{"id":11963,"date":"2019-12-28T04:30:45","date_gmt":"2019-12-28T10:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/?p=11963"},"modified":"2020-03-19T12:54:15","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T17:54:15","slug":"how-soon-is-too-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/how-soon-is-too-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"How Soon Is Too Soon?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KkJ8iBVYAOY?start=1&#038;feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">College recruiting starts earlier and earlier every year, especially for softball.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">No college coach likes recruiting early. But most realize they must in order to \u201ckeep up with the Joneses\u201d when it comes to recruiting. Right now, a Top-25 NCAA Division I softball program likely already has eighth-<\/span><span class=\"s1\">graders committed\u00a0and, inevitably, has some seventh-graders<\/span><span class=\"s1\">\u00a0offered.\u00a0 However, when people say, \u201cIt\u2019s never too early for college recruiting,\u201d that couldn\u2019t be further from the truth. For the past several years, the \u201crecruiting age\u201d has stayed stagnant, beginning with seventh- and eighth-graders <\/span><span class=\"s1\">for legitimate, top-tier Division I prospects. For the remainder of the prospects, late eighth and ninth<\/span><span class=\"s1\"> grade have proved timely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Up to this point, no college coaches have asked National Scouting Report for its &#8220;best sixth-graders.&#8221;<\/span> <span class=\"s1\">Therefore, sixth<\/span><span class=\"s1\"> grade is about one to two years too early to jump into the recruiting arena. However, this is a crucial time to begin having the conversations with your athlete about how serious they are. Talk to them about what&#8217;s necessary for success, time management, sacrifice, etc. Find out if they&#8217;re serious about playing at the next level, and want to commit to the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">As a college scout, I love working with athletes when they are entering \u201cthe recruiting age&#8221; of a seventh or eighth grade<\/span><span class=\"s1\">. Why? I love being able to \u201ctip toe\u201d them into the process and teach them along the way. It&#8217;s easier to do this without overwhelming them and without them feeling \u201crushed.\u201d At that age, we\u2019re starting with a \u201cblank slate\u201d and, therefore, not having to undo false knowledge they\u2019ve read online or heard from someone else.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Is it ever too late? Absolutely not. I\u2019ve started working with athletes after they graduated from high school and still placed them with ease. There\u2019s always someone looking for someone if the athlete is willing to keep her options open.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Bottom line? <\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Seventh grade is the best time for a softball player to begin the recruiting process, but ONLY if she meets certain criteria demonstrating she&#8217;s competent enough to start early AND has an educated advocate\/advisor walking her through. NSR is looking for prospects who are physically advanced, mentally mature, organized and meticulous with good time-management skills. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">It\u2019s best to let a professional assess whether your athlete is prepared or not to enter the recruiting process. To have her evaluated by an NSR scout,\u00a0click the button below.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; College recruiting starts earlier and earlier every year, especially for softball. No college coach likes recruiting early. But most realize they must in order to \u201ckeep up with the Joneses\u201d when it comes to recruiting. Right now, a Top-25 NCAA Division I softball program likely already has eighth-graders committed\u00a0and, inevitably, has some seventh-graders\u00a0offered.\u00a0 However, &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/how-soon-is-too-soon\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":12224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[865,3,859],"tags":[31,229,57,233,770,222],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11963"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11963"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15396,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11963\/revisions\/15396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}