Committing to Play for a College, Then Starting 9th Grade

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/sports/committing-to-play-for-a-college-then-starting-9th-grade.html?_r=0

Interesting article.  Journalistic hyperbole or accurate?  What do you think? A bit of both?

I love this quote: "She just happens to be a very good soccer player, and that is now valuable enough to set off a frenzy among college coaches".  My guess is that she is much better than a "very good soccer player" if she is attracting attention that young.  

I also thought this was an interesting quote:  “In women’s soccer, there are more scholarships than there are good players,” said Peter Albright, the coach at Richmond and a regular critic of early recruiting. “In men’s sports, it’s the opposite.”

Good read with local ties.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/sports/committing-to-play-for-a-college-then-starting-9th-grade.html?from=homepage

Saw this on my Facebook feed. It won't be long before U11 girls have to sign two contracts in July.

Congrats to the player. I believe there are rare occasions when 14-15 year olds are focus and know exactly what they want. As far as we know, this may be her dream that she will be able to realistically live. I wish her nothing but health and a wonderful experience.

Story on Fox News tonight. Will replay on Good Day Fox News at 7 am on Tues.

wouldnt plan on it til all the papers have been signed....

I'd hate to be the college that becomes known for reneging on deals.

MoveYourFeet wrote:I'd hate to be the college that becomes known for reneging on deals.

Happens all of the time in college football.

Lakedad wrote:

MoveYourFeet wrote:I'd hate to be the college that becomes known for reneging on deals.

Happens all of the time in college football.  

It happens in women's college soccer, too.  There are a number of TCU commits a couple of years ago that found out about it the hard way.  

I think it's more common in the midst of a coaching change, but it happens nonetheless.

And will happen more the earlier this gets. Interesting that coaches and parents don't like the trend, but everybody throws his hands up and says there's nothing we can do.

Sounds like NTX.

Lakedad wrote:

MoveYourFeet wrote:I'd hate to be the college that becomes known for reneging on deals.

Happens all of the time in college football.  

Slow down genius. College Football has 90 scholarships compared to 14 for women's Soccer. That means 22/23 scholarships every year in football to 17/18 year olds... You will always have a few bumps in the road. Women's Soccer will have about 3 per year to offer. Do the math. Much less likely to happen in women's soccer. Especially with the College Coaches relying on the Clubs so much. But there are no certainties in life. Even when you have a signed paper.

With the rampant turnover in college sports programs, that specific coach may not be there in 4 years.  Much can happen in 4 yeas like injury, burnout, poor academic performance, coach moves on, etc.  Unless it's Mia Hamm Jr., many college coaches would hesitate to make such a commitment to a player 4 years down the road.  

Because there are fewer scholarships for women's programs, many coaches divide those scholarships in half to accommodate tuition OR room and board.  Scholarships on not guaranteed for 4 years and can be yanked out from under a player.  BEST bet, have your daughter attend college on an academic scholarship, be a walk-on to the program and be welcomed by the coach.  Should the player decide to quit for whatever reasons, she still has her academic scholarship.

I found this part very interesting... Especially for some of us who may be on the fence regarding ECNL and impending tryouts. ECNL, 600 College Coaches all watching youngest of age groups?

"The organizer of the Florida event, the Elite Clubs National League, was set up a few years ago to help bring together the best girls’ soccer teams from around the country, largely for the sake of recruiters. At the recent event, in an Orlando suburb, an estimated 600 college coaches attended as 158 teams played on 17 fields over the course of three days."

"Coaches from colleges vying for national championships, like Mr. Dorrance, spent most of their weekend watching the youngest age group."

soccersounder wrote:

Lakedad wrote:

MoveYourFeet wrote:I'd hate to be the college that becomes known for reneging on deals.

Happens all of the time in college football.  

Slow down genius. College Football has 90 scholarships compared to 14 for women's Soccer. That means 22/23 scholarships every year in football to 17/18 year olds... You will always have a few bumps in the road. Women's Soccer will have about 3 per year to offer. Do the math. Much less likely to happen in women's soccer. Especially with the College Coaches relying on the Clubs so much. But there are no certainties in life. Even when you have a signed paper.

