NFCA Softball Camps for summer entering into 9th grade

Athletic Recruits
1

Hello! I just discovered this valuable forum and have some questions regarding softball. My daughter plays club softball in the Seattle area. She has a couple months left of 8th grade and she has expressed interest in playing softball in college. I learned about NFCA camps from this site (thank you!) and found one being offered in Hillsboro, OR June 19th. 8th grade graduates can attend.

She is a great (not blue chip) pitcher and athlete and all honors 4.0 student. I know her middle school GPA is irrelevant. We are just researching this process. Her team is coached by a well known Pac 12 Div 1 former player who started this team last year. Although she is well known and connected, the current players on this team will be her first as a coach and she has never guided anyone through the process of college recruiting. The team she is on is not gold but silver. We chose this team because of the coach and are committed to her. My daughter has been doing weekly trainings for pitching and hitting just over a year. Her commitment level is there and is also a multi-sport athlete maintaining perfect grades.

We want to help our daughter with opportunities to be seen. We are not sure where to start but I started researching summer camps at local colleges and the NFCA camp mentioned above. Is this too early for her to attend these camps? I’ve read several posts about contacting coaches but is this something she should be doing as an incoming HS freshman? Also, we don’t keep stats for her, but is this something we should be doing along with video? As her parents, we know nothing about softball. She chose this sport and is self-driven. We are trying to support her the best we know how.

In terms of colleges, I have no idea if she would be a Pac-12 prospect. From my research, probably not since she averages 53 mph pitches.

However, we are more interested in finding the right academic fit than athletic. Ideally, we would like her to attend a local college or university. And if she can play softball for a college team… wonderful. It’s not the end all be all for her or us.

We would love any insight about camps and recruiting for a just graduating 8th grader.

Thank you.

2

NWLocal,

I will try to give you some thoughts about this. In athletic recruitment, it is the parents’ job to encourage your child’s dreams but also to be realistic. You are the one that needs to figure out how to best “market” your child. Others may have different interests at heart. For example, once you are on a marketing list, I can pretty much guarantee that you will receive hundreds of “invitations” to showcases for a healthy fee. They all promise contact with college coaches. They don’t all deliver. That said, certainly NFCA is a fine camp.

Every kid is different. Each has different strengths that should be marketed differently. Some do well in camps, others show better by film, for some stats show the best. While surely you should listen to your coach and tap into her knowledge, how you wind your way through recruitment is ultimately your call (together with your child).

With my elders, I sent them to as many showcases as possible, with the hope that something would fall into place for them. After it was all done, they told me how much they hated showcases. They would have preferred being home playing video games. For the camps and showcases that I saw, I did not see many kids who were off the charts terrible. Most could, it they wanted, play somewhere at the college level.

IMHO, camps at a young age help recruits that are D1 material. Most D3s don’t start until much later. So, for your daughter, think about it. Is she really D1 material? No one here can answer that question for you. One way to consider that question is to go watch a D1 university game in your area. Check out the pitching speeds, movement, locations. Is your daughter in range? How fast are her hands. Can she hit home runs? Does she have speed? How about size? Remember that she is still young and will develop further strength, which can be helped along with a good strength and conditioning program.

Then weigh the pros and cons of sending her to a camp while in eighth grade. There is no doubt that some girls are being recruited this early, but there are issues with that, and you should consider those issues. More importantly, it she blue chip enough to be in that select group of early recruits? How much more development do you see in her future as opposed to what she is doing right now?

Here are my short list of pros and cons, having no idea of your daughter’s skill level: cons - pitching at 53 mph, she may well get crushed. Some of these girls are just amazing. I can pretty much guarantee that the high school juniors will be used to faster pitching. Some coaches may be expecting more. She could get gun-shy, thinking she isn’t good enough. Put simply, I do believe that kids can be “marketed” as recruits at too early an age. Pros - she gets used to the process at a young age. It could cure jitters for when she is older. If she has terrific control and some junk, the speed may not be an issue. She may well show strongly, but chances are it will merely put her on the radar screen. Some coaches may show interest and that would be a good thing.

Another possibility is to have her go and spend the day watching the camp.

One more thing. Keep stats (you will need them) and invest in a tripod and video camera. Better to throw the tape out than never to have it at all.

Just some thoughts – best of luck.

3

If you do your homework and establish contact way before the camp dates, so that your daughter is on the “list” of recruits being looked at by those schools, the NFCA camps are a great venue for recruiting. At 53mph, if you are just blindly going in hoping to be noticed, you will probably be disappointed.

4

Don’t wear her out too soon. If she’s good, she’ll stay good. None of the academically selective schools will be very interested until she’s got some HS grades and/or test scores.