Recruiting Is a Team Sport
- Becki Ushery
- 19 hours ago
- 3 min read
Turning a Philosophy Into Action at Armor Elite
It’s a great idea. It’s a great slogan. But the truth is, saying it is a lot easier than actually putting it into practice. Think about it.
How can a coach advocate for a player they barely know? How can someone recommend an athlete if they don’t know their position, their story, their goals, or even where that player will be competing next? Advocating for players requires more than good intentions. It requires information, visibility, and organization.
That’s why we built the Armor Elite Organizational Dashboard.
These tools are not just about tracking data. They’re about helping us execute on our goals as an organization, supporting our athletes and creating real recruiting opportunities.
When we have the right information in the right place, we can confidently talk about our players, share opportunities, and connect the right people at the right time.
The dashboard focuses on three core areas that make this possible.
1. Commitment Status
Understanding Our Recruiting Landscape
The first section focuses on commitment status by graduating class.
This gives us a clear understanding of our current recruiting landscape:
Which players are already committed
Which players are still actively pursuing opportunities
Where additional support and visibility may be needed
In many ways, this is about understanding our “customer base.”
If we want to help players find the right college opportunities, we first need an accurate picture of where things stand.
The accuracy of this information depends heavily on our coaches.
Keeping team rosters updated ensures that graduating classes, commitment status, and recruiting visibility remain accurate across the organization. When rosters are maintained properly, the entire system becomes more valuable for everyone involved.
2. Player Profiles
Helping College Coaches Learn Who Our Players Are
Player profile completion.
While players carry much of the responsibility here, coaches play an important role in encouraging and guiding them. Players can make the updates to their profiles, or coaches have the ability to - the message should be that it's not just about creating a pretty website - it's one way for us as coaches, or even plyers get to know our players.
There are lots of opportunities for plyers to customize their profile - we broke it down in these categories as a way to measure the quality of information we have about players.
Basic Information
This is the foundation of every recruiting profile. It includes essential information like:
Graduation year
Jersey number
Positions played
Hitting and throwing hand
Every player should have this information completed once they are added to a team roster.
X / Email
These are the most basic contact points for recruiting.
College coaches often reach out directly through:
Email
Social platforms such as X
A player profile should always answer a simple question:
Is this athlete reachable?
About Me
These questions are simple but powerful.
They give players a chance to tell a short story about who they are:
Favorite softball player
Personal motivations
Meaning behind their jersey number
Quotes or influences
These small details help others see the person behind the player.
Highlight Video & Gallery
This section answers the most important recruiting question:
What does this player look like on the field?
Highlight videos and photos give college coaches a quick snapshot of the athlete’s skills, athleticism, and style of play.
A picture can tell a thousand words and a short highlight clip can sometimes open a door that statistics alone cannot.
3. Team Engagement Metrics
Advocating for Our Players as an Organization
The final section focuses on team engagement and visibility.
Advocating for players at an organizational level requires us to have important information in one place — not scattered across dozens of platforms.
If someone asks us about a team, we want to be able to confidently say:
Full roster sheets are available here
Tournament schedules are available here
Team information is available here
When organizations like:
Line Drive Media
Extra Inning Softball
College coaching staffs
look for information about our teams and players, we want to provide clear, organized, easy-to-consume information.
To advocate effectively, we need to know:
Where our teams are playing
When they are competing
Who is on each roster
How to quickly share that information
When this information is organized and accessible, it becomes much easier to promote our athletes and create opportunities for them.
The Bigger Picture
This dashboard is not about tracking numbers.
It’s about creating a system that helps us work together more effectively as an organization.
When coaches keep rosters updated…When players maintain their profiles…When teams share schedules and tournament plans…
We create an environment where it becomes much easier to support our athletes.
Because at Armor Elite, we don’t just believe recruiting is a team sport.
We’re building the systems that allow us to prove it.
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