in a tournament, and that was really our first exposure to all the opportunities that exist at the D3 level. We had a fantastic time in upstate NY, and when all was said and done, we got to play Coach Merc's team for the championship (they beat us)! Six years later, and we still occasionally trade emails. I wish we had the opportunities out west that exist back east.