College Coaches: How They See it

 

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 8^th, 9^th, or 10^th 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.

 

 

http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/college-recruiting/2013/nov/14/14-year-old-commits-d1-school/

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/sports/committing-to-play-for-a-college-then-starting-9th-grade.html