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Anyone with tales of college recruitment for a student athlete? (1 Viewer)

dgreen said:
My daughter started playing volleyball a few years ago. She's a senior now. Got a late start. She's been varsity three years and is in her third year of club. She's developed into a good player and obviously helps that she's a legit 6'. She could play in college. Without us trying, we have several D3 schools reaching out to us/her. She has no interest in those schools, though. She isn't going to let volleyball decide her college, which I 100% agree with.

She has decided on a college that is a good D2 volleyball program. She says she doesn't want to play there. I get the sense, though, that it's more about her thinking she's not good enough. I think she is good enough (totally biased, of course), or at least good enough to give it a shot; if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. I still have dreams she'll decide to walk-on (if that's a thing at this college) or get noticed playing club/intramural. No idea if either is realistic. Probably just a crazy dad-dream because I'm not ready for my volleyball fan days to be over. I've concluded that she doesn't LOVE volleyball; she likes it a lot, but doesn't love it. And that's ok, of course, but I think she potentially could regret not trying.

Tonight's likely her last high school game and we have a few club tournaments left. BTW, we're still holding out hope that her club team gets a bid to nationals. Twice we were one match away from a bid, so we're hoping a bid can trickle down to us.
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The only advice I can give is that she has to want to play in college.  D-2 may not be able to compete with the D-1 schools but the work they put in for their own leagues and schedules is pretty much the same.  It is not easy if your heart is not in it.  

 
Da Guru said:
The only advice I can give is that she has to want to play in college.  D-2 may not be able to compete with the D-1 schools but the work they put in for their own leagues and schedules is pretty much the same.  It is not easy if your heart is not in it.  
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There is many D3 that does the same. Obviously it's all relative but there's a reason the same schools are always near the top of their league

 
Peak said:
Thanks for the advice.  I've read your tales and have tried to keep a sane mindset watching him move from Rec to Select to HS ball.  It's been a fun trip.  None of these are PG showcases.  That is one area I do want to stay away from, for his and my sake.  He's been involved with some PBR events, mainly because his summer team works with PBR and attends the tournaments.  The camps he's been invited to have come from College coaches who run the Junior Day College Coaches Camp, as well as the College Coaches Showcase Camp.  Looking into them, there are about 10 colleges who participate and lead the camps from a centralized location.  He's received invites from college coaches, and one of the camp directors, to attend this summer.  Most likely that's all he'll do.  Some of the other camp/showcase invites look like form letters that are sent to a huge mailing list.

How did your son handle camp/showcase requests?  Did he send a follow up to everyone, even if he wasn't going to attend?  My wife and I are split trying to determine which ones he should reply to, and which ones he should ignore.  If it's obviously a mailing list, then he wouldn't reply b/c the coach wouldn't know him from Adam.
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I 'loosened up' about the whole process late in the going, so even in these seemingly nerve-wracking times, enjoy the ride.  Perfect Game is in the Atlanta area, so you'd have to go there.  I think there were over 100 teams there the week we went before his senior year, and I think they have that many teams come through every week they're 'open'.  It sounds like your son is on a good track for maximum exposure. As for the coaches who've reached out already, I think they get a list of rising players and send them all emails.  Nothing wrong there, and I don't know if I could tell the difference between a form letter and one that a coach actually took the time to compose.

As for my son, I don't know that many coaches reached out to him, as they only went to that one showcase where coaches were known to have been.  The other events were more like tournaments held on a college campus but with no guarantee and therefore no sight of any kind of scout whatsoever (fun side note: one of these tournaments was at Va. Tech, and while his team was playing, a kid from a 'rival' organization back home--hardest throwing kid my son faced before college--was on a recruiting visit there, being shown the facilities.  Meanwhile, my son and all his college-hopeful teammates were sweltering in front of only parents.).  He received a handful of the boilerplate messages from mostly DIII schools, and he was pretty ambivalent about most of them. TBH, I think it was the visit to the school he chose that sold him.  It was far enough from home but not too far, it had a small student population, meaning smaller classes, and they offered a major he liked.  I don't know how 'nice' it was of him, but he didn't respond to any of the emails and only visited the one school, so he's not the best example to follow.  Ultimately, I think for your son it should be about the whole experience when he chooses a school.  TBH, as they get to HS age, the probable pro prospects/D1 talents have been identified and are on their own track to the big time, and for the rest, it's up to the individual player.  My son's school was just finishing its first year of having a baseball program when he committed, and the coach made a point of telling us that he was the first player in the incoming class that he wanted to see.  The bad news is the program is kind of scuffling (they had a great season 2 years ago but their top pitchers transferred, leaving him as an outfielder the hardest throwing player on the roster, meaning they have to try to score in bunches and sweat out 15-11 games), but the good news is he got into the starting lineup by the 3rd game his freshman year and has started every game since. By the time he's done, he'll own many of the program's offensive statistical records.  :lmao:  

 
So we are using NCSA (Next College Student Athlete) for our son’s baseball recruiting journey. Really impressed with the service. Already got several hits from D1 and D2 schools with camp invites etc. We are in the infant stages but the tools are great and we were already able to narrow down to 7 states he truly is interested in potentially going to school (the theme is warm weather).

Florida

Georgia

South Carolina

Texas

Nevada

Arizona

California

D1, D2, D3 and NAIA are all on the table......looking forward to him having a great experience going through this process. He is a 2023 graduate. I will give some updates here as he goes along.

 
Todem said:
So we are using NCSA (Next College Student Athlete) for our son’s baseball recruiting journey. Really impressed with the service. Already got several hits from D1 and D2 schools with camp invites etc. We are in the infant stages but the tools are great and we were already able to narrow down to 7 states he truly is interested in potentially going to school (the theme is warm weather).

Florida

Georgia

South Carolina

Texas

Nevada

Arizona

California

D1, D2, D3 and NAIA are all on the table......looking forward to him having a great experience going through this process. He is a 2023 graduate. I will give some updates here as he goes along.
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We did the ncsa "evaluation" last year and realized after 5 minutes it was a sales pitch.  I cut the guy off and said just tell me the price and after giving him our sob story I got "I only have 2 of these scholarships left but I can do....""

Still didn't do it.  From what I can tell, we've gotten the same, if not more, camp invite emails from the free sites + a little leg work (emailing coaches, filling out recruiting forms).

Covid has thrown everything off and made everyone scramble so I am now considering the ncsa thing but I have to get them off their price.  It is exhausting.  I will say, since the lid has been loosened, the emails have picked up significantly but its still "sign up for our camp.  It's still D2, D3 and naia which we are ok with but I can't pay 350 for a camp at Elon ($50k private school) with just elon there.

 
Fill out your NCAA Eligibility account.  

Any schools you want to play, fill out their recruiting information.  My daughter is starting to get a bunch of camp invites.

Make no mistake they are in it for the money but if I shell out 3 bills now she will been seen by various bcolleges.  She got "form letters" that are personalized for a bunch of schools.

It will be interesting once June hits what really happens. Legally she has until the fall before colleges can even reach out 

She is 2023 also 

We are shooting for D3

 
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The Dude said:
Just wondering.  My little guy is several years away and this may be his path - but a lot can happen in 5 years.

wondering about which sport, which schools, how the decision was made and how it worked out
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Had friends older then me who went to school with a kid who ended up at La Salle and drafted by the Phillies 23rd overall. Pitched to a 5 era in gulf coast when he had shoulder issues and then had to retire after 8 minor league games. 

My Township travel team the coaches son was one of our coaches and pitched in the minors a bit. 

Friends of ours at the pool their son went to one of the catholic HS in the area. Had scholarships but drafted by the twins. He was in a car accident (as a passenger driver of other ca at fault) with some teammates in the Twins Minors I think FL or Carolina (somewhere down south) and had some bad injuries. Ended up never playing again. 

One of the kids I played ball with had a scholarship to LSU but he had one of those dads trying to live through their kids. Kid threw out his arm SR yr and LSU pulled the scholarship shortly before that. Recruiting and stuff has changed a lot from 15 yrs ago though. 

 
Todem said:
So we are using NCSA (Next College Student Athlete) for our son’s baseball recruiting journey. Really impressed with the service. Already got several hits from D1 and D2 schools with camp invites etc.
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We're right with you on NCSA.  He's 2024 and have quite a few emails and camp invited do far.  His only qualifications for college is to be near the ocean and warm 🤣. We'll likely do three camps over the summer, and maybe a local college camp like UCs program. But overall the tools and communication platform is very helpful.

