The last day of the NFCA Convention held on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014 in Las Vegas included a very interesting and informative three-hour “Travel Ball Curriculum” panel with college coaches at every level.

The coaches panel included:

• Tim Walton (Florida)
• Jen McIntyre (UConn)
• Larissa Anderson (Hofstra)
• Randy Simkins (Dixie State, DII)
• Keith Parr (Christopher Newport, DIII)
• Pat Reardon (Central Methodist, NAIA)
• Darci Brownell (Sierra College, CAL JC)
• Joe Yegge (Kirkwood CC, JUCO DII)

Kevin Shelton, the head of the Texas Glory organization, was honored as the Travel Ball Coach of the Year during the convention and was the moderator for the panel. He did a great job in asking questions relevant to the interaction between club players and coaches and college coaches.

He also took notes of what the speakers said and below are the summarized answers to Kevin’s questions.

He explains, “Each coach had an opportunity to offer their thoughts. It is important to note that the questions were not answered in the same order and coaches were not redundant so if a point of view had been expressed by every coach, it may not have been explicitly reiterated, but it does not mean they did not share a point of view. It was a free flow of ideas – try to read it in the context that it is provided –and, primarily, is new information for those who need it and amplifying info for the more experienced coaches.”

Here are the some of the questions with the summarized answers:

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5 things I wish I could communicate directly to every travel ball PLAYER…

Tim Walton (Florida)

• Your freshman year of HS matters – take care of your grades
• Social Media Matters – be careful

Jen McIntyre (UConn)

• D1 Schools have 12 scholarships – not everyone is on a full ride
• There are lots of other places to get aid – look for it
• Study hard – good grades optimizes your options for athletic scholarships

Larissa Anderson (Hofstra)

• Go See watch college Games – All levels
• Find a good fit – intersection of your needs, abilities and program fit
• Avoid the generic email

Randy Simkins (Dixie State)

• 50/10/5
• It’s the Kids job to communicate
• Teach the kids how to play the game

Keith Parr (Christopher Newport)

• Find a good fit
• Visit lots of schools

Pat Reardon (Central Methodist)

• Don’t Forget the non D1 Schools – there are lots levels out there
• Look for an academic fit

Darci Brownell (Sierra College)

• Respect the game

Joe Yegge (Kirkwood CC)

• Good Students can play JUCO too
• Be an athlete – play other sports

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5 things I wish I could communicate directly to every travel ball PARENT…

Tim Walton (Florida)

• Parents, we are watching you
• Let the kids play – take the pressure off them
• Roll players are a priority
• Understand what you can afford – there are not a lot of full scholarships
• Understand what an offer means
• What are kids goals
• Can your athlete handle the school work
• Understand how a scholarship works – semester to semester, year to year

Jen McIntyre (UConn)

• Education kids on how to make a call to a college coach – have a plan. One word answers are not optimal

Larissa Anderson (Hofstra)

• The way your athlete communicates to you matters – we are watching

Keith Parr (Christopher Newport)

• Schools are in the process of eliminating – don’t give us a reason to eliminate you
• We want to see athletes fail – and how they react after they fail

Pat Reardon (Central Methodist)

• NAIA has no recruiting rules so the coaches can talk to athletes and parents at any time
• We’ll go anywhere we need to, to see recruit athletes.

Joe Yegge (Kirkwood CC)

• Watch your spend on camps/clinics. Consider choices carefully

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5 things I would like to tell every CLUB COACH…

Tim Walton (Florida)

• Trust and relationship between club coach and college coach matters
• A response to an email does not mean we are recruiting a kid
• College Coaches want to provide a good experience

Jen McIntyre (UConn)

• Know the game and recruiting rules

Larissa Anderson (Hofstra)

• Let the kids choose their school – avoid steering them
• Follow up with your kids when they go off to college – stay interested in your kids
• Understand NCAA rules
• Be honest with kids and us

Randy Simkins (Dixie State)

• Teach your athletes “why” so they can take ownership of their actions in the game – NO Robots
• Let catchers run

Keith Parr (Christopher Newport)

• There is a big gap between travel ball, high school and college
• Practice more – work on your skills
• Continue to get better yourself

Pat Reardon (Central Methodist)

• Help your kids evaluate all levels of college ball
• Watch all level of ball so you know what each level looks like

Darci Brownell (Sierra College)

• Don’t forget about Cal JC
• There is a place for every athlete
• We keep getting robots – let your athletes think for themselves and think the game

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Athletes are arriving in college unprepared… how are they unprepared?

Tim Walton (Florida)

• Need to understand Arm Care
• Life skills are lacking
• Poor base runners and bunters

Jen McIntyre (UConn)

• Athletes don’t know what it means to work hard
• Athletes don’t know what it means to practice
• They struggle to coach themselves

Larissa Anderson (Hofstra)

• Instincts are lacking
• Don’t understand game management
• Club coaches need to do a better job teaching the game

Randy Simkins (Dixie State)

• Teach them how to fail and how to recover
• Teach them how to be a role player

Keith Parr (Christopher Newport)

• Not ready for academic load
• Be ready to seek help with studies

Pat Reardon (Central Methodist)

• Time management

Darci Brownell (Sierra College)

• Understand the pace of practice
• Time management is a challenge
• Arm Care

Joe Yegge (Kirkwood CC)

• Not ready for practice
• Like skills
• Courtesy & Manners

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How do we decide which showcases/tournaments to attend?

Tim Walton (Florida)

• We go where our players are
• Seek the best teams against the best teams

Jen McIntyre (UConn)

• We’ll go where ever the kids we are recruiting go

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Advice on recruiting videos…

Tim Walton (Florida)

• We can find a player on video
• Keep it short

Jen McIntyre (UConn)

• Keep them short
• Used to eliminate athletes
• Can find athletes via video