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Post by maɡˈnōlēə on Apr 4, 2019 22:20:34 GMT -5
I was at a Costco the other day & ran into one of the volley dads I know from club (from way back in the day). He got on the topic of college recruitment and was a little hot under the collar that his daughter’s club director was vague in answering him about what a potential college coach talked to him about.
I’m not sure what he was worried about, kid is a minor stud and still developing. She hasn’t peaked yet as he said she is showing decent improvement this season. Nice respectful kid, always seemed like a good teammate.
Anyway this convo got me thinking: what are some q’s a potential college coach would ask about a kid playing in club?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2019 8:45:19 GMT -5
Are the parents crazy?
Does this kid work hard?
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Post by moderndaycoach on Apr 5, 2019 8:53:59 GMT -5
It is a fine line as a coach/director to be completely honest and also prop your kid up in their strengths while balancing the act of keeping a strong truthful relationship with your contacts in college and also keeping parents happy and excited that you would do what it takes going to bat for them and their potential college opportunities.
Of course telling the parent something you told the college coach, and have probably told the kid a bunch of times, could set them off as thinking you were being negative and not supportive in getting their kid an offer.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2019 11:07:55 GMT -5
Anyway this convo got me thinking: what are some q’s a potential college coach would ask about a kid playing in club? If they coach water polo at USC, Soccer at UCLA or Yale, a sailing coach at Stanford, the questions would mostly be about liquidity of the parents' assets. Like "how much cash can they get together without arousing the fed's attention?" or "I know they are "rich", but is their wealth really in a form that they can transfer to me without being suspicious. Those 1,200 Facebook shares that were transferred raised questions on my taxes". |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2019 11:18:11 GMT -5
Seriously though, the most common questions are about whether the kid's attitude and whether they will be able to develop into someone that can compete against other college athletes by the time they graduate. Or specifically about some things they need work on and whether that is a focus. Sometimes ask for a transcript (but that would have been communicated to parent).
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Post by tmb on Apr 5, 2019 11:27:40 GMT -5
sometimes...can they be a great teammate as they develop? They've been a 2-3 year starter in HS and picked a club where they can play the role they choose. Can they successfully be a role player/freshman/cheerleading player on game day again and not a star? Are they mature enough to have an honest conversation about what they do well and need to work on doing to earn the role they desire? Do they work on the things you've given them to work on outside of practice over the course of the season?
I can see how a club director may have to work with families for a couple more seasons and the challenges they have balancing college recommendations, club reputation, relationships and income.
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Post by maɡˈnōlēə on Apr 5, 2019 14:32:28 GMT -5
Are the parents crazy? Does this kid work hard? It’s been a few years but no, not crazy that I could tell. I mean on the continuum of sports parents I’d venture a guess that 99% are what coaches would call “crazy” at one time or another. The kid was a hard worker. From the sounds of it still is (still developing). |
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Post by maɡˈnōlēə on Apr 5, 2019 14:35:08 GMT -5
Are the parents crazy? ... I'm really curious about this, because there seems to be a huge paranoia of parents among volleyball coaches from club on up, and there is a constant mantra that parents should get out of the way and have no visible part in the recruiting process. With the basketball final fours this weekend, there are lots of interviews with coaches and it comes up all the time how coaches actively recruit the parents, meet with mom and grandma in their house, etc. The same is true with football. Why the stark contrast? See I love that you wrote that. I always wondered about the disconnect in vball vs other sports. It seems that meeting with the parents would give a good insight into a kids’ background and history, could explain stuff that is questionable that could potentially be worked on in a team environment. It sounds like a time commitment thing, and a changing of focus from what we have now. A whole shift in the paradigm on how parents are looked at. |
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Post by deepsouthfan on Apr 5, 2019 15:05:10 GMT -5
What’s questions do her parents ask you?
