Friday, October 22, 2010
Tip of the Day #10
Understand that athletic scholarships are renewable one-year contracts, not four-year contracts. The rules about when a coach can choose not to renew a scholarship are pretty clear, and the good news is that they can't take away your scholarship because they're disappointed in the way you're playing. But they can revoke your scholarship if you're not meeting academic standards or if you get caught violating a school or athletic program rule. And even though they can't revoke your scholarship without just cause, they can strongly encourage you to leave by never playing you and generally making your life miserable. So keep your nose clean and your attitude positive.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Tip of the Day #9
Athletic scholarships require you to be an active member of a team but merit scholarships do not, so think your decision through carefully if you have separate offers of both.
It's the rare athlete who is in this fortunate position but if you're one of them, consider your options very carefully. Everyone who goes through college recruiting hopes to be able to brag about the athletic scholarship offers they receive but there is a downside. There are a million reasons college athletes decide to give up their sport in college. What if you decide you just don't want to compete anymore, if you get seriously injured, if you're not getting the playing time you thought you would, if you hate the coach, if there are just other things you want to concentrate on more. Quit the team, lose your scholarship. It's that simple. There are lots of unhappy and unmotivated juniors and seniors who don't want to compete anymore but can't quit their teams because they would lose their scholarships.
If you have an offer of a merit scholarship, and you decide to leave the team for some reason, you keep the scholarship and finish your education on your own time. Pretty attractive deal if you can get it.
It's the rare athlete who is in this fortunate position but if you're one of them, consider your options very carefully. Everyone who goes through college recruiting hopes to be able to brag about the athletic scholarship offers they receive but there is a downside. There are a million reasons college athletes decide to give up their sport in college. What if you decide you just don't want to compete anymore, if you get seriously injured, if you're not getting the playing time you thought you would, if you hate the coach, if there are just other things you want to concentrate on more. Quit the team, lose your scholarship. It's that simple. There are lots of unhappy and unmotivated juniors and seniors who don't want to compete anymore but can't quit their teams because they would lose their scholarships.
If you have an offer of a merit scholarship, and you decide to leave the team for some reason, you keep the scholarship and finish your education on your own time. Pretty attractive deal if you can get it.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Tip of the Day #8
Be realistic about your skills.
Maybe you're as good as you think you are, maybe you're not. It's so important to get an accurate assessment of your skills from objective outside sources in preparation for college recruiting, and I list several ways to do that in Put Me In, Coach. If you're willing to believe what objective sources are telling you and you aim yourself accordingly, you will generate more college recruiting interest and options than if you stubbornly reach for too high a level. The right level is challenging enough to stretch you, but manageable enough that you'll see playing time. If you reach too high, you may end up with nothing, or you may walk on to find yourself in a permanent practice squad situation. If you've gone through a year of college basketball recruiting or college football recruiting only to end up as a practice player, you probably won't be very happy.
Maybe you're as good as you think you are, maybe you're not. It's so important to get an accurate assessment of your skills from objective outside sources in preparation for college recruiting, and I list several ways to do that in Put Me In, Coach. If you're willing to believe what objective sources are telling you and you aim yourself accordingly, you will generate more college recruiting interest and options than if you stubbornly reach for too high a level. The right level is challenging enough to stretch you, but manageable enough that you'll see playing time. If you reach too high, you may end up with nothing, or you may walk on to find yourself in a permanent practice squad situation. If you've gone through a year of college basketball recruiting or college football recruiting only to end up as a practice player, you probably won't be very happy.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Tip of the Day #7
Here is one good way to use your parents in college recruiting: have them help you develop a good resume and cover letter. You may be sending these out to college coaches and you may be posting them on a college recruiting website. Either way, it's good to have an adult pair of eyes look them over and give them a final thumbs up. Most parents have had to write resumes and cover letters at some point in their lives so they're pretty experienced at it. And it's a pretty straightforward task that you won't fight or disagree over.
Suppose you're pursuing college basketball recruiting or college football recruiting. Once you have some videotape footage that you can post on a recruiting website or YouTube, you're ready to contact college coaches with your resume (keep it to 1 page), and cover letter. Your letter has to be personal and can't look like a form letter that you sent to 100 coaches. Talk about why you like this coach's program, why you're a good fit, and how you would add value. Direct them to wherever you've posted your college basketball recruiting or college football recruiting videotape. And as long as you've aimed yourself at the right level of program, good things should happen.
