what is meant by "recruited athlete" for BS, especially 9th grade

Prep School Admissions
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<p>this was a good thread -- glad I asked. The rest of the family is not sports oriented -- but my younger son is. He may not be a superstar, but he really enjoys team sports. He would probably be better if we had enrolled him in some type of team sport in elementary or middle school -- but there were some issues involved that prevented that. </p>

<p>I talked to him about lacrosse and crew and he thought both would be really great. he already does strength training for shotput. I would be pretty hard to find any training for crew here in the high desert that Colorado Springs is -- but there is a local lacrosse group. I think there are a couple of teams -- I will do some checking. </p>

<p>The information that 9th graders are not often recruited makes sense -- I just couldn't understand how a 13 year old could be so good as to be recruited to play on a varsity team against seniors. I can see that there would be some exceptional athletes -- but the way that I was seeing "recruited athletes" mentioned (especially in regard to FA) made it seem like 25 - 30% of each class were recruited athletes.</p>

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<p>D'yer -- never seen it. Looks interesting, does it really work?</p>

<p>Truth about lacrosse, in my experience, is that experience counts most.
In my town, there are literally hundreds of kids playing as early as 3rd or 4th grade. With the exception of the great athlete, these are the kids who end up, after lots of attrition of course, playing HS varsity and later in college.</p>

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<p>My son is a "recruited athlete" for soccer and baseball, although soccer is his really strong suit. He did have a perfect 4.0 GPA along with lots of strong EC's and I believe was a strong candidate already, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw our fa package....and all grant, no loans.
The coaches had been in contact with him by e-mail and phone, and showed up to see a game. Yes, hsmom, he has played both of his sports since a young age and at a high level (not just school, but club). Soccer is pretty much a year-round sport for him and he plays on a regional level team as well as ODP. He also made his public hs varsity team as a freshman and played with them the summer of eighth grade (they have a summer "training league"). He hopes to play D1 eventually.
About track....at our public hs, there is no distinction between JV and V...it is all considered V and the easiest sport to letter in, because you just sign up to be on the team! At some schools, though, it is a very competitive sport and difficult to make V. At the prep school my son is attending, it is an important sport, and a friends daughter was recruited as a PG.</p>

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<p>My nephew was heavily recruited for his hockey skills for 9th grade. He also had A's and 90+SSAT score. He was accepted at all top BS, all heavily mentioned on this board, with very very healthy FA which surprised my brother. He was not only in a traveling team - traveled every weekend all over the country but also attended hockey camps in Canada and New England for multiple years, traveling thousands of miles. I think he was at a specific camp where he was noticed by BS coaches. He also has other sports. My brother who had attended BS himself made sure that his son played "valuable" events - Lacrosse, Hockey and Soccer (one for each season). I think he will be in Varsity in multiple sports, making him more valuable.</p>

<p>My D is in Crew for about a year. You can't really start Crew until you are about 13-14 years old and be able to lift boats and be physically fit. If you are short and trim, you can try out to be a coxain. The sport does favor taller person with long legs. Also the sport is not for the faint hearted. The rower must really enjoy the sport. Why else would you row in a cold rainy day outdoor with painful blisters or be indoor at a erging machine all winter. There is rowing everyday except for a lightening storm. I was amazed at how much committment one has to give to Crew even as Novice. If you do not show up ontime, there will be 8 members waiting for you. If your kids like to compete and be physically ready, it is a great sport especially for girls. You can check out NCAA website for number of scholarships given to rowing. My D travels to competitions and is part of a well known club which has won Nationals consistently. She will be attending summer camps where there will be college coaches this summer. If she stays in her current club, she would be moving to Varsity but I am not sure where the BS will put her. While we did not contact the BS coach right away in the application process, we were asked to fill out the athlete form after her interview. A recommendation from a very well known coach who had worked with my D wrote a recommendation and sent it directly to the BS coach. All I know is that the BS coach informed my D that she has contacted Admissions to let them know of the coach's interest.</p>

<p>It comes down to if you have what the school wants. For example, if you are a hockey goalie, then you want to find out if the school's goalie may graduate and there may be a need to recruit a new goalie. The same for other sports. For crew, we could see from school's websites how many seniors will be graduating.</p>

<p>I do know that we were warmly welcomed at those schools with Crew during our interviewing process, unlike the earlier process when my S applied without sports that counts.</p>

<p>Even if you know all these, it is the student who needs to be interested in the sport and have passion for it.</p>

<p>Go check out college team roasters to see where the athletes came from - which school. certain sports will have almost all BS such as hockey.</p>

