I didn't see Austin until I returned home that evening. By then, he had a full day of school, then practice until 5pm. When I walked through the door that evening, he looked excited to see me.
"When is Kent coming?" he asked. I looked at Missy, then at the tin box clutched firmly in his hand.
"He's been looking out the window for over an hour thinking Kent is coming early," she said.
"He should be here by 7:00," I said. "Are you ready?
Austin nodded.
"Are you sure you're ready? "I asked.
"I'm ready dad."
We ate dinner and everybody helped clear the dishes before Kent arrived. Soon, there was a knock at the door and the boys ran to open it.
"Good evening boys, mind if I come in?" asked Kent.
"Did you bring Ranger?" Alec asked.
"Sure did, he's right here," Kent said, as Ranger stuck his nose between Kent's legs. He saw Alec and began to wag his tail as Alec kneeled to place his hands around his head and gave him a big hug.
Kent and Ranger entered the door and we all said our hellos. Our boys loved these visits with Kent, so they steered him to the kitchen table; Missy made Kent a cup of coffee; and we all sat down at the table to review Austin's assignment from the night before. Marshall and Alec sat there on each side of Kent, eager to see how their older brother fared with this important assignment.
"Well Austin, open that box up and tell us what Card # 1 says your assignment was for this evening," Kent said
"I was supposed to write the names of the 20 college baseball programs I would like to play for," he said.
"And did you do that?" asked Kent.
"Yes Sir, I did!"
"Ok, let's have them. Will you read them out loud?" asked Kent.
Austin read them off...
-Cal State Fullerton
-TCU
-Texas
-Oregon State
-Arizona State
-Utah
-Arizona
-Washington State
-Rice
-Vanderbilt
-South Carolina
-Pepperdine
-Florida
-North Carolina
-New Mexico
-UCLA
-USC
-Cornell
-Florida State
-Nebraska"
"Well, congratulations," Kent said. "These are real good! Each of these schools is what they call NCAA Division-1 schools. Now the most important thing I want you to know about this whole recruitment process - and this assignment in particular, is how critically-important it is to any players' college recruitment success that each player introduce themselves to the college programs they want to play for, and to form a strong and favorable impression on the coaches you ultimately want to recruit you.
Kent paused to let that statement sink in.
"Austin, the point I can't over-emphasize enough to you is that there are so many players that fail in their efforts to become recruited because they never take the time to introduce themselves to the programs they want to play for.
They don't write the letters.
They never fill out the player questionnaires.
They never prepare their Game for a higher level of competition.
But with a certainty, they will always show up at the camps and showcases with the mentality that if they pay the fee, they'll surely be recruited.
Most of them leave the event feeling like they were playing invisible.
And you know what? They were invisible: The recruiting coaches attending the same event never knew who they were!
At these events-especially the big events you're going to in the summer and fall, there will be somewhere between 1,000-1,500 other players – each of them competing against you for the attention of the 300-500 recruiting coaches attending the same event. These recruiting coaches can't realistically see every player play at these events. So they go to these events looking to fill the existing needs within their program. They already know what positions they're looking to fill, so they go to these events to see how the players they already know of, are performing against an advanced level of competition.
The other players who don't introduce themselves? Well, from my experience, they'd better pray they do something huge during their games that cause all the coaches to take notice, because if they don't, they won't be seen."
"It's a school night and I don't want to overstay my welcome, but if your mom and dad will let me, let's open up your box, and take a look at that 2nd card in there," Kent said. "I want to review this one with you, and then let you work on it over the next week."
Missy and I nodded to Kent to continue.
"Ok Austin, what does the card say," said Kent?
Austin lifted the card out of the box, and studied the card for a moment, then said, "Card #2. Write your Letters of Introduction."
YOU ARE READING
A Field of Dreamers
Ficción GeneralOur path into the college baseball recruiting experience started much like most other families in youth baseball: We knew nothing. What originally started out as an activity to play on the weekends with our sons and their friends, grew over the yea...