Thanks for recognizing that fact. I've been trying to get my wife to acknowledge I'm a genius for years.

Valid points. I think football gets 85, but math is just math right?

But lets take that a step further and compare to college basketball recruiting:

344 schools have D1 basketball programs
13 scholarships for men's programs - 15 for women programs
Average number of scholarships given a year 3.5

Using your sophisticated calculations, that must mean...well - nothing! Because the comment wasn't related to the number of times a scholarship is offered then rescinded. It was responding to the statement they poster wouldn't want to be the college known for pulling accepted offers they gave to 9th graders.

Offers are given and pulled by every institution for a variety of reasons: grades, academics, injury, behavioral and yes; even lack of development. You realize the number of offers to high school athletes outweighs the number of spots available, right? Like, 5 to 1. Hence, the wide number of articles and websites dedicated to over signing, albeit those mainly focusing on football. Maybe recruiting is more refined at the soccer level.

Based on my bb's basketball experience, I can say with with some knowledge that colleges generally don't renege on scholarship offers. Instead, the coach will tell the freshman phenom who wasn't such a phenom during his sophomore or junior year that, even though they would honor his scholarship offer...
(1) they didn't anticipate him playing when he got to school
(2) they would continue recruiting players at his position
(3) they didn't expect to renew his scholarship after the first year

That's usually enough for the former phenom to de-commit and look for a different school. I saw this happen to a few kids.

any horror stories from ntx players regarding pulling of scholarships? all of mine committed early, no probs... I know of 1 player who was injured as a hs sr that had a problem, as well as the tcu debacle that left a couple girls hanging. SMU had some well publicized scholarship issues that led to a coaching change.

Hearsay, but one D1 college coach allegedly makes verbals and pulls them regularly.  We were at a camp last spring when a 2013 was in a panic because this happened to her with this coach.  Her mom showed us the emails.   I know of another girl offered tuition/books by this same coach only to find the offer was withdrawn when she went to visit the campus.  Again, saw the emails.    Also at this spring camp were several players who were 2014s who said a coach in Alabama had just backed out on many verbals given to girls on their team.  This is hearsay since I did not see the emails, but saw many confused, angry parents. I have had 2 ECNL parents tell me they had verbals withdrawn but they thought this happened because their coach said something negative to the college coach.  These ECNL players were from Texas but not the same ECNL team.  One from NTx and the other from STx. So, other than this one coach at this one school, all camp gossip.  But, at this one school, saw confirmation of him changing his mind twice.   After my DDs verbal, the coach still wanted to know her schedule because he was going to monitor and would continue to watch her play.  So kiddos, great to get those verbals but the fat lady hasn't sung till the papers are signed.

Lakedad wrote:

soccersounder wrote:

Lakedad wrote:

MoveYourFeet wrote:I'd hate to be the college that becomes known for reneging on deals.

Happens all of the time in college football.  

Slow down genius. College Football has 90 scholarships compared to 14 for women's Soccer. That means 22/23 scholarships every year in football to 17/18 year olds... You will always have a few bumps in the road. Women's Soccer will have about 3 per year to offer. Do the math. Much less likely to happen in women's soccer. Especially with the College Coaches relying on the Clubs so much. But there are no certainties in life. Even when you have a signed paper.

Thanks for recognizing that fact.  I've been trying to get my wife to acknowledge I'm a genius for years.  

Valid points.  I think football gets 85, but math is just math right?  

But lets take that a step further and compare to college basketball recruiting:

344 schools have D1 basketball programs
13 scholarships for men's programs - 15 for women programs
Average number of scholarships given a year 3.5

Using your sophisticated calculations, that must mean...well - nothing!  Because the comment wasn't related to the number of times a scholarship is offered then rescinded.  It was responding to the statement they poster wouldn't want to be the college known for pulling accepted offers they gave to 9th graders.  

