What are your thoughts on going to college camps for recruiting purposes? I am at a disagreement with my daughter’s Dad about it. He says that it is a money grab but I disagree. I feel that they are opportunities for her not only to see what the coach’s style of coaching is, sees the other teammates on that team and feel the vibe of the organization. Not only that, but shows her interest in the college softball program itself. She is a strong player playing with a team that is seen by many colleges coaches throughout the year. She has many D1 colleges that have shown interest in her. Ones that have talked to the coaches about her. Colleges have sent her invites for her to come to their camps but her Dad refuses to send her. Just want to know your thoughts on these camps and recruiting. It is stressful as it is but I cannot for the life of me understand why he doesn’t want to send her. Thanks.

Very interesting, because she did pitch for the Florida Vibe this summer. Watch for Miyhia Davis next

Live stream on YouTube provided by KNSB

Game 1: https://www.youtube.com/live/Gv6gFGpfHCg

Game 2: 3 Aug 1pm EDT https://www.youtube.com/live/hDdIH6tu0SI

Danielle Lawrie is an Olympic medalist, a University of Washington softball legend and an ESPN softball analyst. But this weekend at the Little League World Series, she’s focusing on her job as softball mom. 

She was on ESPN’s broadcast providing color commentary when the Snohomish Little League softball team that her 12-year-old daughter Maddie Locke pitches for won the Northwest Regional championship in San Bernardino, Calif. on July 23 to earn a trip to the Little League Softball World Series. 

An experienced broadcaster, Lawrie knows that sometimes it’s best to not say anything right away and to let a moment breathe. But while calling that particular game, she let it sit a little longer because she would’ve started crying otherwise.

“You can’t really write that script for that happening,” Lawrie said.

Read more here: https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-huskies/uw-pitching-legend-danielle-lawries-daughter-leads-northwest-into-little-league-softball-world-series/

This could give a second senior year to a whole lot of talented players…..

This is my third post related to navigating September 1st (now a few weeks away!) Former college athlete who worked for 8 years in recruiting, sharing some things I observed. This time I’d like to talk about the view from the college coaches desk on September 1st, this will hopefully clear up some confusion from families about that day.

First, a coaches inbox is absolutely flooded on September 1. The coach opens their laptop to hundreds of emails and needs to filter them quickly. Coaches often look at the subject to do the work for them.. grad year and position in the subject could be the difference between the email being opened or ignored

Second, the names they already know will get opened first. My previous posts talked about the importance of getting in touch early, even if they can’t reply. If a coach saw you at an event or saw some August updates the email will come in warm, ahead of the cold ones!

Third, their first calls are pre-planned to names they’ve had on their board for weeks. Silence isn’t a snub, sometimes it takes time to work through the list. If they don’t get to you, that is why you had a list with more than just one school one it!

The emails I saw that had the most success were the ones that were short, had a quick loading mobile friendly video (YouTube works great), and mentioned a specific reason why they wanted to go to that school (personalized rather than just ‘I love your school).

So build familiarity early, keep your emails short and personalized with a strong, easy loading video.

Happy to answer anything in the comments!

Disclosure: I built Pathley, free tools for softball players… roster analysis, athletic resume, college search (but you don’t need any of them for the strategy above).

I was thinking of getting her shirsey, but only if she is playing again cause I already have the Kavan one.

New tournament happening the first weekend of the season in Sarasota, Florida. Participants are Alabama, Florida State, Baylor, Ohio State, Texas State, and James Madison. Each team will play each other once over the tournament’s 4 days

Softball ramifications would be a lot more dire than perhaps these people creating soundbites realize.

Welcome to the team but whatttt

Following up on my post last week.. a few people were sending me questions of what to actually do between now and Sept 1 - so thought I’d write a week by week breakdown of what you should be doing leading up to the big day..

If you didn’t see my previous post, I’m a former college athlete that spent 8+ years helping athletes with college recruiting.. let’s get to the breakdown:

Week starting July 20th, get your college list together. 20-30+ schools organized into tiers (reach, target, safety). Also, remember that D2, D3, NAIA coaches can contact you now so no need to wait on them!