 
Peak said:
We're right with you on NCSA.  He's 2024 and have quite a few emails and camp invited do far.  His only qualifications for college is to be near the ocean and warm 🤣. We'll likely do three camps over the summer, and maybe a local college camp like UCs program. But overall the tools and communication platform is very helpful.
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Yeah the tools are great. I felt it was well worth the investment for the next 2.5 years. It will help keep things organized and streamlined and the communication hub is huge.

My son is playing in 6 highly competitive tournaments this summer and doing his first College Prospect ID camp in July....but it will be a very small group (50 players max between middle infield, corner guys, OF and pitcher and catchers) working on the field directly with college coaches/assistant coaches/recruiting coordinators. 3 coaches are from target schools for my son 9USF, Flagler University and FAU) and he is very much looking forward to making impressions and having a one on one opportunity to talk to these coaches, ask questions etc. This camp was only $175.

The only camps that are worth anything IMO are either these types which are small, focused and with coaches on the field of schools you are very interested or directly at the schools you want to potentially play for.  I also really like the ones where they actually play a few games. Combines are combines.....and IMO most coaches can’t see what you really are until you play in live action. 

It is a huge business. We all know this. But recruiting for 98% of baseball players is work and takes persistence. For the top 1-2%.....who are the most sought after players...they have to do nothing but simply get the grades to go where they want.

We are really intrigued with NAIA. Smaller schools but highly competitive (beating D2 teams regularly), and the opportunity for athletic and academic money to pay for a decent portion of the costs. Also plenty of great D2 programs in the states my son is really interested in. Also there are different levels of D1. A lot of lesser known schools that are not as competitive in terms of going to Omaha but great schools with solid programs.

Needless to say my son is excited and looking forward to the process. 

 
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SpurrierisisGod said:
We did the ncsa "evaluation" last year and realized after 5 minutes it was a sales pitch.  I cut the guy off and said just tell me the price and after giving him our sob story I got "I only have 2 of these scholarships left but I can do....""

Still didn't do it.  From what I can tell, we've gotten the same, if not more, camp invite emails from the free sites + a little leg work (emailing coaches, filling out recruiting forms).

Covid has thrown everything off and made everyone scramble so I am now considering the ncsa thing but I have to get them off their price.  It is exhausting.  I will say, since the lid has been loosened, the emails have picked up significantly but its still "sign up for our camp.  It's still D2, D3 and naia which we are ok with but I can't pay 350 for a camp at Elon ($50k private school) with just elon there.
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We paid for a lower membership and got the best one they offered. It all comes down to the value you see or not see in it. There is no right or wrong way approaching college recruiting. 

I just like having the technology they offer and the thousands of coaches in their network. It really makes the process more concise and streamlined for us. Coupled with his current coaches and the program he is in (Ranked 3rd in the nation right now in baseball by Max Preps) he will get good looks and plenty of exposure. But we also wanted to be able to stretch out beyond Florida and look in the southwest and west part of the country. 

Like you we get tons of camp emails, showcase this and that.....having his own one on one recruiting coach is helpful in navigating through all this and allowing us to potentially not waste money on meaningless combines and showcases. We want to narrow it down to what will have the biggest impact. 

 
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Todem said:
There is no right or wrong way approaching college recruiting.
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Agreed.  Gotta have a lot of different tools in the toolbox.  We did an NCSA profile for free so his info was in their system, but I ignored their calls.

A couple other ideas if he has not done so already:

Twitter - make sure he has a Twitter (one with his actual name so coaches can find him).  And make sure he updates his profile with basic info like High School, travel program and grad year.  Then have him follow not only the coaches and programs he is interested in, but also look on their website and find the assistant coach who is the Recruiting Coordinator and make sure to follow him.  Schools that find him interesting will definitely follow back.  Twitter is such a great tool that he can use to share/retweet highlights from high school and summer ball.  Just remind him not to like or retweet stupid ####.  When he is ready to really showcase his stuff, he can tag FlatgroundBats in his videos.

Field Level - Free app that he can register, set up a profile and select schools he is interested in.  Those schools will then know via the app that his is interested.  Mostly mid-sized to small schools on there. (Edit to add; this is as of a couple years ago, not sure how much it has gotten better or fizzled.)

And make sure his PBR and Perfect Game profiles are kept up to date if he has them (be mindful of what coaches will see when they Google him).

 
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Todem said:
For the top 1-2%.....who are the most sought after players...they have to do nothing but simply get the grades to go where they
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Fwiw, my friend's kid I posted about upthread might be one of the elite kids...but dad and son worked the camps, coaches and social media VERY hard before signing with UofArizona this year as a sophomore. I got the sense it all helped him get there...he wasn't just hanging back and doing his thing.

 
College sports teams are like families (could probably have said cults). You spend almost all of your time with your teammates.  The coaches can make your life miserable if they are so inclined.

Go somewhere where you feel a family-like bond with the players and where the coach cares about you as a person outside of the sport.  Try to find a coach that is a good fit - do you want a tough coach? 

Remember it is a business, and most coaches are not 100% ethical and honest when it comes to selling their team to you.  Be skeptical of any coach that promises a certain amount of playing time.  Coaches will almost always play the players that are the best, and they don't know that until you arrive for practice. Coaches should only promise you a chance to compete. (if your kid is a star, then that would be the exception). 

I'd probably stay away from coaches who have lost a lot for a few years. They will probably get replaced and it is usually a bad situation for players when a new coach comes in.

 
Thorpe said:
College sports teams are like families (could probably have said cults). You spend almost all of your time with your teammates.  The coaches can make your life miserable if they are so inclined.

Go somewhere where you feel a family-like bond with the players and where the coach cares about you as a person outside of the sport.  Try to find a coach that is a good fit - do you want a tough coach? 

Remember it is a business, and most coaches are not 100% ethical and honest when it comes to selling their team to you.  Be skeptical of any coach that promises a certain amount of playing time.  Coaches will almost always play the players that are the best, and they don't know that until you arrive for practice. Coaches should only promise you a chance to compete. (if your kid is a star, then that would be the exception). 

I'd probably stay away from coaches who have lost a lot for a few years. They will probably get replaced and it is usually a bad situation for players when a new coach comes in.
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That's great advice. 

I went to a school that seemed perfect for me- two years removed from losing in the national championship game, great school, had my major, in a big city, coach seemed to want me. 

Unfortunately, the coach didn't really know my game, recruited a Jamaican national team player at my exact position, and thought my long hair meant I didn't follow rules and had a temperament that I clearly didn't have. It was a mess. Had a bunch of other options where the coaches had seen me a lot (including one nearby that had come to dinner the night before decisions were due) and with whom I felt comfortable and had a mutual understanding personality and play-wise.

I don't regret the college, but I know my soccer playing would have been happier just about anywhere else.

 
Some great posts in here and I really appreciate the insight. It is funny. I have been coaching baseball longer than I played (that always ends up happening lol), and have had a lot of experience with the high school level (showcase summer teams). I finally have stepped aside as my son is entering his Junior year in the Fall. I wanted to solely focus on just watching him play and helping him navigate the recruiting landscape. I really have no insight or experience in this (I played ball at junior college and that was it....I did not have to really go through any recruiting process at all...I went and tried out and made the team and the was that...circa 1988/1989). 

A small update. Since we joined NCSA he already has 6 follows. 3 from schools that are on his list and 2 others who are at this time not. One school who followed him....he checked out and researched and said “wow this would be an awesome place to think about” I thought it was cool because it was in a state I never thought he would have interest in due to the cold weather. Ohio. Xavier University has shown some very early (it is early) interest. Also Ohio University is very interested. I think those schools would love to get some players from Florida because I see none on their rosters.

Anyway it is an adventure so far. 

His first tournament is next weekend (Perfect Game) with his summer team. And he is busy sending out introduction emails to all the schools he feels can be a fit. And we are doing a lot of video to get uploaded for coaches to review. More importantly he is continuing to work very hard on and off the field (3.9 unweighted GPA). He is living in the weight room to get stronger and stronger.  

Coaches can begin to correspond by email starting in September. NAIA schools however can reach out whenever they want. 

Fun times. 

 
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Todem said:
Some great posts in here and I really appreciate the insight. It is funny. I have been coaching baseball longer than I played (that always ends up happening lol), and have had a lot of experience with the high school level (showcase summer teams). I finally have stepped aside as my son is entering his Junior year in the Fall. I wanted to solely focus on just watching him play and helping him navigate the recruiting landscape. I really have no insight or experience in this (I played ball at junior college and that was it....I did not have to really go through any recruiting process at all...I went and tried out and made the team and the was that...circa 1988/1989). 

