Misinformation!

Hi Everyone,

It was been awhile since we updated our blog, but with the holidays, basketball season, and just getting back into work, it has taken us until February to write a new blog. In early January of 2009, we were talking with parents of college basketball players, and several of them had gone to a high school presentation where they as parents were told that their student athlete or they themselves as parents should not contact colleges or coaches, that colleges and coaches will contact them. WRONG!!! on so many levels.

Now, while it is true that colleges and coaches are always scouting for the recruited athlete, the one who is targeting Division I and is the superstart athlete with all the awards and local press, this is not necessarily true for the non-superstar athlete. What is the definition of non-superstar? In our minds, it is the athlete who has real talent, desire to play and determination and some experience playing, but who may be a late bloomer, someone who was injured and couldn’t benefit from a long playing history, wasn’t a starter perhaps on his or her team, didn’t get the most play time, didn’t decide until very late to play his or her sport in college, wasn’t that supported by a high school coach, etc. For these athletes, it is critical to get your name in front of coaches and colleges where you think you might want to play and would be a good match for your level of play and the academics you want.

The college coaches we contacted as parents of a student athlete would not have come to scout our daughter. When we contacted them by email, then by phone and with a letter attaching our daughter’s profile, most of the coaches were very responsive, some stating she would not be a fit, some with no openings, some with interest, but all of them giving good information not only about their own programs, but about their competition, suggesting other coaches we could contact and where they themselves saw possibilities. They were very forthcoming, but the first step for us was to put our daughter’s athletic information and interest in their school’s academic program in front of them. Of course, our daughter had done her research on where she thought she would want to attend college, had made applications to 8 of them, and we directed our search towards these programs first. But, as we talked to more and more assistant coaches, recruiting coaches and even head coaches sometimes, we found out about other opportunities.

So, our advice to those of you who are student athletes or parents of students athletes who might be thinking about where you or your child could play, remember to look at the breadth of what is available in the NCAA, not just the top ranked Division I schools, but lower ranked Division I and Division II and III, the NAIA, the National Junior College Athletic Association, California Community College Commission on Athletics, National Christian College Athletic Association, United States Collegiate Athletic Association and more. Emailing college coaches and visiting your local university, college and junior college athletic programs and getting to know the local coaches is a good way to learn what is going on in your sport. Even if you or if you are a parent, your student athlete, are not interested in playing for the local colleges, this is a great way to begin to develop some contacts in your particular sport and learn what it takes to play at this level.

So, please don’t think the colleges are coming to you. If you know that you want to play at some level in college, start finding out more about college athletics and building information over a couple of years. We emailed coaches cold and found most of them to be responsive. Obviously, respect the coach’s time and don’t expect instant feedback, but email, phone, write — COMMUNICATE! All they can say is no and you really have lost nothing. If they respond, you will have another kernel of information that may help you on the road to playing college sports!

Happy Presidents Day! Pat and Al