Scott Berndes is the President of the Power Surge travel organization out of San Diego and has had great success in his 24 years of coaching in the sport, including two national championships and a runner-up finish at PGF Nationals in 2018.

He also has quite the resume in helping talented players get to the collegiate level, including future stars and eventual NCAA champions such as pitcher Selina Ta’amilo, outfielders Aliyah Jordan and Chip Bennett at UCLA, infielder Cydney Sanders at Oklahoma and other standouts such as catcher Carlee Wallace, who helped Auburn finish second at the Women’s College World Series in 2016.

Coach Scott was a D1 baseball player himself at UC Riverside and when his daughter was 6 years old, his local league leaders found out about his college experiences and asked him to be a softball coach for his young daughter’s team. Like many in fastpitch softball, “Coach” has been doing it ever since!

Scott is a regular contributor to Line Drive Softball as we love to share his expertise and valuable insights to the softball world!

Click HERE to read his earlier article on “Recruiting Strategies… From the Perspective of a Head Recruiter.”

Today, the successful coach and org lead shares his thoughts on how players and their parents should proactively plan on what they want out of the recruiting process…

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How To Create Your List of Top Colleges

Parents: you need to sit down with your daughter right now and figure out what she wants in a college and the collegiate experience.

Get on the same page with her when it comes to learning the answers to these important questions:

• Do I want to stay close to home? Go far away for college? Or does it matter?
• Is the weather a factor in where I go? Am I OK with not just playing in the cold and snow or heat and humidity, but also with just living in it? And will that impact how I play my game on the field and in my training during the offseason?
• Do I want to consider playing D1 only or would I enjoy—and be open to—a D2, D3 or NAIA softball experience?
• What do I want to major in? What colleges have my major?
• Do I want a high academic school primarily? Or am I looking at more of the softball experience being my primary focus?
• Finally, how important—if at all—is it to have a school with a big and athletic atmosphere (be it football, basketball or something else)? Or do I want a “small school” atmosphere and feel?

After you get all the answers to the above questions, you can then start to figure out a Top 5-10 college favorites list.

This list should include dream schools as well as programs you and your student-athlete know she can play for but are not necessarily her first picks.

Once you have an initial list, next get on the websites of these schools’ athletic programs and make note of when these universities and colleges have their on-campus camps… a lot of them have camps in early January or even as soon as this December (that’s just two months away!!!).

Your fall season is super important so focus on improving your game and getting better while taking a longer view at what college programs you’d like to see—and be seen at.

— Scott Berndes/President, Power Surge