Camps, Invites, Player Emails and videos

So with the kids entering their Junior and Sophomore seasons of life the whole recruitment train is in full effect. I have to admit it has been a learning process no doubt but one I hope to share with those who will be soon to follow.

Camp invites are the biggest thing going but are so overrated because of their watered down nature. Understand that just about everyone with an email probably gets the invite so don't feel too excited. In the baseball world it starts early and it comes from organizations such as Perfect Game and other various groups who tout their rankings and ability of getting your child to college. With the girls it will come a little bit later and most likely from the schools that you or your child have signed up to receive emails from. This is the truth. Camps are PRIMARILY PROFIT GENERATING EVENTS. Please read that again. They are made to generate profit. Yes they can have a side effect of getting your child in front of coaches who may one day want them to play for them. This is the bait. The hook is the cost.

I will say that camps are 100% necessary and most likely your best chance at getting on radar or being noticed by a coach of your desire. You will also need another form of reference from your coach or a person (bird dog) that colleges look to for recommendations. When I say camps are 100% necessary I mean it but at what age and what point in the process. You will no doubt be invited to more camps then you can attend either physically or monetarily. You have to have a plan and stick to it. Understand the difference between a legit "invite" and a mass email. I always love telling the story about 1 of my kids who got an invite via text. The camp was at a major university in a power 5 program that will no longer be a power 5 conference about 3 days before the camp. Let's just say he was miraculously allowed off the waiting list and the camp cost was less than lunch but overall was an awesome experience and felt like a true "invite". This was followed up by an offer after the camp and all went about as well as could be. Now for the rest of camps.....

You will show up and be nervous. You will scrutinize everything your child does from how they tie their cleats to where they place their bag. You will 100% overthink every time the coaching staff looks at your child or talks to another child for more than a few seconds. This is the real camp. You so desperately want your child to be that 1 kid who gets all the attention and think that after you just spent $1000 dollars in travel and $350 in camp fees the coach will come over personally and thank you explaining that they in fact love your child and want to make them a (insert mascot name). This will not happen. You will leave either feeling like a shoulda woulda coulda because maybe it wasn't your child's best performance or most likely as though you have just wasted a ton of money. This can be frustrating to say the least. It is all part of the process however. The more you go the more you learn what an "elite prospect" camp is as opposed to a "clinics and workshop" camp is. As one of our trusted college coaches told me, if you have not received physical mail or the coach has not personally reached out either by phone or text to you or your coach understands that they are not recruiting you. 

This all sounds harsh and I know this will draw plenty of comments from folks but the truth is the truth. Similar to my dating and engagement analogy when you began dating it is just that. When you get engaged it is another level and then there is marriage which is a whole new chapter. Don't mistake flirting for dating and most definitely don't mistake flirting for marriage.

How to get on the radar is another challenging puzzle. I used to hear that your child should pick 30 colleges and I scoffed and mocked. The truth is that your child should probably pick 100 colleges but it is hard enough to pick 10. The amount of work you or your child will have to do with email campaigns and video updates is critical. If you pick 30 you will be lucky to get 6 to 10 to view it. Then an actual follow up will be even harder. I found that with Sav we picked some top schools and some lower schools with everything in between. That way i gotta understand that it was not really the level of school that created the response or follow but more just the coaches and how they operate. Ready to be even more confused. Just because they like or follow your content does not really mean that and just because they never engage with does it mean they dont like you. Yes confusing I know. My point is in order to catch a fish you need to be fishing. It is that simple. Keep getting better and keep sending those emails to the schools your child wants to attend. Hopefully they will see your kids desire and respond with something that will keep our children's love for their sport and that program going.