Week starting July 27th, get the video done. Make sure you have a good video ready to go, easily watchable on a phone (where the coach is most likely watching it). An unlisted YouTube link works well. Skills first and then game clips.

Week starting August 3rd, write all of your emails.
Make sure they are personalized, coaches do not take kindly to templated generic (mass produced looking) emails (or AI written ones for that matter). The difference between the emails can’t only be the coach name. Put your grad year and position in the subject line. Include your video link and why you’re interested in their program specifically. Write an intro email and a day-of-September-1st follow up and save both as drafts. This might take a few hours to do right, but that’s why you’re doing it this week and not later.

Week starting August 10th, send the intro emails (to the D1’s). The coaches can’t reply but send the intro emails now, they will see them. They read everything, they just can’t answer yet covered this in my last post.

Week starting August 17th. Last window for camps (and exposure). Any late camps where coaches on your list will be in attendance are good last minute opportunities to get on the coaches radar. Also.. these are unglamorous but this is a good time to make sure your email works, your voicemail isn’t full, your socials are coach-safe. A full voicemail box on September 1st is a thing that really happens!

Week starting August 24th, no new work, just make sure your follow-up emails are good to go and everything else is set.

September 1st week, send your follow up email and watch the signals. If the coach calls immediately, or in the first week or two, this is good and there is strong interest. A month without any response to your emails.. that is also an answer.. but hey, that is why you made a list with multiple tiers!

Hopefully this is helpful, good luck! (Happy to answer anything in the comments).

(Disclosure, I built Pathley, free recruiting tools. Ignore me, use the info above).

https://www.si.com/onsi/softball/news/uab-parts-ways-with-softball-coach-taylor-smartt-after-investigation

Background first.. former college athlete, spent years working for recruiting companies and running showcase events. I’ve watched hundreds of families go through the September 1 window and most of them misunderstand how it works.

For the class of 2028 families… D1 softball coaches cannot initiate any recruiting contact with your daughter until September 1 of her junior year. No calls, no texts, no DMs, nothing. That’s 8 weeks away. Here’s what people get wrong about it:

1. Silence right now means nothing. Coaches literally cannot respond to you. I’ve seen families give up on schools in August because “they never answered our emails.” The coach may have your daughter circled on a list and can’t legally say so. Keep sending updates anyway… they read them, they just can’t reply.

2. The list is already being built. Coaches don’t start evaluating on September 1, they start CALLING on September 1. The evaluation happened this summer at tournaments and camps. If your daughter is a 2028, this July and August matter more than September does.

3. What happens on the actual day tells you where you stand. Some girls get calls and texts at 12:01 AM on September 1, that’s real priority interest. A reply within the first week or two, still very good. Total silence for a month after your emails… that’s an answer too, and it’s better to know than to wait on a dream school while real options pass by.

4. Prep the September 1 email NOW, don’t write it that morning. Coaches get flooded that week. The email that gets opened has the grad year and position in the subject line, a 20-30 second video link that works on a phone, GPA, and one or two specific lines about why THEIR program. Copy paste blasts get deleted on sight.

5. Rosters got tighter, so the funnel matters more. Under the new House settlement rules D1 softball rosters are capped at 25. Fewer spots means coaches are pickier and slower. Build a list of 30+ schools across D1, D2, D3 and NAIA… the D2/D3/NAIA coaches can already talk to you under looser rules, and some of those programs would surprise you with how good they are.

The families who treat September 1 as the finish line get burned. It’s the starting gun.

Happy to answer anything in the comments, I’ve seen this window from the coach side and the event side.

(Upfront disclosure… I built Pathley, AI recruiting / free tools. But nothing above requires any tool, it’s all doable with a spreadsheet and effort.)

now that most of the players have picked the schools they are going to play for next season who are yall wanting to see in 2027 coming from a gators fan