Day 1
7:00am – Camp Arrival & Check-In
7:40am – All-Camp Meeting
8:30am – Student-Athlete Warm-Up, Parent Meeting and Q&A
9:00am – Defensive Showcase & Objective Measurements
11:00am – Offensive Showcase & Objective Measurements
12:30pm – All-Camp Meeting & Coach Introductions
1:00pm – Game Slot 1 (7-inning games for all odd-numbered teams)
3:15pm – Player-Coach Meet-and-Greet
4:00pm – Game Slot 2 (7-inning games for all even-numbered teams)
7:15pm – End of Day 1
Day 2
7:00am – Odd-Numbered Team Arrival & Warm-Up
7:05am – Recruiting Panel and Q&A for Odd-Numbered Team Parents
7:30am – Game Slot 1 (7-inning games for all odd-numbered teams)
9:15am – Even-Numbered Team Arrival & Warm-Up
9:20am – Recruiting Panel and Q&A for Even-Numbered Team Parents
9:45am – Game Slot 2 (7-inning games for all even-numbered teams)
12:00pm – Player-Coach Meet-and-Greet
12:45pm – Game Slot 3 (7-inning games for all odd-numbered teams)
3:00pm – Game Slot 4 (7-inning games for all even-numbered teams)
5:15pm – End of Day 2
Note: the schedule above represents our typical two-day programming - exact times and details will be communicated before camp and on-site and may change
We believe that face-to-face, direct engagement with college coaches is a key piece in advancing your recruiting process as a student-athlete. In addition to knowing who you are on the field as a player, coaches need to know you as a complete student-athlete as they evaluate your fit for their program. Coaches recruit student-athletes who can contribute to their program on the field - and who also are a fit for the school, and the culture and character of the program. At Honor Roll, coaches are on the fields and in the dugouts with you, and are available for connection so that coaches can directly engage with players, and so that student-athletes can get to know their future coaches.
On-Field Engagement & Instruction:
Each college coach is assigned to a coaching group, just as student-athletes are assigned to teams. These coaching groups are on the field and in the dugouts during the games at camp, which is meant to increase their visibility for evaluating student-athletes, give them the chance to instruct and coach prospective student-athletes and to facilitate direct engagement between players and coaches. At Honor Roll, coaches aren't separated from players by the chain link fence as you might see at a tournament - the structure of camp is meant to foster organic direct interaction.
Once players and parents are on-site at camp, they are able to access these coaching groups so that student-athletes can find the coaches on their list to start the conversation. These coaching groups rotate over the course of camp so as to maximize interactions - as a player, you'll be on the field with a different coaching group for each of your games so that you can have direct contact with as many coaches as possible during camp.
Dedicated Meet-and-Greet:
New this year at camp, there is also built-in dedicated time for coaches and players to engage directly during "meet-and-greet" blocks on each day of camp. During this time, players have the opportunity to introduce themselves and connect with the college coaches who are on their list.
On Day 1 of camp, the meet-and-greet is scheduled between the first and second game slot, and is a great time to find a couple of the schools at the top of your list, so that you can introduce yourself and give coaches the opportunity to put a face to a name.
On Day 2, the meet-and-greet falls between the second and third game slots of the day, so that all players have the chance to track down additional coaches before their game play ends. The timing for this makes sure that all players still have a game left, so the coaches they engage with have the chance to watch them play in their next game slot.
Giving coaches access to data and analytics from camp - including objective measurements, Blast Motion data and more - gives deeper insight into your tools and projectability as a player. Combining these analytics with the live gameplay, showcase portions, direct on-field engagement and access to the nextpro camp video database means that coaches have everything they need to recruit you. This data not only adds depth to the picture of who you are right now as a player, but also lets coaches see your potential, and how you project at their level of play.
In addition to equipping coaches with more in-depth information on your projectability and recruitability, this data also gives you as a player the tools and information to continue to develop as a player. By helping you get to know yourself more completely as a player, this data points to your areas of strength and improvement so that you can continue to round out your game.
Blast Motion:
New this year at Honor Roll, a partnership with Blast Motion (blastmotion.com) will give even more advanced insight for coaches and players. Blast is a swing analyzer (sensor) and player development platform that records all of the necessary pre-contact information about an athlete's swing - allowing you to not only track important data points like maximum barrel speed, peak hand speed and time to contact, but also builds a model of your swing across three metrics: Plane, Connection and Rotation. Together, these metrics provide an in-depth look at your swing, and how you can continue to improve your approach and attack at the plate.
The Blast swing analyzer will be available for purchase directly through the Honor Roll registration platform both during and after your registration. If you would like to purchase a sensor, you will be able to as an optional add-on. At camp, all student-athletes with a Blast swing analyzer will have their data tracked both during the Offensive Showcase and in the live gameplay, and this data will be accessible to coaches and to the player.
Video plays an important role in coaches' recruiting as a way to see more players, cross-check their in-person evaluations and allow the entire coaching staff to assess student-athletes.
Headfirst Honor Roll Camps maximizes your exposure to college coaches by providing verified game film to the entire coaching staff of every school in attendance. This unique feature – only offered at Headfirst – gives coaches the ability to watch film of every at-bat and inning pitched from camp after the event has ended, expediting your recruiting process and delivering results at your top programs.
