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I attended 2 showcase tournaments (TNT & East Coast) with 11 fields that have an average distance between them of 20 minutes this past weekend. 235 teams with an average of 12 players per team gives you about 2,820 players participating in an average of 5 games this past weekend…
…and yet players still choose to not make time to send emails to coaches, and I specifically use the word choose. My mom has a saying - that we choose to make time for things that are important to us, no matter the circumstances. You can tell a lot about a person’s priorities based on what they choose to make time for. It's also frustrating to see families spend thousands of dollars on travel ball, training, hotels, etc. to get nothing out of it when they don't communicate with coaches when needed.
We had athletes in our mentoring program who did everything right to prepare for this past weekend – they sent emails at the correct time with all the correct information and yet still didn’t see one coach at their field. Unless you are on a main complex at a tournament, for every TEN coaches you email, you’ll be lucky to see ONE of them at your games. While this is a tough reality, if you choose to not send emails at all you’re relying on another player at your field. Hopefully they'll reach out to a coach that comes to see them play and then “finds” you. This isn't a system I suggest trusting your future with.
Coaches don’t take time away from their families, travel hours from home, and sit at fields from 7:50am to 8:00pm to window shop. They have a specific plan to see the athletes who have shown interest in their program and are going through the process the right way! What are you doing to set yourself up for success in a process that offers coaches THOUSANDS of athletes to choose from?
…and yet players still choose to not make time to send emails to coaches, and I specifically use the word choose. My mom has a saying - that we choose to make time for things that are important to us, no matter the circumstances. You can tell a lot about a person’s priorities based on what they choose to make time for. It's also frustrating to see families spend thousands of dollars on travel ball, training, hotels, etc. to get nothing out of it when they don't communicate with coaches when needed.
We had athletes in our mentoring program who did everything right to prepare for this past weekend – they sent emails at the correct time with all the correct information and yet still didn’t see one coach at their field. Unless you are on a main complex at a tournament, for every TEN coaches you email, you’ll be lucky to see ONE of them at your games. While this is a tough reality, if you choose to not send emails at all you’re relying on another player at your field. Hopefully they'll reach out to a coach that comes to see them play and then “finds” you. This isn't a system I suggest trusting your future with.
Coaches don’t take time away from their families, travel hours from home, and sit at fields from 7:50am to 8:00pm to window shop. They have a specific plan to see the athletes who have shown interest in their program and are going through the process the right way! What are you doing to set yourself up for success in a process that offers coaches THOUSANDS of athletes to choose from?
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1) How well do your athletes communicate with you?
2) How do they time manage?
3) How do they handle adversity?
4) What are their parents like?
These are the four most common questions I get from college coaches about the athletes we work with. If college coach is reaching out about one of our athletes to talk about them, they already know that they like what they do on the field. These are the answers that tell a coach whether an athlete will thrive for four years of college level expectations or not.
1) How well do your athletes communicate with you?
If an athlete consistently doesn’t respond to texts from someone helping them through the college planning process, why should college coaches expect them to change that behavior once they get to school? If they miss calls, meetings, and can’t accomplish tasks asked of them in a timely manner now, what says they’ll be able to do it later?
2) How do they time manage?
Generally, once you get to college you have three main things going on – softball, academics, and your social life. It’s almost impossible to be great at all three things when they each take up so much of your time. All the sacrifices you need to make in high school to focus on getting the offer and going to play college ball? Those sacrifices don’t go away in college – you’re still going to miss the parties, the weekend trips, etc. If your two main focuses are softball and a social life, you probably won’t make it in most college programs. (On another note - a lot of academic scholarships are only renewed each year if you have a certain GPA at the end of each year.)
3) How do they handle adversity?
Just because you get to play in college doesn’t mean you’re never going to lose a close game again, feel overwhelmed with balancing all aspects of your life,
4) What are their parents like?
If you google “college softball coach fired” the first three articles to pop up have the headlines:
“--- University softball coaches accused of misconduct, placed on administrative leave.”
“--- softball coach steps down after review of program”
“----- softball coaches facing Title IX allegations over improper relationship”
While there are some truly bad college coaches (just like there are bad HS and travel coaches) there are also players who are unhappy and spiteful that create situations they feel will benefit themselves. Coaches are putting their ability to feed their families in YOUR hands when they recruit you. This means they do their homework on your family and how you were raised as well. I had an interesting conversation with a coach last week about an athlete (not one of ours) where they said they would never recruit her because they heard rumors that her parents got their HS coach fired. Just the idea that a parent MAY have done this is enough for a coach to not want to take a chance on that athlete. The sad part is she is talented enough to play there, but never will because of how her parents conduct themselves. Coaches have to be able to trust the players and the families they are bringing into their program, just like the players and families have to be able to trust the coaches.
2) How do they time manage?
3) How do they handle adversity?
4) What are their parents like?
These are the four most common questions I get from college coaches about the athletes we work with. If college coach is reaching out about one of our athletes to talk about them, they already know that they like what they do on the field. These are the answers that tell a coach whether an athlete will thrive for four years of college level expectations or not.
1) How well do your athletes communicate with you?
If an athlete consistently doesn’t respond to texts from someone helping them through the college planning process, why should college coaches expect them to change that behavior once they get to school? If they miss calls, meetings, and can’t accomplish tasks asked of them in a timely manner now, what says they’ll be able to do it later?
2) How do they time manage?
Generally, once you get to college you have three main things going on – softball, academics, and your social life. It’s almost impossible to be great at all three things when they each take up so much of your time. All the sacrifices you need to make in high school to focus on getting the offer and going to play college ball? Those sacrifices don’t go away in college – you’re still going to miss the parties, the weekend trips, etc. If your two main focuses are softball and a social life, you probably won’t make it in most college programs. (On another note - a lot of academic scholarships are only renewed each year if you have a certain GPA at the end of each year.)
3) How do they handle adversity?
Just because you get to play in college doesn’t mean you’re never going to lose a close game again, feel overwhelmed with balancing all aspects of your life,
4) What are their parents like?
If you google “college softball coach fired” the first three articles to pop up have the headlines:
“--- University softball coaches accused of misconduct, placed on administrative leave.”
“--- softball coach steps down after review of program”
“----- softball coaches facing Title IX allegations over improper relationship”
While there are some truly bad college coaches (just like there are bad HS and travel coaches) there are also players who are unhappy and spiteful that create situations they feel will benefit themselves. Coaches are putting their ability to feed their families in YOUR hands when they recruit you. This means they do their homework on your family and how you were raised as well. I had an interesting conversation with a coach last week about an athlete (not one of ours) where they said they would never recruit her because they heard rumors that her parents got their HS coach fired. Just the idea that a parent MAY have done this is enough for a coach to not want to take a chance on that athlete. The sad part is she is talented enough to play there, but never will because of how her parents conduct themselves. Coaches have to be able to trust the players and the families they are bringing into their program, just like the players and families have to be able to trust the coaches.