Parents: Take an active role in your son or daughter's sports interest. If your child is not interested in pursuing the opportunity to play at the college level, this article is not for you. We see opportunities for players to take that important first step with the college coach missed by the inability to complete the most basic information sharing.
At a recent 17u Perfect Game event, several reminders were sent to coaches, well in advance of the tournament right up to a week before the event, to complete their online roster. Perfect Game provides an enormous benefit to players through their the online roster and player profile system for players of all ages. The system is used by colleges coaches and professional scouts at all levels. Completing the roster and profile can be a time consuming task that draws the disgust of some that it is even suggested that they do this step. We get it.
- The coach has his own spreadsheet list with all the information.
- The team is only playing in this one event and since each tournament asks for this information why even do it.
- The coach is busy. Between work and coaching, there is not much time left for doing paperwork.
- Maybe the players do not want to play sports in college.
We want you to have a sense of the other perspective on the Perfect Game team roster and player profile.
- College coaches search to find the best players to fit into their program. They travel to multiple tournaments in a variety of states to find their players. They may be tracking up to 100 players through the spring and summer for a year or two. All these players have a very similar set of skills and a desire to play in college. When the college coach wants information on a player, the online roster and player profile from Perfect Game serves as a fast and informative resource. When that information is not online, they can choose to go looking for that information or move on to the next player. If your son wants to play baseball in college, do not let the lack of information be the reason. Do not make the college coach go looking for that roster sheet in the coaches backpack for contact information, grades or the high school where they play.
- How many colleges need to be interested in your son or daughter for them to play at the next level? One. They need one college to commit to bringing them into their college program. So if it is just one tournament, couldn't that be the only opportunity they need to impress a coach. You do not know when the right person will see your son or daughter at the right time and that is all it takes! Get one college to commit to your son or daughter and then they can decide if they want to commit to the college.
- We sat and talked with a college coach who did not understand why teams do not take the time to showcase their players with the online roster and profile. College coaches can not be at every tournament. They can not see every game played at one tournament or even every inning in one game. They talk to people who suggest they look into a player. That coach needs a reliable resource to start their research. Make it easy on the college coach.
- As we mentioned earlier if your son or daughter does not want to play sports in college, then there is no need to have a team roster except to fill the tournament requirements. Are you sure the player does not want to play in college?
How can you as a parent be active and play a role to help?
- Look at the rosters for the other teams online in the tournament.
- Make sure your team has an online roster completed.
- See if the players have profiles.
- Make sure your son or daughter has accurate information shown about them on any roster or profile that is created.
- Keep the information and picture, in the case of Perfect Game, updated.
- Repeat as needed!
Best of luck to all that are pursuing that college sports commitment! Work hard, play smart, make sure there is an online roster and fill out your profile!
