welcome to the secrets of college planning on your host anthony and today we're going to get some insight into softball at the college level my guest today is christopher stoma he's the head women's softball coach at st peter's university welcome to the show  so usually a song i guess when i went to college so when you go to school i went to i actually did two years of the county college morse and red of new jersey i graduated from verdun high school went there did two years played two years of baseball at the county college morris and little bit about the recruiting process i knew nothing about it and one day there was a post that know by the phone that said call the university of rhode island so i graduated with an associates degree from the kind of college morris and went on to the university of rhode island i entered there the process that you are supposed to graduate high school and hopefully be lucky enough to go to college so i had that college atmosphere going to my sister she was in the marching band so i go into the college football game seeing a college campus i didn't think about where i would like to attend college probably until about my junior year of high school i enjoyed playing ball you know with my friends and the process was pretty easy for me because i stayed close to home you know i had options but i was pretty guided on i wanted to play baseball and it was probably summer of my senior year before i made the decision of where i was going to attend the following fall so tha and it's the same experience except where you live but for me being closed on those first two years i think was very beneficial and came back to me in a good way when i graduated from the university of iowa yeah so now your university of rhode island what what's the school like the school is gorgeous i lived in a beach house my senior year again not really traditional i went from living out home to then living off campus so i actually skipped the college dorm and that lifestyle so it was a bit of a change for me and it took me a while to get adjusted to it but luckily having baseball and having a coach who looked over me and advisors academic advisors who help me really really have to be great so now you graduate college how does one go from university of rhode island to st peters university in jersey city new jersey becomes the head softball coach there it was quite a few stops actually i graduated got a job going to u p s you know just work and figure out what my next move would be and then i ended up volunteer assisting coaching baseball back at the county college of morris and that led into a head coaching job at the age of twenty three it was something i knew i wanted to do unfortunately didn't pay the bills at that time and i had to go out and i got a job in sales i sell industrial valves for five years as i did that and as i  got a little closer and closer back into the world of baseball i coach a little league team a little league team turned into a group of kids i worked with which turned into a travel team which then turned into a whole club program so softball came into the picture i was working with a gentleman and he had a daughter so he came to me and he said we should really get into doing some softball teams which i wasn't too keen on the idea i was still a baseball coach at that point but when we started doing it i knew i had to be present i had to do this so my now assistant coach at st peter sue ruffalo was one of the first saw coaches that i met and worked with so we kind of came full circle there which is nice but we started the celt both teams i fell in love with the game it's everybody's closer it's a little easier to instruct because you're closer the games are quicker and you know i fell in love with the pace of the game so we're coaching a showcase team where the kids go to the scene and that's where a lot of the recruiting process happens and one of my players mothers coached basketball women's basketball in patterson university all i'd like you to come in for an interview so i was a static to do it i had spent time as a high school softball coach at pope john in sparta new jersey so i jumped on that opportunity i was there for a year and a fall and then the st peter's job opened up and that was when i had had my eyes on its vision oneself it's a great job for me it's kind of what i like to do you know taking a team and han kind of starting from scratch you're not inheriting a program you're coming in as a new coach so i interview that i was lucky enough to get that opportunity and here we are so many years now at st peters were about to start my second season ok i got the job in october of last year so i actually went from a fall ball practice at william patterson to a football practice at st peters which was a little bit of a whirlwind but we are first year we increase our wins we didn't finish in last place the conference for the first time and a few years so we showed a lot of good turnaround signs and this year's been a little bit more fun were a lot more relaxed in that we know the process now we know what a season entails and we've been at it all year we didn't miss that first month that he did last year right so let's get into recruiting and how it all works for us so what are you looking for in students in high school or do you look in high school or do you go outside and look at club teams i do both and it's easier to see a kid playing club ball in the summer because it's not during our season so our season traditionally ends a little bit before the high school season and there's a very small window the division one coaches can go out and see high school games i try to do so and that's where you get a look at you're not just recruiting an athlete you're not just recruiting a student recruiting a person you want to know what that kid is like what she's capable of what she's not sure that she's capable of yet yet that you think she can do and the process starts by just going to a game seeing the kid that you like and then following that you go you see them play as many times as possible the other part of the process is them reaching out to you and i feel like that part of that is lost a lot of times because of the recruiting and showcase system i feel like kids think that they're going to show up and be discovered and a lot of times it's i get emails from players i look at it and they have a short little clip of them playing it's very helpful and if i like what i see i go to see them play live in a game so the usual process is whether it's a clinic or some where i'm at where i see a kid that sparks my interest or they send me something nine times out of ten it's they send me something that interests me so i go out to see them play and then there's always that you're there to see kid a and you see system so do you do you find kids as freshmen you find kids a senior's wonder when you start recruiting these kids i'm still being new to the program i'm still recruiting them when they're a little bit older like currently we're looking at kids that are two thousand one thousand graduates or two thousand eight hundred is close to done so and that's just a product of we've only been there for a year so i know a lot of schools start looking at different times i like to start to really look at a kid in their junior year it's