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<p>At the early stages, the best place for athletes to get noticed and develop a "track record" that will garner the attention of coaches is at the camps (probably too expensive for hsmomstef) and through participation in leagues that have teams that participate in regional competitions (which is probably too late for hsmomstef and, over time, the costs of participating in traveling teams really mounts).</p>

<p>Another thing about lacrosse that makes it a "blue blood" sport is the expense. Pads and a stick can become pricey very quickly, without getting too fancy. The helmet ain't cheap...though I signed out equipment to players over the summer so they could participate in camps. But here again, for hsmomstef (or, rather, her son) it's probably too late to develop that sort of connection to a coach. Still, it's worth making some calls and e-mail inquiries...and this is a great time for that. There is probably a day camp or two in the Colorado Springs area. </p>

<p>Some camp directors and coaches are authorized retailers for equipment distributors like STX, Brine, Gait, Shamrock, etc., and they often sell packages of equipment for good values at certain times (when they get together, say, 10-15 orders...which could happen as camp season begins and players turn in their school-issued equipment). For starters, though, a basic short stick and a pair of gloves are what the budget-minded player NEEDS to own. (And the whole enchilada for most camps.)</p>

<p>Lacrosse is growing in Colorado. That's good for obvious reasons, but also because until school districts offer it on a ubiquitous basis, you're likely to find private leagues that kids of all skill levels flock to that operate outside the purview of the sanctioned high school league. You'll find plenty of people who are receptive to introducing more and more kids to the sport at this stage of development. It's not so barren that there's nothing to plug into, but it's not so mature that you're behind the 8-ball and would have been expected to plug in much sooner. For instance, consider this article from US Lacrosse Magazine on-line that shows how the new coach of the Denver National Lacrosse League team views part of his role in Colorado to be something of a missionary for the sport: <a href="http://laxmagazine.cstv.com/sports/m-mll/spec-rel/030707aab.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://laxmagazine.cstv.com/sports/m-mll/spec-rel/030707aab.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>This Saturday, at Invesco Field, the state high school championship will be played between Kent Denver and Fort Collins. Check it out.</p>

<p>@ fun is fun: Yeah, it actually works! Kids can practice throwing in their bedroom! (Provided there's no ceiling fan.) A couple nights with it and they come to practice and "get it." The only problem is that they still draw the stick back too far when they trade in the SureThrow for a real stick and ball...which leads to them throwing blanks as the ball bounces quietly behind them as they demonstrate perfect throwing form. I wouldn't advise individuals to invest in it ($70), but having a couple on hand to give to newcomers as loaners is wonderful. It makes that first clinic much more enjoyable and rewarding and it reduces drop-out rates among kids who try it and prematurely decide they can't throw with a stick.</p>

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<p>Backing up to the beginning -- the prep schools see their mission as developing the 'total person' which includes both the academics and the athletics as well as character. With that in mind -- and also that it makes the school look better to outsiders when the sports teams do well -- the admissions people attempt to bring in the famous well-rounded class.</p>

<p>There are few athetes 'recruited' for 9th grade, although a kid coming in for a repeat freshman year might have a year on varsity at his public school and be more interesting, if recruitable isn't exactly an accurate description. There's a bit more 'recruiting' at the repeat junior or PG level but in my experience, it's more about finding the right fit for the school and the kid.</p>

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<p>again -- lots of good info. As D'yer said, a little too late to turn my son into recruited athlete (and I already knew that) but I was still curious as to how it worked with the younger group.</p>

<p>He has been interested in Lacrosse for a while and we might check out the local team -- alot will depend on cost and schedule. It seems he has something going on every minute and he wants to add even more to the list next year.</p>

<p>fit is definitely top of the list and one of the priorities in selecting a school is the ability to play team sports. My son wants to be able to play a sport at BS without being "cut" because he isn't that good or he is new. Just intermural level is fine -- he wants to try some new things and see what he really likes. </p>

<p>I will tell him about crew -- but it sounds like something he would like! he is one of those kids who can be really dedicated and hard-working once he makes the decision to committ to something.</p>

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<p>Agreed completely with goaliedad's comments on girls hockey if that is important to anybody out there reading this. My daughter will be a 9th grader next year and, while nothing is official till the tryouts before Thanksgiving, expects to play varsity skating a regular shift.</p>

