Where are the College Coaches? Why aren’t they at all of our games? How do I get more Colleges to follow my players?
These are all valid questions asked by several travel baseball coaches across
the Country. The name of the game is ‘exposure’ for the players, which is
what most travel baseball tournament organizers and travel baseball teams want for
the players; the opportunity to showcase their talents in front of College Coaches and
have an opportunity to play at the next level. But the reality is, College
Coaches simply cannot be at every game you play. The good news, there are
still ways to build relationships with Colleges and provide information to
them about your players even when they can’t attend the games.
5 Ways to Enhance Your Team’s Exposure
1. Build Relationships with Colleges
The Colleges need to know you, your organization, and who your players are.
You cannot leave this up to the travel baseball tournament organizers – they do not know
your players like you do. Take the time to communicate to the area colleges
about your program and the top prospects on your team. Like any
relationship, it takes time to build trust; so don’t get discouraged if Colleges
don’t immediately respond to your emails and calls – remember, they have a
full time responsibility to their program and to their own families. If you have
prospects and continue to communicate to them about those prospects and
your upcoming travel baseball tournaments, they will make the effort to watch and follow your
team.
2. Tell the Truth About Players
If you are going to enhance your relationships with College recruiter, you
have to tell the TRUTH about the players. The quickest way to ‘burn the
bridge’ with a College Coach is to over-promise on a player’s ability; the
coach travels to watch the game and the player does not carry the same
attributes you described. The next time you ask a College to attend the
game to watch a player, they may not attend.
3. Choose the Right Events
There are a lot of travel baseball tournament options across the Country. Some good, some
great, and some not so good. Do your research on the travel baseball tournament organizer
and ask them questions about college attendance and player exposure. Does
the tournament have any additional player coverage? For example, social
media coverage or live streaming video. What is the history of the event?
Were there Colleges attending in the past? What’s the competition level. These are all valid questions that the good travel baseball tournament organizers will have this information.
4. Build a Reputable Brand
The baseball network is the biggest, smallest network you can find. Coaches
talk to Coaches. Scouts talk to Colleges. Colleges talk to other Colleges. The
word-of-mouth endorsement of your travel baseball organization carries a lot of weight in
the baseball world. If you lie about players, have no rosters, disrespect
umpires, etc… that word will travel quickly across the baseball network. To
build a quality brand, make it about the PLAYERS. Do everything you can to
create opportunities to showcase, teach, coach, and mentor the players. If
you do right by the players and right by the game, you will be respected in
the baseball network.
5. Update Your Rosters
You have the relationships with Colleges, you have chosen the best events
for your amateur baseball team, your brand is starting to gain some respect, and it is
time for Colleges to come watch your players – and you have NO Roster.
Colleges can’t make notes on players, the tournament organizer can’t track
stats, tag players on social media, update the player profile. If this is truly
about the PLAYER and HIS/HER exposure to gain opportunities to play at the
next level, make sure you have accurate rosters inputted online and in-hand
at the scouted baseball tournament. It creates immediate credibility to colleges, other
organizations, and tournament organizers.