Suppose you're pursuing college basketball recruiting or college football recruiting. Once you have some videotape footage that you can post on a recruiting website or YouTube, you're ready to contact college coaches with your resume (keep it to 1 page), and cover letter. Your letter has to be personal and can't look like a form letter that you sent to 100 coaches. Talk about why you like this coach's program, why you're a good fit, and how you would add value. Direct them to wherever you've posted your college basketball recruiting or college football recruiting videotape. And as long as you've aimed yourself at the right level of program, good things should happen.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Tip of the Day #6
Use the athletic page on college websites to get the backgrounds of players on the roster and compare yourself to see if you'd fit.
Pick a typical D I, D II, and D III program. Go to your specific sport on the school's athletic page. Look at the players' size, weight, and speed. Suppose you're interested in college basketball recruiting. If you're 6'3" and playing a forward in high school, you'll probably find that forwards in college are at least 6'5" at the D III level and closer to 6'8" at the D I level. You may be too small for the level you want to play at, or you may need to consider switching positions to make it happen. Same is true for college football recruiting. 6'1" and 190 isn't going to work when the typical player at your position is 6'3" and 245.
Check times if you're in a timed sport like swimming or track. That's a pretty straight empirical measure that's hard for a coach responsible for college recruiting to argue with.
Read the bios of current college athletes to see what kinds of awards they got in high school. They will all be impressive and it will give you a good comparison point for where you fit in.
You can also get a good feel for whether they recruit locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally. And you can tell if they're recruiting primarily from public, private, or religious high schools, or if they get a fair number of recruits from junior colleges.
Do your research. It's all right there on the web and it's free.
Pick a typical D I, D II, and D III program. Go to your specific sport on the school's athletic page. Look at the players' size, weight, and speed. Suppose you're interested in college basketball recruiting. If you're 6'3" and playing a forward in high school, you'll probably find that forwards in college are at least 6'5" at the D III level and closer to 6'8" at the D I level. You may be too small for the level you want to play at, or you may need to consider switching positions to make it happen. Same is true for college football recruiting. 6'1" and 190 isn't going to work when the typical player at your position is 6'3" and 245.
Check times if you're in a timed sport like swimming or track. That's a pretty straight empirical measure that's hard for a coach responsible for college recruiting to argue with.
Read the bios of current college athletes to see what kinds of awards they got in high school. They will all be impressive and it will give you a good comparison point for where you fit in.
You can also get a good feel for whether they recruit locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally. And you can tell if they're recruiting primarily from public, private, or religious high schools, or if they get a fair number of recruits from junior colleges.
Do your research. It's all right there on the web and it's free.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tip of the Day # 5
Ask the coach the following question: "How often do you play freshmen, and what are my chances of playing as a freshman?"
Most kids want to know if they're likely to play as freshman. Any astute coach will tell you that playing time depends on performance, attitude, and other "you" things that they won't know until they see you in action, outside of the recruiting environment. This is an easy (and fair) way to deflect the question. But if you ask a college coach how often they have played freshmen in the past five years, they can't hide their record, and history will speak for itself. With this question, you'll get a very good idea of how likely any given freshman is to get playing time.
Most kids want to know if they're likely to play as freshman. Any astute coach will tell you that playing time depends on performance, attitude, and other "you" things that they won't know until they see you in action, outside of the recruiting environment. This is an easy (and fair) way to deflect the question. But if you ask a college coach how often they have played freshmen in the past five years, they can't hide their record, and history will speak for itself. With this question, you'll get a very good idea of how likely any given freshman is to get playing time.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Tip of the Day #4
Prepare and practice what you want to say when coaches call.
That first college recruiting phone call is pretty momentous and hopefully, there will be more after that. To make the best impression on a coach who may be recruiting you, you should be prepared for this call. Think through what you want to tell them about yourself, why you're interested in their program, how you can add value to it, and what questions you have. When they actually get you on the phone, you may be nervous and it will be hard to come up with all of this on the fly. This is especially true if it's a coach from a school you're really fired up about. Write it down and keep it close.
Another thing you may want to consider is role playing the conversation with a friend or parent ahead of time. This will give you practice and help build your confidence.
