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The High School Baseball Web gets has many very good forum topics and subsequent threads, occasionally we get a post that is "great!" The following is a copy of the actual message board post, by one of our members. It offers a parent's thoughts just after the college recruiting process, for their son has come to an end.

Thanks NVR! Posts like yours are why our humble little baseball community is so special .... people helping people, no strings attached, no fees or agendas.

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NVR1
Member
posted September 25, 2002

I came home last night to have my son meet me in the garage with a "huge" smile on his face. He hugged me and said "It's done, I committed."

This web site has been a tremendous resource for me over the last year. Perhaps our experience through the recruiting process might help someone else.

As background:

• My son was not a top, high-profile player.
  
• We had absolutely no idea of his "marketability" to a D1 program outside of our local community.
  
• He never participated in any paid-for showcases or college camps. We are not against showcases. I didn't know anything about them until I found this site last year.
  
• He did participate on strong summer teams after his Soph. and Jr. years and received an opportunity to try-out for the area code team after his soph. year and made the team this last summer.

Established Expectations:

• Location: He was to remain on the West Coast.
  
• Scholarship levels - We have a solid D1 program locally. We established in our minds what it would take $$ to have him leave our local program. This narrowed the number of "interested" schools quickly.
  
• Knew that his dream school may not need him since he is a specific position player. (Catcher)
  
• Tried to be as realistic as possible about matching the academic program to his abilities. We wanted him to truly have success and an outstanding college experience outside of baseball.

Official Visits:

• Traveling is very expensive if you plan to visit the schools with your son. The NCAA allows the schools to pay for the athlete's expenses. Some paid expenses for the parents are allowable, but not all schools will pay for them even if allowable such as lodging, etc. Make sure to understand what the university will pay for up front.
  
• Our experience was that the coaches we met were all dynamic, focused and experts in the recruiting process.
  
• Be aware that the coaches typically know each other and may be best described as a "fraternity". At the D1 level, they know who is going after who. Always be honest with them. They are like good attorneys. When they ask a question, they already know the answer. No reason to try to bluff them.
  
• Typically the players you meet are all outstanding, focused young men.

Your athlete:

• Don't discount the pressure he's under. This is a "huge" decision for him. The pressure comes collectively from the recruiting coaches (who are competitive between themselves), friends and even us as parents, without meaning to.
  
• Agent/Advisor calls. Very distracting adding additional pressure. Right or wrong, early on we found someone we felt was sincere, etc., and indicated to him that if an advisor were to be chosen in the future, he would be the one. The "others" were told of this decision and the phone calls stopped.

Scholarship offers:

• Be prepared that some coaches will make offers, even some very large offers at the initial meeting. We didn't expect that. The coaches would have been willing to negotiate immediately, but in return would want an immediate commitment. No use going there initially unless the school is the "one".
  
• Coaches would give deadlines for acceptance of their offers, even this early.
  
• We never had coaches ask about household income, etc. I guess we expected some discussion about it, but it was never brought up.
  -Coaches volunteered specifics about playing time, hitting order, etc. Didn't expect that with every coach or school.
  
• *** Be a good listener. Much information needs to be absorbed during the interview process in respect to the coaches as individuals, their program, etc. If the coaches are recruiting your son, no need to promote him to them. They already know his abilities probably better than you.
  
• Find outside sources to use as "Sounding Boards". They help to keep perspective.

At the end of the day, we know our son made the right decision, for him. He was extremely fortunate/lucky in having strong programs to select from. Any choice would have been a good one.

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