Offers are given and pulled by every institution for a variety of reasons: grades, academics, injury, behavioral and yes; even lack of development.  You realize the number of offers to high school athletes outweighs the number of spots available, right?  Like, 5 to 1.  Hence, the wide number of articles and websites dedicated to over signing, albeit those mainly focusing on football.  Maybe recruiting is more refined at the soccer level.

Let's stay focused. Offers and over signing are not one in the same. Over signing is just that, actually signing a LOI. And I challenge you to find an over signing story that is not football. Your basketball comparison does not help us in soccer. Basketball is a money generator that allows actual recruiting departments that do not rely on high school coaches. But even college hoops do not mess up their relationships with AAU Coaches. That would be biting the hand that feeds you. In soccer, unless you're UNC, Notre Dame, Stanford, UCLA or a few others, you are tied to the large club coaches for players and will not renege on them without a very good "no-brainer" reason. I agree that there are no guarantees in life, but getting the offer and accepting it IS the biggest step in the process.

To highlight the difference: Official Visits in football & basketball are used as recruiting sales pitches. Official Visits in soccer are used as rewards for committing.

MaggieMaggie wrote:Hearsay, but one D1 college coach allegedly makes verbals and pulls them regularly.  We were at a camp last spring when a 2013 was in a panic because this happened to her with this coach.  Her mom showed us the emails.   I know of another girl offered tuition/books by this same coach only to find the offer was withdrawn when she went to visit the campus.  Again, saw the emails.    Also at this spring camp were several players who were 2014s who said a coach in Alabama had just backed out on many verbals given to girls on their team.  This is hearsay since I did not see the emails, but saw many confused, angry parents. I have had 2 ECNL parents tell me they had verbals withdrawn but they thought this happened because their coach said something negative to the college coach.  These ECNL players were from Texas but not the same ECNL team.  One from NTx and the other from STx. So, other than this one coach at this one school, all camp gossip.  But, at this one school, saw confirmation of him changing his mind twice.   After my DDs verbal, the coach still wanted to know her schedule because he was going to monitor and would continue to watch her play.  So kiddos, great to get those verbals but the fat lady hasn't sung till the papers are signed.

College coaches that renege on offers need to be made famous, and this space is the ideal place to do it. This area of recruiting should always be under a bright light, and coaches who have trouble keeping their word need to be a known quantity.

Hi Parents - I just wanted to quickly comment on the title alone of this forum topic. As a former competitive player from Texas, I can honestly say it's amazing to see how the Game has progressed and evolved for these talented young girls. When I was playing (which was not that many years ago), there was no ECNL and the youngest girls were being offered scholarships was around age 16. Now, especially in North Texas, the intensity at which these girls are training and the pressure they are feeling at younger and younger ages has increased tenfold.

As physical skills increase and the talent pool becomes greater, mental toughness is what truly separates the good players from the great players. At the same time, as pressures increase, the ability to manage all the stress, stay focused, and still be a teenager become increasingly difficult, and even MORE important. If you're interested in helping your daughter (or son) take their game to the next level and effectively control this intense world of club soccer, shoot me an email @ sarah@mentaltraininginc.com. I'd be happy to chat and see if mental skills training is right for your soccer player! I'm local to the DFW area, and I also can meet with athletes over Skype (although in person is preferred).

Congrats to all the ladies who signed and are continuing to live their dreams! Hard work pays off! - Sarah

ballhead wrote:

Lakedad wrote:

MoveYourFeet wrote:I'd hate to be the college that becomes known for reneging on deals.

Happens all of the time in college football.  

It happens in women's college soccer, too.  There are a number of TCU commits a couple of years ago that found out about it the hard way.  

I think it's more common in the midst of a coaching change, but it happens nonetheless.

the crapper of that TCU gig is that the Asst Coach in question had just come from Texans....knew most of the girls (one played for him) and they backed their offers down to nothing or very little to get them to go away.  

One side note.....the keeper in that class was called back later by the new head coach and still offered the 100%....they laughed at them and stayed with their recent RE-commit to Baylor.

I hate it for the girls that are there, but the coaching staff will carry a bad taste for me no matter where they go.