College Coaches: How They See It
There are many
different features that are involved in the recruitment of student athletes.
Not just softball skills, but the type of person that they are is observed as a
whole. With the way recruiting is today
in the NCAA, many coaches are forced to recruit early which can raise many questions
from college coaches.1 Does the athlete’s desire to play the game
change when they are being observed by coaches? Is her personality the same as
it was when you first talked to her as a 14 year old? Has she changed
physically?1
Many coaches
today do not know what they are going to get when student athletes verbally
commit as an 8th, 9th, or 10th grader, but
many still feel the need to keep doing what has always been done for the sport
of softball by going out early to recruit and locking up athletes to come to
their school.2 Most athletic director’s
will base success on wins and losses and the type of kids they bring
into their program to represent the university, so many may not think about how
coaches put their careers in the hands of 14 to 18 year old girls.2 As many coaches continue to put countless
hours into the coaching and recruiting process, many see that coaches have
the joy of watching athletes grow into great ball players from when they are 14
years old to when they get to their school as a freshman in college. Many may
put coaches out to be the bad person in this process, but coaches are actually
just doing their jobs to try to build their program into a championship caliber
team.
1Hewitt, P. M. (2009). THE RECRUITING PROCESS. College
Student-athletes: Challenges, Opportunities, and Policy Implications
2Paule, A. L. (2008). The
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Examining Intercollegiate Athletic Recruiting.
I had no idea colleges were starting to recruit athletes at such a young age. To me a 14 year old is not mature enough to begin discussing their athletic future. I feel like this would take away from what is important in their current maturing and developing. Plus the pressure that puts on a child is overwhelming and unnecessary. I understand coaches have to recruit the best in order to save their job, but I feel as though there should be stricter guidelines in order to make sure an athlete has developed the maturity in order to make such a life impacting decision.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alyssa that the idea of a 14 year old making any sort of long-term decision is intimidating and potentially troublesome. I've hear of the freakish oversized eighth grader scenarios that draw football recruiting headlines and the attention of coaches like Nick Saban or Les Miles. However, an additional dynamic is added when you consider that girls reach physical maturity earlier in their high school career. This does not exclude them from being incapable of long-term decision making, but adds to the difficulty of the coaches' recruiting responsibilities. It raises added difficulties knowing that a 14-year-old girl has nearly reached her physical maturity and, thus, registers at a different point on the recruiting timeline.
ReplyDeleteThe thought of putting my coaching success in the hands of 14-18 year old kids is a scary thought. Recruiting, at the college, has to me one of the most difficult jobs out there. As you stated above, the likelihood of change, whether it be physical or mental, has a high chance of occurring during the transfer from high school to college. I can imagine the hammer that comes down on the recruiting coordinator when this change occurs and it is not for the good of the program. Once again putting one's faith in the performance of 18 year old kids is not the most securing or promising decision when it comes to pursuing a career.
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