Early Recruiting

The thread of Children making Decision's has seem to take on a life of its own. It is most certainly a problem in our game today. I agree 13 and 14 year old kids should not be making these decisions but in reality they are not, its the parents. I have felt that this has been a problem for some time now so I made an attempt at contacting some members from the NCAA Softball Rules committee. Surprisingly I received a few quick responses, here is one that I found interesting;

Mr. Phelix,
Your concerns are well documented by many in amateur athletics.

I firmly believe that the parameters to be implemented can “stem the tide”. However, it is ultimately a parental decision on how to act upon financial opportunities. The whole business has gotten out of hand due to high school and travel ball ignorance. At the same time irresponsible decision making on the parts of college coaches does not help. BUT, and it is a big but…………………..until PARENTS begin to parent and check their “egos” at the door this will begin to subside.

The rules that need to be put into place have to deal with the recruiting calendar. College Coaches should only be able to go off campus to recruit from the first day after the College World Series until Labor Day (with the exception of high school and junior college ball). That’s IT. No fence sitting with a fall window. Let the kids play other sports or have down time.

Either way Jason, parents need to parent. Ignorance is no excuse.


I also received another email from a board member helping me go through the proper steps to have my point considered. Early recruiting is a problem. The present system is encouraging parents and young athletes to accelerate their development to gain early recruitment from college coaches.
The system is flawed we should not have to rush our young athletes off to regional and national showcases just to get an opportunity to play at a high level.
Speaking from experience, my daughter recently committed to a D1 school in her junior year. By the time(10th grade) she reached the main stage at the national showcase level, she was late to the party. Many schools were done with her class early in her sophomore year. In the end she is very excited about her college choice. She will be attending a great school and getting a great education. My question is how many others miss the party, and what are we doing to our kids by thrusting them into this at a young age? The system is flawed and hopefully soon there will be restrictions on early recruiting.

Jason Phelix
Head Softball Coach/Teacher
Piedmont High School

 

Thanks Coach and good luck this season.


I have to chuckle a bit at the NCAA's response, "...The whole business has gotten out of hand due to high school and travel ball ignorance ..." Typical NCAA rhetoric. If the coaches can't offer, the problem goes away - but in reality, they can't enforce when a coach offers silently. The NCAA is proving that they cannot control college athletics when SO much cash is involved - just ask the Power 5 conferences.


So we all agree, there is a problem. Let's talk about the rule changes that are needed to stop early offers. Let's start listing the changes and focus on ..WILL IT STOP EARLY OFFERS?

 

I agree that the current rules will not have any impact on changing anything at all with what is going on. The NCAA could implement rules that have an impact on loss of scholarship(s) for programs or even a post season ban should a kid commit prior to their Junior year or an offer be extended by coach/program. I believe the NCAA would need to create a separate group to monitor such information as it's easy to access this information online now. Yes I realize if such a rule would be set forth people would not be posting it but..... rules always need to be tweaked to keep up with how individuals are skirting around the rules. Any rules for enforcement need to have real teeth otherwise, they are pointless and they are nothing more than another document with senseless jargon. With softball being a non-revenue sport, I really don't see the NCAA doing much to intervene with the problem.


When I started the other thread it wasn't to point out any one individual weather that's a coach, kid, parent or organization but more so to bring attention to what I thought is wrong with what is happening. Let a kid be a kid while they can because it just doesn't last long