That first college recruiting phone call is pretty momentous and hopefully, there will be more after that. To make the best impression on a coach who may be recruiting you, you should be prepared for this call. Think through what you want to tell them about yourself, why you're interested in their program, how you can add value to it, and what questions you have. When they actually get you on the phone, you may be nervous and it will be hard to come up with all of this on the fly. This is especially true if it's a coach from a school you're really fired up about. Write it down and keep it close.
Another thing you may want to consider is role playing the conversation with a friend or parent ahead of time. This will give you practice and help build your confidence.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Tip of the Day #3
If you're a junior who is interested in college football recruiting, college basketball recruiting, or college recruiting for any other sport, start the NCAA Eligibility Center registration early this school year. There is more to it than filling out a form and clicking "send." Here's a quick list of what you need to do:
--Check with your high school counselor to make sure you're taking the right courses in high school
--If you haven't take the SAT's or ACT's, make sure to register and take the test on time, and request that the scores get sent to code 9999 which is the Eligibility center
--If you have taken the SAT's or ACT's but haven't sent your scores on, you need to go to their websites and request that the scores get sent to the Eligibility Center. The SAT link is www.sat.collegeboard.com/scores/send-sat-scores. The ACT link is www.actstudent.org/scores/send/
--Your high school transcripts from junior year (and again, after you graduate) need to be sent from your high school to the Eligibility Center. You can't send an unofficial transcript or a copy, it has to come directly from your school
--You need to sign a form indicating that you have amateur, and not professional status. You can find this on the Eligibility Center website
--And of course, nothing is complete without moolah. It will cost you $60 to register and get this whole process started on their website. Credit cards accepted.
Good luck and get started.
--Check with your high school counselor to make sure you're taking the right courses in high school
--If you haven't take the SAT's or ACT's, make sure to register and take the test on time, and request that the scores get sent to code 9999 which is the Eligibility center
--If you have taken the SAT's or ACT's but haven't sent your scores on, you need to go to their websites and request that the scores get sent to the Eligibility Center. The SAT link is www.sat.collegeboard.com/scores/send-sat-scores. The ACT link is www.actstudent.org/scores/send/
--Your high school transcripts from junior year (and again, after you graduate) need to be sent from your high school to the Eligibility Center. You can't send an unofficial transcript or a copy, it has to come directly from your school
--You need to sign a form indicating that you have amateur, and not professional status. You can find this on the Eligibility Center website
--And of course, nothing is complete without moolah. It will cost you $60 to register and get this whole process started on their website. Credit cards accepted.
Good luck and get started.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Tip of the Day #2
Don't let parents contact college coaches--do this yourself.
Coaches want to see some evidence of maturity, communication skills, and passion from the athletes they go through the college recruiting process with. They don't expect you to do all the talking and they are used to leading the conversation. But they do want to know that the athletes they are considering giving a sports scholarship to are willing to take the first step by themselves. And a great by-product is the ongoing relationship you start to develop with them.
Finally, they don't want to deal with a meddling parent. While it's not necessarily the case that a parent who contacts them will become a meddler, they don't even need to consider that possibility if a parent isn't involved in the beginning.
Coaches want to see some evidence of maturity, communication skills, and passion from the athletes they go through the college recruiting process with. They don't expect you to do all the talking and they are used to leading the conversation. But they do want to know that the athletes they are considering giving a sports scholarship to are willing to take the first step by themselves. And a great by-product is the ongoing relationship you start to develop with them.
Finally, they don't want to deal with a meddling parent. While it's not necessarily the case that a parent who contacts them will become a meddler, they don't even need to consider that possibility if a parent isn't involved in the beginning.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Starting a Tip of the Day Blog
So now that most schools are in session, high school athletes are starting to think about college football recruiting, college basketball recruiting, college baseball recruiting, and high school athletics in general. I'm going to publish a Tip of the Day every few days to help you get going on your search for sports scholarships. These are abbreviated versions of the tips I published in my ebook: The Recruiting Companion for College Sports: Over 100 Winning Tips. Here's the first one:
TIP #1:
ALWAYS BE CAREFUL ABOUT WHAT YOU SAY AND DO IN ANY COMPETITION, ESPECIALLY THOSE OUTSIDE OF YOUR HIGH SCHOOL
The coaches you care about the most may not be in attendance at a competition you're participating in, but others will be and they talk amongst themselves. Keeping your guard up will ensure that you don't sabotage yourself when you thought no one of importance to you was watching or listening. Someone always is.
