Laura Murphy - Guilford College
I started the recruiting process the fall of my sophomore year and it was no cake walk. I was really excited at first and was logging every contact that I received, but as time went on my correspondence logs were always overdue. I was successful in finding a college team through NCSA, but it could have been a lot easier if I had simply done the work that was required of me. In order for you to be successful, you have to be extremely motivated and determined. Otherwise you will fall off the bandwagon and won’t benefit from the services that NCSA offers.
There were many challenges that I faced when going through the recruiting process. One of them obviously was keeping up with logging my contacts. I would continuously put this task off until the last minute and before I knew it my log was overdue and I still had yet to respond to the coach. Also, being a shy person, I was a little bit intimidated by the college coaches, composing emails, and especially talking to them on the phone was a nerve racking experience for me. As time went on and as I matured this became increasingly less stressful though.
The best part of the recruiting process was definitely getting contacts from the college coaches. Knowing that someone was looking at my scouting report and was seriously interested in having me on their team was an awesome feeling. The only way I would ever have been exposed to these coaches is through NCSA. I will be attending Guilford College in the fall to play Division III softball, and the only reason why Coach Dennis even knew about me was through NCSA.
To all the student athletes who are going through this process: always keep track of your contacts! Without these contacts logged it is very hard for you to stay organized and even harder for your recruiting coach to help you. It is a long and hard journey through massive amounts of paper, emails, phone calls and visits but trust me it is all worth it in the end.
