There’s a popular misconception that an athletic college scholarship amounts to a free education. On the surface that may well be true in the most literal sense, but it’s not quite as free and clear as it might sound. The analogy of a price “paid with sweat” is not without merit in both genuine and figurative perspectives. In the end, however, the “true” cost of that free ride on the proverbial degree train often amounts to calculated investments made over the course of a scholastic career in two key elements…time and money. Few prospects and their families have the fortune to lay claim to an unlimited supply of both valuable resources and a restricted amount of either can devalue an abundance of the other. Careless or ill-advised expenditures of both can lead to limited options, a distorted process or, worse yet, a bad decision when it comes time to sign a National Letter of Intent.
The naïve concept that “more” is always better generally doesn’t play well in the recruiting symphony. Take a page out of the book of any Wall Street Wizard and strategically look at your recruiting choices the same way you might manage a stock portfolio. Every campus visit, each tournament, exposure showcase, institutional camp or the use of a personal trainer has to be viewed carefully in terms of risk versus return. Some recruiting activities can be negligible in terms of impact with nothing actually being lost or gained. However, in the bigger picture, its still money spent that you’ll never get back and limited time that might have been utilized in a much more productive manner.
To truly be successful in the decision making process, college basketball recruitment necessitates a proactive approach on the part of the athlete and her family. Unless you’re the latest incarnation of Breanna Stewart, Kelsey Mitchell or A’ja Wilson, it’s not in your best interests to simply sit back and let recruiting take its natural course. Of course, as we’re all well aware, there’s absolutely nothing “natural” about recruiting and the obstacle course that comes with it. There are plenty of speedbumps, traps and bottomless sink holes waiting to consume an athlete’s time, money and all too often…future.
We’re about to enter into a stretch of the year that will afford recruited athletes multiple chances for exposure to college coaches, evaluators, media and self-proclaimed trainers. While the largest segment of a player’s time will be spent with their club team, there will also be multiple individual opportunities worthy of careful consideration or cautious and wise rejection. It’s important to remember, as with any type of personal investment, what is or might have previously been good for one individual may not remotely fit the current needs of another.
If you’re an established prospect who’s on the radar of recruiters, your approach to some of these choices should be much more judicious than the athlete who’s still trying to generate some initial or expanded interest. There’s absolutely no logic in spending your time and money on a non-certified (No D-I coaches in attendance) individual event if you’re an actively recruited and well-known player with scholarship offers already on the table. On the other hand, if you’ve been on the recruiting stage with your club team and in individual events over the course of a couple of club seasons without interest and offers you may need to take every opportunity that comes your way.
Anyone paying even the slightest bit of attention to the recruiting landscape knows that transfer rates continue to climb to new heights each and every year. For that actively recruited athlete, any “spare time” you can find outside of your club schedule and individual training regimen to become more familiar with those most interested in your commitment will be time well spent. It could ultimately mean the difference between a successful career in one place or accumulating frequent transfer miles and a one year detour on the sideline. Get to those campuses active in your mix for second, third or even fourth unofficial visit. Attend their institutional camps and take advantage of the opportunity to spend time on the floor with the coaches who could potentially be a integral part of your collegiate future.
While it’s always good to get in the gym, everything you do on and off the court is about preparing you for the next level. All events come with the same disclaimer we find in the world of stocks, bonds and mutual funds, “past performance is not indicative of future results”. The prospectus for any event requires careful study and a bullish attitude of “what’s in it for me”. Participation decisions should always revolve around what your attendance will do for your own game rather than the enrollment of other athletes, the interests of an event operator or your status with a recruiting service. Events who seek to utilize your presence as a means to sell other prospects on attending are offering little that benefits your recruiting and future. It would be a catastrophic shame for an athlete already in a secure position to sustain a serious injury while playing in a gratuitous showcase.
Lately an even greater smokescreen is the illusion that participation in specific events will improve your chances at McDonald’s or other honors and recognition. If you are legitimately that caliber of player, you’re already well known to informed committee members. If you’re not that kind of prospect, be honest with yourself and put your ego aside. Accept the fact that playing in front of one or two members from a national committee of over 20 isn’t going to further your chances. It’s little more than a sales pitch that serves their agenda more than it does that of the athlete. Elite players don’t become All-Americans over one weekend.
