I've been dipping my toes in the water on this subject for quite some time, but the more I talk with parents and athletes, the more I feel it's time to jump in and tackle this subject.
When I sat down with the Club Directors to discuss possibility working for them, I didn't have many demands. I was going to be taking a substantial pay cut, no problem. The concept of weekends were going to be gone, and I was OK with that. The one thing I NEEDED was the ability to truly be a "liaison" for our kids. They happily obliged, and while the results have been outstanding, learning about what other groups have told my families has left me quite alarmed with the culture of high school athletics and what we're telling our kids.
Over the last few years, we've seen clubs put a much larger focus on having the "College Liaison". Clubs are helping their players create videos, put their profiles online, and then sending their information out to colleges in hopes of finding someone that is interested in recruiting them. For the kids that stand out for their volleyball skills or athleticism, this process works fairly well. What about the others? More importantly, have we really been trying to get to know what they want both on/off the court, and educate them on how to find the school that best suits their wants and needs, versus "finding a school where they can play volleyball"?
I have sat with over fifty families over the last year, and while our girls are talented as players and athletes, an online profile simply does not do them justice for the PEOPLE they are. Many of our players are talented off the court as well, with stellar grades, other talents, or just a great vision for what they want to accomplish after college. While they can rehearse it and put it in a video online, I don't think it separates them as much as actually researching the school and personally reaching out to coaches, telling the coach why they specifically are interested in their institution.
More importantly, when coaching college, there simply aren't enough hours in the day to look at every profile out there - I was pumping 100 hours a week in, leaving the office at 2am, waking up at 6 just to do the whole process again - even with that, I probably only hit a very small percentage of the profiles that were put online given all the sites that have popped up. Even with the profiles I DID like, I knew the athlete wanted to play volleyball but had no idea if it was a good fit on both ends.
Now we see companies like the NCSA sprouting up, pushing their services hard on our kids. I have had multiple sophomores and their parents from our club contact me extremely concerned, saying "The NCSA contacted us and asked us if we had done x y and z, when we said we hadn't, they told us we were way behind, but if we used their services they could catch us back up."
Truth be told, they are not behind. Companies like the NCSA are using scare tactics to get kids to spend a ridiculous amount of money to use their "services" - which while they do a great job of selling kids to schools, aren't really covering the overall issue I'm seeing with both athletes AND non-athletes at the high school level.
I know my last post had the analogy but I'll use it again. We buy cars with a specific idea of what our wants/needs are. We take it for a test drive and perhaps have our mechanic take a look under the hood before making a decision. We DON'T let a salesman tell us all the great things and then sign the papers. We buy houses with a specific vision, perhaps we need more space for an addition to the family, maybe we want a location that caters to our work or hobbies. We don't let a realtor just tell us all the great things about the house and then take the mortgage. So with our kids, why are we letting these companies tell us where we should go and essentially either sell to our kids or, in the case of NCSA, SELL our kids?
A lot of parents tell me, 'we just don't know that much about the process' - which I'm all too familiar with. I transferred twice during my time in college (I was an Illinois State Scholar in High School that was in the National Honors Society three years - it wasn't because I was unintelligent). I had NO IDEA what I should be looking for when looking for schools. I didn't have a lot of guidance, and my parents were unfamiliar with the process. My question is, why aren't we doing a better job of helping educate parents and players on the process? Even if someone wants a company to do the legwork, the reality is no one has a player's best interests more than the player and their family - so why let someone else do the work on this when there's no way they can truly know the player as well?
I have known throughout my twenties that when it's all said and done, I want to leave this world better than I found it - I just didn't know how I'd do it. Between my experience as a student, coaching at the Junior College/D-III/D-I levels, and now seeing what we're "doing" for high school athletes, I believe I have found my calling. I will be starting a Consulting business for families to educate them and guide them through the process so they can TRULY find the best fit for them. I will speak at schools, clubs, and PTA's, I will hold seminars for large groups as well as do one-on-one consulting - all for a MUCH cheaper rate than these large recruiting agencies are charging. I am tired of seeing these clubs/agencies showcasing their superstar athletes, not telling the other 98% how they too can have a wonderful college experience, including the Division III level (and don't let people tell you there's no money in Division III - Athletics does play a role in Merit Aid being rewarded and if people tell you otherwise, they're the same people that don't think certain Powerhouse Division I Football/Basketball universities aren't giving players benefits). I'm tired of seeing companies pop up and use children and their parents' hopes for a bright future for them as a cash grab. One-third of college students transfer from their original school - we can help that number decrease if we do it right. I look forward to taking on this challenge.
More details to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment