By Adam Diorio
The concept of early commitments is often confusing to families. Many families wonder how sophomores and juniors are committing when college coaches cannot talk to a player until after the player’s junior year of high school. To understand the impact of early commitments, families must first understand the NCAA rules themselves.
NCAA guidelines state that college coaches may not have face to face contact with players off campus until after their junior year. (July 1 for Division I and June 15 for Division II) However, student-athletes are able to initiate contact with college coaches at any time, which might result in an email, letter or questionnaire from the college coach to develop that relationship. Student-athletes are also permitted to visit a college or university at their own expense as early and often as possible which helps to further those relationships prior to senior year.
College softball recruiting expert Cathi Aradi summarized this recently on www.fastpitchrecruiting.com as follows,
“When you see that a player has made a verbal commitment to a college before starting her senior year—e.g., before the time she could even take an official visit—here’s generally how that comes about. In virtually all cases, a college coach has seen the player in action at tournaments, probably playing for a fairly high visibility travel team. This player might be playing on a top ASA gold team as a freshman or sophomore and performing very successfully at the level of the older players.
The college coach will then usually let the player’s travel coach know that he or she is very interested in hearing from the player. (Obviously, if the player has started her junior year, the coach could be emailing or sending letters to her as well.) The player or her parent would probably then call the coach and set up an unofficial visit to the campus. (Coaches cannot call you until after that July 1 or June 15 date, but you may call them at any time. They just won’t be able to return your calls.)” Refer to http://www.fastpitchrecruiting.com/archived%20posts.html for complete article.
There are many impacts of early commitments, but the most significant is the realization that the recruiting process starts as early as freshman year for many student-athletes. Those who wait until the end of junior or senior season will be far behind those softball players competing for the same roster spots. However, it is also important to understand the types of colleges/universities that are receiving these early commitments. These colleges/universities are typically the big name, top tier DI programs. The vast majority of softball players who hope to play in college will end up playing at the DII, DIII or NAIA level. So, even if you are not one of the student-athletes who commit early, there are still thousands of opportunities out there. Remember, regardless of the type of college/university you are interested in, begin the recruiting process early, be realistic, and be proactive in order to separate yourself from the competition.