If it’s rankings you’re looking for, ask yourself why they matter to you in the first place before you spend any of your finite time and money. Rankings are nothing more than opinion, entertainment and possibly some ego stroking for some incredibly insecure parents. Rest assured that no creditable coach or program is going to put an offer on the table based on an athlete’s ranking. A college coach’s job is on the line with every player that they sign. They’re not about to entrust their paycheck security to the opinions of people who aren’t actually on the bench with them or, in some cases, individuals who have never actually evaluated talent as a coach themselves. Trusting a source without actual experience is like getting a medical diagnosis from someone who logs onto WebMD. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong, but I’d still look for a second opinion before booking the surgical suite.
Ultimately recruiting services have plenty of value to coaching staffs, but it doesn’t rest in that well exposed group of prospects that already make up the priority lists they have in each class. Good recruiters don’t find their top recruits on the pages of a mass report; they find them in the gym. In terms of upperclass recruits, college coaches turn to recruiting services when their needs suddenly change in a specific signing class or when they’ve heard the word “no” way more than they were hoping to from their top prospects.
As an individual recruit you should be extraordinarily cautious in making any decisions based on the advice, direction or involvement of these groups. Never forget that they are subscriber services and their loyalty will lean towards the interests of those who write checks to them annually rather than the athletes who attend their ever growing litany of events. Lately we’ve also seen some services that are loud and proud about the sheer number of individuals they offer to clients in their reports; hence the need to run more events and pad their lists and evaluations. Yet you have to wonder just how efficiently and accurately those players may have been assessed among the throng in each class. My name is in the metropolitan phone book but it doesn’t make me stand out among the crowd.
It may seem that I’m questioning some of the events and people on the peripheral of the game and that might be because…well…I am. Especially when it comes to the endless supply of personal trainers we seem to be encountering these days. Before you start writing a check and entrusting your game to someone it might be wise to vet them like they’re running for President of the United States. Then again, that may be setting the bar pretty low when you consider the current candidates we’re left with. Let’s shoot a little higher for basketball trainers.
Know their backgrounds. Know their preparation as a trainer beyond their own playing days. Have them detail what they believe they can provide for you that you’re not already getting. Way too many individuals are portraying themselves as trainers just because they happened to have played themselves. Lots of people played, that’s not enough to go all in. Knowing the game is not automatically synonymous with being able to share knowledge or skill. The teaching methods some utilize are almost entertaining in some of the workouts I’m seeing. Coming up with “cute” drills just because they’re fit into a convoluted workout scheme or designated time frame is missing the point. The critical question is how all of it fits into the actual game itself.
Every skill and every shot should have an obvious and specific application. Dribbling through cones isn’t something players will face too often at game time and chairs aren’t really the kind of defenders that will be picking you up in transition. It’s disappointing that we still have people basing their shooting workout on a set number of undefended shots rather than a specific number of contested makes or at least competing within a challenging time frame. Then again you’ve also got trainers still getting players the same shot again, again and again as if you might see 50 in a row from the same spot during the next game on the schedule. Look for the opportunity to train “live” in groups of two or three to better simulate game situations and sharpen the skills as they’ll be used rather than in the context of some predetermined, philosophical theory that doesn’t translate.
When a trainer approaches you and attempts to sell you by way of the players they’ve supposedly worked with, get the specifics. Ask them to define what “worked with” actually means. Just being in a restaurant at the same time as Michael Jordan doesn’t mean I had dinner with him. How many years and how often did they work with those athletes? And at what point in their careers? We’ve got a new generation laying claim to the hard earned success of some established athletes just because they worked with them for an hour one time or in the course of an event. It’s an insult to see someone who simply threw passes to an already advanced prospect boast that they “trained” them to create an illusion of accomplishment and cultivate new clients.
In the end, players do the work. A good trainer certainly can help and has their value in skill development but don’t completely turn you game over to them. If you do hire one, be sure they take the time to see you play in multiple games. Video is a start but it’s hardly enough. It’s not possible for them to do a player justice and take them where they need to go if they don’t know where they’re at when they start. There are pseudo-trainers out there who want to do what they deem to be their “system’ without actually seeing an athlete play in person. This is definitely one of those settings where one size does not fit all.
There is a business aspect to basketball and it’s very easy to get caught up in a cycle of time and money expenditures that actually do very little to advance the cause of an athlete. Like any other “product” you’re going to be sold by way of perceived value through peer pressure…distorted and inflated claims…and your own ego and self-perception. There comes a time where the focus and scope of your efforts lie with those recruiting you and your decision making process. The only obligation an athlete and her family have is to her future. You don’t “owe” any individual, service or event regardless of your past participation or involvement with them. Basketball is a team sport, recruiting is not.