A small update. Since we joined NCSA he already has 6 follows. 3 from schools that are on his list and 2 others who are at this time not. One school who followed him....he checked out and researched and said “wow this would be an awesome place to think about” I thought it was cool because it was in a state I never thought he would have interest in due to the cold weather. Ohio. Xavier University has shown some very early (it is early) interest. Also Ohio University is very interested. I think those schools would love to get some players from Florida because I see none on their rosters.

Anyway it is an adventure so far. 

His first tournament is next weekend (Perfect Game) with his summer team. And he is busy sending out introduction emails to all the schools he feels can be a fit. And we are doing a lot of video to get uploaded for coaches to review. More importantly he is continuing to work very hard on and off the field (3.9 unweighted GPA). He is living in the weight room to get stronger and stronger.  

Coaches can begin to correspond by email starting in September. NAIA schools however can reach out whenever they want. 

Fun times. 
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Good luck at Perfect Game. The only scouts that came to any of my son's games were there for players on the other teams, and IIRC, only 2 of the games they played had any scouts show up at all, so I'd guess that it's a good idea to let the interested schools know where and when he's playing. Just in case you hadn't thought of that first.  ;)

 
Charlie Steiner said:
Good luck at Perfect Game. The only scouts that came to any of my son's games were there for players on the other teams, and IIRC, only 2 of the games they played had any scouts show up at all, so I'd guess that it's a good idea to let the interested schools know where and when he's playing. Just in case you hadn't thought of that first.  ;)
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Oh yeah the tournaments are really to have fun and play ball more than anything else. His summer schedule is on his profile so if there any interested schools they will known where he is.

We put little to zero stock in Perfect Game Tournaments and will never pay the obscene $1000 they want for any of their player showcases. Absolutely a pure puppy mill scheme IMO. 

 
Any new stories?

part of the struggle is even knowing what your player should be doing between 7th and 8th grade (other than playing).

When our boy is done, I would love to be able to help other athletes with the process but not even sure what that would look like

 
The Dude said:
Any new stories?

part of the struggle is even knowing what your player should be doing between 7th and 8th grade (other than playing).

When our boy is done, I would love to be able to help other athletes with the process but not even sure what that would look like
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Hopefully he still plays multiple sports, if so encourage him to continue doing so.

 
The Dude said:
Any new stories?

part of the struggle is even knowing what your player should be doing between 7th and 8th grade (other than playing).

When our boy is done, I would love to be able to help other athletes with the process but not even sure what that would look like
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The only other thing he really can do at this age to 'help' is if he knows which school(s) he's interested in, and go to the camp the coach holds.  That will at least get him somewhat on the radar.  Coaches can't reach out to players until the start of their junior year IIRC (and from my experience, it usually includes inviting them to their camp), so he still has 3 years to wait on that front. If he doesn't know where he wants to go, you could look and see if there are any showcase/camps where multiple schools will supposedly be represented. 

As for paying forward, you'll have the experience you and your son ultimately gain as a starting point, but for each kid it's going to vary from sport to sport. I mean, that's sort of what I'm trying to do here, but my experience is pretty limited to one kid in one sport, so while I wouldn't know the first thing about the process for any other sport, I did pay attention as much as I could to the baseball landscape around me and the experiences the kids my son played with and against that also moved on to college ball, so that I could piece together a working base from which to talk about that process, as well as offer some more universal thoughts about college athletics and recruiting in general. 

Not sure if that helps but that's what came to mind when I saw your post.

 
So summer ball update. 

We have played 4 tournaments already. And funny thing happened. In my sons 3rd tournament we made the semi-finals (Perfect Game in Fort Myers in June) and faced a top 4 16U team in the nation. 

There were scouts everywhere. At least 7-8 MLB and 4 College Scouts. Two of those college scouts were from schools my son is very interested in going to in Florida and he had already reached out to them via email on NCSA and they knew he was playing that weekend. 

This team was expected to roll over us. We were down 3-0 after 3 innings. My son in his first AB faced a kid (a top prospect BTW) throwing an average of 88 MPH which at 16 years old is pretty damn hard. Also had some good junk at 77-78 MPH to compliment. Wood bat in all our summer tourneys BTW. 

Kid roped a 2-2 fastball into LC for a line drive single.

2nd AB he worked a 6 pitch walk against the same pitcher.

Fast forward to the top of the 6th inning. We rallied hard.....and were down 6-5 with 2 outs. My son comes up with a man on 1st and 3rd. They brought in a new pitcher.....throwing about 85 MPH so he is bringing it. 

First pitch fastball up in the zone......line drive single to RC to tie the game. The park went crazy. There were a lot of people watching this game so the atmosphere was electric. 

We were 6 outs away from winning the game as we ended up taking a 7-6 lead in that inning. Actually got to 4 outs away.....they ended up winning 8-7. But what a great game. My son also made a couple of ridiculous plays at 2B.

Two days later he got two emails from those two schools in Florida telling him they are very interested and want him to come to their fall camps this year to work out with them. 

So if you play against some top teams......you will be seen. So take advantage of those opportunities when they happen. 

Going to the college camps of schools you actually want to play for is the best thing to do.....but you also want your kids to play in the summer to get the best development against the best competition.

Yesterday at a scrimmage we played the Bahamas national team. Two scouts from the D-backs were there to see one of their players.....a 16 year old SS who is 6’4 and a monster. Again.....my kid got to get some exposure in front of pro scouts (he is not a MLB prospect.....he needs 4 years of college to continue to develop physically as a man and pray he can be a pro....yeah it is his dream). 

Heck the kid who was just drafted #1 by the Pirates tonight.....Henry Davis....he was barely 5 feet at 12 years old (like my son) was still small in high school (like my son) but had that drive, the talent and work ethic. Went to Louisville for 4 years....put on 50 pounds of muscle in college.

The rest is history. 

Never let any coach tell you or your kid...they are too small....not big enough at age 14-18. They can still grow...get bigger, stronger, faster. If they want it bad enough. Of course....you gotta have talent. And I know plenty of kids who have talent that are pushed aside early because too many coaches are enamored with early developers....well I got news for you. The best coaches and scouts understand how to project smaller kids into real productive players. Whether that is Baseball, Football or Soccer, Ice Hockey. Now Basketball....that is a little different. we all know that. But those other sports.....plenty of time to develop physically. 

What they cannot measure is your heart, your work ethic and your IQ. Those are things that are learned about when you get a chance to be on a team and prove your worth.

My kid plays on Stoneman Douglas. We won the 7A National Championship this year. Our second National Championship in 5 years. My son was 4’11 as a Freshman but made the JV team because this coaching staff saw his ball skills, heart and hustle. He got 13 AB’s total between Fall and Spring season. He was not used to never playing. He was always a starter in travel ball, always getting 80-100 AB’s a year. This was a difficult adjustment. He was busting his ### every day and not playing. This was the first real test of “how much do you love the game and how hard are you willing to keep working to achieve your goals”.

Sophomore year.....he grew 7 inches from summer 2019 to summer 2020. Came into Fall at 5’7. S0 instead of being tiny....he was now...small. You gotta understand the caliber of talent we have here. We had Coby Mayo a year ago who was drafted in the 4th round by the Orioles. We are 20 deep....20. I could form 2 teams at this school and win....a lot. He had a great Sophomore season at JV. Started a lot of games, hit the ball great, played lights out defense. More importantly.....who worked very hard in practice and earned a ton of respect from his teammates and coaches. His high school coach has been in the dugout of his summer team for a few games and has seen him perform at a very high level. It has been a great experience so far. 

He is still growing and getting stronger and stronger. He has a lot of room to grow. Currently 5’8 1/2 and now a whopping 130 pounds LOL!!! But he is strong as hell. A gym rat.

Sorry for rambling.....but if you have a kid who loves the sport they play has the talent but more importantly the work ethic and grades....there will be place for them to play at the college level if they really want it. It really depends on how much they love playing. Because you may have to go farther from home than you like....or to a place you never thought. It really is a big decision. And getting the right coach in college is critical and will make or break the entire experience. 

I am doing my best to guide my son....but in the end I told him it is all your choice. Use your instincts and go with your gut in terms of what program feels like.....home. 

Anyway he has a big College ID Camp Tuesday with several other schools in his top 10. I hope he can forge some relationships with some of these coaches and get a feel if they are the right ones for him. The coaches will be on the field and working with the players. It is a combine/camp setting with only 50 players max at this event down in Miami. 

