College Recruiting Tips

1.  If I'm good enough to play in college, someone will find me: Do NOT wait for someone to come knocking on your door!  Go knock on theirs.  Be proactive.  Make your own connections.  Put yourself in front of as many college coaches as you can.  Even if you can't travel to showcase tournaments or recruiting camps, you can send your information out to coaches and programs you are interested in.

2.  I don't need to get serious about college recruiting until Junior/Senior year: This couldn't be further from the truth.  There is so much to do and groundwork to lay so that you give yourself the best chance at moving on to college.  Good grades and study habits start before your last two years of high school.  Training physically to reach the level of a college athlete starts before your last two years of high school.  The earlier you start, the better off you'll be when it comes time to make a decision. 

3.  College coaches don't make offers until Junior/Senior year: again, this is false.  Many families are under the assumption that since college coaches are not allowed to contact you until Junior year, they cannot and do not make offers or start recruiting until then.  You'd be surprised at how EARLY many of the top programs in the country have their scholarship funds allocated for a particular graduation year.  I know of one young lady who started contacting coaches during Spring Break of her Sophomore year only to find out that many coaches had ALREADY allocated their scholarship funding for her class!

Playing softball at the collegiate level is NOT only about your softball skills or your speed or how far you can hit a ball.  Grades matter. 

Just because 2.0 is enough to keep you academically eligible to play in high school, that doesn't mean that's what you should be shooting for. If you want to give yourself the best chance, the MINIMUM you should have your sights set on is

• 3.0 GPA
• 1000 SAT (math and verbal only)
• 22 ACT across the board

That is the minimum! Obviously the higher your grade point average and test scores the MORE opportunities you will have. Grades ARE important. Some of the best players are unable to attend the school they want to go to and are unable to be granted the athletic scholarship that is waiting for them because they do not make the grade. They do not qualify academically. That is not a situation you want to find yourself in. Take care of business, not only on the field, but in the classroom as well. And that starts FRESHMAN year!