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baseballcrazymom
58 Posts |
 Posted - 12/15/2014 : 15:30:19
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Well it's beginning!  We're thrilled, but now at a total loss because we don't want to screw things up.
My question is on offers...obviously he's not going to decide anything for a year, but he's landed on some radars and even received 2 offers and the rest are invitations to visit, questionnaires etc. How, what and when should he respond? |
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bballman
1432 Posts |
Posted - 12/15/2014 : 16:28:21
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I take it your son is a junior this year? Or is he a sophomore? Either way, you and your son will need to start seriously considering what your son wants out of school. Does he have a dream school? Does he have a preferred major or area of study he wants to pursue? What are his grades like? This is a very exciting yet very stressful time. I don't know your son, but if he has multiple offers already, he must be pretty good.
I think you need to take a serious look at the offers and start trying to narrow down the schools he may want to attend based on both baseball as well as academically. If you get a good offer from a school he is really interested in going to, you have some serious thinking to do. If he's not really interested in the school, you may want to hold off and see if something else comes along that is more of a match for what he wants.
Congratulations on the interest. These are exciting times!! |
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baseballcrazymom
58 Posts |
Posted - 12/16/2014 : 09:37:44
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Thanks bballman. His grades are really good and he's looking at a science field of study. His priority is the best education over the best baseball school. But, it would be nice if he could do both. LOL.
He has given us a list of 4 D1 and 4 D2 schools that meet his specs academically so we will focus on those. But we don't want to burn any bridges. So I guess my question is how do you respond without saying no? Summer 2015 will be key for him. Plus, all this quiet period, dead period, official vs unofficial visit stuff is confusing to us. Does anybody have an easy way to wrap their brain around all that? |
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bballman
1432 Posts |
Posted - 12/16/2014 : 11:13:45
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No, you never want to burn bridges. He should respond to any attention he gets. Maybe tell them that he is very honored to get the offer, but there are still some schools that he is looking into and that he needs to check them out before he makes a decision. Coaches are usually understanding about this. My son got his first offers in August between his junior and senior years. He had several schools he was interested in and he let the coaches know up front that he was still looking around and he would get back to them. All of them at least acted like they wanted him be absolutely sure that he was comfortable in making the decision about attending their school and encouraged him to take his time and let them know. Once he made his decision, he called all the coaches back and let them know what he had decided. I'm guessing your son is a junior this year, so you are right, next summer will be a big one for him.
Has he gotten any interest from any of the 8 schools he is interested in? Has he approached those schools to let them know he is interested in them? A lot of times baseball camps at schools are money makers for the school, but if he is interested in the school, he may want to find out if they have any camps coming up. If they do, have him contact the coaches and let them know he will be attending and he is interested in attending the school. Maybe give them some information about himself and what his skills are. If he has done a PG showcase, maybe send them a link to his profile. It would also be a big help if his HS coach or summer team coach could contact the coaches to give him a reference. An unbiased 3rd party endorsement is worth way more than what the player or his parents have to say. He may want to forward them his schedule as well. HS schedule as well as a summer team schedule when you know what that is. It is important to make yourself known and get in front of them somehow.
The difference between an official visit and an unofficial visit is basically that with an official visit at least part of the cost of the visit is paid for by the school. An cost of an unofficial visit is entirely on you. I also believe that a coach can talk to a player at anytime, but the coach initiating that contact is limited by the rules. At any time your son can call the coach and if the coach answers, they can talk. Your son can email them at any time. It is more complicated than that and I don't know all the specifics, but that's the gist of it.
Not sure how Stan will feel about my posting this link, but if you go to http://community.hsbaseballweb.com/forums you will find much discussion on this subject and can get feedback from a lot more people than just myself. Take some time doing a search on recruiting and reading some previous discussions and then post your own topic if you still have questions. |
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baseballcrazymom
58 Posts |
Posted - 12/16/2014 : 12:47:12
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Thanks again. Yes he's a junior. His upcoming summer coach and his HS coach have encouraged sending out the HS and then the summer tour schedule when it's finalized. His summer coach will be the one reaching out to majority of the coaches through tourneys, showcases etc. during 2015. We will be sure to do our part though.
Thanks for the link. I guess I need to get out a calendar and figure out when to fit all these camps and visits in. His 8 schools are in 6 different states...meh. I feel that the majority of this will have to wait until after July because he'll be all over the map with his summer team anyway. We held off on the PG showcase, but know we need to get that profile.
It's blowing my mind that we are talking in these terms at all! Did you feel like it was a full time job for YOU? I mean he's the one who has to do the actual work, but the logistics. Wow... |
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 12/16/2014 : 14:19:15
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From what I hear you would be surprised about the amount of rules involved in recruiting a kid today and all the misconceptions that are out there!
