Too many athletes believe that if they're good, college coaches will just find them. Is that really true? Let's see what coach B has to say about it.

Have a question for Coach B? Send us a message on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TalkingSoftball

Players, coaches, parents.

The recruiting season is upon us.

It's never really not upon us.

You know, it's just a matter of what dates we look at,

what different levels are able to do or not able to do in the process.

You know, we just got through September 1st.

That's a big date for the Division one programs.

And, you know, now some of our players have received their contacts.

They are being able to to communicate with the NCAA Division one coaches,

you know, but I think the key thing we want to understand

about recruiting, it's not just about one level, one school.

I'm very fortunate to have

a young team this year, and I have a number of two thousand

and twenty three players that are uncommitted.

And I've been trying to work with them on where they are

in the recruiting process. And I'll be honest,

I'm disappointed because I've picked up a number of players

from from other programs and other organizations.

And and I know as organizations, we all talk about recruiting

and we all talk about,

hey, we're going to get our kids to the next level.

But I have a lot of players right now that don't have any concept

of the process on how to be recruited at any college level,

because I think we spend so much time talking about NCAA Division one.

That we forget to encourage these players to widen their scope

and look at all of the opportunities they may have in front of them.

You know, if we just talk about some numbers

and some stats, you know, I always get asked, coach,

you know, how many how many high school players do you think.

Get an opportunity to go on and play college softball?

Well, there's a lot of high school players across the country

playing softball.

And there are a lot of college programs.

But but there's been studies done that say less than two percent

of the total number of high school players

get an opportunity to go on and play college softball.

Less than two percent.

I mean, that's a that that's a small number.

And if you just if players

if if you just look at it and look at your high school team,

if you have 20 players on your high school

team, 10 of those is 50 percent.

Two of those is 10 percent.

So do the math. We're getting that number down there.

We're getting we're talking about less than one player per

high school team gets an opportunity to play at the next level.

So I think it's really important that we all understand that

we have to be engaged in the process.

Players, parents, coaches,

we all have to be engaged in this process

and we all have to make sure that we make it a priority.

You know, there's there's misunderstandings out there.

Hey, there's an opportunity

and a place for everyone to play college softball.

No, there isn't.

There's an opportunity and a place for those that want to go out

and work and achieve it to play college softball.

But there's not a place for everybody.

Oh, every player gets a scholarship.

The maximum at Division one is 12.

The Max at Division two is 7.2,

NCAA Division three programs don't give athletic scholarships.

NAIA programs can give

scholarships, junior college programs can give scholarships.

But not everybody is going to get a scholarship.

And that's why I think it's critical

that we all have to work together and prioritize this process.

You know, one of the great things that I think we get

at American Freedom out of our partnership in the MVP program

with with with Jenn Starkey and her crew, is

we now have someone designated to help our athletes identify,

apply for and secure non-athletic scholarships.

How important are a person's academics?

They're critical.

How important are their

the personal life and how they conduct themselves?

It's critical because there's opportunities for non softball

scholarships out there that people just don't know about.

And it's based on academics.

It's based on community service.

It's based on citizenship. There's lots of opportunities.

And we have to understand all of those are important.

You know, in another misunderstanding is college coaches will find

you if you're good enough.

Really? You know how many tournaments

there are on any given weekend during the fall or summer season

for the college coaches to attend and try and find players?

It's not possible, it's not possible.

Our sport is one of the

fastest growing sports and in number of players playing.

So it's just more and more opportunities for games to be played

and players to be on the field, which that's great.

But if we're using that as a recruiting opportunity,

we have to understand those college coaches can't be everywhere.

So how do we get in touch with them?

How do we communicate with them?

How am I communicating through email?

How am I using social media?

You know, what are the tools that I'm using to market myself?

And that's huge.

You know, I talk to my team the other night and I asked him,

I said, how many?

We have an updated skills video.

2 and I'm like. So how do you market yourself,

what do you use to show college coaches your skills?

How many of you have attended

at least three college camps in the last three months?

Only a couple of them.

And I'm like, ladies, if we're not sending video,

we're not getting out in front of these coaches.

What are we doing?

Are you emailing them on a weekly basis?

No. Well, it's great that you have a wish list,

but what are we doing to make that wish a reality? OK.

And I don't want to

I don't want to talk about all of the areas right now.