 
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Todem said:
So summer ball update. 

We have played 4 tournaments already. And funny thing happened. In my sons 3rd tournament we made the semi-finals (Perfect Game in Fort Myers in June) and faced a top 4 16U team in the nation. 

There were scouts everywhere. At least 7-8 MLB and 4 College Scouts. Two of those college scouts were from schools my son is very interested in going to in Florida and he had already reached out to them via email on NCSA and they knew he was playing that weekend. 

This team was expected to roll over us. We were down 3-0 after 3 innings. My son in his first AB faced a kid (a top prospect BTW) throwing an average of 88 MPH which at 16 years old is pretty damn hard. Also had some good junk at 77-78 MPH to compliment. Wood bat in all our summer tourneys BTW. 

Kid roped a 2-2 fastball into LC for a line drive single.

2nd AB he worked a 6 pitch walk against the same pitcher.

Fast forward to the top of the 6th inning. We rallied hard.....and were down 6-5 with 2 outs. My son comes up with a man on 1st and 3rd. They brought in a new pitcher.....throwing about 85 MPH so he is bringing it. 

First pitch fastball up in the zone......line drive single to RC to tie the game. The park went crazy. There were a lot of people watching this game so the atmosphere was electric. 

We were 6 outs away from winning the game as we ended up taking a 7-6 lead in that inning. Actually got to 4 outs away.....they ended up winning 8-7. But what a great game. My son also made a couple of ridiculous plays at 2B.

Two days later he got two emails from those two schools in Florida telling him they are very interested and want him to come to their fall camps this year to work out with them. 

So if you play against some top teams......you will be seen. So take advantage of those opportunities when they happen. 

Going to the college camps of schools you actually want to play for is the best thing to do.....but you also want your kids to play in the summer to get the best development against the best competition.

Yesterday at a scrimmage we played the Bahamas national team. Two scouts from the D-backs were there to see one of their players.....a 16 year old SS who is 6’4 and a monster. Again.....my kid got to get some exposure in front of pro scouts (he is not a MLB prospect.....he needs 4 years of college to continue to develop physically as a man and pray he can be a pro....yeah it is his dream). 

Heck the kid who was just drafted #1 by the Pirates tonight.....Henry Davis....he was barely 5 feet at 12 years old (like my son) was still small in high school (like my son) but had that drive, the talent and work ethic. Went to Louisville for 4 years....put on 50 pounds of muscle in college.

The rest is history. 

Never let any coach tell you or your kid...they are too small....not big enough at age 14-18. They can still grow...get bigger, stronger, faster. If they want it bad enough. Of course....you gotta have talent. And I know plenty of kids who have talent that are pushed aside early because too many coaches are enamored with early developers....well I got news for you. The best coaches and scouts understand how to project smaller kids into real productive players. Whether that is Baseball, Football or Soccer, Ice Hockey. Now Basketball....that is a little different. we all know that. But those other sports.....plenty of time to develop physically. 

What they cannot measure is your heart, your work ethic and your IQ. Those are things that are learned about when you get a chance to be on a team and prove your worth.

My kid plays on Stoneman Douglas. We won the 7A National Championship this year. Our second National Championship in 5 years. My son was 4’11 as a Freshman but made the JV team because this coaching staff saw his ball skills, heart and hustle. He got 13 AB’s total between Fall and Spring season. He was not used to never playing. He was always a starter in travel ball, always getting 80-100 AB’s a year. This was a difficult adjustment. He was busting his ### every day and not playing. This was the first real test of “how much do you love the game and how hard are you willing to keep working to achieve your goals”.

Sophomore year.....he grew 7 inches from summer 2019 to summer 2020. Came into Fall at 5’7. S0 instead of being tiny....he was now...small. You gotta understand the caliber of talent we have here. We had Coby Mayo a year ago who was drafted in the 4th round by the Orioles. We are 20 deep....20. I could form 2 teams at this school and win....a lot. He had a great Sophomore season at JV. Started a lot of games, hit the ball great, played lights out defense. More importantly.....who worked very hard in practice and earned a ton of respect from his teammates and coaches. His high school coach has been in the dugout of his summer team for a few games and has seen him perform at a very high level. It has been a great experience so far. 

He is still growing and getting stronger and stronger. He has a lot of room to grow. Currently 5’8 1/2 and now a whopping 130 pounds LOL!!! But he is strong as hell. A gym rat.

Sorry for rambling.....but if you have a kid who loves the sport they play has the talent but more importantly the work ethic and grades....there will be place for them to play at the college level if they really want it. It really depends on how much they love playing. Because you may have to go farther from home than you like....or to a place you never thought. It really is a big decision. And getting the right coach in college is critical and will make or break the entire experience. 

I am doing my best to guide my son....but in the end I told him it is all your choice. Use your instincts and go with your gut in terms of what program feels like.....home. 

Anyway he has a big College ID Camp Tuesday with several other schools in his top 10. I hope he can forge some relationships with some of these coaches and get a feel if they are the right ones for him. The coaches will be on the field and working with the players. It is a combine/camp setting with only 50 players max at this event down in Miami. 
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Dude, ramble on……that’s a great story

 
If anyone wants to comment.

I was lookin* at soccer commitments last night - and this probably goes for other sports.  I noticed that DI commits go to schools from all over and it makes sense.  
 

I also noticed DIi commits were hugely same state - so if you went to HS in Illinois and went to a DII that DII was most likely located in Illinois.  That is not what I want for my grandson - if he’s DII, I want him to choose the school and not default to local.

I am guessing we will just have to work a little harder reaching the schools he likes.  Any thoughts?

 
Recrutiing Update.

So my son is finishing up his Fall Varsity High School Season this week after a monster Summer. He is the back up 2B to a Senior who is already committed to DII Wingate. He has a very solid Fall in his limited playing time. He logged in 14 plate appearances so far (compare that to 75 plate appearances over the summer and you can see why he plays summer baseball) and his hitting .333 with 3RBI’s 2 SB, SAC, and 2K and 2BB.

He will be lucky to play at all this Spring as his team is looking to repeat as 7A State Champions (we won the 2021 7A State and National Title). 

He is heading to several College Prospect Camps this Fall. This weekend in Fort Myers he will be playing in 2 games and doing a combine as well as getting some instruction. Florida Southwestern University is hosting it. There will be 15 schools from Florida there. 5 DII, 5 NAIA and 5 JUCO. 

There are three schools he has very high on his list attending. Two of them have been following him closely since this summer. 

He was also directly contacted by a D2 in Virginia called Emory & Henry. A really nice private school that watched his summer highlights video and wanted to see him in person. They are holding a recruiting camp in December in Cape Coral and he is attending it.

He has a FAU prospect Camp also in December. We both understand D1 is a tough road and we don’t have D1 expectations.....but that is only 1 of 4 D1 schools he would go to if given the opportunity.  But we are clearly focused on D2/3 and NAIA schools for the bulk of his short list. He quickly realized he will probably have far better opportunity to not only play a lot more and excel at a D2/D3 or NAIA but also have a more balanced college/athletic life. So we are really figuring things out. We have also figured out the JUCO landscape here in Florida (I will not pay out of state tuition for a JUCO). For the most part they take all the D1 level athletes who simply do not have the grades or financial resources to play D1 baseball.  That will make it a tough road in JUCO to get significant playing time. There is only one JUCO on his list and they are very interested in him. Plus that could lead him to one of his dream D1 schools in Florida Gulf Coast.

Right now here is his top 15 list:

Top 10 Target Schools (perfect fits athletically and academically)

1. Florida South Western University - Fort Myers Florida - JUCO

2. Ottawa University - Surprise Arizona - NAIA

3. Emory & Henry - Emory Virginia - D2

4. Barton College - Wilson North Carolina - D2

5. Flagler University - St Augustine Florida - D2

6. Ave Maria - Ave Maria Florida - NAIA

7. Warner University - Lake Wales Florida - NAIA

8. Penn State - Abington PA - D3

9. Greensboro College - Greensboro North Carolina - D3

10. Brevard College - Brevard North Carolina - D3

Top 5 Reach Schools (athletic reach only)

1. Xavier - Cincinatti Ohio - D1

2. FAU - Boca Raton Florida - D1

3. Florida Gulf Coast - Fort Myers Florida - D1

4. Nova Southeastern  - Davie Florida - D2

5. Lipscomb University - Nashville TN - D1

He is still growing in size and weight......so he has another year to keep grinding in the weight room and he is having his second growth spurt as I type this lol. He is currently 5’9 and 140 pounds but strong as an ox. I think by the time he graduates he will be 5’11 160 pounds. A lean, fast middle infielder who can also play OF easily. His primary is 2B and has been since 13 years old.  Proud of him. 4.5 GPA so academically he is not limited at all really. 

