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Post by bigfan on Jan 29, 2014 16:01:05 GMT -5
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Post by Upfrontvb on Jan 29, 2014 19:16:11 GMT -5
If a student athlete gets a scholarship offer to her dream school, let's celebrate it. Really? Where are the balloons and candles? Lets celebrate. BullSh*t. Have you ever been a parent of an 8th grader? Are you really going to allow her to make a decision like this? You have curfew for kids at that age for a reason. But you believe these kids are already able to commit to a play at a school. Unreal. Its the parents who's egos are being fed and their naivety is being taking advantage of. If your child is that good at 14yrs. old trust me there will be many offers later, even from the one she has already committed to. Also, parents need to remember, coaches are a dime a dozen and many leave before their daughter gets there. |
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Post by goodtobeagator on Jan 29, 2014 19:18:58 GMT -5
I don't but the whole "sit the bench and transfer" argument of the naysayers when kids don't pan out. That happens in football and basketball too, sports which notoriously recruit up to signing day.
Which would you rather have, early solid commits w/ less flips or late commits that no one knows where they're going until signing day? I'll take option 1.
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Post by goodtobeagator on Jan 29, 2014 19:24:59 GMT -5
If a student athlete gets a scholarship offer to her dream school, let's celebrate it. Really? Where are the balloons and candles? Lets celebrate. BullSh*t. Have you ever been a parent of an 8th grader? Are you really going to allow her to make a decision like this? You have curfew for kids at that age for a reason. But you believe these kids are already able to commit to a play at a school. Unreal. Its the parents who's egos are being fed and their naivety is being taking advantage of. If your child is that good at 14yrs. old trust me there will be many offers later, even from the one she has already committed to. Also, parents need to remember, coaches are a dime a dozen and many leave before their daughter gets there. These are much more valid points than the article raises. |
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Post by luhmann on Jan 29, 2014 19:31:20 GMT -5
How can anyone EVER know how good a 14 y.o. will be 4 years later? There is no way this can be predictable. Scientific research confirms this. Furthermore, a negative consequence is early specialization: 13-14 y.o. kids saying they play as "a setter", "a middle", "an outside"... How can a coach of 14's know what position the player will be able to play or will be best at years later?
I hope nobody will dare to answer "well, that's what's called coach's eye!!", because science, history of sports and elite players' careers confute this.
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Post by sizzlincatfish on Jan 29, 2014 19:33:49 GMT -5
If a student athlete gets a scholarship offer to her dream school, let's celebrate it. Really? Where are the balloons and candles? Lets celebrate. BullSh*t. Have you ever been a parent of an 8th grader? Are you really going to allow her to make a decision like this? You have curfew for kids at that age for a reason. But you believe these kids are already able to commit to a play at a school. Unreal. Its the parents who's egos are being fed and their naivety is being taking advantage of. If your child is that good at 14yrs. old trust me there will be many offers later, even from the one she has already committed to. Also, parents need to remember, coaches are a dime a dozen and many leave before their daughter gets there. I'm sure in some cases it's the ego of the parents at work, but I'd be willing to bet there are just as many parents who are simply scared their kid will miss out on a scholarship if they force the kid to wait before making a decision. Most of these parents have no concept of recruiting. |
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Post by vbgirls2 on Jan 29, 2014 19:43:17 GMT -5
Remember when you saw those studly elementary school girls beat out the boys in various sports. They were bigger, taller, faster etc. They beat them in soccer in races, in phy ed, in all kinds of sports. However when the boys got to middle school they caught up and eventually beat those same girls. Same prinicipal here. You see a studly 8th grader that is way, way better than her peers. Maybe she hit puberty first, but she is taller, stronger and faster, and when you watch her teams play with her on it....she is way better than everyone. However, many of the girls catch up to her in high school, some surpass her. She doesn't stand out as much. Some girls hit puberty later and have growth spurts later.
