Can anyone talk about their experience with Headfirst versus going to a specific school’s summer prospect camp, particularly an Ivy’s? Did anyone get an offer based on going to an individual school’s showcase, or Headfirst, or a different showcase?
Headfirst will likely be better run, but the recruit should email the appropriate coaches that he or she will be there and be prepared to be the one to initiate conversations with the coaches at the camp.
One significant difference is that, given the number of college coaches in attendance, there will be fewer athletes interested in any given college at Headfirst. Take Yale’s baseball camp for comparison. You can pretty much bet that every athlete in attendance is interested in going to Yale (yes, I know that a handful of other colleges are at the Yale camp as well). At Headfirst, there will be players who are not interested in Yale, or who think they would not get into Yale and thus are interested in other schools. You won’t be “competing” with them for time to talk to the Yale coach. The other advantage is that there are so many other college coaches in attendance at Headfirst that you might get traction from them, whereas for the Yale camp, it would only be the handful of schools watching.
In the end, the most important thing is to get the attention of the coach with outstanding play and being coachable. You can do that at either event.
Headfirst worked very well for my 2018. He went to that and Showball Academic, which were both on LI near each other. Since we were from the Upper midwest, attending a bunch of Ivy (or other) school camps was not a cost effective option, though we thought heavily about attending Columbia’s, as the coach was aware of 2018.
He got multiple D3 offers and personal invites to school camps/visits as a result of attending HF. Also some D1 interest, but because we were late to the party(August rising Senior), less there, as most position player recruiting is already done there.
I strongly recommend getting in touch with target schools before attending HF, and sending them your CV. If you can send video of you in action it helps.
Bottom line is that HF will allow you to be seen by a greater amount of schools, but if you are located close to an individual school’s camp, then you can’t hurt yourself by going there, unless you do something like wearing a Harvard T shirt at the Yale camp.
S (college class 2021) attended HF (NCal) and then the Stanford Camp summer sophomore and summer junior years. We live in flyover land and S was focused on a couple of Ivies and academic D3’s. We found this to be the most effective way to get exposure to the schools S was interested in. HF was great in that all the coaches are in 1 spot (2 fields next to each other), and the coaches were very accessible between games. The Stanford camp was scheduled right after HF and most of the coaches from HF also were at Stanford. The Stanford camp is much larger, there are definitely more D1 caliber players, and the games are spread out all over the HS’s surrounding Stanford, so just doing Stanford would not have been the best choice. However, attending both camps was a good combination in that coaches that were interested from HF could get a second look at Stanford. I noticed several coaches from HF that were interested in S come by to watch at least 1 game at Stanford, although I am sure they were scouting others as well.
The week following Stanford, S got a bunch of calls for OV’s. None from Ivies, but about a dozen for D3’s. He ended up doing 5 and was offered (i.e. we will give you 1 of our slots if you apply ED) at the conclusion of each visit (plus 1 he did not visit). Other than HF and Stanford, S did not do any college specific camps. I’d say if your S is a rising junior, going to a few select college camps may be worth it to get on radar screens, or if after HF a college is showing real interest (not just via a generic email), it may be worth attending as well. But I’d prioritize something like HF over college specific camps.
BKSquared,
Do you think my S should contact the coaches of colleges he is interested in prior to HF? My son’s pitching coach, who suggested Headfirst and that we attend an Ivy showcase, said that as a rising junior he shouldn’t contact coaches prior to the showcase, just get on their radar then contact them before attending next year. In your post above you mention coaches reaching out after HF-did they reach out to your son inviting him to campus or to showcasss after his sophomore year or junior year? Also, can you PM me?
As a general rule, I don’t understand why your son’s coach would suggest NOT contacting coaches before Headfirst. In athletic recruiting, communicating with coaches is what it is all about. Think about it this way: the coaches like Headfirst because there are so many great players there (and by great, I mean both academically and athletically). One college coach told us it was “one stop shopping.” But when there is a lot, that means that there is a lot to review. Why wouldn’t you, as a college coach, start with the players that you already know want to attend your college. Why would you start with players you have to convince that to attend your school, especially if your are a D3 school without scholarship dollars as a lure. If you are the Middlebury coach, would you want to start with a player who wants to attend college in an urban area, or the kid who loves Vermont.
Most coaches want to see a kid play live before recruiting. The best way to “get on a radar screen” is to put yourself on the radar screen by telling the coach to look at you in advance.
I could sort of understand the comment if your kid isn’t totally ready for Headfirst and he is just doing it for experience. In other words, if he has a bad day, he can fade into the woodwork, but if he has a good day, the coaches will be watching. But Headfirst is kind of expensive for the “experience.”
gointhruaphase, Thank you, that is good advice. As Headfirst is just 4 weeks away, when should my son email a letter, and can you give some suggestions as to what to say?
I agree with @gointhruaphase , it is almost always a good idea to email coaches beforehand. S sent an email with GPA, an athletic resume (stats, honors) and a link to a video (mostly skills, showing hitting, fielding and pitching, with a radar reading of his pitching, fielding and throwing velocity) prior to the HF camp summer between junior and senior as well as fill out the recruiting questionnaires. I think giving the coaches a heads up before the camp made it easier for him to approach them during the camp. I do think though that if this will be your S’s first camp and there is some concern on how he will perform, staying in the background may be fine. If he does well, the coaches will notice. That is the good thing about HF, the number of kids are fairly limited and the coaches are all concentrated.
In S’s case, he did reasonably well in the rising junior camp. Nothing close though to offers or OV invites. The coaches told him to keep them updated on his junior year season and travel ball, and for the most part the subsequent communications were personal rather than generic, including what he needed to work on (mostly getting stronger). They definitely were paying close attention to him in the rising senior camp as he had grown 3-4 inches and put on 20 pounds and because he had gotten on their radar screens the prior summer. I will separately PM you.
Sent a PM a few minutes ago.
A couple of thoughts. First, if you go to a public, make a request yesterday for an unofficial transcript. They can be slow this time of year because they are sending senior transcripts to colleges, and at a certain point the office will close for the summer. Also get a copy of your high school’s profile. Our public had this on-line. Have this information, and if you have a college CV, at the ready for Headfirst. Probably you wont need it for Headfirst, but you will need it eventually.
With the initial email, think job application. What would you say if you were applying for a job and how would you say it. I would make sure that the email does not seem like a stock email. Thus, I would say that I am interested in playing baseball for _______ college. If there was a specific reason for the interest in the college, I would state it (e.g., I am very familiar with Yale because my brother attended there, or my Grandmother lives near Dartmouth, so I am very familiar with the school). The reason being that this will distinguish your son from those people who send an identical email to every coach. State the high school year (e.g., rising junior). I would state my position, and since your son is a pitcher, some info that goes with it (e.g., I am a RHP with _____ pitches and a fast ball approaching 87). State any athletic awards (varsity 2 years, all county as a sophomore). If you son’s GPA is good, include that as well and academic awards. Then say that you are going to be at Headfirst, and would the coach be willing to give some feedback at the camp.
I always liked to hold back information for separate emails on the theory that the more contact with the coach, the better. So, email no. 1 is an introduction. Email no. 2 attaches your college CV. Email no. 3 attaches a video. Emails no. 4 attaches the unofficial college transcript. You get the idea.
I know that you realize this, but all the emails should come from your son. My personal belief, however, is that parents can steer what is said in communications (and probably should). Just remember, shrinking violets do not get recruited. Best of luck.
Which college did your son decide to enroll in? Can you PM me? Which ones did he visit?