What is the biggest complaint I hear from parents and players as they try to navigate their way through the process?
The whole thing seems unfair!
Why unfair?
My daughter is better than so and so, who is going to Big School U, and my daughter can’t even get a look!
We have sent so many e-mails to college coaches and they never come to see her play!
We joined this high profile travel team to get exposure but we still aren’t getting much attention from college coaches.
The college coaches are never there on the right days! She does great one day and then the next, nothing!
You can undoubtedly add many more of these type of observations to the list.
What can I tell you about recruiting to put your mind at ease? Sorry, not a dang thing!!
The harsh truth: It’s a beauty contest that has no rules!
We all know beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What one college coach loves another hates. Something that makes you a top prospect for one school doesn’t move the needle at another. Being lucky can play just as big a role in getting recruited as being good.
If someone can devise a way to guarantee that a player have the good luck to be seen on the right day, by the right coach, at the right place, they could become rich beyond measure.
What is the moral to the story? Part of being lucky is doing the work. I have always thought that the harder I work, the luckier I seem to get.
Don’t get discouraged! Keep working the process, sending the emails, calling the coaches, playing hard all the time and you drastically increase your chances in the recruiting beauty contest.
About The Author: Tory Acheson brings a wealth of knowledge to the Fastpitch Prep staff. He has coached at all levels of the game, including the last 25 years at the college level at the University of Wisconsin – Parkside, Tennessee Tech and Kennesaw State. He began his coaching career at the high school level spending 9 years Whitnall High School in Greenfield, Wisconsin and is now working as a professional softball instructor. /p>