This is the problem with early recruitment and why some coaches end up changing their mind.The girl they saw as a 8th grader, freshman or sophomore is not so dominating anymore as she was when she was younger. The other girls have caught up. She didn't get lazy, her skills didn't decline....everyone else got better. You take the risk that a school changes their mind on you. You have told everyone (via verbal) you are going to school A, so everyone backs off. Your dream school (early recruiter) changes their mind and now you are stuck trying to find someone to take you. It happens!
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Post by eastbeach on Jan 29, 2014 20:17:58 GMT -5
Remember when you saw those studly elementary school girls beat out the boys in various sports. They were bigger, taller, faster etc. They beat them in soccer in races, in phy ed, in all kinds of sports. However when the boys got to middle school they caught up and eventually beat those same girls. Same prinicipal here. You see a studly 8th grader that is way, way better than her peers. Maybe she hit puberty first, but she is taller, stronger and faster, and when you watch her teams play with her on it....she is way better than everyone. However, many of the girls catch up to her in high school, some surpass her. She doesn't stand out as much. Some girls hit puberty later and have growth spurts later. This is the problem with early recruitment and why some coaches end up changing their mind.The girl they saw as a 8th grader, freshman or sophomore is not so dominating anymore as she was when she was younger. The other girls have caught up. She didn't get lazy, her skills didn't decline....everyone else got better. You take the risk that a school changes their mind on you. You have told everyone (via verbal) you are going to school A, so everyone backs off. Your dream school (early recruiter) changes their mind and now you are stuck trying to find someone to take you. It happens! So true. Sometimes the 'tall' girls who grew earlier have a poor vertical because they never had to jump before. How can you gauge that factor at age 12? |
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Post by bc1900 on Jan 29, 2014 20:22:54 GMT -5
Remember when you saw those studly elementary school girls beat out the boys in various sports. They were bigger, taller, faster etc. They beat them in soccer in races, in phy ed, in all kinds of sports. However when the boys got to middle school they caught up and eventually beat those same girls. Same prinicipal here. You see a studly 8th grader that is way, way better than her peers. Maybe she hit puberty first, but she is taller, stronger and faster, and when you watch her teams play with her on it....she is way better than everyone. However, many of the girls catch up to her in high school, some surpass her. She doesn't stand out as much. Some girls hit puberty later and have growth spurts later. This is the problem with early recruitment and why some coaches end up changing their mind.The girl they saw as a 8th grader, freshman or sophomore is not so dominating anymore as she was when she was younger. The other girls have caught up. She didn't get lazy, her skills didn't decline....everyone else got better. You take the risk that a school changes their mind on you. You have told everyone (via verbal) you are going to school A, so everyone backs off. Your dream school (early recruiter) changes their mind and now you are stuck trying to find someone to take you. It happens! I've seen this first hand with my neighbor's daughter, the sport was soccer. She absolutely dominated the peewee games, scoring 7 or 8 goals per game easily. She was highly recruited onto an elite club team, where she also dominated early; by middle school she was still a top player but not dominant. She made HS varsity as a freshman but didn't play, still not playing as a sophomore; several other girls her age (and younger) had surpassed her. Played some as a junior but by senior year she had given up the sport altogether. It's amazing to see college volleyball coaches making commitments to girls 15 years old; it's very hard to know at that age how good a player will be at 20. I suppose the coach is willing to take a chance and possibly snag a prodigy, but I would think they are just as likely to snag a player that happens to simply be an early bloomer who may be surpassed a couple years later by the late bloomers. |
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Post by redbeard2008 on Jan 29, 2014 20:51:16 GMT -5
Lot of discussion of this over at the Ultimate Softball Forum - robocoach.websitetoolbox.com/post/early-recruiting-6734818It is a classic race to the bottom. Coaches have to offer earlier and earlier or risk being shut out from recruiting an athlete. Recruits are under pressure to commit earlier and earlier or risk early committers take all available scholarships at their preferred schools. Similar to the prisoner's dilemma in game theory. It would be to the benefit of all if early offers weren't made, but the opposite can be true for individuals. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_bottom |
