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Get Scouted Scouting CareersIn May of 2018 Hallie Siems was scouted, vetted, interviewed and chosen as a National Scouting Report college prospect. As a 2020 pitcher going into her Junior year of high school, in addition to being from a small town in rural Arkansas (Stuttgart, which is exactly two hours from the University of Memphis) mainly known for Duck hunting and rice dryers everywhere, I knew I needed Hallie and Hallie needed me and NSR. As talented, intelligent, hard-working, deserving, and “categorically perfect” as Hallie was, the college softball coaches can’t recruit who they don’t know about and aren’t knocking down the doors of Stuttgart, Arkansas looking for top talent in the country. Don’t get me wrong, Stuttgart has produced some phenomenal talent over the years and annually has a competitive softball team that legitimately competes with everyone in their class. But a special talent like Hallie Siems wasn’t going to reach her full potential in her recruiting organically.
Finding The Best “Fit”
In beginning with any potential NSR prospect, there are numerous things the scout has to discuss, evaluate, and weigh on before deciding “yes” or “no” on an athlete. And a few parts of the athlete interview (and by no means is it limited to) is discussing such things as the athlete’s distance from home they’re wanting to look for college matches, what “levels” of college ball we should and should not be concerned with in accordance with the athlete’s ability, and occasionally some of the “top schools” originally on the athlete’s list. In that very interview with Hallie and her parents, Hallie made a couple of things very abundantly clear. The first being that she had no desire to go more than 5-7 hours from home. And the second being that she had a handful of top schools she’s had in her mind for a longtime, with Memphis University being #1 on that list. Occasionally potential NSR athletes speak about “dream schools” and they are above the athlete’s capability and/or “projectability”, but not with Hallie. Hallie was a hidden gem who could compete and pitch against the best of them already, and I knew she hadn’t even come close to reaching her “ceiling” in terms of growth and development in direct correlation to her work ethic and use of her resources available to her.
The Start of Hallie’s NSR Journey
So it began… May of 2018, Hallie Siems became an Official NSR prospect. And from that point forward, Hallie, her father Clay, and her mother Sandy, became part of my family. Not only Hallie, but her parents, demonstrated day in and day out and throughout the entire recruiting process and up to this very day, what a prospect and family need to do in order to be successful in the recruiting process. Over the next year Hallie was recruiting by an abundance of coaches, across the country actually, but her “criteria” never wavered. She focused on “finding the right fit” within the desired distance from home, and continued to visit and receive offers from various schools of interest. And one of them Hallie, her family and myself had been working on since day one – was what would be necessary for her dream school to want her and give her an opportunity. And over the next year in the midst of visiting other schools, I knew the first thing we needed to do after talking to Coach Poole, Coach Lott and Coach Pena (University of Memphis) was to get Hallie in front of them for a few reasons: To get a legitimate evaluation of her skillset in comparison to what the Tigers’ coaches were looking for in a 2020 pitcher; And to let both parties assess the personality/character match of each other. I knew in my years of experience with the coaches at Memphis that they are absolutely honest and outright with kids and give every kid a fair shake. So I knew that regardless of the circumstances, they’d let Hallie and myself know which direction the situation was going to go. I also knew Hallie’s magnetic personality would be a good match for the coaches as well. Speed up the next several weeks and months…Hallie attends camp and mutual interest is established. Followed by evaluation of Hallie at a showcase versus legitimate competition. And the coaches providing excellent feedback every step of the way plus Hallie doing her part. And the first unofficial visit is scheduled! Unofficial visit with the coaches, the offer comes, and that’s all she wrote!
Hallie and her family are not just prospect/prospect parents to me, they are friends, they are family, and they are people I hope to have around always. Hallie was able to achieve the offer and recruiting from her #1 dream school because of a myriad of reasons… but in a nutshell:
- She had the talent, work ethic, and mind set
- She had the intelligence, time management, organization and maturity to handle the process
- She has a tremendous support system who have raised her right in her parents, Clay and Sandy
Hallie and her parents did everything right and followed every detail of instruction from day 1.
Congrats Hallie, Clay and Sandy! NSR and myself couldn’t be more thankful to have had the opportunity and couldn’t be more happy for you!
See a little more about 2020 Memphis University commit, Hallie Siems:
National Spotlight: https://extrainningsoftball.com/video-2020-aac-bound-pitcher-hallie-simms-shows-her-pinpoint-accuracy/
NSR profile: evo.nsr-inc.com/hallie.siems20
Videos of Hallie: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeFIV9ytcyufPeJ5lcaWBZN1gQOLKaPdX
National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.