Off the top of my head:
1. If you get literature with a coach's phone number on it, especially a cell phone number, this is REALLY good. If the kid is mildly interested in that college have him call the coach back. Be warned, if you leave a message saying this is Jim Smith class of 2016 please call me back at XXX-XXX-XXXX they will NOT be able to call him back! This is one of the rules. Often times I have heard of either having the summer coach call the coach to set up a time to talk or even texting prior to call saying this is Jim Smith class of 2017 I got your letter and will be calling at X:XX time.
2. The idea of a 100% baseball scholarship is like Bigfoot, there are people that swear they have heard of people that have them, but they are so far and few between it's closer to an urban myth! I mean if the kid was THAT good he would be going in the draft not to college right? However, other sports get full rides all the time.
3. All Colleges offer Baseball Scholarships...MYTH! D2 schools do not.
4. ALL Schools have the player sign a letter of intent....MYTH! D1 for sure, D3 does not.
There are many many rules about GPA and rules of contact. I would suggest you get onto Google and start looking at some reputable sites.
This is a very exciting time but I can not stress enough, he isn't there yet. Still showcase him, still bring him to PG events, he has to still play on a high exposure team, and above all he has to show improvement this year! The more he improves the more contacts that will be coming and the coach that may have offered him a secure roster spot with no money this year may find a 25% scholarship if the competition heats up for the kids talent. Like it or not your kid just became a commodity, it's up to y'all if you use that to your best advantage to get him the most out of this.
Good luck! |
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bballman
1432 Posts |
Posted - 12/16/2014 : 14:46:58
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quote:
Originally posted by CaCO3Girl
3. All Colleges offer Baseball Scholarships...MYTH! D2 schools do not.
4. ALL Schools have the player sign a letter of intent....MYTH! D1 for sure, D3 does not.
Just for clarification, D2 schools DO offer scholarships as well as National Letters of Intent. D3 schools do not. D1 schools have a total of 11.7 scholarships to offer to up to 27 players. They have to offer a minimum of 25% to anyone they give baseball money to and have a roster limit of 35. D2 schools have a total of 9 scholarships to offer to as many players as they want with no roster limits or minimum amount offered. |
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 12/16/2014 : 15:36:34
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| I have no idea why I wrote D2 rather than D3, bballman is right as usual! Did I mention googling for info? |
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turntwo
955 Posts |
Posted - 12/16/2014 : 16:35:52
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| Just a bystander (my son is 9)... But this HAS TO BE so exciting (stressful, sure)!!! This is what he's worked so hard for, right? To play at the next level. "Offers" already as a junior. BE PROUD (as I'm sure you are)! What a great culmination of things, yet leading to a chaotic schedule for YOU! |
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baseballcrazymom
58 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2014 : 08:12:06
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| Turntwo: very exciting and scary all at once! As his parents, we are also feeling a sense of relief that we weren't crazy to think he could do it. He's experienced his fair share of getting passed over as I'm sure many do. Many times we wondered if we were guilty of looking at him through rose colored glasses. Then you sit back and just observe and continue to encourage and give what you believe to be honest feedback when it's warranted and needed. And as they say, there's plenty of baseball left to be played even IF it doesn't continue into college. When folks ask us what his future plans are, we've always just answered that we aren't looking past the next year...first it was just making the HS team, then actually PLAYING (lol), then college when that time comes, and anything past that is just a pipe dream. But I guess you never know. One day at a time. |
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Critical Mass
277 Posts |
Posted - 12/18/2014 : 10:14:21
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Congrats on the interest. Understand this...once you are offered there will be a clock to respond/accept the offer or deny it with that program/coach. My son got his 1st D1 offer the summer prior to his Jr year and that coach said he never had a kid wait longer than 2 weeks to respond. We asked for quite abit more time than that due to a showcase a few months away. Another MAJOR D1 program offered this past summer (post Jr summer) and the head coach said all the right things about "no timetable" to respond but the recruiting coordinator absolutely applied pressure via a "follow up call" 20 mins after we left the visit. Good Cop/Bad Cop. Another program in SC offered a friend's son and showed him the "big board" and his position on that board with the caveat to offer that he had 2 weeks and his spot would be filled by the next guy on the list. Be Ready to handle all stipulations.
Once you visit, and/or express enough of an interest in the school to put yourself in a position to be offered..get ready to respond in a timely manner. Unless he gets an offer from a dream school or one of the Top 2 of the 8, i would wait and be clear with all coaches about evaluating all offers/opportunities and making the best decision for him. Hold on, it's a fun ride but can be stressful. HSBBWeb has lots of great advice and folks who have been exactly where you are today and are very helpful, not only about the process but potentially the programs/coaches as well. |
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How to respond to college coaches?
