Is Softball College Recruiting Getting Out of Hand?

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

Once again, I have the NFCA's Fastpitch Delivery newspaper to thank for this week's topic on softball college recruiting. I hope a new issue comes soon, as I'm now out of topics from the current issue.

Michelle Venturella, Olympic Gold Medalist and now head coach at the University of Illinois Chicago, brought up a topic many of us probably wonder about — the increasingly younger ages at which high school players are being recruited.

It's something I've wondered about a lot in the last few years. Most of the high schoolers I've known who didn't plan on playing college softball had a very difficult time deciding what school to go to during their senior year. How can a freshman or sophomore make such an important decision with so little life experience?

Choosing a college is a huge decision, and one that affects the rest of your life. There are a lot pieces that go into that decision — size of the school, geographic location (how far from home), what majors they offer, what majors they're good at, what the student body is like, etc. How can a freshman or sophomore who is still taking basic requirement courses possibly know what she wants to major in and all the other pieces of the decision?

Sure, she may have a good idea of the size of school in which she wants to play softball. But what about her major? What if what she wants to do for the rest of her life isn't offered by the school who cuts her the best deal to play ball? Does she forego that career to play? Or does she look for another school?

Then there's the maturity factor. If you're an adult, think back on when you were 14 or 15 — after all, that's the age we're talking about. How ready were you to make such an important decision at that age? Odds are you had a tough time deciding where to go for lunch, much less what college you wanted to attend. I know I did.

The kids are under pressure to make a decision. The parents are under pressure to make a decision. It's a mess.

It's not good for the coaches either. These days, college coaches are being asked to decide if a 14 or 15 year old will be a good fit in their programs in three to four years. A lot can happen in those years. As those freshmen and sophomores become juniors and seniors they can get into all sorts of things. What may have seemed like a good idea at the time might not turn out so well by the time that student-athlete graduates in three years.

Here's the problem: as long as some coaches are recruiting that early, the rest have to follow. Otherwise, they may find they are left behind in the race for the top players.

What's needed is for the NCAA, the NFCA, or the coaches independently to recognize the madness in what they're doing and make an agreement to stop.

Do I think it will happen? Probably not. In fact, given the current trend it will probably go the other way. Before long playing 18U Gold, 16U or even 14U will be unimportant, because college coaches will be falling all over themselves to sign 12 year olds. Of course, by then 12U players will be pitching from 43 feet so at least the coaches will have a good look at how those kids will play when they get to the college game — in six years.

I hope I'm kidding, but I'm not so sure. The way things are now is crazy. Maybe if parents will learn to say "No, my daughter's not ready yet" the situation will reverse, and we'll get back to recruiting revolving around kids who are actually ready to make a college decision. We can always hope.

Anyway, that the way I see it.