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The college baseball recruiting process may take a lot of time and effort. However, the more knowledge you have about each step, the better you will manage this challenge. Below you will find some valuable recommendations that will make everything much easier and more efficient.
The five helpful tips
Start early
The most important thing when it comes to the recruiting process is to start as early as possible. For sure, you’ll face high competitiveness, so you must always be ahead of your rivals. By doing this, you increase your chances for being accepted.
Do research
Before you pick your target schools, do proper research and consider the big picture. You shouldn’t think about baseball only when choosing a school. You should rather check whether the college is a good match academically, socially and culturally. So don’t apply to an institution that is not a good athletic or academic fit.
Make an outreach
Note that it doesn’t make sense to wait for coaches to find you. It’s more beneficial for your sports career to be proactive. So reach out to coaches and follow them up on contacts. If you want to succeed, you need to build relationships with colleges by making regular phone calls and sending emails.
Develop your personality
Remember that once coaches have identified a potential candidate, they analyze their development not only on the field but also at camps and in school. Apart from having baseball skills, you must have a strong character because this is one of the most essential factors considered by the admissions committee. College representatives watch how the recruit acts on the field and behaves with his teammates and coach.
Use help
When you are trying to juggle so many things such as regular training, high school exams and the enrollment process, you may feel drained both emotionally and physically. Consistent psychological pressure and fatigue disrupt your mental health and increase the risk of failure. Therefore, you should use any kind of help available for you. Whether it’s ordering term papers from professional writers or asking an expert for your personal statement, you should delegate some part of your work. This way, you will be able to save your time and energy for things of higher priority.
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Key steps to take
1) Select a division
One of the most critical initial steps you need to take is to evaluate your expectations and talent. You need to clearly understand the best division levels to target. Hence, ask yourself whether you are ready for the demands of being a college baseball player and whether you are good enough for this role. Only after giving honest answers to these questions, you can identify which division is right for you.
2) Create a target list
As mentioned above, in-depth research of school is vital to make a good choice. After compiling a target list of colleges, you can organize them in the following way:
- safety schools are the institutions for which you more than meet the academic and athletic requirements;
- target schools have programs that are solid matches for you;
- reach schools are colleges of your dreams that have a severe competition.
Creating these categories will help you view things from a broader perspective.
3) Make a video
Personal statement is not everything when applying for a college program. To introduce yourself, create an attention grabbing video and email it to coaches. In fact, they evaluate your athletic talent mainly through your video presentation. Don’t make your video too long, 5 minutes would be absolutely enough to demonstrate your skills and prove that you are a good candidate. Just make sure that you are fully warmed up before filming and read some information about creating an impactful skills video.
4) Maintain a good reputation
Most people take social media not seriously enough, so they don’t give a thought to what they post. But do you know that some scholarship offers have been annulled for social media offenses? If you post inappropriate photos or make questionable re-tweets, there is a risk of losing your chance of being recruited for a baseball team. Keep in mind that coaches are carefully checking social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to understand whether a recruit will be a good representative for their team.
Final thoughts
The baseball recruiting process may be frustrating since it’s quite complex and time-consuming. Often, things don’t go according to your plan, which is really disappointing. But hopefully, the instructions and insider tips offered above will motivate you to be more proactive and achieve your sports goals.
Author’s BIO
Robert Griffith is a PE teacher and a baseball coach for a local school team. He believes that sports must be an integral part of anybody’s life as it’s essential for good health and personal growth. In his free time, Robert volunteers at big baseball matches or writes his sports blog.