Recruiting 101
July 09, 2008 | Softball
With summer in full swing, youngsters across the country are spending plenty of weeknights practicing and weekends playing the sport they love at the softball diamond.
Even though it's the off season, the UW softball staff is as busy as ever traveling to all corners of the country watching high school softball games hoping to find that next great Badger. UWBadgers.com sat down with assistant coach Julie Wright to see what her summer is like on the recruiting trail.
UWBadgers.com: What are the most popular places to recruit from '
Wright: The key places we go are Las Vegas, there 's a tournament there in early June, there's usually a national qualifier in the Kansas City area for the Midwest, then we go to New Jersey. Colorado is big 'there are three huge tournaments there, and we cover all of those. We have a California trip and another tournament in Illinois, and lastly we always spend time at the US National tournament.
UWBadgers.com: What is a typical week like on the road and what all happens during a day of softball'
Wright: Typically you leave Madison on a Thursday night and you return late on Sunday. We start at roughly 7:30-8 a.m. and we run until midnight, games are being played nonstop all day long at these tournaments. You try to focus on the teams with the players that fit what you need for that year, and you talk to coaches ' you talk a lot to travel ball coaches, because it's good for them to say `Hey, Wisconsin was asking about you,' because for those kids, that 's the only way they can know. You're limited a lot with recruiting rules, so you can't talk to parents and you can't talk to kids. You spend a lot of time talking to people who are maybe in-the-know. For instance, you can talk to one coach of a team and you can say, `Hey, in your area do you have any great pitchers that are graduating high school in 2010'' That kind of helps give you a lead in the East Coast, West Coast or places in the Midwest that you're not as familiar with.
UWBadgers.com: How do you go about recruiting certain positions for years down the road'
Wright: You know you're going to need a pitcher every year, no matter what. But things happen, kids get hurt, or for instance this year, we took our second baseman and we brought in another second baseman that couldn 't play anywhere else. So we took the one that could play somewhere else and put her in the outfield, and she did great. So then all of a sudden you are saying `We don 't necessarily need a second baseman to replace her now, now we need someone who can play the middle and the outfield.' You find a kid who's really good at catching that you've never caught before. Or sometimes you'll see something in one of your kids and you will say `If I can get her to be a first baseman, then I can get this kid I love who doesn't necessarily fit with what I need for that year.' It's a delicate cross between getting kids that you actually love and the ones you know will be awesome and the fit you need for your team.
UWBadgers.com: How many people out there are really good at playing a number of different positions'
Wright: You look to see who's athletic. If the kid's athletic and has tools ' arm strength, bat speed, body size, strength agility ' you can do a lot with tool-player kids. You can train them because they learn fast, and you can watch them being coached. Hang around the dugout and listen to them talk ' are they knowledgeable' Those are things I want to know, because then you can say `Yes. I can do this with this kid.' And you tell them that right up front. You say `Listen, I know you play shortstop right now, but I think you would be a fabulous D-1 outfielder. You're a great fit for Wisconsin, but you 're probably going to have to play a little more outfield than you're used to.
UWBadgers.com: Does that sort of thinking cause the program to gain or lose a lot of recruits'
Wright: Absolutely. You get it both ways. You typically know the kids that really shouldn't be moved. And if you don't match up, then you might have to let a kid go that you love because you don't match up, and you can't hurt yourself in another area on the team just to get a kid that you think is absolutely amazing that won't fit in the puzzle. It 's all about those puzzle pieces.
UWBadgers.com: What are the most important traits you look for in a recruit '
Wright: Grades are number one. Wisconsin is too good of a university, it's too challenging academically to mess with anybody who can't handle their grades. Secondly, we look at attitude. How are they in that tough situation when they are down two strikes or there are two outs and they come through. We watch them a lot when they strike out. I want to see how they handle themselves and how they mix with their team when they strike out. Are they supportive' Do they throw their equipment' We don't need that kind of stuff. We watch them in failure the most because that tells us about their character. That's the kind of thing we look for, and then we look for athleticism from there on.