The journey continues............

 
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My brother played D1 hockey and had his choice of the big hockey schools at the time.  One thing I would say is not to choose based on the coach.  He did based on the defense assistant, who then got cancer and died.  Coaches change schools when a bigger opening happens... choose based on the setting and (depending on pro prospects) either the pipeline to the pros or the quality of the education.  Coaches disappear, but you don't want to be stuck in North Dakota, Michigan Tech, or Lake Su State if the coach leaves... you want to be stuck at Michigan, Harvard, or Boston College.

 
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Played in a softball tournament this weekend and had a ton of schools/coaches watching our games 

One game had Michigan, Louisville, Villanova and Georgetown.

My kid won't be playing at any school like that but it was still cool

 
Todem said:
Recrutiing Update.

So my son is finishing up his Fall Varsity High School Season this week after a monster Summer. He is the back up 2B to a Senior who is already committed to DII Wingate. He has a very solid Fall in his limited playing time. He logged in 14 plate appearances so far (compare that to 75 plate appearances over the summer and you can see why he plays summer baseball) and his hitting .333 with 3RBI’s 2 SB, SAC, and 2K and 2BB.

He will be lucky to play at all this Spring as his team is looking to repeat as 7A State Champions (we won the 2021 7A State and National Title).

He is heading to several College Prospect Camps this Fall. This weekend in Fort Myers he will be playing in 2 games and doing a combine as well as getting some instruction. Florida Southwestern University is hosting it. There will be 15 schools from Florida there. 5 DII, 5 NAIA and 5 JUCO.

There are three schools he has very high on his list attending. Two of them have been following him closely since this summer.

He was also directly contacted by a D2 in Virginia called Emory & Henry. A really nice private school that watched his summer highlights video and wanted to see him in person. They are holding a recruiting camp in December in Cape Coral and he is attending it.

He has a FAU prospect Camp also in December. We both understand D1 is a tough road and we don’t have D1 expectations.....but that is only 1 of 4 D1 schools he would go to if given the opportunity. But we are clearly focused on D2/3 and NAIA schools for the bulk of his short list. He quickly realized he will probably have far better opportunity to not only play a lot more and excel at a D2/D3 or NAIA but also have a more balanced college/athletic life. So we are really figuring things out. We have also figured out the JUCO landscape here in Florida (I will not pay out of state tuition for a JUCO). For the most part they take all the D1 level athletes who simply do not have the grades or financial resources to play D1 baseball. That will make it a tough road in JUCO to get significant playing time. There is only one JUCO on his list and they are very interested in him. Plus that could lead him to one of his dream D1 schools in Florida Gulf Coast.

Right now here is his top 15 list:

Top 10 Target Schools (perfect fits athletically and academically)

1. Florida South Western University - Fort Myers Florida - JUCO

2. Ottawa University - Surprise Arizona - NAIA

3. Emory & Henry - Emory Virginia - D2

4. Barton College - Wilson North Carolina - D2

5. Flagler University - St Augustine Florida - D2

6. Ave Maria - Ave Maria Florida - NAIA

7. Warner University - Lake Wales Florida - NAIA

8. Penn State - Abington PA - D3

9. Greensboro College - Greensboro North Carolina - D3

10. Brevard College - Brevard North Carolina - D3

Top 5 Reach Schools (athletic reach only)

1. Xavier - Cincinatti Ohio - D1

2. FAU - Boca Raton Florida - D1

3. Florida Gulf Coast - Fort Myers Florida - D1

4. Nova Southeastern - Davie Florida - D2

5. Lipscomb University - Nashville TN - D1

He is still growing in size and weight......so he has another year to keep grinding in the weight room and he is having his second growth spurt as I type this lol. He is currently 5’9 and 140 pounds but strong as an ox. I think by the time he graduates he will be 5’11 160 pounds. A lean, fast middle infielder who can also play OF easily. His primary is 2B and has been since 13 years old. Proud of him. 4.5 GPA so academically he is not limited at all really.

The journey continues............
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So....we just got back from Raleigh NC......we have a huge update.....but I am exhausted.....I will post tomorrow everything that happened since this post. Some great news. But I wanted to bump this thread so I would not have to look for it again.

Looking forward to the update for those interested.
 
Ok so here we go.

I am very happy to say my son verbally committed (he will sign his letter of intent on National Signing day at the end of this year) to continue his academic and athletic career (Baseball) at William Peace University in Raleigh NC!!! How this all came to be was just a whirlwind.

So we left off with him entering the 2022 Spring season at Stoneman Douglas the backup 2B to his outstanding Senior Teammate who is playing this year at Wingate University (one of the top D2 baseball programs in the country). My son’s team went to Cary NC in April to compete in the NHSI (National High School Invitational) at the USA Baseball National Training Center. If you have never seen this complex......it is simply incredible. Major League. We ended up beating some of the very best high school teams in the country en route to winning the entire tournament. A huge honor. We carried that momentum to our second straight 7A State Title and National Championship. Back to Back. A rare feat in high school baseball. My son logged exactly 2 AB’s the entire spring. But he trained and intra squaded with literally some of the best talent in the country including Boston Red Sox 2nd round pick Roman Anthony. Our senior class were all D1 commits except for our 2B who chose the D2 route. Reason I say this is the amount of talent here is staggering and playing time is unlikely for my son. But he simply loves being part of the culture and getting the incredible work in 6 days a week in the Spring. He does play in the Fall. And will again I am sure.

Summer is his Spring. And that was no different this past summer where he got off to a slow start due to having no playing time all Spring. But.....we went to Dallas and he took off in that tournament. Then we went to the WWBA 17U National Championships in Cobb Georgia......and he simply had a lights out tournament that got Twitter buzzing.

I won’t go into stats and what not.....because stats are not nearly as important as many parents may think.

Back in February of this year my son and I changed course in terms of what he was looking for. He realized he was not going to get any real opportunity to play in our home state of Florida. Simply was not realistic at all. So we figured out states he was willing to travel and give a chance to.

1. South Carolina
2. Georgia
3. North Carolina
4. Virginia
5. Arizona
6. Tennessee

So used the NCSA tool to filter the type of schools he knows he was an athletic fit for and also more importantly his academic standards. We came up with 25 schools all D2/D3/NAIA and all small schools (under 5K students). He realized he really wanted to play ball at a smaller school where he will have a low student to professor ratio which can help him focus more on school while he plays and not get overwhelmed by a huge campus.

He started emailing all these schools......and 5 truly had an interest. as we headed into the summer we focused on those 5 and he made sure he was “dripping” and sending them monthly updates on his metrics improving, his Spring season and of course his upcoming summer season and when they would be holding camps etc.

These were the five schools:

1. William Peace University - D3 Raleigh NC
2. Emory & Henry - D2 Emory Virginia
3. Peidmont University - D3 Demorest GA
4. Barton College - D2 Wilson NC
5. Limestone University - D2 Gaffney SC


Long story short we visited 2 campuses while we were in Georgia (Piedmont and Limestone) and both times the coaches were not available to be there which was not a great thing in our opinion......they wanted him to come to the camp after several personal emails were traded.....you just kinda know when your really wanted. And we got the feeling they are more on the fence and the videos did nothing for them. We get that.....but you want to at least have an assistant there to show some level of interest.

After the Georgia Tournament he sent a summer update email to all 5 schools. All were read (we get read email notifications on NCSA) and two responded back right away.

Emory and Henry - They wanted to set up a coach phone call

William Peace - The assistant coach asked for his schedule in Fort Myers the week of July 25-30 for his last tourney (PG BCS 17U National Championships). He was going to travel down here to see him play. My son was extremely excited.

Game 1 we played against the 4th ranked 17U team in the country. My son hit leadoff all summer. His first AB he was facing a D1 commit (USF) shoving 91-92 with a wicked slider. He had an 8 pitch AB and fouled off many pitches before flying out to deep CF. His second AB he face him again.....6 pitch AB and on a 3-2 count he blasted a 90 MPH fastball to the warning track in RC which was tracked down. My wife was all nervous. I told her “babe...he just had two incredible AB’s vs a D1 commit and barreled two balls. I am telling you if this coach is as good as we hope he watched the process.....not the result.

