NCSA caught up with rising baseball star Brandon Dountz to talk about his high school career and the opportunity to compete at the next level.
NCSA: Tell us about your interactions with college coaches so far.
Dountz: So far my interaction with college coaches has been email correspondence and attendance at a few college camps.
NCSA: How does your team look for next year?
Dountz: My school team looks really good. Both our Junior and Senior classes are strong and we should be able to make a good postseason run. My summer team is also looking good, but we are young. We’re technically an u18 team but we only have four 18-year-olds, and the rest are all 17.
NCSA: How do you show a college coach that you are really interested in their program?
Dountz: I show a coach I’m interested by sending him an email as well as completing his online questionnaire. I try to keep a constant correspondence going with the schools I’m most interested in.
NCSA: What are you doing to “take charge” of your recruiting process?
Dountz: I am very active in contacting college coaches as well as constantly working to improve my game to play at the next level.
NCSA: Have you had coaches evaluate you in person yet? Tell us about how that feels. If not, do you plan to go to any camps or clinics soon?
Dountz: I have been to a few college camps and been evaluated by the coaches. I try just to go out and do everything that they ask to the best of my abilities. It’s not as nerve-wracking if a coach is evaluating you within a group as it is if they’re evaluating you individually during something such as batting practice.
NCSA: How do you handle nerves when communicating with college coaches?
Dountz: I just try to be myself and make sure they like me as a person first, and a player second. If they don’t like me as a player there is always another program that does.
