<p>Nike meets are very well-run and enjoyable. Last year my D attended both NIN and NON without a team or coach, and she also trained on her own for weeks prior to the meets because she was the only one from her team to qualify for our state championship meets and then the only one to go to nationals. According to the rules of some state athletic associations, schools are not permitted to support athletes' attendance at these meets in any way, including coaching or allowing them use of their school uniform. However, there are ways to get around those rules, such as the establishment of track clubs whose coach is the high school coach. So to answer your question, while most kids seemed to come with teams and/or coaches, not everyone does for various reasons. For us it was intimidating to see all the teams and coaches there knowing my D only had just me, her mom, as her "coach." But we figured stuff out and she did just fine. The meet trainers were fabulous and gave her a rub down and pep talk, which helped a lot. The experience of attending a big meet like that was valuable because afterward, state and regional meets are not the least bit scary. Also, the athletes, esp. winners, are treated very well. </p>
<p>My D is still an underclassman, so I can't say much about the recruiting aspect. I will tell you that NIN and NON results are published on all the state milesplit websites, and I can only assume that this would give the kids exposure to college coaches across the country who will see those results.</p>
<p>College Athletics is very hypocritical in this country. With all their assurances by athletic directors that they want the coaches to build character and ethics, the bottom line is: WINNING. If coaches don't win, they will be fired!</p>
<p>Harvard is obviously taking that tact as well. Does this surprise anyone?</p>
<p>A national-level meet is a fantastic way to demonstrate your daughter's talent. She can use the official times on her recruiting forms, and the college coaches will take note. Have her begin to fill out the online recruiting questionnaires to the colleges she's interested in after junior year, in June and July. Be sure her test scores, and class rank fit in the general range listed in the college profile (USNews & World Report is great for quick stats.)
If you have any questions about track recruiting, feel free to PM me.</p>
College Athletics is very hypocritical in this country. With all their assurances by athletic directors that they want the coaches to build character and ethics, the bottom line is: WINNING. If coaches don't win, they will be fired!</p>
<p>Harvard is obviously taking that tact as well. Does this surprise anyone?
</p>
<p>Sorry, but what does firing a coach have to do with the character of the athletes?</p>
<p>I don't deny that at top D1 programs there is a lot of winning mentality, but you are more than incredibly ignorant to extend that criticism to all athletics. For example, the coach on my collegiate team emphasizes character and sportsmanship far, far above winning. If we played like crap and didn't perform at our best, of course he won't be happy, but he's not going to ream us out for losing.</p>
<p>The fact that you think this is the way all athletics in America are reflects much more on your own prejudices than on America's collegiate athletics.</p>
<p>snowedin, NON is a good place for your D to try and post some fast times, as GFG says. A quick way to see how your daugher's times fit with various colleges is to pull up the websites for end of season meets. For example, the Ivy Heptagonals are coming up. All of the Ivies will post the results on the sports part of their websites, or you can check last year's results any time. University websites are a wealth of information when it comes to finding a fit for track athletes!</p>
<p>My D is a senior in HS, and we went through track recruiting this year. PM me if you have questions/want to talk.</p>
<p>Coaches who don't win typically have lost the faith of the players and are not a good influence. The situation goes from bad to worse. Most coaches I see get fired fall into that category and when they are gone the players are relieved.</p>
<p>As a parent of a Div. 1 athlete who plays mens water polo, I would like to fill you in a bit on their average days schedule. Most schools do not pick classes for their players, the players meet individually with their counselors at the begining of every semester to put together a schedule that will meet the needs of their major and fit into the average of 4-6 hours of practice each day. They become experts on managing time and schedules to meet all of the demands. They work on the bus while in transit to games which can take upwards of 8 hours and in between games at tournaments. My son is currently a double major with approx. a 3.2 gpa as are most of the players on his team. Most only get minimal scholarship money due to NCAA regulations. Many also qualify for merit scholarships due to high HS and College gpas. He is not a student at Harvard, but was recruited to play there but wanted to stay on the west coast to play at higher level of water polo. When he was on his recruiting trip at Harvard he met with a counselor and she spoke with him in regards to academic needs etc. and she was very positive about the student athlete connection with the school. From what she told him they are always happy to find interested student athletes because they are usually very hard workers who were not only able to handle a tough course load in high school but were also able to compete on a high level of athletics on both the high school and club level and usually became the leaders on campus. In comparison some students who only dealt with the academic side of high school had a tough time adjusting to the responsibility of college coursework and independance. </p>
<p>I am always amazed on this forum that many people look down on student athletes, assuming that because they are athletes that they only got into the school on their athletic skills. I know there are both sides, but given the choice wouldn't you pick the more well rounded student for your campus whether it be sports, music etc. I sure would!</p>
<p>^^ Agree. Don't be amazed, though. This is the same forum where an unfortunate amount of posters think there are possibly only four acceptable colleges in the country! They sure don't want the neanderthal athletes taking up all the spaces in these four schools!</p>
<p>Seems to me that when these discussions get started about athletes it breaks down in to the steretypical revenue sports problems which get highlighted most often by the news. Colleges have many non revenue sports teams that truly have scholar athletes who have as good a profile as any student in the school. There are the sensational cases in the news, but that is really a fraction of the athletes. And as pointed up above, when there is a problem it is often the coaches or overly enthusiastic boosters, not the institution.</p>
<p>Snowdin: Please feel free to PM me as well. My D looked closely at Ivies as well as several D3 schools. Through the process, we've learned quite a bit about programs and recruiting. In track, coaches look at times but not all athletes get to run against strong national competition, which is where NON comes in. It says a lot just to qualify for NON (qualifying is tougher than requirements at many Ivies). NON does entail a financial commitment but can be worthwhile and fun. It's not awkward to go without a coach. In fact, my D will likely do so this year.</p>