TIP #1:
ALWAYS BE CAREFUL ABOUT WHAT YOU SAY AND DO IN ANY COMPETITION, ESPECIALLY THOSE OUTSIDE OF YOUR HIGH SCHOOL
The coaches you care about the most may not be in attendance at a competition you're participating in, but others will be and they talk amongst themselves. Keeping your guard up will ensure that you don't sabotage yourself when you thought no one of importance to you was watching or listening. Someone always is.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Recruiting Rules are Forever Changing
If you're a student athlete in the market for college recruiting now, it's tough to stay on top of the rules as the NCAA is constantly tweaking them in an effort to keep some pretense of control. Here are three that have happened fairly recently:
Two years ago, the NCAA put the kabosh on coaches texting recruits because it was so intrusive and was costing kids all kinds of money. Very recently, they ruled that the use of Twitter is acceptable (as is e-mail). So now, coaches are quickly getting facile with Twitter as a way to develop communities around their programs. Creates images of the Pied Piper. If there are programs you're very interested in, you may want to follow the coach on Twitter.
Coaches are no longer allowed to attend and view basketball players at spring (April and May) AAU tournaments, they are only allowed to view in July. Will this put more influence into the hands of scouts? And will elite teams stop attending these tournaments?
The age at which male basketball players can officially be considered "prospective athletes" has dropped two years to seventh and eighth graders. Previously, a prospective athlete was a kid who had begun taking classes in the ninth grade. But younger high potential players were attending elite summer camps giving the coaches sponsoring those camps a leg up on developing relationships with these kids. By dropping the age, the NCAA can now legislate the limits of these camp relationships. So despite this looking like the NCAA is encouraging coaches to recruit kids even younger, the opposite is true--they're trying to exert a little more control over what has been out of their control until now.
These may not impact you personally but recognize that the contact you may or may not be having with a specific coach may be as much a reflection of the constraints the rules impose as a statement about what a coach thinks of you. And try to stay on top of the rules by asking your high school coach or athletic director, your AAU or club coach, or the college coaches you contact.
Two years ago, the NCAA put the kabosh on coaches texting recruits because it was so intrusive and was costing kids all kinds of money. Very recently, they ruled that the use of Twitter is acceptable (as is e-mail). So now, coaches are quickly getting facile with Twitter as a way to develop communities around their programs. Creates images of the Pied Piper. If there are programs you're very interested in, you may want to follow the coach on Twitter.
Coaches are no longer allowed to attend and view basketball players at spring (April and May) AAU tournaments, they are only allowed to view in July. Will this put more influence into the hands of scouts? And will elite teams stop attending these tournaments?
The age at which male basketball players can officially be considered "prospective athletes" has dropped two years to seventh and eighth graders. Previously, a prospective athlete was a kid who had begun taking classes in the ninth grade. But younger high potential players were attending elite summer camps giving the coaches sponsoring those camps a leg up on developing relationships with these kids. By dropping the age, the NCAA can now legislate the limits of these camp relationships. So despite this looking like the NCAA is encouraging coaches to recruit kids even younger, the opposite is true--they're trying to exert a little more control over what has been out of their control until now.
These may not impact you personally but recognize that the contact you may or may not be having with a specific coach may be as much a reflection of the constraints the rules impose as a statement about what a coach thinks of you. And try to stay on top of the rules by asking your high school coach or athletic director, your AAU or club coach, or the college coaches you contact.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Ranking Elementary Schoolers for College Recruiting
The New York Times just published an interesting article about what happens when kids are ranked for college recruiters as early as 5th and 6th grade. The gist of the article is that it sets expectations that often aren't met as the kids age, and it creates jealousies and other social problems for these kids. Here's a link to the article:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/sports/10recruiting.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
I have watched many kids in several sports from 1st grade through high school. The pecking order doesn't stay static, it changes every year. The kids who were standouts when they were younger don't always keep that status. They might not grow, they might burn out because they're playing year round, and the elephant in the room that no one likes to talk about is that they may hit a wall on skill development and just stop getting better while everyone around them is continuously improving. Conversely, a kid who was gangly and awkward as a 9th grader suddenly grows and comes into their own as a junior and just dominates.