easier the recruiting roles you're able to do more you're able to interact with them a little bit more so part of that process of recruiting an individual i like to be able to speak to that individual i like them to come to see my school and that's why i tend to start a little bit later than that and traditionally speaking for is age so now a student wants to come st peter's university what's the year like when they get there is it to start in august that they start in september when when does it all star for them when they get there it's starts a bit sooner that starts before they get there so as you go through the process and you're accepted and you do your orientation and you're should be learning about the school and learning what's coming up on moving day are our freshman so you're brand new freshman come in and then first of all you'll have a three day orientation before the rest of the student movement and it's two or three days and you move then you'll do your your orientation you're going to different classes different workshops to learn to be a student you're finding out where the buildings are you know so you don't get lost on campus that first week and as a softball program we usually back off them a little bit that first week we need them to get acclimated to being a student or are our players are coming back get used to being student again in the schedule so we have a fall season we have a training season that's that leads them into the end of the fall semester and then we have our championship season so the fall season we will play games we practice you practice up to twenty hours a week and will play usually between six and eight games in the fall and then once that fall season ends that's what around thanksgiving are no or fall season  sooner this year it ended in about the second week of october ok so we usually like to give our girls a week off again we want to make sure they're keeping up with their academics more so than their athletics and especially at that point the new players are doing this for the first time so he's at that point given a week off and then they continue with their strength training and they're allowed to do individual training with their coaches and that takes them all the way until january that i don't take them until about ten days before their finals and then they focus on their files and then they go home for break ok and then they come back in late january early february yet they come back our girls came back january eighteenth this year and when we're in season we  in right away so we began our in season practice is right when they got back our girls practice early in the morning every day so we come in we we take care of what we had to take care of and then they could take care of what they had to take care of the students so we don't have a lot and you get about six seven weeks to get ready for the season once they come back and this year our season opens march third down in maryland we're going to a tournament play four games down there it's the girls spring break so we'll come back a few days then we leave for tennessee for a little warmer weather trip which is always the case so the early going of the season we're usually playing on the weekends as the weather warms up up north and then we'll start really going at it six games a week  playing one game during the week our conference season is weekend doubleheaders so saturday and sunday you'll be spending on the field playing playing your conference rivals so now once they once they finish the season in the spring  there's no we wouldn't place a girl on the team to play for the summer that's that's up to their discretion there are twenty three you leagues and tournament teams that some of the girls play on some of them like to get away from it for a little while and work on themselves work on their speed agility strength and kind of let the softball wait till they get back but that's really that's a preference on the player catcher so now academic wise what are the students need to get to st peters university is hopefully is around eleven hundred eighty and i don't spend as much time dissecting their s a t s score you can kind of get a feel for the kids a good student or not based on their g p a of course load as well but i tend to try to recruit a student athlete that has a higher g p a in test now when you when you look at them academically do you do you do anything during the seasons to help them academically at the school absolutely there's many different things we do we have a full time academic advisor who's the liaison to i thought it was so she helps them make their schedules they get priority registration which means they'll get to register a fraction of the time but before the rest of the student body so they'll meet with their academic advisor then they'll meet with the is on the athletics who has my schedule so they know when to schedule their courses so there's no conflict there is  conflict obviously academics takes priority but we try to do the best we can to get them the best schedule and still keep them on track to graduate within our cellphones schedule we also all incoming players spend mentor study hall hours coaches are free to regulate that based on how the students doing what you think their needs are and there's tutors available not only on campus but in those study hall sessions and within the athletic department as well right so now the student comes to st peter's university what can we expect that the university what's it like what's the atmosphere i love to explain it as it's a small school in a big place we're right by hoboken new jersey we're a stone's get from new york city there's a lot of big exciting things around you it's a small campus there are i was like it's other kids when they come out with their parents if you hit the snooze button class it's possible i'll find out you were there before you wake up so it's a nice in that you have that kind of safety where there's eyes on you that can help you at all times on campus but you're very exciting area as far as new york city even the waterfront down in jersey city it's a fun area to be it yeah so now the classes and the dorm rooms and things they are all on the campus as well yes our actual campus is about a city block wide by two or three city blocks up so what you have is our campus with within a few blocks of jersey city and it's like a lot of traditional colleges you have athletics in one area and you move  all your classrooms and there's a nice courtyard that as you go it's the dining halls the residence halls we also have on campus apartments which are they are on a city block they line the street going down the campus and spread out over the over the city so if it's a city campus where where did the games play where it where do you play games we play or field it's within lincoln park in jersey city it's called jerry scheck park and it's our soccer field our baseball field our salt ball field they're all in one area about a block and a half of our campus so in practice days we transporter players there by the same on game days so it's slightly off campus but it's outer space which is it's nice there because a lot of times you're you're a city campus you're competing for field space and wonder what are some of the teams that st peters plays against we