Transcript NEW! Austin Storm Recruiting Presentation (Powerpoint)

Phil Koehler (512) 633-7742 General Manager
Adam Adams (512) 762-3488 , 18U Head Coach [email protected]
Amanda Miller (830) 237-4590, 16U Head Coach
The Common Myths
The first thing you should know about scholarships is that these common myths are absolutely not true:

Myth #1 - If you are good enough to play in college, coaches will always find you
 Myth #2 - If you are a good softball player, your high school coach will help you get recruited.
 Myth #3 - Only blue chip softball athletes play at the college level.
 Myth #4 - College coaches don't want players to contact them first
 Myth #5 - Grades don't really matter if you are a really good
Blue Chips vs. Everybody Else
First off, there are a select small number of players who don't have to worry at all about how the softball recruitment process works. They are the
elite or blue chip players who have every coach in America asking them to come and play for them. These ladies could care less about the
details of the recruitment process because they don't need to know how it really works! They just have to choose the right school.
For the remaining 98% of student athletes who have the talent to play at some level of college softball, the process comes down to whether or
not a coach learns about them and their softball skills and talents. If coaches learn their name and what they can do, they will probably get
recruited to play at some level of college softball. If coaches never learn their name or anything about them, they will always fly under the radar
of college coaches and their softball career will end when high school is over. Sad, but true.
What You Should Do
The question is, how can you win the softball recruitment game and get recruited for softball scholarships? The best way is to take
responsibility for your own recruitment and market and promote yourself. Develop your own athletic resume and make direct contact
with college coaches with a personal letter. It's the best way to get the attention of coaches and give yourself a shot at being
recruited.
There are hundreds of college and universities at all levels of competition who need skilled and talented softball players.
How do these schools find the players they need? They find players in the following ways:
1- They find players at softball camps.
2- They find players at showcase events held across the country.
3- They attend tournaments and scout for players that could fill their current roster needs.
4- They get recommendations from coaches
5- They find out about some athletes because the athletes have marketed and promoted themselves to the coach
Many Coaches Want To Hear From You.
The elite Division I schools have the college softball recruiting budget to scout the entire nation. They have an unlimited budget for finding great
players across the country and even the world.
Many Mid-Majors, smaller schools and universities that have limited college softball recruiting budgets and don't have hundreds of athletes to
choose from.
All programs have to be familiar with you, so you what to make it easy to find you. You can market and promote yourself to college coaches and let
them know about your skills, your talents, and your academic achievements at the high school level. If you don't let them know about you, who will?
 Each and every year fastpitch camps for softball players take place all around the country. At these camps, some of the best players
from around the country come together to get better and hopefully get some exposure to coaches at the college level
 Camps All Around The Country
Most colleges, from the very largest to small junior colleges, run their own fastpitch camps over the summer. These camps help
players develop in all areas of their game, and they even help some players catch the attention of college coaches and ultimately
get recruited.
These camps are usually ran by the school's head coach and are staffed by other college and high school coaches, as well as
current college players. These camps are good for individual skill development as well as learning how you can play together with
other top players to help your team in whatever role you are asked to fill.
 Valuable Evaluation
One of the best things you can get out of a camp like this is an evaluation at the end of the camp. These detailed skill evaluations are
great for you to take back home and use as a guide for improving as a a player.
 These evaluations can also prove very valuable if you send them out to college coaches if your skills were rated very high. These
types of evaluations are even more valuable when they come from a fastpitch camp run by a third party not affiliated with any
college or university.
 Use Your Evaluation To Market And Promote Yourself
Once you have a good evaluation in hand, I strongly recommend that you start marketing and promoting yourself to colleges. You
can market and promote yourself simply by making contact with them and letting them know about you and more importantly, what
you can do to help their softball program succeed or continue to be successful.
Fastpitch camps are a great way to improve your game and geting a good evaluation can be very valuable to you in the recruiting
process. I recommend taking advantage of all the camps you possibly can attend.
There are thousands of softball recruits from all across the United States (and even the world) trying to make it to the next level of softball. What will
separate those who make it to the college level vs. those who fall short of their goal? Actually, there are several factors that will make the difference:
1. The Right Skills And Talent
 First of all, you must have the talent to play at the college level. No matter if you play at the Division I, II, III, NAIA or ever junior college level, you must be
a step above your high school competition if you are going to play at the college level. You can't be an average high school player and expect to play
college softball.
2. Solid Grades
 With so many good softball recruits available to coaches, grades are become extremely important as coaches go through the selection process. Contrary
to what many other so called "experts" tell you, grades are very important.
 Coaches want players who can stay academically qualified to play, so if they are recruiting two players that have equal talent and one is a far better
student, which one do you think gets offered the spot on the roster? Take your grades seriously if you want to play at the next level.
3. A Strong Work Ethic
 If you don't like working hard as an individual or as a team, don't bother trying to make it to the college level. Hard work is required all year round. At the
college level, you are either playing softball or you are working at becoming better. There really is no off-season.