Imagine the pressure on the kid who is labeled as a superstar at 12 and has to hang his head between his legs at 16 because he flamed out. Imagine being the parent of that kid and having to prop up his destroyed self-esteem. Stop the insanity of ranking kids in the 6th grade, even if it is making someone a few bucks. At least wait until they are closer to having adult bodies.
I have watched many kids in several sports from 1st grade through high school. The pecking order doesn't stay static, it changes every year. The kids who were standouts when they were younger don't always keep that status. They might not grow, they might burn out because they're playing year round, and the elephant in the room that no one likes to talk about is that they may hit a wall on skill development and just stop getting better while everyone around them is continuously improving. Conversely, a kid who was gangly and awkward as a 9th grader suddenly grows and comes into their own as a junior and just dominates.
Imagine the pressure on the kid who is labeled as a superstar at 12 and has to hang his head between his legs at 16 because he flamed out. Imagine being the parent of that kid and having to prop up his destroyed self-esteem. Stop the insanity of ranking kids in the 6th grade, even if it is making someone a few bucks. At least wait until they are closer to having adult bodies.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
College Recruiting Question: Does a Letter Mean I'm Getting Recruited?
Parents often ask me whether letters mean their child is a "top recruit" and I have had several parents tell me a laundry list of schools that they thought were recruiting their kid based only on a letter campaign. If you want to know if letters mean that your child is being recruited by a school, the quick answer is no, not yet. Let me share a quick story that will make this all too clear.
There was one (unnamed) school that sent my son more letters than any other school. They never called, never contacted him in any other way, and never came to see him play that we knew of. They requested that he fill out their questionnaire (which he did), but they never followed up with him.
In preparation for a recruiting presentation I was doing where I knew this subject would come up, I decided to see how many letters they had sent. I was guessing 25. When I counted up the letters in his room from this one school, there were 87. That's not a typo--87. After the presentation, I called him at college and told him about it. When I told him how many letters had come from this one school, he laughed and told me that he had thrown away more than half of them.
Clearly, he was on the "if none of our chosen recruits decide to come here" list. There's nothing wrong with a school sending letters to a broad range of kids. You just need to recognize that many of these letters are coming to you from schools and coaches that need to build a database of kids who they can tap if they need to, not because they have an overwhelming interest in your specific kid. So keep it in perspective and know they're only really interested if the letters start to be personal and hand-written, and if they're accompanied by calls and requests for video and game schedules.
There was one (unnamed) school that sent my son more letters than any other school. They never called, never contacted him in any other way, and never came to see him play that we knew of. They requested that he fill out their questionnaire (which he did), but they never followed up with him.
In preparation for a recruiting presentation I was doing where I knew this subject would come up, I decided to see how many letters they had sent. I was guessing 25. When I counted up the letters in his room from this one school, there were 87. That's not a typo--87. After the presentation, I called him at college and told him about it. When I told him how many letters had come from this one school, he laughed and told me that he had thrown away more than half of them.
Clearly, he was on the "if none of our chosen recruits decide to come here" list. There's nothing wrong with a school sending letters to a broad range of kids. You just need to recognize that many of these letters are coming to you from schools and coaches that need to build a database of kids who they can tap if they need to, not because they have an overwhelming interest in your specific kid. So keep it in perspective and know they're only really interested if the letters start to be personal and hand-written, and if they're accompanied by calls and requests for video and game schedules.
Monday, February 9, 2009
College Recruiting Cruises into Spring for Juniors
So it's mid February already and football signing day has come and gone. That means we're getting closer and closer to spring break and if you're a high school junior with hopes of playing in college, time to get it in gear.
You should try to use your spring break to make a college visit or two, just to get an idea of what kind of school you would be comfortable at. You can also use this time to start putting together your profile and video to either send out or post online at one of the recruiting websites.
There's a lot to do in the months ahead. I've tried to lay everything out in Put Me In, Coach: A Parent's Guide to Winning the Game of College Recruiting (www.rightfitpress.com). Use the suggestions in the book to layout what you will do month by month. It's a much more manageable task if you take on a little at a time.
Make it a goal to contact at least 10 college coaches in the next month. Pick some schools that look interesting to you, let them know you're interested in learning more about their program, and let them know how to find information about you.
