From big sports like baseball and football to smaller sports like bowling or even riding horses, high school athletes dream of playing at the next level. On Wednesday, Nov. 13, 22 athletes made that dream into reality, signing to play their sport at the collegiate level. The auditorium was filled with family and friends as they watched the student athletes sign their letters of intent to continue their athletic careers in college.
Baseball had the most commits out of all of the sports, with seven students signing. The baseball program has a long history of athlete signees, with several even making the major leagues, Kentucky commit, senior Ryan Foscolo, hopes to follow a similar trajectory into the major leagues.
“From the day I first started playing the game, I fell in love and knew I wanted to play in the MLB. Part of that process is to play college baseball first, so that’s what I set my sights on and I am just grateful I have the opportunity to do so,” outfielder Foscolo said.
The recruitment process started when Foscolo made varsity his freshman year and played effectively throughout.
“The main steps in my recruitment process were pretty simple. Play good. The better I played, the more people that came to watch me and it turned into more opportunities. The spring season of 2023 (my sophomore year) is really what got my name out there,” Foscolo said.
After that, multiple schools began to reach out to him and he narrowed the schools down to those he was interested in attending. He then attended a few camps and decided to commit to the University of Kentucky.
Similarly, senior Ana Roman had to choose between multiple schools during her recruitment process. She has been nationally ranked since her freshman year and even made the 18U Puerto Rican Junior National Team before committing to the University of Alabama this fall. She has a career .399 batting average.
“My recruiting process was just getting on a good team that will play in good tournaments where college coaches will then see me. Then when I narrowed it down to the colleges I wanted to go to, I would go to camps and see if it’s a match for me,” Roman said.
Going to college camps can be a helpful way to get noticed among other high school athletes. Collecting and posting highlight videos is also a good way to get yourself out there. This was very beneficial to Brewton-Parker College commit, senior Tatiana Torres, to get her recruitment process going in the right direction.
“The first part of the process was capturing video of game footage and practices. It took several months to develop good videos with all my highlights. I also created an Instagram account to follow coaches and post clips of me playing as well as pictures from games,” Torres said. “During the course of my junior year, I started attending college ID camps to get more exposure.”
Varsity volleyball coach Juanita Hitt, who is also a coach and the recruitment coordinator at Top Select Volleyball Academy, believes that the recruitment process starts freshman year. She suggests that players should start by identifying 25-30 colleges that they are interested in and then after doing research on their major and whether or not they have that position in that grad year, reach out by emailing them.
“The biggest thing is keeping contact with them because [division one] schools can’t talk to kids until the summer going into their junior year, so they have to have good communication with them. Now with the NIL changing, it’s a year-to-year on financial aid ability, so kids need to do their research on whether it’s a good fit,” Hitt said.
She also noted that by the players’ junior year, they should be attending camps and taking visits to narrow down their choices.
Varsity volleyball junior Mikayla Miessler is staying active in her recruitment process. She has been attending camps, sending emails, and doing as much as she can to stay noticed.
“Right now I’m sending out emails, and I’ve had a few calls…went on a visit over the summer. It’s kind of a dead period because all of the teams are in season, so I’m emailing the coaches that were interested and they’re getting back saying they’ll come and watch me during club season,” Miessler said.
She suggests that underclassmen start emailing potential fits as soon as possible by personally inviting coaches to their court, field, or wherever they play. Along with sending out emails, sending highlight films is also extremely helpful.
“Tell them about why you’re interested in their program, what you want to do in the future, and why you think it will be a good fit. Coaches want to hear more about you,” Miessler said.
Naturally, for a player to get noticed, they have to be extremely dedicated and committed to putting the work in both on and off the field. The recruitment process is very complex, and getting to signing day is the last step of the long, in depth journey.
“To me, it means that all of the hard work, all of the blood, sweat, and tears, was worth it to make it to the point where I am today,” Torres said.
