With the recent announcement of new legislation involving D1 Softball recruiting, Cheri Naudin, founder of Collegiate Sports Advocate, and Erin Sykes, former Division 1 player and coach, break down what this new rule means and the positive and negative effects this will have on players, their families, and coaches. Although they were a little surprised about how stringent NCAA went to overcorrect, both are in agreement that the development of the players are going to be benefited in this situation. The stickiness with the teams that can get players to the next level will be better, the coaches will dive in a little deeper, and the good clubs will rise.

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It’s been awhile since we’ve done a show, but so many of those young athletes I work with are softball players. Many of them, especially their parents, have been reaching out to me trying to get a better grasp, a better understanding of the decision that was made at the NCAA Division 1 Level softball. What were some of the changes and how it was going to impact in terms of the recruiting and the commitment process? How’s that going to impact their players? That’s not my specialty. I don’t have all the answers. I can help them how to work with the stress around it. Hadn’t had some more up my alley, but what I decided to do was call a special additional Full Force Live podcast.

I’ll bring in my very dear friends from CSA, which is the Collegiate Sports Advocates, the Founder, Cheri Naudin, as well as one of our advocates, Erin Sykes, who was a former Division 1 player and a Division 1 coach in her own right, and to bring them in here and have them answer my questions, breakdown what these new rules mean, what are the positives, what are the negatives, what are some specific situations that’s going to help us as parents or as players to make the best decisions possible in these next couple of years, so that we can enjoy and live our best life both on and off the field. I’m very excited to bring you this special edition podcast. I’m excited to have Cheri and Erin on. They’re two of my favorite ladies on this planet and it’s a great show. I hope you enjoy. I hope you get the quality information that you need going to the next couple years.

Listen to the podcast here:

CSA On Changes Of D1 Softball Recruiting

Cheri, I’m happy to have you on here. I know the NCAA made their new rule when it came to the recruiting process for softball players. Can you expand on that and teach me a little bit more about what that’s about?

First of all, we’re excited because the NCAA has finally addressed some of the dysfunction that was going on in softball specifically, which was a lot of early recruiting. When we say early recruiting, we’re talking sixth graders, seventh graders, and a handful of eighth graders across the country that had made verbal commitments to major universities. It sounds so preposterous to those of us who are adults who’ve been through the student-athlete experience in college life. Making a decision like that so young and not understanding what the outcome or the issues that they might face along the way. Number one, we’re very happy about it. We were a little surprised how stringent they went to overcorrect. It’s an overcorrection at this point because what they’re now going to have to do is fit 347,000 registered high school softball players into a three-season recruiting period in order for them to find the fit. There’s a lot of positives and negatives.

What’s the fit?

The fit is an individual path. Each kid has got to decide independently not only of softball but of their academic fit and what the outcome that they’re looking for for the next 40 years. So many families and parents get caught up into the flag that they’re going to sit behind on signing day versus the degree that they’re going to get on graduation day.

I’m trying to think back to my days of what I wanted to do when I was in eighth grade. I can’t possibly imagine making a decision at that point. What are the positives of this decision for not only the families but coaches as well? Erin, what are your thoughts on it?

Some of the positives that I see are that we’re going to get back to a state where these athletes are going to be able to compete. I won’t say that they’re going to be stress alleviated, but they’re going to go back to playing the game harder with less focus on who’s coming to watch me play and things like that. As far as the coaches go, the positives are that they get to sit back and evaluate talent over a period of essentially years with some of these kids. They’re going to get an opportunity to watch them grow and develop or not grow and develop. That’s a couple of things that I see.

<figure id="attachment_984" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">D1 Softball Recruiting: Some of the positives that I see are that we’re going to get back to a state where these athletes are going to be able to compete.</figcaption></figure>

How about you, Cheri? What are the positives?

It solves a lot of the issues that’s going on in Travel Ball. There’s been an epidemic of verbal and vanish where they verbal on the team that showcase them the best and was competing at the top layer of the sport, but once they made the verbal, they would say, “I think I’ll stay closer to home and not have to travel so much and not have to pay for the expensive tournaments to compete.” What they sacrificed was playing against the level of play that they were going to face when they got to college. When they get there, they weren’t ready to play. There was a little bench sitting going on, little expectations unmet when they got there.

I hadn’t thought about that. You’re talking about the development of the players are going to be benefited in this situation.

I truly believe that the benefit will be there. The stickiness with their team that can get them to that level will be better. The coaches will dive in a little deeper, even though they have great relationships with the legacy club owners. The good clubs will rise in this and the clubs that are out there playing softball but not necessarily college-bound will struggle getting some of their kid’s committed.

Erin, do you see the same thing where they’re going to go out there and keep continuing to play against the tougher talent and be more prepared when college days come?

The opportunity to slack off of the development after you have verbaled early is a big thing. You see kids that have a high level of skill, they verbal. They decide that they don’t have to tour the country and play high-level talent. They’re going to stay closer to home and their skills diminish while other student-athletes are continuing to pour into their development. I know a great deal of coaches at a high-level that often talk about getting these kids in as freshmen and they literally don’t know the game. They spend time having to teach things to these kids that they just got overlooked because we’ve focused so hard on showcasing.

I’m glad you guys brought that up because I know with the work that I do, and the coach did with young athletes is I get so excited. I’m so happy. I’m so proud when they get that commitment, but at the same time, it’s like the next day I’m like, “Now it’s time to become a college player.” To hear you bringing up that, that’s cool. Erin, what are some of the negatives or potential negatives from this decision?

I personally dislike the lack of communication that is going to take place. There’s already, in place, limited communications depending on your graduation year. What we have been able to know through the process is where these student-athletes fit. It’s going to be a disadvantage to some that had the opportunity to learn at what level they could play. They’re going to face some heartbreak figuring out that they can’t play at that high-level Division 1 where in the past, the heartbreak was for a little bit of time and then they got to readjust their recruitment plan and look elsewhere. You’re going to see a lot of kids that don’t know where they fit in this process and come September 1st of their junior year because of their lack of knowledge and realization into what transpires with recruiti