The Journey to Colgate

We started off to Colgate University with two packed cars.  Alicia is using her car on campus to get to the softball field , see relatives and explore her new surroundings.

It was raining on move in day but stopped later that morning.  This is the view from the top of a hill.  The library is on the right side of the picture.

Later that day the athletes and parents met for a meeting with the Athletic Director.  The Athletic Director made the comment that out of all the high school athletes in America, only 1.7% get to play Division 1.  I could see the expression on Alicia's face and knew that the statement impacted her.  This picture is of her freshman teammates and the Coaches.

Going Left to right is Coach Finley, Holly, Alicia, Kira, Hannah and Coach Tembey.

 

 

Great support

In the top picture is Coach Michael Bastian, whom has worked hard to get me where I am today and continues to believe in me.  The second picture is my Dad, John Daly, whom has always encouraged me and supported me.

Tip #1- A series to help young players

Today will be the first Tip in a series of blog posts.  These tips are things that I have learned from experience and from the coaches that I work with.  Hopefully you will find them beneficial.  Not everyone will agree with all my tips.  I will just say that my family and I did not always follow the path that most North Carolina travel softball families take.  You are always welcome to leave a comment.

TIP #1-  Get your name out there.

Join some of the recruiting sites, like Berecruited or Softball Showcase or even CaptainU.  Most of them have listings that are for free and then if you want you can get a membership.  I have had visits with coaches in which they looked up my information on one of these websites before I came to the meeting.  Start a blog like I did to show your development and track what you have been doing.  I have had people view my blog from all over the world.  Feel free to ask me questions or comment.

The series will continue at least once or twice a week.  Some of the topics will be the following:

Videos
California
On your toes
weight training
Nutrition
Throwing
Attitude
Brain training
Thinking quickly
Mental game
research your future
Academics
Travel ball
and maybe more.

Just remember this is only how Alicia Daly did it and you may not agree with everything.

Hard work, it can be done.

Comment from Coach Michael Bastian,  The Fastpitch School @FastpitchSchool

Alicia Daly is one of the most impressive development stories of my coaching career! Information & work ethic. #Placement #TFS

 

Keep working hard to accomplish your dream.  Especially work during the off season when most of the other players are taking a break from the sport.  Work as hard in the classroom as you do on the ball field.

A Committment has been Made

The purpose of this blog has just changed.  It will no longer be about trying  to accomplish the dream of playing D1 softball but about helping and encouraging other young girls to accomplish their dream.

Alicia recently accepted the offer to play softball for and to attend Colgate University in Hamilton, NY.  Though she would have loved to have been signed in November, she took the advice of Coach Bastian and took her time to look around and see what comes her way.  She looked into many programs from all over the country, Florida, Minnesota, Montana and several local schools.  She had been talking with Coach Finley before she went to camp on February 1st.  She fell in love with the campus, atmosphere and softball team at Colgate University.  This week she accepted an offer to play for Colgate University and is very excited about her future.

In the near future we will posting tips that we learned along the way to help young girls get recruited. 

Schedule Updated 2014

I just updated my spring and summer schedule.  You can find it on the page above.

Recently my trainer took my BMI , which was 23.  He said that a professional athlete's BMI is around 19-16 so I am working harder to get mine down to that.

More updates to come soon.