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September 1: Don’t Confuse Front Row with the Whole Show
There's a lot of hype, right? September 1st is the date Division 1 programs can open recruiting communication with recruits. So for months... years... 2028s have been hearing, "Coaches can't talk to you until September 1st."
WITHOUT any other context, this feels like the floodgates of emails, texts, DMs, and calls will open on 9/1.
Well, take a moment to think: How was September 1st for you, compared to what you had envisioned in your head?
I talk with many recruits and I will share very, very valuable feedback with them directly from college coaches, like "Hey, you're not on the top of their recruit board, but you are ON the board, and they will continue to track you. Let's talk about a plan moving forward with that information."
This is most likely the first time you have to deal with being told hard things. One of the toughest things is that you aren't someone's first pick. That can be tough to hear. This happens... a lot in life. It just does. This is info.. that you have been labeled as something you don't like - that requires processing, that requires a course of action, and that requires persistence AND patience, both with yourself as well as the recruiting process. You have permission to take time to process it. Not only do you have permission, but moving through that information is REQUIRED to be able to take the next step forward. Otherwise, you'll be standing in the same spot you are already in.
Let's compare this to something people absolutely LOVE and people experience similar feelings of yearning, expectations of good results, and potentially having to weigh the pros and cons of sub-optimal options: Buying concert tickets online.
The Front Row
Imagine your favorite band or musician announce a special concert, and you immediately know where you want to sit: front row. Not because you've researched every section in the arena, or because you know where the sound is best, or because you've compared the view from different seats.
You want front row because... well, it's the front row. The seat everyone talks about, the seat people film from to get the best wink from the lead singer, the seat that, if you're lucky, you get the guitar pick or the set list at the end of the show.
So when tickets go on sale, and you sit in the queue... you realize THOUSANDS of other people want those same tickets. The queue loads up... and your number is 16,058.
So many conditions impact where you, and everyone else, sits in the queue, right? PRESALE ACCESS because of what credit card you have... CASH FLOW... a rich uncle who knows the guitarist... or... some just got on the site faster than you that day.
And then all of a sudden, the seat you wanted isn't available. It's gone as you wait in the queue. And while you continue to sit in the queue, it feels like you aren't ever going to this concert. You experience impatience, frustration.. you may even start going through scenarios in your head and sell the tickets out mentally before you even see your page reload to give you the remaining seats plotted on a seating chart. I've done it too. I've prematurely decided that I was NOT going to get tickets. I talked myself out of it, self-soothing myself saying, "It's ok. I didn't want to spend $150 on one ticket anyway." This is common. But DON'T FORGET! There are 20,000 other seats in the stadium. Some of those seats are a better view of the full stage, some are closer to the second stage they play their acoustic mini-set on in the middle of the floor, some cost less, and some will in fact seat you next to another super fan that you build great memories with.
But if you listen to your internal premature voice saying, "I don't even want these tickets anymore," you may click out of the page and go on with your day, depriving yourself of the opportunity to get that other seat.
And that's what I want the current the 2028 class, and for all future junior classes, to understand about September 1st. For a lot of high school recruits (softball and beyond), Division I has become the front row.
It's the softball ticket you've heard about the most: it's on TV. It's on TikTok. A teammate committed there. People know the logo and the colors. You heard it was a great school. You feel like your family and friends would be SO PROUD OF YOU if you went there... if the softball program wanted YOU.
So September 1 arrived, and the best players in the country are going to get those front-row softball tickets. If your phone didn't ring September 1, please, please remember: the concert isn't sold out. Please do not click out of the queue.
Across D1, D2, D3, NAIA, JUCO, and UAA, there are the most amazing things to discover at this concert. There are:
Championship programs you've never watched on television.
Coaches you've never heard of who may completely change your life.
Teams in which you can play immediately.
Teams in which you can grow into the player you've dreamed of.
Schools where you'll find your best friends.
Incredible academic opportunities.
Financial Aid Opportunities INSIDE and OUTSIDE of athletic scholarships.
An opportunity to be an All-American.
Schools that fit your opinions, values, and desires for your future student-athlete experience.
And don't forget, although the front row may give you an unobstructed view to take amazing pictures, it is also where you can bruise your ribs on the metal barriers because people are pushing you up against them in a mad rush to get 1 foot closer to the stage. Your responsibility to yourself isn't to get the seat everybody else thinks is best; the responsibility lies in finding the best seat for you.
The Whole Show
The dramatic changes in recruiting (5-for-5, the transfer portal, and the roster maximums) that have occurred over the last 5 years PARTNERED WITH the growth of our sport (revenue opportunities, coach pressure to win, exposure to high level training and endless online learning opportunities and programs) has created a storm of uncertainty around actually getting recruited out of high school.
Things have changed, and that front row ticket is getting increasingly harder to get, but that does not mean you don't get to go to the concert.
Don't spend September staring at the seating chart, hoping the front row opens up. Don't click out of the queue. Research the rest of the seat locations, ask past concert goers, and evaluate if the value of the ticket you CAN get is worth the experience you'll have, don't prematurely decide that it's not.
There is a whole lot of college softball out there; approximately 1,700 programs. You have permission to feel disappointed in an opportunity not being yours to have. And THEN, you have to get to work, and take a step toward another opportunity! The seat you end up loving might be the one you didn't even know existed.
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