Sure enough......I was right. He came to watch his 2nd and 3rd game as well to see some more defense and AB’s. After our 3rd game he introduced himself to my son’s two coaches and talked with them for a good 35 minutes. The coaches that night at a team dinner told me that he loved my son.....and also really liked two of his teammates who are pitchers.

When we got back in town I told my son to email him and thank him for coming to watch him play and how much that meant to him. He asked if he could get good constructive feedback from him and what he thought.

We had researched this school a lot. William Peace is small. I mean really small in terms of the campus. But.....it is in the heart of downtown Raleigh. Which is huge. NC State is a mile away. So downtown Raleigh is a huge college town and vibe. The atmosphere is awesome. But on campus my son will get that small school (800 students and half are athletes) he wanted. Everything a simple walk away. But he also get’s a 96K acre campus with downtown Raleigh at his doorstep. And the facilities?

Yep.....They play and train at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary!!! All his games will be streamed there live. Once he enrolls, the brand new massive indoor training facility will be complete with an indoor regulation size sport turf field among other things so any in-climate weather..rain, cold they can practice indoors. Also they are turfing two of the 4 fields at the complex and one of them will be their official practice field and all non conference games played on that field. All conference games are played in the stadium (D3 Conference South).

The coach immediately responded to his follow up email telling him how much he liked what he saw and that he wanted to personally invite him and his family to visit the campus and meet with him and Head Coach. This was getting real and my son was pumped.

We did not hesitate. We drove up Sunday.....did a full tour Monday, my son as well as us met with his future head coach and assistant coach who recruited him. Not only did my son hit it off with both coaches, we were incredibly impressed with all of them. The head coach who just took over the program in 2021/2022 has a long history of great success at NC Wesleyan where he won a D3 National Title in 1999. We loved his demeanor, sincerity and calmness. We feel incredibly confident our son will be with a supportive and nurturing coaching staff that believes in him and they told him they fully expect him to come in and be a big contributor right away and have a chance to have a great career. They had they best season in school history with this new coaching staff in 2022. This coaches are old school. We loved that. More importantly my son felt great with them and he knows what he wants.

Of course we asked 101 questions and they were all answered.

So we are incredibly excited for him. We hope he does have the best 4 years of his life there and everything works out.

My sons persistence with emailing and developing a relationship with this coaching staff was really the key to all of this. Then of course he did what he does on the field and the rest is history.
 
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Todem said:
Ok so here we go.

I am very happy to say my son verbally committed (he will sign his letter of intent on National Signing day at the end of this year) to continue his academic and athletic career (Baseball) at William Peace University in Raleigh NC!!! How this all came to be was just a whirlwind.

So we left off with him entering the 2022 Spring season at Stoneman Douglas the backup 2B to his outstanding Senior Teammate who is playing this year at Wingate University (one of the top D2 baseball programs in the country). My son’s team went to Cary NC in April to compete in the NHSI (National High School Invitational) at the USA Baseball National Training Center. If you have never seen this complex......it is simply incredible. Major League. We ended up beating some of the very best high school teams in the country en route to winning the entire tournament. A huge honor. We carried that momentum to our second straight 7A State Title and National Championship. Back to Back. A rare feat in high school baseball. My son logged exactly 2 AB’s the entire spring. But he trained and intra sweated with literally some of the best talent in the country including Boston Red Sox 2nd pick Roman Anthony. Our senior class were all D1 commits except for our 2B who chose the D2 route. Reason I say this is the amount of talent here is staggering and playing time is unlikely for my son. But he simply loves being part of the culture and getting the incredible work in 6 days a week in the Spring. He does play in the Fall. And will again I am sure.

Summer is his Spring. And that was no different this past summer where he got off to a slow start due to having no playing time all Spring. But.....we went to Dallas and he took off in that tournament. Then we went to the WWBA 17U National Championships in Cobb Georgia......and he simply had a lights out tournament that got Twitter buzzing.

I won’t go into stats and what not.....because stats are not nearly as important as many parents may think.

Back in February of this year my son and I changed course in terms of what he was looking for. He realized he was not going to get any real opportunity to play in our home state of Florida. Simply was not realistic at all. So we figured out states he was willing to travel and give a chance to.

1. South Carolina
2. Georgia
3. North Carolina
4. Virginia
5. Arizona
6. Tennessee

So used the NCSA tool to filter the type of schools he knows he was an athletic fit for and also more importantly his academic standards. We came up with 25 schools all D2/D3/NAIA and all small schools (under 5K students). He realized he really wanted to play ball at a smaller school where he will have a low student to professor ratio which can help him focus more on school while he plays and not get overwhelmed by a huge campus.

He started emailing all these schools......and 5 truly had an interest. as we headed into the summer we focused on those 5 and he made sure he was “dripping” and sending them monthly updates on his metrics improving, his Spring season and of course his upcoming summer season and when they would be holding camps etc.

These were the five schools:

1. William Peace University - D3 Raleigh NC
2. Emory & Henry - D2 Emory Virginia
3. Peidmont University - D3 Demorest GA
4. Barton College - D2 Wilson NC
5. Limestone University - D2 Gaffney SC


Long story short we visited 2 campuses while we were in Georgia (Piedmont and Limestone) and both times the coaches were not available to be there which was not a great thing in our opinion......they wanted him to come to the camp after several personal emails were traded.....you just kinda know when your really wanted. And we got the feeling they are more on the fence and the videos did nothing for them. We get that.....but you want to at least have an assistant there to show some level of interest.

After the Georgia Tournament he sent a summer update email to all 5 schools. All were read (we get read email notifications on NCSA) and two responded back right away.

Emory and Henry - They wanted to set up a coach phone call

William Peace - The assistant coach asked for his schedule in Fort Myers the week of July 25-30 for his last tourney (PG BCS 17U National Championships). He was going to travel down here to see him play. My son was extremely excited.

Game 1 we played against the 4th ranked 17U team in the country. My son hit leadoff all summer. His first AB he was facing a D1 commit (USF) shoving 91-92 with a wicked slider. He had an 8 pitch AB and fouled off many pitches before flying out to deep CF. His second AB he face him again.....6 pitch AB and on a 3-2 count he blasted a 90 MPH fastball to the warning track in RC which was tracked down. My wife was all nervous. I told her “babe...he just had two incredible AB’s vs a D1 commit and barreled two balls. I am telling you if this coach is as good as we hope he watched the process.....not the result.

Sure enough......I was right. He came to watch his 2nd and 3rd game as well to see some more defense and AB’s. After our 3rd game he introduced himself to my son’s two coaches and talked with them for a good 35 minutes. The coaches that night at a team dinner told me that he loved my son.....and also really liked two of his teammates who are pitchers.

When we got back in town I told my son to email him and thank him for coming to watch him play and how much that meant to him. He asked if he could get good constructive feedback from him and what he thought.

We had researched this school a lot. William Peace is small. I mean really small in terms of the campus. But.....it is in the heart of downtown Raleigh. Which is huge. NC State is a mile away. So downtown Raleigh is a huge college town and vibe. The atmosphere is awesome. But on campus my son will get that small school (800 students and half are athletes) he wanted. Everything a simple walk away. But he also get’s a 96K acre campus with downtown Raleigh at his doorstep. And the facilities?

Yep.....They play and train at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary!!! All his games will be streamed there live. Once he enrolls, the brand new massive indoor training facility will be complete with an indoor regulation size sport turf field among other things so any in-climate weather..rain, cold they can practice indoors. Also they are turfing two of the 4 fields at the complex and one of them will be their official practice field and all non conference games played on that field. All conference games are played in the stadium (D3 Conference South).

The coach immediately responded to his follow up email telling him how much he liked what he saw and that he wanted to personally invite him and his family to visit the campus and meet with him and Head Coach. This was getting real and my son was pumped.

We did not hesitate. We drove up Sunday.....did a full tour Monday, my son as well as us met with his future head coach and assistant coach who recruited him. Not only did my son hit it off with both coaches, we were incredibly impressed with all of them. The head coach who just took over the program in 2021/2022 has a long history of great success at NC Wesleyan where he won a D3 National Title in 1999. We loved his demeanor, sincerity and calmness. We feel incredibly confident our son will be with a supportive and nurturing coaching staff that believes in him and they told him they fully expect him to come in and be a big contributor right away and have a chance to have a great career. They had they best season in school history with this new coaching staff in 2022. This coaches are old school. We loved that. More importantly my son felt great with them and he knows what he wants.

Of course we asked 101 questions and they were all answered.

So we are incredibly excited for him. We hope he does have the best 4 years of his life there and everything works out.