4. Grab Their Attention
 Sadly, some very good softball recruits have all of the first three factors, but they never get recruited by any college coaches! How does this happen? It
can happen because they play on a bad team, they are at a very small or rural school, or their high school coach doesn't give them any help in the
recruiting process.
Summary
If you have all of the first three factors going for you (talent, good grades, a good work ethic), yet no college coaches are beating a path to your door, your
real problem is most likely #4. You are probably not getting noticed by college coaches!
What can you do about it? You can fix the problem by rising above all the other softball recruits out there and making sure you get noticed by marketing
and promoting yourself to college coaches! A simple athletic resume and a personal letter is all you need to get the ball rolling.
 You have to market yourself to the college coaches. You have to make yourself known. You have to express your
interest in the college and their softball program.
 You have to demonstrate your softball skills for them to evaluate.
 You have to be realistic about your abilities, and persistent in your pursuit of making your desires known to your
target colleges.
 Promoting yourself may not come easy, at first. Marketing your softball skills may not feel comfortable to you. If you
want to play college softball, take charge and get started!
 Begin the process by sending an email to each college coach on your target list. While 90% of the email content
will be the same for each email, you should take the time to make each email specific to that college and coach.
Include the coach’s name; highlight the reason why you are interested in the school and the softball program.
Include the link to your video, and attach a copy of your player profile. If you know your summer tournament
schedule, include it in the email and invite the coach to come watch you play. Do not expect a reply. Division 1
schools are not allowed to contact you except for camp information. Regardless of division, all coaches are
receiving numerous emails; some do a good job of replying, some don’t.
 Get creative, the coaches receive hundreds of contacts per day. You have to promote yourself well to get attention.
Emails are important but use other methods grab their attention; postal service, postcards, etc…
Why some great athletes never get a D1, D2 or NAIA athletic scholarship
 Athlete didn't start their recruiting process early enough. As an underclassman most don't even thinks about a
scholarship or don't think they are good enough. Coaches understand that you will get better every year. You need
to understand your need to build relationships early with as many coaches as possible.
 Parents are not involved. If they are not on board then work hard on your relationship to get their help.
 Grades. If they would have started the scholarship recruiting process early they would have learned what it takes
academically and adjusted along the way.
 Not proactive. Many athletes and parents are told college coaches will find you. Well how many of the 1800+
coaches come to your school. When is the last time you shook hands with a college coach at your game? If you want
to go somewhere then do something to help yourself.
 Not sure you are good enough?
 A. Bottom line is it is the coach that makes the decision, not your friend, high school coach, parents, nor anyone else.
 B. There are over 1800 college softball coaches, get them to notice you and you will have a chance
 Approximately 950 college teams are listed among the ranks of NCAA Softball. About 400 of these are Division III
teams, and as such are restricted from extending formal athletic scholarships. That leaves more than 500 Division I
and Division II teams that can, and do, offer scholarship awards to women with proven softball skills.
 The NCAA regulates the scholarships that can be offered by participating colleges and teams. These regulations
put a limit on the number of full tuition scholarships that can be offered by any one college or university.
Scholarship Limits in NCAA play:
 NCAA Division-I Softball teams may each offer up to 12 full scholarships.
 NCAA Division-II teams may each offer up to 7.
 Many coaches prefer to split the allowed full tuition scholarships into a larger number of partial tuition
scholarships. This strategy gives them the ability to attract more talent to their teams, and to broaden their pool of
possible players. Coaches will make these determinations depending on the teams current needs, and strategies
will change from year to year. Students applying for softball scholarships at one fo the NCAA schools should also
keep in mind that many of these scholarship awards will go to current students, and may not be available for
incoming undergraduates.
 You will never get a scholarship from someone who doesn’t know you exist
 The colleges that respond to you with camp information may not want you or offer scholarship money
 It is in the college coaches best interest to always look for better talent and fit, if found, someone else on their list will get
bumped down or off.
 No one on earth could possibly know what every coach in the United States wants and thinks at any given time. That is why
you have to be in front of them as often as possible.
 A coach will never make their position planning board public so never give up and always be working.
 Getting in front of a coach at a tournament or camp is like getting a job interview.
 If you don’t start right know then you are late.
 Teams in NCAA Division I
 https://nfca.org/index.php/component/nfca/?teams=1&tdiv=ncaa_1&nocat=1
 Teams in NCAA Division II
 https://nfca.org/index.php/component/nfca/?teams=1&tdiv=ncaa_2&nocat=1
 Teams in NCAA Division III
 https://nfca.org/index.php/component/nfca/?teams=1&tdiv=ncaa_3&nocat=1
 Teams From Texas that have fastpitch softball
 http://www.linkathletics.com/sports/viewlinks.php?sp=Softball&viewstate=TX
 SAT
 http://sat.collegeboard.org/home