I sent my video to a school about a week ago. the coach emailed me back and told me he enjoyed watching the tape and was going to speak with me soon. but at the end of the email he said he hoped to see me in the school's camp. is he filling a camp or interested?

Has he actually seen you play in person or just on the video? Most good coaches will want to see you in person and he does want to fill his camp....

I agree with Homerun in that has this Coach actually seen you yet, especially in person?

At the same time, if you're truly interested in this school, then it couldn't hurt to get in front of the Coaches to let them see your talent.

It's a 2-edged sword actually.

Your not going to get an offer based solely on a video. The fact that the coach took the time to send you an email inviting you to his camp should be enough for you. The coach figures if your really interested in coming to his school then you should be interested enough to come to his camp so they can actually see you.

My son signed with the school he went to camps at. He went to a camp when he was 10 years old and then every summer and winter for the next 4 years. More importantly than them being able to see him play was the fact they were sold on the type of kid he was. When he was old enough to start being recruited all they needed to do was see him play. They already knew what kind of kid he was. And there was no doubt about his desire to be a part of their program.

I am not suggesting that you go to every camp they have. But what I am trying to say is if you really want to go to a school you should also really want to go to their camp and let them not only see you play but get to know what type of young man you are. And it gives you the opportunity to see what they are all about as well.

Some schools do use camps as money makers only. But some schools sign several kids every year out of their camps. And they also start a file on the ones that they are interested in for the future. Good luck

Coach we had 3 offers just on a DVD. The offer we accepted they never saw son until he arrived on campus. There were several that wanted to see him before they would make an offer but several didn't care.
We never went to ant camps.

Your son must be a pitcher? And he must have very good fluid mechanics.

And this from where I am from is very unusual. Did he have some good references to call for him?

Tigerfan_09, you don't say so specifically but from your name I'm guessing you're a rising senior.

If that is so, then you are at the point where the coach can call you once a week to communicate. You of course can also communicate by e-mail and by initiating a telephone call. The main thing that has changed is that if your call doesn't find him in or available, now he can return your call, whereas prior to July 1 he could not.

If you are playing for a summer and/or fall travel team, you should make sure the coach is aware of your team and your schedule. This will give him an opportunity to see you pitch in game action. If you're lucky, then this is his primary reason for asking you to come to a camp, so that he can see you perform in person.

If he's just trying to sell his camp, then doing it one player at a time is not very efficient, so I think it's reasonable to assume this is not his motive.

You might try calling to say, "I am very interested, I am going to come to your camp, would it be possible for me to combine this with a tour of the campus (etc.)? Will there be a chance for me to talk to you in person?" And send a follow-up e-mail including a schedule of when/where you will be pitching in game action.

If you get a response, and if they do help you to set up taking the standard prospective student tour the same weekend as the camp, this shows more than passing interest.

On the other hand, if you get to the camp and the coach doesn't bother to show up much less talk to you, that would indicate he felt he had bigger fish to fry. And while that involves you finding that out at some expense, if that's going to be the case, better to find out sooner than later.

If money is really tight and a big issue, you might try asking about the specific program and coach's reputation on such things before you pay the camp fee. Because the outcome will vary quite a bit from school to school.

E.g., we went to camps at UVA and UNC where all the coaches, including the head, were present all weekend and very active in communicating with players. At Clemson, we saw a lot of the assistants and we saw the head coach a little bit. A lot of recruiting discussions took place with players identified at these camps, on the spot. At N.C. State, in contrast, the camp brochure promised the presence of the head coach but he never showed, and there was very little presence even from assistant coaches. The camp turned out to be run by local high school coaches. There was no recruiting activity and no follow-up with players whatsoever.

So if you were asking me about a place I was familiar with, my answer would vary based on which school you were asking about. There is no "one size fits all" answer.

Midlo- You said that you attended the UVA camp. My son is going to the Young-Harris showcase next weekend. They stated in their flyer that UVA attended last year, so, my son looked up his degree program, which they have. He then sent a letter by reg mail to the head coach along with his bio and 2008 stats. About 5 days later he got a personal email from the head coach detailing the team, their goals and how they recruit 8 players per year to keep a balanced roster. Then that same night we got the camp invite from the recruiting coord. My son has emailed the coach asking some questions and received prompt replies. Based on your experience, would this sound like a legitimate recruiting interest to get him to the camp to look at or just get him to the camp to fill it?

Coach no references. Just his Dads wonderful promotional and negotiating skills.

It was the quality of the video and the opponents. No HS video although I support playing HS ball.

Onething I noticed is that if they saw the video and were interested they didn't waste any time getting you to talk offer. I also noticed after the fact that coaches seemed to go to the same school of stall tactics if they were interested but not ready to make an offer.
We received several glossy BB programs for schools all over the country.
D1 JC invited us for personal workouts if teh video was not enough. One Florida JC had 2 players that my son pitched against very successfully and that helped when I pointed it out and directed him to the video.
We only had 1 camp invite and that was from Miami U. I felt it was a money grab.

Equipman, even though my son was hurt (back) at the time he still received a lot of attention from the Young Harris showcase. Not only did every college coach that was listed on their camp invite showed up, but many others as well. Be sure to attend the Parent Q&A seminar on the first night I believe. They have Coaches from all levels there and you'll walk away knowing what they look at when recruiting.

FYI, I read in the local paper a few weeks back that Young Harris will soon be a 4yr school but I'm not sure when.

Bobble your son is a pitcher correct? It sounds like you did a great job. And it also sounds like you saved yourself some money. Congrats!