ADVOCATES
PARENTS
Prospects and their families often approach their recruiting journey with minimal knowledge and/or experience. Softball is an equivalency sport. This means that partial scholarships are awarded; then the partial scholarships are added together to fulfill/utilize the scholarship funds allotted to the program. Usually, for position players – not necessarily pitchers – the amount of athletic scholarship money awarded to a recruit is less than 40%. The Prospect – now referred to as a Recruit, since they are being “recruited” — Recruits are then left to make up the difference from an accepted offer and what will be required to attend the involved college from other sources (student loans, academic scholarships, grants, out-of-pocket, etc). The amount of scholarship money allowed to be awarded – if any – varies greatly amongst the various sanctioning bodies and levels of play. Simply go to the respective websites and research what is allowed. We believe in pursuing dreams. SOLID KNOCK’s motto is: …wondrous things grow from small hearts!
TRAVEL COACHES
College softball teams tend to be in season when high school softball is being played. Therefore, travel coaches can be highly influential in a Prospects’ recruiting process. Do your homework… the impact that a travel program has varies greatly. Some travel coaches are simply a dad coaching a team. Others are in effect, highly influential Prospect agents, possibly with strong, long established relationships with certain college coaching staffs. Prospects are encouraged to play for the most competitive, well established organization that they can secure an on-the-field roster position with. Be wary of “cash up front” investments in newly established teams/organizations. Seek the good, but remain cautious; the reality is that there are unscrupulous people in life. Fortunately, there are many good people involved in the sport of softball.
RECRUITING SERVICES
Much like with travel coaches, there is a continuum of effectiveness associated with the various recruiting services. A recruiting service representative can provide a wealth of valuable knowledge and/or experience. Recruiting Services charge for their services and provide a valuable resource for Prospects and their families. As previously suggested, there are a number of paths to secure scholarship assistance to play college softball. SOLID KNOCK advises that you solicit the Recruiting Service’s effective scholarships awarded rate. Please realize, that there are a limited number of softball scholarships available. 1.5% of Prospects will secure a D1 softball roster position. Accordingly, while not all Prospects will obtain a D1 scholarship offer, we believe that there is a collegiate sports opportunity for every Prospect. We encourage Prospects and their families to simultaneously pursue multiple paths to secure athletic scholarship assistance. SOLID KNOCK will endeavor to assist you in your efforts.