You should try to use your spring break to make a college visit or two, just to get an idea of what kind of school you would be comfortable at. You can also use this time to start putting together your profile and video to either send out or post online at one of the recruiting websites.
There's a lot to do in the months ahead. I've tried to lay everything out in Put Me In, Coach: A Parent's Guide to Winning the Game of College Recruiting (www.rightfitpress.com). Use the suggestions in the book to layout what you will do month by month. It's a much more manageable task if you take on a little at a time.
Make it a goal to contact at least 10 college coaches in the next month. Pick some schools that look interesting to you, let them know you're interested in learning more about their program, and let them know how to find information about you.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Pat Summit Reaches a Summit of Her Own
Today, Pat Summit reached 1000 wins. She is the winningest NCAA D-I basketball coach in history. No one else is even close. Bobby Knight retired with 902 wins and Jody Conradt retired with 900 wins. Can you imagine winning 1000 of anything? It strikes me as very fitting that her last name is Summit--she has just reached one.
It is also ironic that it falls on the annual football signing day. Student athletes all over the country salivating at the chance to put on their new uniforms and pack away that first college win. And when that happens, this coach will be 999 wins ahead of them (okay, so there's a few more games in a basketball season than a football season). It takes commitment, persistence, and a lot of motivation. She is a great role model and I hope she gets a few hundred more before she calls it quits.
It is also ironic that it falls on the annual football signing day. Student athletes all over the country salivating at the chance to put on their new uniforms and pack away that first college win. And when that happens, this coach will be 999 wins ahead of them (okay, so there's a few more games in a basketball season than a football season). It takes commitment, persistence, and a lot of motivation. She is a great role model and I hope she gets a few hundred more before she calls it quits.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Recruiting 7th and 8th graders for college sports
Lots of buzz lately about how the NCAA is now allowing 7th and 8th graders to be recruited. This is an attempt to gain some control over coach contact with middle schoolers since it was already happening in camps with no "rules" governing it. I have lots of thoughts about this but I'm curious about the viewpoints of other parents who have athletes who are now out of high school--what did you see as your kids were growing up. Here are my observations, I'm wondering if you saw the same things I did:
The kids who were standouts in early middle school were sometimes flameouts by late high school. There were a few reasons for this. Sometimes they grew very quickly and stopped just as quickly, so everyone caught up and passed them by. Sometimes their skills just didn't develop or they weren't motivated enough to work on them. Sometimes they burned out on the sport or just lost interest and moved to another sport. Sometimes they just didn't have the temperament to work well within a coaches system. And sometimes, the tougher academic workload and increased competition at the high school level just did them in and their effort slid to mediocre.
I've seen cases of the opposite too. Kids who were average athletes and average in size suddenly put the pieces together and grow and excel somewhere around junior year. In fact, this happens to lots of kids. Does this mean they would get passed on because spots were committed to years before?
A parent on the sidelines sees the ebb and flow of all the kids their child is coming up with and there's a lot of churning before it all settles out. It's very sad to see a sport pass a kid by who still wants to be playing. And it's very exciting to see a kid who has persisted through thick and thin to suddenly come into their own.
It's hard to believe that recruiting 12 and 13 year olds won't result in some very unfulfilled expectations. Let them become who they are meant to become. I'd love to hear from some other parents on this topic. What have you seen from the sidelines?
The kids who were standouts in early middle school were sometimes flameouts by late high school. There were a few reasons for this. Sometimes they grew very quickly and stopped just as quickly, so everyone caught up and passed them by. Sometimes their skills just didn't develop or they weren't motivated enough to work on them. Sometimes they burned out on the sport or just lost interest and moved to another sport. Sometimes they just didn't have the temperament to work well within a coaches system. And sometimes, the tougher academic workload and increased competition at the high school level just did them in and their effort slid to mediocre.
I've seen cases of the opposite too. Kids who were average athletes and average in size suddenly put the pieces together and grow and excel somewhere around junior year. In fact, this happens to lots of kids. Does this mean they would get passed on because spots were committed to years before?
A parent on the sidelines sees the ebb and flow of all the kids their child is coming up with and there's a lot of churning before it all settles out. It's very sad to see a sport pass a kid by who still wants to be playing. And it's very exciting to see a kid who has persisted through thick and thin to suddenly come into their own.