My sons persistence with emailing and developing a relationship with this coaching staff was really the key to all of this. Then of course he did what he does on the field and the rest is history.
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting your story, it's a great example for others to follow. D3 ball is a lot of fun. Like was mentioned above, while it may not be DI or even DII, the commitment and dedication are expected to be the same, so being in a place he really enjoys should help.

Also, keep this link handy: the only DIII baseball podcast in existence. I got to meet these guys last year when my son's team faced Catholic University in a double-header on a cold, windy day in the middle of February. While Catholic went on to make the DIII College World Series this year, my son owned them on the mound for 4 innings that day. The guys who do the podcast stay dialed in to the landscape by travelling all over the country in order to catch as many top teams/conferences as they can. One of them played DIII ball, so this is near and dear to his heart.
 
Todem said:
Ok so here we go.

I am very happy to say my son verbally committed (he will sign his letter of intent on National Signing day at the end of this year) to continue his academic and athletic career (Baseball) at William Peace University in Raleigh NC!!! How this all came to be was just a whirlwind.

So we left off with him entering the 2022 Spring season at Stoneman Douglas the backup 2B to his outstanding Senior Teammate who is playing this year at Wingate University (one of the top D2 baseball programs in the country). My son’s team went to Cary NC in April to compete in the NHSI (National High School Invitational) at the USA Baseball National Training Center. If you have never seen this complex......it is simply incredible. Major League. We ended up beating some of the very best high school teams in the country en route to winning the entire tournament. A huge honor. We carried that momentum to our second straight 7A State Title and National Championship. Back to Back. A rare feat in high school baseball. My son logged exactly 2 AB’s the entire spring. But he trained and intra squaded with literally some of the best talent in the country including Boston Red Sox 2nd round pick Roman Anthony. Our senior class were all D1 commits except for our 2B who chose the D2 route. Reason I say this is the amount of talent here is staggering and playing time is unlikely for my son. But he simply loves being part of the culture and getting the incredible work in 6 days a week in the Spring. He does play in the Fall. And will again I am sure.

Summer is his Spring. And that was no different this past summer where he got off to a slow start due to having no playing time all Spring. But.....we went to Dallas and he took off in that tournament. Then we went to the WWBA 17U National Championships in Cobb Georgia......and he simply had a lights out tournament that got Twitter buzzing.

I won’t go into stats and what not.....because stats are not nearly as important as many parents may think.

Back in February of this year my son and I changed course in terms of what he was looking for. He realized he was not going to get any real opportunity to play in our home state of Florida. Simply was not realistic at all. So we figured out states he was willing to travel and give a chance to.

1. South Carolina
2. Georgia
3. North Carolina
4. Virginia
5. Arizona
6. Tennessee

So used the NCSA tool to filter the type of schools he knows he was an athletic fit for and also more importantly his academic standards. We came up with 25 schools all D2/D3/NAIA and all small schools (under 5K students). He realized he really wanted to play ball at a smaller school where he will have a low student to professor ratio which can help him focus more on school while he plays and not get overwhelmed by a huge campus.

He started emailing all these schools......and 5 truly had an interest. as we headed into the summer we focused on those 5 and he made sure he was “dripping” and sending them monthly updates on his metrics improving, his Spring season and of course his upcoming summer season and when they would be holding camps etc.

These were the five schools:

1. William Peace University - D3 Raleigh NC
2. Emory & Henry - D2 Emory Virginia
3. Peidmont University - D3 Demorest GA
4. Barton College - D2 Wilson NC
5. Limestone University - D2 Gaffney SC


Long story short we visited 2 campuses while we were in Georgia (Piedmont and Limestone) and both times the coaches were not available to be there which was not a great thing in our opinion......they wanted him to come to the camp after several personal emails were traded.....you just kinda know when your really wanted. And we got the feeling they are more on the fence and the videos did nothing for them. We get that.....but you want to at least have an assistant there to show some level of interest.

After the Georgia Tournament he sent a summer update email to all 5 schools. All were read (we get read email notifications on NCSA) and two responded back right away.

Emory and Henry - They wanted to set up a coach phone call

William Peace - The assistant coach asked for his schedule in Fort Myers the week of July 25-30 for his last tourney (PG BCS 17U National Championships). He was going to travel down here to see him play. My son was extremely excited.

Game 1 we played against the 4th ranked 17U team in the country. My son hit leadoff all summer. His first AB he was facing a D1 commit (USF) shoving 91-92 with a wicked slider. He had an 8 pitch AB and fouled off many pitches before flying out to deep CF. His second AB he face him again.....6 pitch AB and on a 3-2 count he blasted a 90 MPH fastball to the warning track in RC which was tracked down. My wife was all nervous. I told her “babe...he just had two incredible AB’s vs a D1 commit and barreled two balls. I am telling you if this coach is as good as we hope he watched the process.....not the result.

Sure enough......I was right. He came to watch his 2nd and 3rd game as well to see some more defense and AB’s. After our 3rd game he introduced himself to my son’s two coaches and talked with them for a good 35 minutes. The coaches that night at a team dinner told me that he loved my son.....and also really liked two of his teammates who are pitchers.

When we got back in town I told my son to email him and thank him for coming to watch him play and how much that meant to him. He asked if he could get good constructive feedback from him and what he thought.

We had researched this school a lot. William Peace is small. I mean really small in terms of the campus. But.....it is in the heart of downtown Raleigh. Which is huge. NC State is a mile away. So downtown Raleigh is a huge college town and vibe. The atmosphere is awesome. But on campus my son will get that small school (800 students and half are athletes) he wanted. Everything a simple walk away. But he also get’s a 96K acre campus with downtown Raleigh at his doorstep. And the facilities?

Yep.....They play and train at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary!!! All his games will be streamed there live. Once he enrolls, the brand new massive indoor training facility will be complete with an indoor regulation size sport turf field among other things so any in-climate weather..rain, cold they can practice indoors. Also they are turfing two of the 4 fields at the complex and one of them will be their official practice field and all non conference games played on that field. All conference games are played in the stadium (D3 Conference South).

The coach immediately responded to his follow up email telling him how much he liked what he saw and that he wanted to personally invite him and his family to visit the campus and meet with him and Head Coach. This was getting real and my son was pumped.

We did not hesitate. We drove up Sunday.....did a full tour Monday, my son as well as us met with his future head coach and assistant coach who recruited him. Not only did my son hit it off with both coaches, we were incredibly impressed with all of them. The head coach who just took over the program in 2021/2022 has a long history of great success at NC Wesleyan where he won a D3 National Title in 1999. We loved his demeanor, sincerity and calmness. We feel incredibly confident our son will be with a supportive and nurturing coaching staff that believes in him and they told him they fully expect him to come in and be a big contributor right away and have a chance to have a great career. They had they best season in school history with this new coaching staff in 2022. This coaches are old school. We loved that. More importantly my son felt great with them and he knows what he wants.

Of course we asked 101 questions and they were all answered.

So we are incredibly excited for him. We hope he does have the best 4 years of his life there and everything works out.

My sons persistence with emailing and developing a relationship with this coaching staff was really the key to all of this. Then of course he did what he does on the field and the rest is history.
Click to expand...
Did he get any interest from University of Tampa and St. Leo University they are both D2 powers here in the Tampa Bay area
 
Congrats to your son Todem and to you for all the help/guidance. Looks like together you guys really nailed “the process” while keeping it all in perspective.
 
tonysmiles said:
Todem said:
Ok so here we go.

I am very happy to say my son verbally committed (he will sign his letter of intent on National Signing day at the end of this year) to continue his academic and athletic career (Baseball) at William Peace University in Raleigh NC!!! How this all came to be was just a whirlwind.

So we left off with him entering the 2022 Spring season at Stoneman Douglas the backup 2B to his outstanding Senior Teammate who is playing this year at Wingate University (one of the top D2 baseball programs in the country). My son’s team went to Cary NC in April to compete in the NHSI (National High School Invitational) at the USA Baseball National Training Center. If you have never seen this complex......it is simply incredible. Major League. We ended up beating some of the very best high school teams in the country en route to winning the entire tournament. A huge honor. We carried that momentum to our second straight 7A State Title and National Championship. Back to Back. A rare feat in high school baseball. My son logged exactly 2 AB’s the entire spring. But he trained and intra squaded with literally some of the best talent in the country including Boston Red Sox 2nd round pick Roman Anthony. Our senior class were all D1 commits except for our 2B who chose the D2 route. Reason I say this is the amount of talent here is staggering and playing time is unlikely for my son. But he simply loves being part of the culture and getting the incredible work in 6 days a week in the Spring. He does play in the Fall. And will again I am sure.

