College Recruiting

[Unregistered]

What I find scary is how early in the high school this decision is being made, especially for girls. I have two older kids already in college (non athletes but wicked smart) who had no clue about where they wanted to go to college or what they wanted to major in until early senior year HS. Even then one ended up totally changing career paths and transferred to another school. Our youngest (athletic boy) is currently a sophomore and his club is ramping up the entire college process. I know with boys it comes a bit later but it still is early relative to the average high schooler.

You hit the nail right on the head. It is very scary what is all involved with this now and what we found is it is actually accelerating. My daughter got her first college contact early in her 8th grade year and had we pursued things, she could have been committed as early as Christmas of her freshman year. Unfortunately there are a few posters here that seem to want to ignore what is actually happening and more important want to label everything that you need to do to be proactive with it all as over the top. What they are doing is really just limiting access to information. That makes it harder for everyone.

[Unregistered]

Sorry about my typing errors, I am in parking lot trying to get to work on time. I know how much I didn't know going through this so I hope our information might give someone else a place to start or just some insight as to how this whole thing might work out! Have good day everyone!

[Unregistered]

...Unfortunately there are a few posters here that seem to want to ignore what is actually happening.... What they are doing is really just limiting access to information. That makes it harder for everyone.

Will the self-aggrandizing selflessness never cease?

You, BTDT, are a negative indicator: the overall example you have set in and beyond TS is a powerful case study in what not to do. The reasons you need to make all of this so incredibly complicated is, well...everyone paying attention already knows.

[Unregistered]

During her U15 year (freshman) our club coach sat down with us and our daughter and talked about her talent level and what level of play/league/type of school she should start looking at. (The coach met with all players on team for same reason). At this point our daughter had already done a couple of ID clinics and was starting to thing about the process. She asked all players to do some research and come up with a potential list of 10 schools they would like to start looking into. during this time, our team was in season and doing ECNL tournaments where our daughter was sending out emails to coaches asking them to come see her play. We would here back from our coach when a coach saw her and was interested in talking to her. Sometimes we would here from other coaches who were there but not on her list. If it was a school that had what she wanted academically we never turned down the chance to visit or have her talk to the coach on the phone. (She had to call them). by middle of sophmore year it was apparent that the D1 schools she was interested in that wanted her were looking for her to make a commitment soon, they were talking to other recruits and it was a matter of who committed first (to get some of the money they had for that recruiting year) as all the schools were only looking for certain number of recruits. We thought it was early but when talking with our club coach it was not. by end of sophmore year she had it down to 3 schools she really liked and after the school year ended we made one more visit to all three schools before her final decision in June. We have other children in college but she is the first to go through the recruiting process. Our club coach was instremental in the process as this was new to us. Our daughter really did work hard at the process, not all players on her team embraced the help and input from our club coach, we told her if the club coach was willing to help don't sit back and let the opportunity to pass - you might not have same coach and enthusiasm with next year etc. She listened to us for once lol and it worked out to her benefit. When visiting schools, don't be afraid to ask the College coach how many recruits they are looking for, ask if they still have money for that class, and do some research into your daughter's position. - How many seniors will graduate before she comes etc. One school who really wanted her wasn't graduating many before her class, none who played her position and they had 7 others at her spot in the other 3 classes. We also asked parents who had gone through it what worked for them, we got a lot of helpful information from them as well.

You appear to have handled things pretty much the same way we did. We used our list to filter out the random coach contact. Though it is an ego boost for the kids at first that type of contact ends up to be nothing but a distraction. We have found that the kids already have a whole lot of uncertainty and refocusing the thought process every time some random coach reaches out to them just exacerbates their already elevated anxiety level. They are just not worth the energy to deal with. What we did is have a 30 second discussion about the school and it's merits and then I would ask her if she wanted to put it on her list to pursue. We had established a rule that her list was capped at 10 so if we were going to add a school to it to look at we had to drop one. With her, the bottom 3-4 schools changed a couple of times but the top 5 were pretty solidly entrenched from the get go so getting from that list of 10 down to a manageable list of 5 was pretty easy. It was much more difficult getting from 5 to 3 because that is when it all becomes very "real" for them. It was downright excruciating getting from 3 to 1 because at that point you had to factor in the business side of the equation which were the things my kid wanted to understand the least.

[Unregistered]

Will the self-aggrandizing selflessness never cease?

You, BTDT, are a negative indicator: the overall example you have set in and beyond TS is a powerful case study in what not to do. The reasons you need to make all of this so incredibly complicated is, well...everyone paying attention already knows.

STFU. You clearly have no idea about any of this and all that you are doing is trying to shout down a dialogue that might actually be helpful to others. We get you don't like the guy but unless you have something valuable to offer to the conversation, go back to polishing the knob on the door to your nest in your mother's basement.

[Unregistered]

Yes, that idea was wrong--since it is a straw man that existed only in your bitter imagination, as a pretext for persisting with all of your dedicated, selfless work in this thread.

Straw argument?? Below is post #9 in this thread. This person has been interjecting their belief that the club coaches shouldn't be expected to do much to help their players pretty consistently since then. So the evidence that there are coaches out there that do actually work for their players is actually quite relevant.

In MOST cases, HS or club coaches do not help much. Yes, they can provide references, but as noted, many college coaches do not differentiate players that way. As we know there's plenty of criticism of the quality of HS coaches, so that mixed bag does not help. And club coaches often do not know that many college coaches, or the college game that well. In A FEW cases, a coach will be a help with college, but it's those chance situations where the student happens to like the college where the club coach knows the college coach.

Club and HS coaches should not be expected to do more. It would be great if they could advise if you're a d1,2 or 3 player, if they know the college game well enough. But, as has been pointed out, 90% of club players are not going on to a college team. Of the 10% that are, they are concentrated on a few teams.

[Unregistered]

Sorry about my typing errors, I am in parking lot trying to get to work on time. I know how much I didn't know going through this so I hope our information might give someone else a place to start or just some insight as to how this whole thing might work out! Have good day everyone!

Thank you.

[Unregistered]

Straw argument?? Below is post #9 in this thread. This person has been interjecting their belief that the club coaches shouldn't be expected to do much to help their players pretty consistently since then. So the evidence that there are coaches out there that do actually work for their players is actually quite relevant.

Never mind that they are flat out incorrect about a number of issues.

#1 - A good solid reference from a coach is worth its weight in gold. The problems usually pop up either when the coach doesn't have enough clout to make a recommendation or they believe that they can't really recommend a player to the specific coach because they don't see it as a fit

#2 - Not every high school coach is a bumbling idiot. There are several around here that have very good reputations and great connections to college coaches. All of the major clubs around here now generally have college coaches working right beside high school coaches on their staff's and so it is much easier for them to make recommendations than this guy thinks.

[Unregistered]

You hit the nail right on the head. It is very scary what is all involved with this now and what we found is it is actually accelerating. My daughter got her first college contact early in her 8th grade year and had we pursued things, she could have been committed as early as Christmas of her freshman year. Unfortunately there are a few posters here that seem to want to ignore what is actually happening and more important want to label everything that you need to do to be proactive with it all as over the top. What they are doing is really just limiting access to information. That makes it harder for everyone.

BTDT, must you resort to answering and applaudnig your own posts?

[Unregistered]

STFU. You clearly have no idea about any of this and all that you are doing is trying to shout down a dialogue that might actually be helpful to others. We get you don't like the guy but unless you have something valuable to offer to the conversation, go back to polishing the knob on the door to your nest in your mother's basement.

Enough BTDT. Your kid had one school circled since at least age 12. You didn't need any help. And are you seriously going to suggest that you would let anyone but yourself drive the bus and decide how your process was going to go? You're a fraud.

[Unregistered]

You appear to have handled things pretty much the same way we did. We used our list to filter out the random coach contact. Though it is an ego boost for the kids at first that type of contact ends up to be nothing but a distraction. We have found that the kids already have a whole lot of uncertainty and refocusing the thought process every time some random coach reaches out to them just exacerbates their already elevated anxiety level. They are just not worth the energy to deal with. What we did is have a 30 second discussion about the school and it's merits and then I would ask her if she wanted to put it on her list to pursue. We had established a rule that her list was capped at 10 so if we were going to add a school to it to look at we had to drop one. With her, the bottom 3-4 schools changed a couple of times but the top 5 were pretty solidly entrenched from the get go so getting from that list of 10 down to a manageable list of 5 was pretty easy. It was much more difficult getting from 5 to 3 because that is when it all becomes very "real" for them. It was downright excruciating getting from 3 to 1 because at that point you had to factor in the business side of the equation which were the things my kid wanted to understand the least.

So how did you get everything so terribly wrong the first time?

[Unregistered]

STFU. You clearly have no idea about any of this and all that you are doing is trying to shout down a dialogue that might actually be helpful to others. We get you don't like the guy but unless you have something valuable to offer to the conversation, go back to polishing the knob on the door to your nest in your mother's basement.

You've certainly been heard and are impossible to shout down, BTNT. Nevertheless, the point stands.

[Unregistered]

You've certainly been heard and are impossible to shout down, BTNT. Nevertheless, the point stands.

The point is valid. Add something of value or STFU

[Unregistered]

The point is valid. Add something of value or STFU

Please, BTNT, save this "STFU" nonsense for the easily intimidated or impressed.

[Unregistered]

Please, BTNT, save this "STFU" nonsense for the easily intimidated or impressed.

What an idiot. Has nothing to add but has to get the last word in. Sort of like my 8 yo daughter.