It's hard to believe that recruiting 12 and 13 year olds won't result in some very unfulfilled expectations. Let them become who they are meant to become. I'd love to hear from some other parents on this topic. What have you seen from the sidelines?
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Belt Tightening in College Recruiting
From everything I've been reading lately, this is the topic du jour. When the NYT tackles it, you know it's for real. The gist of it is that with the economy in the slumps, college programs are allocating less resources for recruiting, so coaching staffs, and recruits both have to be more resourceful in finding each other.
As a recruit, you can't control what the coaching staff does but you can control what you do. You should assume that it will now be harder to be found and/or seen because there is less money for programs to get out there. But you should also assume that their needs haven't decreased--just their budgets. Your job is to work even harder to get your information into the hands of anyone you might be interested in. Get good quality video and post it on one or more of the websites that maintain recruiting info for student-athletes. Send a separate copy to a handful of the coaches on your A-list. Send a well written and personal letter to these coaches, directing them to where they can find your video and stats posted. By personal, I mean tell them enough about you to get them interested, and mention enough about what you know about their program (and how you would fit well into it) so they know you've done your homework and are really interested in them. Everyone wants to be wanted--coaches are no exception.
The opportunities are still out there, you just may have to work a little harder to make sure they find you.
As a recruit, you can't control what the coaching staff does but you can control what you do. You should assume that it will now be harder to be found and/or seen because there is less money for programs to get out there. But you should also assume that their needs haven't decreased--just their budgets. Your job is to work even harder to get your information into the hands of anyone you might be interested in. Get good quality video and post it on one or more of the websites that maintain recruiting info for student-athletes. Send a separate copy to a handful of the coaches on your A-list. Send a well written and personal letter to these coaches, directing them to where they can find your video and stats posted. By personal, I mean tell them enough about you to get them interested, and mention enough about what you know about their program (and how you would fit well into it) so they know you've done your homework and are really interested in them. Everyone wants to be wanted--coaches are no exception.
The opportunities are still out there, you just may have to work a little harder to make sure they find you.
Monday, January 12, 2009
The Role of JV in College Sports
Just read a personal story in The Chronicle about a girl who was recruited for D III sports and was relegated to the JV squad after expecting varsity play. The writer (her parent) was very upset and felt that she was recruited to bolster admissions numbers for this school--not because they really wanted her athletic ability. Apparently this is not an unheard of practice.
Makes me wonder just what is the role of JV in a D III school? Unlike D I programs where athletes move out because of the draft, or move in from Juco's with two years of college experience already, D III programs have kids that are likely to be playing for four years unless they quit the team on their own (which often happens if they're not playing later in their career). So it makes sense that if you're going to be playing against kids that are 3-4 years bigger, faster, and more experienced, a year of JV could help prepare you for what's to come. And it allows a broader group of kids to continue competing in college.
How would you feel if you were recruited, expecting varsity play, and ended up playing JV?
Makes me wonder just what is the role of JV in a D III school? Unlike D I programs where athletes move out because of the draft, or move in from Juco's with two years of college experience already, D III programs have kids that are likely to be playing for four years unless they quit the team on their own (which often happens if they're not playing later in their career). So it makes sense that if you're going to be playing against kids that are 3-4 years bigger, faster, and more experienced, a year of JV could help prepare you for what's to come. And it allows a broader group of kids to continue competing in college.
How would you feel if you were recruited, expecting varsity play, and ended up playing JV?
Friday, January 9, 2009
What happens to college recruiting when programs go under?
I hope this isn't the beginning of a trend. Just read an article about a D II school eliminating it's football program because of budget cuts and a $500,000 deficit that the program was running under every year. I guess they were able to swallow it when the economy was better but it became untenable in the current environment.
Is this just the beginning? Will we be seeing lots of cuts in collegiate athletics, particularly in the smaller, less funded sports? Will it affect the number or dollar amount of scholarships?
If you're on the recruiting trail, try to find out as much as you can about a program's financial health and future. You don't want to be the kid who starts out in a program and has the rug pulled out from under you.
Is this just the beginning? Will we be seeing lots of cuts in collegiate athletics, particularly in the smaller, less funded sports? Will it affect the number or dollar amount of scholarships?
If you're on the recruiting trail, try to find out as much as you can about a program's financial health and future. You don't want to be the kid who starts out in a program and has the rug pulled out from under you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