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Post by Upfrontvb on Jan 29, 2014 21:08:32 GMT -5
Really? Where are the balloons and candles? Lets celebrate. BullSh*t. Have you ever been a parent of an 8th grader? Are you really going to allow her to make a decision like this? You have curfew for kids at that age for a reason. But you believe these kids are already able to commit to a play at a school. Unreal. Its the parents who's egos are being fed and their naivety is being taking advantage of. If your child is that good at 14yrs. old trust me there will be many offers later, even from the one she has already committed to. Also, parents need to remember, coaches are a dime a dozen and many leave before their daughter gets there. Have I ever been a parent of an 8th grader? Yes. Did we let her make that decision? No. Do I judge people who have made a different decision? No. Have we discussed the pro and cons of early early recruiting? Yes. Can kids be "that" good at 14? Apparently. Can things not pan out? Yes. Can a kid not progress? Yes. Can a coach leave or change his mind? Yes. Are there any guarantees in life? No. Do late commits contribute more than early commits? That'd be an interesting stat. Who knows. Is verbally committing to a university a moral issue? For most Volleytalkers it is! PS I know this process intimately. Our DD chose to not commit early. As the years have gone by, I am less judgmental. I guess I've mellowed with the process.  Ok. I think you and I agree at most points if not all. PS, I've been there as a parent myself. But by you answering those points doesn't make your point valid or commendable, lets celebrate. I'm not judgmental, you have your opinion and I have mine. We all have values and morals. But in the long run, athletes are children, till a certain age, and can be influence by many people. Coaches should not take advantage of this. But it is reality. |
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Post by Upfrontvb on Jan 29, 2014 21:09:31 GMT -5
Really? Where are the balloons and candles? Lets celebrate. BullSh*t. Have you ever been a parent of an 8th grader? Are you really going to allow her to make a decision like this? You have curfew for kids at that age for a reason. But you believe these kids are already able to commit to a play at a school. Unreal. Its the parents who's egos are being fed and their naivety is being taking advantage of. If your child is that good at 14yrs. old trust me there will be many offers later, even from the one she has already committed to. Also, parents need to remember, coaches are a dime a dozen and many leave before their daughter gets there. I'm sure in some cases it's the ego of the parents at work, but I'd be willing to bet there are just as many parents who are simply scared their kid will miss out on a scholarship if they force the kid to wait before making a decision. Most of these parents have no concept of recruiting. You are right. |
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Post by Upfrontvb on Jan 29, 2014 21:50:33 GMT -5
Will keep this short. Questions were not direct at you. But I'm glad you chose to answer. Didn't think you were judging me, nor was I judging you. Signing day was a dinner. And keeping them healthy until their first day of practice was another time to smile, a chance to breathe a little easy and enjoy. Graduation after 4 years will be a celebration.
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Post by redbeard2008 on Jan 29, 2014 22:08:05 GMT -5
I think that the problem is early offering, not early committing, which is only taking advantage of an opportunity when available.
The only way to control this is to place a price on making an early offer. For instance, require that early offers (say before Sept. 1st of a recruit's sophomore year) include a 2-year scholarship guarantee if accepted within the specified timeframe, but with the recruit able to opt out up until a certain date (say, Sept. 1st of their junior year). If that was the case, I think the number of early offers would slow from a stream to a trickle.
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Post by sizzlincatfish on Jan 29, 2014 22:45:40 GMT -5
I think that the problem is early offering, not early committing, which is only taking advantage of an opportunity when available. The only way to control this is to place a price on making an early offer. For instance, require that early offers (say before Sept. 1st of a recruit's sophomore year) include a 2-year scholarship guarantee if accepted within the specified timeframe, but with the recruit able to opt out up until a certain date (say, Sept. 1st of their junior year). If that was the case, I think the number of early offers would slow from a stream to a trickle. But it's all verbal, all nebulous. How do you police such a thing? |
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