All About Fastpitch Softball Blog

One of the biggest college recruiting mistakes student-athletes and families make is basing their final choice of school solely upon scholarship offer(s). I often times see student-athletes simple choose the school that offering them some kind of athletic scholarship.  I’ve even seen some companies, that supposedly help with college recruiting, say that “money” is a “good” reason to choose a school.  In other words they list a scholarship offer as a good reason to chose the school you will be attending.

I happen to disagree with that completely!

Too often I see student-athletes make this mistake.  They choose the school that offered them the most athletic scholarship assistance based upon that factor alone.  Often times they disregard the fact that the school is in a location they don’t really want to be.  The disregard the fact that the school doesn’t exactly have the area of study the student-athlete is interested in.  To throw out all other factors and make a decision solely based upon or heavily weighed by the almighty scholarship dollar can be a huge mistake!

In almost every case that I’ve personally seen, the student-athlete gives up playing or stops going to that school completely by the end of their freshman year.  Why?   Because every other major factor that influences their quality of experience at the school is NOT what they were looking for or not what they are comfortable with.  Remember, if this college you choose is more or less going to be your home for the next 4-5 years!  It better be a place you want to live in.

Honestly, think about it.  If a student-athlete ends up not playing ball or giving up on the school completely after that first year, was it really worth it to chose the money? After all, they may have gotten that one year paid for (or helped with), but now where does that leave them?  Often times it leaves them out of the sport they love AND a college bill to pay for the next 3-4 years.

Wouldn’t it be better to choose a school that offered less money (or even no money) if it was a better fit for you?  If it was a place you loved?  And environment you enjoyed living in?  Had the exact academic program you want? AND gives you the opportunity to continue playing your sport?

Often times, even though your first year isn’t paid for athletically, you can 1) possibly get help from other sources (academic funds, grants, or other scholarship sources) and 2) possibly earn some “athletic help” in the future.  So yes, maybe you have to pay for that first year, but paying for one and getting help with or having the next 3-4 years paid for is so much better than having just that first year taken care of but paying for the rest.  Isn’t it?

The bottom line is that it’s almost always better to choose the school you WANT to be at, rather than simply choose the school that offers you the most money.  Be smart about this decision, it’s not only going to affect the next 4 years of your life, it will affect at least the next 40 years of your life!

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If you need personal assistance with your college recruiting journey, talk with the experts at NSCA.  They know their stuff and they are as passionate about getting student-athletes to the next level (and keeping them there) as anyone else I know.

Fill at the form HERE and a real live person will give you a call regarding your plan for the future.

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Technorati Tags: College Recruiting, college recruiting tips

I recently talked with a coach I work with and found out that two senior softball player we know of will be going on to continue their education at DI schools with the opportunity to play for the schools’ softball programs.  That’s so cool right?

I was actually worried about these two because they were in the situation many seniors find themselves in: it’s senior year and still the future is uncertain. They didn’t know what college they’d be going to or even IF their softball careers were going to continue.  It’s not a fun position to be in.  In fact, it can be a downright stressful situation to be in.

Neither one of these players are what I would consider “blue chippers” however, they do have better than average softball skills and great attitudes.  They are the type of player that coaches find so easy to work with and always a pleasure to have on the team.  But they also had one other factor working for them which ended up being a major contribution to the opportunity they now have.  But before I tell you all about that, you have to understand that being that it was already their senior year and neither on had secured an offer from any colleges, their opportunities were definitely vanishing.  Most softball programs had already finished even looking at this year’s graduating class and are focused on undergrads.

Why were these two student-athletes in this position in in the first place? Well, there are a number of factors that contributed to it, but a few of the main reasons were simply not starting early enough and not getting the word out to enough coaches.  These two mistakes are so, so common!  Too often student-athletes do nothing to get their name out there and in front of college coaches until end of sophomore year or junior year and even then, they only contact a handful, or *maybe* 10-15.  That in an of itself, severely limits the opportunities you’re going to have.

So anyway, these two seniors were more or less in limbo during those first months of their senior year.  Both wanted to go to college and both hoped to continue their softball careers, but neither knew what their future held.  It’s not a situation I like to see senior student-athletes in; especially not ones that are such great people (not just great players).

Well, in the conversation I had with this coach, I found out that they BOTH are going on to the collegiate level.  Why?  How?

Because of doors that their strong ACADEMICS opened up for them. With this first student-athlete we’re talking Advanced Placement courses and a 3.9+ GPA.  She had specific colleges in a specific state she wanted to go to and had no problem qualifying academically.  The softball programs however, had used up all their funding and had no scholarship money to offer by the time she had contacted them.  Her first choice college also had a softball program that does not open up tryouts to unknown walk-ons.  If you’re going to get a spot on this team, you have to be asked by the coaching staff to be there.  Well after establishing that she qualified for NCAA for and had been accepted by the school for admission and was able to secure some academic funding, she got back in touch with the coach and let him know what her situation was.  She let him know that this was the college she wanted to be at, she’s already been accepted academically, and just wanted to know if she could also be a part of the softball program while she was there.  Guess what happened?  She was offered a preferred walk-on opportunity.

So she’ll be going to the college she wants to be at, in the state she wants to live for the next 4-5 years, studying the major she wants to study, has a chance to continue her softball career, and has opportunities for aide through academic paths.  Seriously – it doesn’t get a whole lot better than that.

The other student-athlete had also been told by a handful of college coaches that while the coaches liked what they saw on her video and in her packet, no athletic funding was available.  She was disappointed because no one had “softball money” left.  Somehow, she failed to overlook the fact that she would be able to receive 85% academic funding for one of the schools she wanted to go to. She had been so focused on athletic scholarship money that she forgot to look at the situation from every angle. Thankfully, this coach I was talking with pointed this out to her.  The very next business day she got back in touch with the coach of that school (newer DI program).  She let him know that she was accepted to the college academically and had been able to work out aid through her academics.  She told him that this is where she wanted to be and asked if she still had a chance to be a part of the softball program.  The coach said he’d love to have her and that, as usual, there was always a possibility of athletic funding in the future.

So both these student-athletes now know what their college plans are.  They will both attend DI schools and will both have an opportunity to be part of the softball programs as well.  Though it was “too late” to get there from the softball angle, their strong academics opened up windows that would not otherwise have been opened. On top of that, they are both attending schools they WANT to go to is huge.  Neither fell into the “trap” many high school student-athletes fall into of simply picking-the-school-that-offered-a-scholarship.  They were both able to avoid that less than ideal situation because they had other avenues by which they could accomplish the goal they wanted.

I know that both these young ladies will go on to have awesome college experiences because they are in the place they want to be and they both have such positive attitudes that I know they will be able to, not only handle all the challenges college life brings, but handle them well.

I wish the best to them and to all the high school seniors who will be continuing their education in college next school year!

Technorati Tags: academics, College Recruiting, college recruiting tips

This is something I thought of while watching the season finale of Shark Tank.  On the show there were a couple of guys  who said they want to change the way college recruiting is done and help athletes take control of their college recruiting process.  Well, unfortunately, they have a lot of work to do on their business in order to achieve
that because, from what they described on the show, all they have is an online database that coaches can search.

When I heard that…this is what I wanted to say to them right through the tv…

Adding your name to an online database that coaches can search is NOT “taking control” of your college recruiting process.

There I said it.

Adding your name to an online database is NOT “taking control” of your college recruiting process.  Neither is adding videos to YouTube or going to a recruiting camp.

I’m not saying those things are useless or that you shouldn’t do them, but there’s so much more you can do.  Those things in and of themselves are just a small sliver of what you should be doing if you really want to take control of your college recruiting journey!

“Taking control” involves doing your homework.  It means:

• Knowing where you have to be academically
• Knowing what the NCAA requires of you to be eligible
• Knowing what different program require in the level(s) of play you are interested in (not always the same as what the NCAA requires)
• Knowing what type of school is a good fit for you
• Knowing what to ask college coaches
• Knowing what to ask yourself so you can find the right fit
• Knowing what you need to get done by when
• Knowing what you CAN do and when
• Making sure YOU are in contact with coaches before they are even allowed to get in touch with you
• Knowing whether or not it’s better for you or your parents to be corresponding with a college coach
• Having the information college coaches need about you in order to make a decision readily available
• Getting prepared for college entrance exams
• Having a strategy!!!
• …and so much more

Putting your name “out there” in public places and hoping to be found is not going to cut it.  That will not give you the best opportunities possible by the time your college recruiting journey come to an end. Remember – there are no re-dos. Get educated. Get informed. And if you need help, some of the best in the business are ready to walk you through it all at NCSA.

If you’re serious about playing at the college level and have been taking care of business on and off the field, you can have someone from NCSA personally give you a call by filling out the form at HERE.

And yes, for student-athletes who use that link and become part of the NCSA family, NCSA does make donations back to AAF.  However, if you do not wish for them to do that, you can also visit them at their main company link at
http://www.ncsasports.org/

Whatever your choice, you can have a real person talk with you about your options plus get a username and password to set up your own athletic resume web page with no risk and no money required by going HERE and filling out your contact information.

Wishing you the best,

Stacie Mahoe

Technorati Tags: College Recruiting, College Softball