QuestionMy daughter is entering her 3rd club season. She will be a 16U. She has a couple of great opportunities to play. She is interested in playing in college so we feel pressure to make the correct decision. What is more important to a potential recruiter? - being on a high ranked team where you may not get as much play time? or being on an adequate team where you are a top player and going to get more attention on that team? Same travel tournaments for both. Similar quality of coaching, Similar practice schedule.
We would have to choose the adequate team before the high ranked teams tryouts (which she played for last season) They did tell us if we declined we could try one makeup date tryout to maybe receive another offer. It is putting a lot of stress on her and us. Any advice would be welcome as we keep going around and around! Thank you.
AnswerGood morning!
Welcome to www.allexperts.com.
It's wonderful to hear from you!
If you were asking me, "On which team will she improve more," the answer is the high-ranked team.
But, since you're asking me, "Which team is more important in recruiting," I would say either is fine. Many people believe that the quality of the team matters. Yeah, a little. (More on that below!) However, college coaches are looking for:
academics,
potential,
athleticism,
and character.
And they can discover how much of each your daughter possesses regardless of what team she's on.
Soon, if not already, your daughter will make a skills tape. From that, coaches will see her athleticism and potential, and if they're interested, they will then make plans to see her play in person. They will receive her transcript. She will be a good kid 24/7, on time for school, no social media issues, etc. THIS will get recruited faster than whatever team she's on.
Now, the higher-ranked team will get more casual looks from the college coaches who are just walking by. Why? B/c let's say high-ranked is at BigSouth. The team will probably be playing no lower than in the USA division, and that will probably be in the a.m. wave along with the open teams. But, if you're on the adequate team, it will probably be playing American, which is in the p.m. division, along with the other adequate teams, and all the 12's, 11's and 10's. This allows the college coaches to come from 8am to 2pm, then take the rest of the day off. Why? B/c 90% of who they want to see will be playing in the open & USA divisions.
Finally: Here's the bow on this package: Does your daughter have a preference? Is it a certain coach? certain teammates? If so, then I recommend she go for that.
Do you have video of your daughter? If so, can I see it? And can I send it to the 4 college coach who work for me? Yes, they work for me at my Expectations Camps. I direct camps each summer that have 1 college coach AND 1 college player per 8 girls. The cost is 1/2 of what those huge university camps cost you. You know, the one with the impressive brochures and corporate sponsors? My camps are called High Expectations (June 28-30) and College Expectations (July 1-3) and info on them can be found at www.coachhouser.com Last year there are 55 girls at High and about 40 at College. It was a BLAST!!
Is there anything else I can do for you?
If there's ever anything, please contact me here or at
[email protected]
I hope it's a great Monday and a wonderful week!
Coach Houser