Advantages of Honor Roll game film:
Coaches can cross-check and see you play again without waiting to find you in-person -
Repeat exposure can make a huge difference in your recruiting – but between school and travel schedules, it can be tough to find the time and resources to get front of a coaching staff again. The video provided by NextPro gives coaches the ability to watch you again anytime and anywhere to confirm the initial impression you made at Honor Roll.
The whole coaching staff at your target schools can see you play -
Recruiting is a collaborative team decision – one in which all members of the staff weigh in on whether a player is the right fit for their program. Regardless of which coach is in attendance, every coach at our partner programs will have access to the game film provided by NextPro – so when a coach pulls up your video, you have the eyes of the entire coaching staff on YOU.
Verified game footage helps coaches effectively assess your play -
The problem with a lot of game film is that it doesn't provide a benchmark or allow coaches to see the level of competition. You may have great footage of a tournament at-bat, but that footage doesn't necessarily give coaches an idea of what level of competition you're facing.
Because coaches see every player at Honor Roll, they can evaluate your game film by comparing your performance with other players they are recruiting. If a coach had a pitcher highly-ranked and watches film of you hitting a home run off that pitcher, that film will be much more valuable to them because it lets them assess you as a player within the context of your competition. They not only have the chance to see how you perform, but how you stack up to the competition and to their other recruits.
High-quality video from multiple angles -
Every pitch and at bat at Honor Roll is captured from multiple angles on both the pitcher and the hitter. This allows coaches to assess mechanics more effectively, and gives them more insight in their evaluation.
The positioning of the cameras within the field of play also allows unobstructed views, giving coaches a front row seat for the action.
Options to purchase your at-camp video -
Game film will be sent to all coaches regardless of whether players decide to purchase their film – but NextPro also provides different packages for players to purchase their video to take with them after camp. This includes access to all your footage, or custom-built highlight reels picked by you. This option gives you the opportunity to acquire personalized film to use throughout your recruiting.
Players should arrive between 7:00 and 7:30am on Day 1 for check-in, and camp will begin promptly at 7:40am. We will provide additional arrival details (such as facility location and parking information) during our pre-camp webinars (which we host approximately 10 days before your scheduled camp) and through email in advance of the event.
If weather impacts the start time of any individual camp, we will notify all families via email and through our on-site information web page, which will be linked in email communications.
Each ballplayer’s game schedule will depend on the team to which they are assigned. Players and parents will receive their team assignment following the showcase workout on the morning of Day 1 (you can expect teams to be posted by 1:00pm).
Team assignments will determine the end time for Day 1, as well as the arrival and departure times for Day 2. For all teams, Day 1 will conclude around 6:00pm for the early game slots and 8:00pm for the later game slots.
Day 2 arrival will be determined by team assignment (which will be the same as the first day’s assignment). The teams that finished first on Day 1 will report back for their first round of morning games, and they should arrive to the facility by 7:00am. The teams that finished in the last game slots on Day 1 will arrive back to the facility around 9:00am on Day 2.
On Day 2, all games should be finished by 5:00pm.
We do not provide a written evaluation of the campers during our camp. Our mission is to facilitate face-to-face interaction between student-athletes and coaches as we believe that this is the best channel for impactful feedback. These interactions not only let ballplayers know where they stand in the recruiting process but allow athletes the opportunity to develop a relationship with the coach.
The only written evaluations that are done are pitching evaluations. These evaluations are done by a college coach stationed behind home plate during each game. They are shared with ALL attending college coaches, and include both objective measurements like velocity, as well as notes on mindset, athleticism, mechanics, movement and command. They are not, however, circulated to players and families.
YES. Headfirst provides all pitcher evaluations to the coaches.
All of the objective measurements collected during the showcase portion on the morning of Day 1 are circulated to all coaches (both in hard copy and digitally) during the first day of camp. These measurements include all ballplayers’ 60 yard dash, batted ball velocity and overhand throwing velocity.
Team assignments and game times will be announced via our on-site mobile web page (circulated before camp as well as on-site) during the Offensive Showcase portion in the early afternoon of Day 1. This information will include team assignments, game times and pitching rotations.
On Day 2, each ballplayer will play in two games, and exact report times will be communicated at the end of Day 1 (for planning purposes, early teams will report on Day 2 around 7:00am and late teams will report around 9:00am).
One of the unique parts of the way that Headfirst runs our Honor Roll Camps is the opportunity for interaction directly between ballplayers and college coaches. During each game slot, college coaches are on the fields and in the dugouts coaching and evaluating. The camp schedule and coach rotation is built to maximize the number of unique college coaches that ballplayers are able to play in front of. During each game slot, some coaches are “working”– that is, assigned to fields and dugouts – while others are “roaming”, meaning that they are unassigned and free to scout players across the complex. After the conclusion of Day 1, the coaches’ schedule flips, so coaches who were “working” during a team’s game slot on Day 1 are now “roaming” on Day 2. This allows each coach the opportunity to effectively scout and evaluate all players.
The best time for a ballplayer to approach a college coach is in the dugout or around the facility between games. Because of the nature of the schedule and coach rotation, there are numerous opportunities for this kind of interaction.
Over nearly twenty years of conversations with college coaches, we have heard repeatedly that it is far more effective if the players (rather than parents) introduce themselves to a coach.
Ballplayers should feel free to ask the college coaches questions about their school and program. On our blog, we have a post about some of the best things that student-athletes can do before and at camp to stand out to college coaches, including how to introduce yourself to a college coach — see the full post here.
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