I want it to be something

we talk about on a regular basis here on talking softball with Coach B.

You know, we're going to touch on academics.

We're going to talk on talk about how important it is to get good grades.

And that starts early.

Academic tracking starts your freshman year of high school.

So don't just wait till your junior and senior year.

Yeah, I always ask players, I said, how many of you actually know

the eligibility requirements to be a college softball player?

And they look at me and, you know, they're like, I don't really know.

Well, how many of you have a copy of the college

bound student athlete handbook that the NCAA puts out

and it explains those those requirements?

You know, how many of you

have registered for the NCAA eligibility center?

That's the tracking process for NCAA eligibility.

And yes, they don't need to

use it for junior college or they don't need to use that for NAIA.

But but there's a lot of schools out there

that that's a requirement and they need to be able to use that.

So I think what I really want to do when we talk about recruiting is

I really want to cover the areas that I think

families and players should be engaged in.

You know, us coaches, we need to be engaged in the process

and in tracking our players activities. Yes, we do.

We need to be reaching out to coaches

and college coaches and talking about our players.

And, you know, when I was a college coach, I always appreciated

getting emails from coaches

and giving me their perspective about players .

I think that that's important.

I think we have to be honest in the process.

We've become very analytic driven in the recruiting process right now

and home to first times

and in exit speeds and pitch velocities.

Those are all measurable analytics Now that coaches

are looking at and evaluating.

We need to be honest about that information.

I don't know how many times I watch skills videos

and saw the stopwatch the dad was holding in his hand.

And Susie would run home to first and dad would put the stopwatch up

in front of the camera and it said two , six, one.

And it amazed me because there were times

that Susie ran a two six one four times in a row.

Did that dad really think that I believe that

he changed that stopwatch every time?

Or did he just hold

that two six one up in front of that camera each time?

You know, when we talk pitching velocity,

has she hit 60 once when she really cut

loose and threw it off the top of the backstop?

Or is she working at 60 on a regular basis?

You know, providing honest information about our players

is critical coaches and parents.

But there is a spot out there.

There is a spot out there that Susie can compete for.

And there is an opportunity for Susie to be a college athlete.

That's why we spend all of our time on player development,

that's why we spend all of our time competing at the levels

we compete at, is we try to create those opportunities

or make better opportunities for our players.

But there's also a process on getting those players

in front of college, coaches, getting those players seen

and then getting them engaged in the process.

And it doesn't just happen. Right.

There was a lot of people that were probably disappointed

they didn't get a call on September 1st.

Well, the first question they need to ask themselves is,

what have you done to get that call on September 1st?

What work did you put in to get that call from that college coach?

Because that college coach is looking for players all across the country.

You've got to make sure that you're marketing yourself

and taking advantage of every opportunity

so that that college coach can see you and ultimately

get you on their list or on their board

and then begin the communication process with you.

So I hope that we can talk a lot about the process.

I want to be honest about it.

I would hope that people will send me questions

that we can discuss during this segment of of our podcast,

because it's critical that these players get engaged now.

So many things have changed.

You know, the NCAA recruiting rules have changed.

Obviously, with Covid, there's been a number of changes that have changed

roster sizes and players have gotten extra years of eligibility.

The money's not out there in the recruiting budgets

for a lot of these schools that used to be there.

So just waiting for coaches to show up at the field and watch you play.

That may not happen.

So I'm looking forward to this segment.

I think it's going to be great.

I want to engage with as many people as possible.

You know, I talk to college coaches on a regular basis about it.

I talk with my colleagues in the select world,

and there is a plan.

And we need to understand that, that each players plan

is is individual to them.

But we all have a role in it.

And we all need to make sure we can navigate through the process to a

to a positive end and a great experience for each of our players.

So thank you. And we look forward to

talking about it again the next time.

I want to thank everybody for being with us today.

I'm really looking forward to doing this.

I want to talk the game

of softball on a on a straightforward, honest level.

I'm not trying to slant it one way or the other, but I do want to talk

the game and I do want to provide information and insight .

So if you're enjoying these these segments, I want you to to like

please engage with your families,

players, coaches, everybody about it.

And if you have topics or ideas, please share those

and we'll try to get to as many of those as we can.

But thank you all. And until next time.

Good luck on the field and God bless.