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Post by mervinswerved on Apr 5, 2019 15:09:06 GMT -5
Are the parents crazy? ... I'm really curious about this, because there seems to be a huge paranoia of parents among volleyball coaches from club on up, and there is a constant mantra that parents should get out of the way and have no visible part in the recruiting process. With the basketball final fours this weekend, there are lots of interviews with coaches and it comes up all the time how coaches actively recruit the parents, meet with mom and grandma in their house, etc. The same is true with football. Why the stark contrast? There are zero coaches who'd recruit and offer a player without meeting at least one of their parents/guardians (except possibly in the case of international recruits). Parents are a good insight into their kids and an absolutely critical part of selling your school to a recruit. Mom and dad won't send their kid without feeling comfortable with the school and the staff. I think where parents need to stay out of the way is when they're the ones driving the communication and the recruiting process. I can't tell you how many times I've had parents call me in the office to introduce their daughter, reply to emails I sent their kid, or even impersonate their daughters in emails or over the phone (yes, really). That's the crazy sh*t that turns coaches off. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2019 15:11:51 GMT -5
Are the parents crazy? Does this kid work hard? It’s been a few years but no, not crazy that I could tell. I mean on the continuum of sports parents I’d venture a guess that 99% are what coaches would call “crazy” at one time or another. The kid was a hard worker. From the sounds of it still is (still developing). Now if I ask those same questions of the club coach, HS coach, and a camp/clinics coach I might get a few different answers. It's not so much what questions you ask, but are you getting consistent information from the people that interact with her and her parents the most. Realistically, I am wondering how supportive the parents are about their kid possibly being more than 4 hours away from home and what kind of work ethic the athlete has? And yes, crazy is a subjective term, just looking for more than one word answers to get a conversation going. |
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Post by karellen on Apr 5, 2019 15:40:46 GMT -5
work ethic
attitude
potential area of study in college
club coach's opinion about potential level of collegiate play
Physical testing information - How high is approach touch, etc...
How do you think she will react if I ask her to change positions?
How will she do away from home?
How is family financially? Do they need, or just want, a full scholarship?
Will she walk on for a year?
Who else is looking at her?
Parent cause any grief?
The list goes on and on...
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Post by vbfamily on Apr 5, 2019 16:18:27 GMT -5
work ethic attitude potential area of study in college club coach's opinion about potential level of collegiate play Physical testing information - How high is approach touch, etc... How do you think she will react if I ask her to change positions? How will she do away from home? How is family financially? Do they need, or just want, a full scholarship? Will she walk on for a year? Who else is looking at her? Parent cause any grief? The list goes on and on... ^^this^^ |
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Post by trollhunter on Apr 5, 2019 16:47:51 GMT -5
I'm really curious about this, because there seems to be a huge paranoia of parents among volleyball coaches from club on up, and there is a constant mantra that parents should get out of the way and have no visible part in the recruiting process. With the basketball final fours this weekend, there are lots of interviews with coaches and it comes up all the time how coaches actively recruit the parents, meet with mom and grandma in their house, etc. The same is true with football. Why the stark contrast? There are zero coaches who'd recruit and offer a player without meeting at least one of their parents/guardians (except possibly in the case of international recruits). Parents are a good insight into their kids and an absolutely critical part of selling your school to a recruit. Mom and dad won't send their kid without feeling comfortable with the school and the staff. I think where parents need to stay out of the way is when they're the ones driving the communication and the recruiting process. I can't tell you how many times I've had parents call me in the office to introduce their daughter, reply to emails I sent their kid, or even impersonate their daughters in emails or over the phone (yes, really). That's the crazy sh*t that turns coaches off. There are many college coaches (think mid/low DI, DII, NAIA, Juco) that will offer a player without meeting parents. Maybe they talk with them on the phone or via email, maybe not. These coaches may see kids just a couple of times in club, and maybe the parent can't fly themselves for a visit or tryout. For every coach that won't take a player because of a crazy parent, there is another that really needs a strong player to turn around or maintain their program, and will take that risk. Not every college is Stanford or Penn State that gets the pick of the litter (both players and parents). |
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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 5, 2019 18:15:11 GMT -5
Do club coaches ever tell the truth and say BAD things about their kids?
Whenever I wrote letters of recommendations or when employers called about a potential employee, I found it very difficult (if not impossible) to say anything negative.
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