YouTube video (Aug 2023) by Alex Swenson discussing whether fall travel baseball is worth the time, money, and effort for high-school players and their families. Swenson explains the NCAA 'quiet period' timeline and its impact on Division I recruiting—arguing fall travel is poor for exposure but can make sense for local playing time and skill development. He recommends prioritizing strength training, nutrition, academics, and targeted camps/showcases for guaranteed coach exposure.
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Hey, how you doing, Alex? Here in today's episode, we're going to be talking about fall travel ball and if it's worth doing the things that you need to consider going forward to help you make this decision. We just got done with summer travel ball, or at least a lot of us did, and there's a lot that goes into that from time and a lot of money and a lot of energy and all those things. So making this decision on fall travel ball is a big decision each time we're doing this because there's a lot of investment that goes into this. As if your parent watches this. I know you understand this, and I am here to help you ease your concern or whether you should do it or not. Just from my perspective, in my opinion, from doing this for a long time and seeing the new environment of everything. So we're going to be talking about that. And if you're new to my channel, my name is Alex Swenson. I'm a former Division 1 college coach, Scout, and recruiter. And now what I do is help high school baseball athletes and their parents navigate this college recruiting process and put them in the best possible position to play at the next level. So if you get anything from this video, please smash that, like, button that thumbs up and subscribe to my YouTube channel or my podcast. Definitely subscribe there as well. The podcast is growing, which is fantastic. You guys can listen to it in the car, on the. On the road, or on the go. And please share this with anybody that's going through the college recruiting process. They're looking for help because I can understand that this. This process can be like a maze. Sometimes you're just not sure where to turn or what to be doing or where to go. And that is what I am here for. And before we get into details, let's hear from our sponsor today. Today's episode is brought to you by Element, which I am pumped about because I've been using them the past two years. Absolutely love them. 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If you use the link down below in the description, you can claim a free element sample pack eight flavors when you order. So try it today. We are in the thick of the recruiting process. It is prime for recruiting, really will be for the next three to four months. And a question I'm getting a lot right now is fall travel ball worth it? And parents and athletes are asking this and typically do ask around this time each year. I'm looking at my calendar right now on the wall and I get it. It's around this time that we need to make a decision on fall travel ball and if we should do it and if it's best for our recruiting or what we're trying to do. And that's the question that I want to ask you. What are you trying to get out of fall travel ball? And it usually goes into two buckets that I'm going to get into. But the thing that we need to consider is before we make a decision is we are going into the quiet period. Okay, and what does the quiet period mean? The quiet period means that college coaches and scouts cannot go out. Division one in particular cannot go out and watch players, evaluate players, recruit players in person off their campus. So, meaning they can only watch players and evaluate players on their campus, which means their camps and or sometimes they label it showcases. Okay, that is on their campus because that's the only place that they can go recruit during the quiet period. Now, the thing is, the quiet period starts in the middle of August. Typically each year, give or take, it changes a little bit each and every year. We'll go into the middle of September. Then we'll have three, three or so weeks of the contact period. So not very long. And then the contact period means the college coaches can go off and recruit players at certain showcases, sometimes tournaments, but it's hit or miss. It's definitely not as much as it was in the summer. And then we go back into the quiet period in the first week in October for four or five months all the way till March 1 of the following year, we're in the quiet period. Which again, means college coaches have to stay on their campus and recruit players there. Okay, so why does that matter? Because if you ask or you answer the question, the purpose of me doing fall travel ball is to get exposed exposure to get in front of college coaches. Well, if we're going and playing travel ball tournaments and things like that during the quiet period, no college coaches From a Division 1 perspective is going to be there because they can't be there. It's an NCAA rule and it'll be a big violation. They'll get in big trouble and all this stuff. So from a recruiting and exposure standpoint, I wouldn't recommend playing fall travel ball because there's other avenues you can do to get good exposure and guaranteed exposure at camps and. And at certain showcases. And certain showcases during that window of the contact period in September can be good. And why I like certain showcases, not all of them are created equal, but some of them are really good because we know which college coaches are going to be there, and we're guaranteed exposure there. With tournaments, we have no idea who's going to be there. It is completely winging it. Okay. And I don't like winging it. Right. I like to be strategic on this process. So if we're going for recruiting and if we're going for exposure, that's what we're trying to get out of fall travel ball, I wouldn't recommend it. I wouldn't recommend it. Okay. Now, in the other bucket, if we're just going for playing time and really development. Okay, yeah, that makes. That makes some sense. But I would recommend. Yeah, you can do that. Just try to stay locally. You don't have to spend so much money or travel so many places just to play baseball. Right. Could you do that locally? Possibly. Or at a facility and get reps there as well. So just consider that as we go. And in my opinion, what you should be really focusing on as we go through this, which. It's about the recruiting process. The foundation of the recruiting process is your skill development. That's what you should be focused on. The strength training, getting in the weight room, getting strong. Right now you're not playing as much as you were in the summer, so you should be going heavy, eating a lot. All right? Eating. Eating good nutrition to help build your muscle. And then, of course, focus on the academics and then exposure. Okay. And exposure. We can get exposure at camps and showcases during the quiet period because we know the college coaches will be there. Right. So that is my recommendation of what you should be doing in the fall now, of course, if you're going for skill development and just playing time, consider fall travel ball as you go. But again, I would just stay locally. You don't get don't need to go everywhere across the country and spend so much money just to play a game. And you don't know who's going to be there. You don't know if you're going to get actually good exposure. And a lot of and From a Division 1 perspective, most coaches will not be at tournaments because of the quiet period. And even if it's in the contact period, they're going to be just really be staying locally at camps and some showcases there. So please let me know if you got anything for from this, and I would love to hear what you want to hear more about. Please comment down below and I'll see you in the next video. Take care.