play are we play in the mac conference so we play teams like r had a lot of other schools that are kind of city type schools this year we're going down to a tournament cup and state we're going to the university of maryland baltimore county twice and we're going out to east tennessee state university where we'll play them austin peay and jackson state well so it's kind of spread out and there are near there non conference schedule will play schools like lafayette we play drexel different schools that are you can get there within an hour and a half and it's going to be a competitive game so now the students when they're at the campus what are some of the other things that students can do outside of just softball is their extracurricular things that  he students get involved in absolutely we have we have girls who not only are involved in extra curricular activities but they'll work for the athletic department that work for different areas on campus we always seem to have a resident spin instructor within our team which is fun because then the girls are doing a little extra during the week because they go to support their team today and a lot of a lot there have been players who are form their own clubs i mean our girls are very active within the campus which is beautiful because everywhere they go people are happy to see him which makes my job a little bit easier to it so how about financially parents always always say you know schools are expensive these days what  st peters do to help with that financial burden that's why we recruit who are crew is four years g p a not only do we know they're going to be successful but our school gives out both acceptance awards based on your academic standing in your high school so your g p a your s a t or a c t score but we also being division one program also can give athletic aid to and to kids who i tell especially salt ball players if you want to go next level most of the aid you're going to get is going to be tied into your academics so that's very important and that starts at a young age that starts your friend's spirit freshman sophomore year times it's tough to battle back and it's so important not only because the main goal is to get an education but for our school that's that's more of a financial helper at times than are athletic you know do you do you get a lot of parents that come to you and ask you about things like that we usually we deal  direct with the player a lot and when we bring a recruit on campus we talk to the whole family so we do have a little bit admissions i think with speak more to that with parents call and different things recruiting of a slightly different relationship once they get on campus we've talked to them a few times and it may be the first time we're meeting the parent but they do come in with questions and police come in with questions because you want to leave with as much information as you can when you go on a campus now do you have some type of training with on campus or outside of the school year is it during the summer time do you do different types of camps or things like that where students from high school can come and you know basically try out well it's not it's not a try we do we hold skills clinics and you're coming to kind of live a day in the life of a saint peter's peacock you know you come in you work with their coaches on the field their players will be there we do one in the fall we do want in the winter and we're going to try to do one late spring this year and probably around  it's it's a skills clinic it's definitely not a tryout but you know it's a chance to interact with other players and leave with a hopefully a better skill set then you came in with right now how do you find these kids do you just stay in the tri state area do you go outside and comb the whole country the whole world it comes to a matter of opportunity to see them like our current roster we have kids from texas ohio california we have local kids it all depends on what you're looking for that year and where you find that we do travel to recruit i tend to stay a little more local you know on the east coast i'll go down to florida and look for players and a lot times the players from here are there too yeah so it's just you go where you're going to get to see the most players but our roster is made up of kids from all over the country great fantastic stuff so  do you also go to high school games is there anything that that's happening at the high school games that that and you your coaches go into oh absolutely we want as many opportunities to see kids as we can so if our season ends before there's and they're still playing we that's going to be a little more local but you know we've driven two and three hours to go see a kid play in a high school game as well so we definitely doing players should share their schedules with us  send you there their autonomy schedules and things of that sort yeah a good e mail leading into a recruiting season or a high school season will include an introduction from a player why they like your school because we want to know that you've done a little research and you should be picking the school first and second because you're going to school first and playing for a second so we like to see a little knowledge of who they're e mailing spell my name right you know the name of the school the planning to major in something we offer and include some sort of video of your skill set show us something you do good show us what you do have to make a mistake it doesn't to be edited you know keep it short  you and how many how many videos come in and what how's the length of the videos because that's what a lot of parents also ask is you know some coaches want the whole gain some coaches only want two minutes what are you looking for it varies  i tend to stop after about two and a half minutes but if it's longer than two and a half minutes i can click to the next part so however long you think it takes to show what you want to show us should be on there some coaches will say nothing more than three minutes seems to be one of the key ones or a minute and a half of the belief that you may have done something that for them that it may have luckily clicked on it saw that and it could be  game footage it could be skills footage i like a combination of the two the shorter the better but it needs to be enough to yeah well we're coming to the end of our show and usually ask my guests what advice you want to give to parents out there that their daughters are interested in playing softball i think they need to embrace their daughter's love of the game first and not the process of recruiting a lot of times club softball which should be about learning how to win learning how to be a teammate learning how to deal with adversity become soley about getting a scholarship getting to that next level and they don't learn what you're supposed to be learning by playing a sport or being part of an activity support your daughter if you're the guy then she needs but it's her journey let her steer the way and i think that's the best advice you can get my parents did that with me i don't think they hounded me once about where you go into school they always let me make my own decisions and my own mistakes but i think remember to support but not interfere with their process when ask