Finding the Right Fit from the Start

The college recruiting process has been fast and furious for some prospective student-athletes (PSA) who are in or entering their junior year of high school. Since September 1st, when Division I coaches were allowed to contact them directly, some PSA’s have already made verbal commitments, visited campuses in record time, and sent countless emails to coaches hoping for a reply.

The recent trend of early commitments in college sports has raised some questions and concerns. How do players decide to commit to a program when they have barely interacted with the coaches and the campus? How does this affect their mental health and their loyalty to their current teams? In this newsletter, we will explore these issues and their implications for the future of college sports.

In a recent tweet by Cindy Bristow, founder of the popular Pitching/Hitting Summits and current pitching coach at UC Riverside, she stated just 56% of all softball players who entered the NCAA Transfer Portal this year found new programs.

Now there are a few things to consider when looking at this stat:

1. What % of those entering the portal are graduate or 5th-year players granted an extra year due to COVID-19?

2. What % of those “taken out of the portal” already had a program in mind or a travel ball* coach advocating for them before entering the portal?

   >Note: College coaches are not permitted to contact players with eligibility unless they are officially in the portal. A simple process by contacting their on-campus compliance officer; even by-passing coaches. *Travel ball coaches currently do not have any rules or regulations governing the amount and timing of communication they have with coaches and current college players.

3. What % of those players are rising Sophomores?

In a world where AI is slowly taking over the rate at which we do things online such as generate letters, presentations, and images, CHAT-GPT has not caught up with calculating current NCAA Transfer portal statistics. One prompt we’d like to ask is can you break down by academic year how many seniors, juniors, sophomores, and graduate students are in the NCAA transfer portal that play softball?

Navigating the NCAA Transfer Portal, should you have the elusive ability to access “the portal”, is tedious. Once through the NCAA security login gate, you can filter by sport, division, school, and competition term (i.e., Spring 2023). The user must click on each name to determine graduation year but must Google their name for position and any relevant statistics. For some college coaches, hitting the refresh button in the spring to see who “enters” is a competitive recruiting pastime. How quickly can they make contact and how fast can they act to bring top names on campus to fill empty spots from their players choosing to find greener pastures?

The transfer portal is not a sure bet and it’s certainly not an easy out. It’s quickly become the norm that’s sadly familiar to many players and families because of the years of competing and the ability to jump from team to team during the travel ball circus recruiting years. We ask about the number of sophomores in the portal because of the array of variables that a player may verbally commit just north of the aforementioned September 1st date.

What potential factors can play a role in a player choosing to accept an offer that could lead to mental health issues and impact their overall experience?

• Did a coach put a “deadline” on an offer before it would expire or threaten they would move on?

• Did a family feel pressured into accepting because it was the ONLY offer?

• Did the parents play a persuasive role in accepting because it “looks good” and gives them “bragging rights”?

What are some factors that SHOULD be considered before accepting an offer?

• Did I visit campus? Have I taken a full campus tour driven by Admissions or the coaching staff?

• Does the school have my intended major or a variety of majors if undecided?

• Have I built a relationship with coaches either through camps/clinics or extensive conversations and an on-campus visit (official or unofficial)?

• Have I met any of the players? Were the positive? Did they speak highly of the coaching staff? Did they respect their teammates?

• Can I see myself here for 4 years …. even if I do not play?

• If a partial scholarship offer, can my family afford the remaining cost of attendance or am I willing to take out a supplemental loan if needed?

• Have I seen that program compete? Do I have the physical ability to be competitive at that level?

• How many other players are being recruited for your position?

• Am I comfortable with the distance of the school to your home?

• Am I comfortable or do I feel anxious about the size of the campus? How long will it take to walk from my dorm to my classes? Where is the softball field?

• What is the student-to-professor ratio in the classroom?

Finding the answers to all of these questions, and inevitably a few we forgot to ask, will help you answer the question IS THIS SCHOOL THE RIGHT FIT? Finding the right fit from the start will not only lead to greater chances of mental well-being, comfortability, academic success, athletic performance, and resiliency.

After the end of your first year in residency and eligibility, playing time should not be an indicator of overall happiness. If you’ve done your due diligence from the beginning and asked the right questions, you chose your school because it was a “good fit” and not because you were guaranteed a starting position. Unfortunately, many players choose to gamble in the Transfer Portal for this reason. It should be a rule of thumb that rising sophomores are not allowed to enter the portal solely for this reason. It’s rare, not impossible, for Freshmen to break into the starting lineup.

Do you ever feel like you’re living in a microwave? Everything has to be done in seconds. Thanks to technology and social media, we have everything at our fingertips. But is that a good thing? I remember the days when we had to wait for our favorite movie to come out on VHS, get in the car drive to Blockbuster, and hope it was in stock to rent. It was a whole experience that was sometimes disappointing if you left with a movie you’d already seen. Someone’s college experience both on and off the field is not like a microwave, it’s a slow cooker. The best things take time and so should finding the right fit.

As a parent, you want your child to have a fulfilling college experience. That means finding the right fit for their academic and athletic goals. Don’t let the pressure of college coaches or your expectations limit their options. Encourage your child to ask questions, visit different campuses, and explore different divisions of competition. Their happiness and well-being are more important than your pride or reputation.

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