When to Attend a College Camp

Kelly Kulina: Your Link to the Colleges

When is it a good time to go to a college camp or showcase? More importantly, which ones do you attend? These are the types of questions the Exclusive Program staff answers everyday, and I wanted to give you the Reader’s Digest version of what we cover with our players.

High school baseball players will often mistake camp invites and questionnaires to mean that they are a recruited athlete at that institution. If you check page 77 and 78 of the NCAA’s Division I manual, you’ll read that the following make you a “recruited athlete”:

• Providing the prospective student-athlete with an official visit
• Having an arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with the prospective student-athlete or the prospective student-athlete’s parent(s), relatives or legal guardian(s)
• Initiating or arranging a telephone contact with the prospective student-athlete, the prospective student athlete’s relatives or legal guardian(s) on more than one occasion for the purpose of recruitment
• Issuing a National Letter of Intent or the institution’s written offer of athletically related financial aid to the prospective student-athlete. Issuing a written offer of athletically related financial aid to a prospective student-athlete to attend a summer session prior to full-time enrollment does not cause the prospective student-athlete to become recruited

Notice how there’s no mention of attending a camp or talking to someone after a showcase. Don't get me wrong, camps and showcases are a vital part of the recruiting process for both players and coaches. They give college coaches the important opportunity to watch prospective student-athletes on the field, and players the opportunity to showcase their skills beyond video. However, to get the most out of this part of the process, there needs to be a method to the madness.

When considering a camp or showcase, there are several things that you need to ask yourself:

• Is this a school I’m interested in?
• Is the host school or some of the schools in attendance a good fit for me athletically and academically? If you can’t answer this question, you should consider getting a third party evaluation of your skills, which doesn’t include your parents and high school or travel coaches.
• Have I had contact with someone on the baseball staff? Would they know who I am when I arrive? Have they seen me play before or on video?
• What are their recruiting needs for the upcoming year?
  

The questions in the third bullet point have to do with going to a camp/showcase as a “camper” or as a “prospect.” A camper is someone that simply got the invite, signed up and showed up. A prospect is someone that has already been in touch with a college coach, has been seen in person or on video, and just needs to get in front of the rest of the staff. Naturally, the prospects in attendance will draw much more attention from the coaches than the campers.

So, when you received the camp invite, you should have already responded. If you haven’t previously written to the staff, now would be a good time to introduce yourself and explain why you’re interested in the program (and that you’re considering the camp). Further, if the staff hasn’t seen you play before, this is the time to forward any video you have. Only when you have individual contact (not mass-mailed e-mails) with a college coach should you consider the camp or showcase.

As a wrap-up, here are a few assumptions you CANNOT make when considering a camp or showcase:

• I am automatically a prospect.
• If I don’t attend, they won’t be interested in me.
• I am attending this camp to earn a scholarship or roster spot.
• This is the only opportunity for this school to see me play.
• The more I attend, the better off I’ll be.
• Camps and showcases are one in the same.
• Every coach is going to be able to see me and I’ll get a fair share of exposure.
  

For most prospective college baseball players, camps and showcases are a must; however, taking the shotgun approach will cost a great deal of time and money for your parents, with a smaller chance of return on the investment. Do yourself a favor and take the time to lay the groundwork before jumping in the car or on a plane.


Kelly Kulina is the Senior Vice President of College Recruiting at Baseball Factory. Kulina is a former Associate Head Coach and recruiting coordinator with the University of Maryland. As a former recruiting coordinator for ten years in the ACC, Kulina has vast contacts and is widely respected throughout the nation. From 1989 to 2000, Kulina coached 46 players who were selected in the MLB draft.