All a mother wants for her son is to be happy and healthy… and to play college baseball? Terri* is a mother of one: an athletic young man named Jacob* who was quite gifted on the field. For years, Jacob has talked about playing in college, and Terri resolved to make it happen. She lined up three college camps for her son to attend. However, Terri had no experience in the recruiting process, and Jacob had even less.
But she had helped her son get on teams before…how should this be any different?
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The first trip went off without a hitch! Jacob hit well and that's all coaches care about right? The campus was beautiful and Jacob looked so happy. This was definitely the school for him. By the time the camp was over, Terri was already planning her future visits there. A few weeks later it was almost time for the second camp.
“Do you still want to visit these other schools? The last one seemed perfect,” Terri asked her son.
“That coach never emailed me back, guess he wasn't interested,” was Jacob's response.
How could that be? Jacob did everything well, but they weren't interested. Something must have gone wrong, but what? Terri could not believe the coaches didn't like her son, he was such a joyful young man.
Next time would be different–she'd make sure of it.
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Trip number two came around, but the second coach was worse than the first! This man barely looked at Jacob let alone spoke with him. Granted, this was a larger scout camp than the first school, but Terri didn't see anything superb about these other recruits. After a long day of drills and play, she took Jacob to speak with the coach. The coach entertained their questions and told Jacob to send him an email if he was still interested in the school. Again, this coach never responded to Jacob's email.
How could these coaches be this rude! Terri thought and decided to give him a piece of her mind. After a strongly worded email was sent to the coach, she spoke to her son about it.
“Why would you do that?!” Jacob exclaimed. “Even if he was interested, he sure isn't now.”
“Someone needs to stand up for my baby boy, and that coach needed to know how inconsiderate he was treating you,” Terri reasoned.
Now Terri was beginning to worry. No coaches have emailed Jacob, no schools were offering scholarships, and she may have only made things worse. On this next visit, she had to be on her best behavior. The day finally came for Terri to drive her son to the camp. There were two schools looking at recruits that day and Terri recognized one. As the day went on, she studied this coach's face, trying to remember how she knew him. It wasn't until Jacob and she drove back home that Terri recalled how she knew him. Why, he was a family friend!
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To make things even better, this coach actually emailed Jacob back inviting him to visit the school and meet the players. Terri was excited to reconnect with the coach in hopes of helping Jacob receive an offer. Jacob and Terri went down to the school the following week. As Jacob took some batting practice with his potential teammates, Terri took the liberty to tell everyone that the head coach knew her brother and family. Jacob heard his mother bragging about the connection.
“It's not about your family, mother, this is about me,” Jacob reminded Terri.
Luckily, the coach didn't seem to mind Terri's over-friendliness and extended an offer to her son. Seeing as they weren't receiving any offers from other coaches, Terri suggested Jacob accept. Jacob agreed and accepted the offer as soon as possible.
Reflecting on the whole process, Terri realized that some of her actions hindered her son's chances at playing in college. But she truly didn't know any better. Jacob was her only child, neither one of them had any prior experience when it came to recruiting. She may not have been perfect, but Terri intends to help other parents and families in their recruiting by telling her story. No one she knew was going to repeat her mistakes.
*Names have been changed for anonymity
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* Originally published on March 14, 2023, by Rachel Pike