Summer is his Spring. And that was no different this past summer where he got off to a slow start due to having no playing time all Spring. But.....we went to Dallas and he took off in that tournament. Then we went to the WWBA 17U National Championships in Cobb Georgia......and he simply had a lights out tournament that got Twitter buzzing.

I won’t go into stats and what not.....because stats are not nearly as important as many parents may think.

Back in February of this year my son and I changed course in terms of what he was looking for. He realized he was not going to get any real opportunity to play in our home state of Florida. Simply was not realistic at all. So we figured out states he was willing to travel and give a chance to.

1. South Carolina
2. Georgia
3. North Carolina
4. Virginia
5. Arizona
6. Tennessee

So used the NCSA tool to filter the type of schools he knows he was an athletic fit for and also more importantly his academic standards. We came up with 25 schools all D2/D3/NAIA and all small schools (under 5K students). He realized he really wanted to play ball at a smaller school where he will have a low student to professor ratio which can help him focus more on school while he plays and not get overwhelmed by a huge campus.

He started emailing all these schools......and 5 truly had an interest. as we headed into the summer we focused on those 5 and he made sure he was “dripping” and sending them monthly updates on his metrics improving, his Spring season and of course his upcoming summer season and when they would be holding camps etc.

These were the five schools:

1. William Peace University - D3 Raleigh NC
2. Emory & Henry - D2 Emory Virginia
3. Peidmont University - D3 Demorest GA
4. Barton College - D2 Wilson NC
5. Limestone University - D2 Gaffney SC


Long story short we visited 2 campuses while we were in Georgia (Piedmont and Limestone) and both times the coaches were not available to be there which was not a great thing in our opinion......they wanted him to come to the camp after several personal emails were traded.....you just kinda know when your really wanted. And we got the feeling they are more on the fence and the videos did nothing for them. We get that.....but you want to at least have an assistant there to show some level of interest.

After the Georgia Tournament he sent a summer update email to all 5 schools. All were read (we get read email notifications on NCSA) and two responded back right away.

Emory and Henry - They wanted to set up a coach phone call

William Peace - The assistant coach asked for his schedule in Fort Myers the week of July 25-30 for his last tourney (PG BCS 17U National Championships). He was going to travel down here to see him play. My son was extremely excited.

Game 1 we played against the 4th ranked 17U team in the country. My son hit leadoff all summer. His first AB he was facing a D1 commit (USF) shoving 91-92 with a wicked slider. He had an 8 pitch AB and fouled off many pitches before flying out to deep CF. His second AB he face him again.....6 pitch AB and on a 3-2 count he blasted a 90 MPH fastball to the warning track in RC which was tracked down. My wife was all nervous. I told her “babe...he just had two incredible AB’s vs a D1 commit and barreled two balls. I am telling you if this coach is as good as we hope he watched the process.....not the result.

Sure enough......I was right. He came to watch his 2nd and 3rd game as well to see some more defense and AB’s. After our 3rd game he introduced himself to my son’s two coaches and talked with them for a good 35 minutes. The coaches that night at a team dinner told me that he loved my son.....and also really liked two of his teammates who are pitchers.

When we got back in town I told my son to email him and thank him for coming to watch him play and how much that meant to him. He asked if he could get good constructive feedback from him and what he thought.

We had researched this school a lot. William Peace is small. I mean really small in terms of the campus. But.....it is in the heart of downtown Raleigh. Which is huge. NC State is a mile away. So downtown Raleigh is a huge college town and vibe. The atmosphere is awesome. But on campus my son will get that small school (800 students and half are athletes) he wanted. Everything a simple walk away. But he also get’s a 96K acre campus with downtown Raleigh at his doorstep. And the facilities?

Yep.....They play and train at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary!!! All his games will be streamed there live. Once he enrolls, the brand new massive indoor training facility will be complete with an indoor regulation size sport turf field among other things so any in-climate weather..rain, cold they can practice indoors. Also they are turfing two of the 4 fields at the complex and one of them will be their official practice field and all non conference games played on that field. All conference games are played in the stadium (D3 Conference South).

The coach immediately responded to his follow up email telling him how much he liked what he saw and that he wanted to personally invite him and his family to visit the campus and meet with him and Head Coach. This was getting real and my son was pumped.

We did not hesitate. We drove up Sunday.....did a full tour Monday, my son as well as us met with his future head coach and assistant coach who recruited him. Not only did my son hit it off with both coaches, we were incredibly impressed with all of them. The head coach who just took over the program in 2021/2022 has a long history of great success at NC Wesleyan where he won a D3 National Title in 1999. We loved his demeanor, sincerity and calmness. We feel incredibly confident our son will be with a supportive and nurturing coaching staff that believes in him and they told him they fully expect him to come in and be a big contributor right away and have a chance to have a great career. They had they best season in school history with this new coaching staff in 2022. This coaches are old school. We loved that. More importantly my son felt great with them and he knows what he wants.

Of course we asked 101 questions and they were all answered.

So we are incredibly excited for him. We hope he does have the best 4 years of his life there and everything works out.

My sons persistence with emailing and developing a relationship with this coaching staff was really the key to all of this. Then of course he did what he does on the field and the rest is history.
Click to expand...
Did he get any interest from University of Tampa and St. Leo University they are both D2 powers here in the Tampa Bay area
Click to expand...
Zero interest.
 
Awesome story. Hard work pays off.

My son just finished ished his sophomore year and played in a really tough league so got some great looks. He ended up finishing 2nd team all league so I figured I would start asking around as I kbow a few of the head coaches in the area to see what they recommend these days on how to start the process for the next step.

A guy I trust said he tells almost all his players (which he has had quite a few D1 commits the last few years) that the best route for most is junior college because it's the best way to get play time and college experience. After two years at a JC many top programs like targeting these players as they have performed and shown they can handle college (both academics and on the field).

Of course he gave the caveat that if you are draft worthy there may be better options but for the 98% of high school players that want to keep playing this is a great way to get started.

Obviously, playing D2/D3/NAIA/JC all have advantages/disadvantages and that the player really needs to look within to decide what is the most important thing for themselves as that will play a huge role in what is best for them.

I look forward to seeing where this road goes.
 
That's great Todem. Just fyi, D3 don't sign NLI it's just a ceremonial paper for them.

Little belljr has had some interest but she also had a rough summer at the plate. A couple d1 schools had her to camp and came to watch her play but they ultimately passed. They were nice bout it. Some just ghosted her.

Her problem is she has a small window, she is planning to major in engineering and stay somewhat near home. The one coach she was a lock to get offered retired this summer. He keeps in touch saying the new coach will be in touch. The other D3 schools she is looking at are top programs in the area. She has visited with both coaches but still no offer. Anyway she is pretty set on the school she wants to go, even if she doesn't play there. She's a bit bummed but I told her we can find a school if you just want to play but go to the school you want. I told her if she decides on early decision just tell the coach and they might offer or walk on. In the end I want her to go to the best school even if she doesn't play. She has the grades to go anywhere and can play at a decent level but just not getting the schools she wants, but they are tough programs to get

It's been exciting and stressful and a down summer kind of wore on her. She definitely got a lot of looks and if she had a more "generic" major I know 100% she would have a place to play. And to be perfectly honest I don't know if she has the "it" to want to play, she has the talent but not the "passion" all the time
 
Last edited:
Todem said:
Yes we know it’s ceremonial but it is still cool.
Click to expand...
No doubt, just make sure you knew it wasn't a binding doc.....not that matters much these days

Eta: I wasn't trying to downplay it because it's awesome. I'm still in the middle of it so I know the emotions!! Sorry if it came off that way
 
Last edited:
In the middle of the recruiting game for my son who runs cross country and track. He will be a senior this year - last year finished 5th in state in XC, won state in the 800 and finished 6th in the 1600. We live in WA.

We visited schools on our own in the west - Gonzaga, University of Portland, Portland State, Boise State, Idaho and WSU. The advice given to us was to email the coaches at schools we were interested in and see how they respond. Most schools liked his results and said, sure, come on out and we will meet with you, so we have done that. Two schools - Idaho and Boise State, have asked him to come out for an official visit. They pay for the athlete and their parents' flight and housing. It can only be 48 hours long. My son is thinking of accepting the Boise State visit and we will head back out to Boise in a month or so.

I am happy to expand more on the process, if anyone is interested. There is a lot more learning in the months ahead.
 
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