NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

It’s always great to hear from a student-athlete and gain some insight on their perspective during the recruiting process. The NCSA caught up with a softball player from Massachusetts who has recently committed to a top academic NCAA Division III school.This young lady began her recruiting process in January of 2008 and just signed this past May. We asked her what kind of work she had to put into the process in order to be successful. She answered, “The work I put in mostly to respond to inquiries from coaches and providing details on my summer schedule.”

When asked what the most challenging part of the recruiting process was, she mentioned two of her biggest challenges. First, “Time Management in your senior year was much more challenging than I anticipated. I was a starting player in three varsity sports (Soccer, Basketball and Softball). We made the State Tournament in all three and were rated 7th in Eastern Massachusetts in Basketball (highest ever for our school) and 5th in Softball. We were eliminated by the EMASS finalist in hoop by 3 points and The State Champions in Softball (2-1 in extra innings). Going deep into the State playoffs and dealing with local media both newspapers and television required unexpected preparation on top of schoolwork, the powder-puff bowl, the prom, senior night, awards and recognition nights, community service and finally graduation in addition to the recruiting process.” And secondly, “Prioritizing which school among the choices had the best balance of “level of play”, playing time and the best educational opportunity.”
The best part of the recruiting process, according to this softball player was, “The availability and persistence of the NCSA coach helped me stay focused on the goal. The website was an easy reference tool for coaches.”

When asked how the NCSA impacted her recruiting process, she answered, “I think the best part of the NCSA coaching was the reminders both by phone and through email. It forced me to think about what I wanted not just what the school’s assistant coaches wanted.”

Lastly, we asked her to offer some advice to student-athletes who are still in the midst of the recruiting process. She had a lot of great thoughts to share. “Start early. Do as much “prep” work as possible in your “off-season” or in the summer. Do NOT get hung up on DI, DII or DII – that is secondary to your education. Do not procrastinate like I did and then get swamped with multiple schools and coaches all calling at the same time. If the “log” is too cumbersome make a simpler “excel” spreadsheet and then update the “log” after you edit and prioritize your school choices. Visit schools you are interested in while you are in the area playing in “Exposure” Tournaments. Pick the best fit academically and do not be afraid of a “stretch” school. You’ll be surprised the doors that are opened for athletes – especially female athletes strong in math and science.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 10:47 am and is filed under College Softball, Getting Started Early, High School Coach, Recruiting Simplified. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.