<p>One thing I think should be highlighted though is the question of what "recruited" means. If people are looking for "recruited" to mean a kid with poor application stats/package being approached proactively by a BS coach promising to get that kid in with good FA, I think that is rare. Not saying it doesn't happen, but I wouldn't held my breath waiting for it. If on the other hand "recruited" means a kid with an average but in the ballpark application using sports to stand-out from the crowd and perhaps getting a bit better FA than they might otherwise have gotten, that I think is a lot more realistic and happens a lot.</p>

<p>Even that though I think does not happen out of the blue with the coach "discovering" your kid. If you want it to happen you should be proactive. Get on coach's radar screens. Put yourself in situations where they will see your child play. Make your interest in their program clear. We started the process about this time last year sending e-mails to a handful of coaches after doing our homework on schools, coaches and hockey programs. Initial e-mails were intended to introduce my daughter and her experience to the coach. Those e-mails started the dialogue with coaches which led to a lot of continued discussion and interaction - unofficial school visits over the summer hosted by the coach, coaches seeing my daughter play at showcase events over the summer, meeting with coaches again during official fall visit, in some cases coaches coming to see her club team play live in the fall/winter, sending tapes to coaches who didn't get the chance to see her live, visits to the school during hockey season to see games and meet the team, etc. Multiply this times a few schools and it can take up a decent chunk of time.</p>

<p>Across most of these sports (crew admittedly being an exception) kids at this level are not kids just getting started in a sport. Be it hockey, lacrosse, soccer, football, baseball or whatever they are kids who have already made a pretty significant commitment to the sport. In my daughter's case she had been playing hockey since 8 (a lot of kids start 3 or 4 years earlier than that). In hockey season she has played for a boy's travel club team at her age level at an A/B level for the last 5 years (including peewee and bantam levels which are full checking hockey), as well as playing part time on a girl's club team playing up an age bracket. In the spring and summer she dials it back a little but will still play on a casual spring team (actually this spring boy's midgets (15&16 year old boys - as a father, scary)) and do a few weeks of hockey camp over the summer. This coming summer she has been invited to skate with girl's 19U Tier II team at a tournament scouted by college coaches. Maybe more detail than necessary but the point is it is something she is passionate about and has made a commitment to.</p>

<p>Perhaps a subject for another thread, but I would finish by saying that I think it is possible for kids at this age to be too focused on a single sport. Maybe in a few years if they are D1 caliber players it becomes necessary, but at this age they should absolutely do other things (other sports, music, etc.) and simply take time to be kids. This last year my daughter played basketball and lacrosse for her middle school. This summer in addition to her hockey she go to basketball camp and will spend three weeks sailing and scuba diving in the Caribbean. Important to find the balance between commitment and burnout.</p>

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<p>Regarding D1 lacrosse recruitment at the college level ... most coaches I have spoken with (and my S was seriously recruited) were looking for 2-3 sport high school athletes. High school is too early to specialize ... although perhaps the soccer and hockey coaches feel differently.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Regarding D1 lacrosse recruitment at the college level ... most coaches I have spoken with (and my S was seriously recruited) were looking for 2-3 sport high school athletes. High school is too early to specialize ... although perhaps the soccer and hockey coaches feel differently.

[/quote]

D1 hockey is a little unusual in that it's season squarely sits over 2 terms, so it generally requires a single sport committment.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
It comes down to if you have what the school wants. For example, if you are a hockey goalie, then you want to find out if the school's goalie may graduate and there may be a need to recruit a new goalie.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Exactly what we did. First, you eliminate schools where you are unlikely to play (returning sophomore starter is a big clue here). And in girls hockey it is a small world, so through the grapevine you find out who is looking at which school and then you decide where you think you will be the top prospect. </p>

<p>The good news is that if you are admitted with good FA, you probably are going to be playing.</p>

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<p>One of the big issues that we have with lacrosse, particularly when it comes to growing the sport at the youth level, is the single sport commitments that many prospective lacrosse athletes have made at an early age (or, really, that their parents made) to other sports, like soccer.</p>

<p>US Lacrosse, the governing body for both the male and female versions of the sport, has made a conscious effort to keep the sport from becoming one that's all-consuming. Demanding too much from young athletes is bad for them and, ultimately, that's bad for the sport itself. A D1 lacrosse prospect should not be a one-trick pony. Something broke down if that's the case. That's a key value for the sport and it's a big reason why the D1 coaches look for a balanced person.</p>

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<p>To build on the post above, I have a photo on my fridge of my son with the pacifier in the mouth, the jersey down to the ground, and the lacrosse stick in the hand! </p>

<p>This kid however played basketball, football, soccer, golf, tennis, baseball, hockey, squash, and ran track all at different times in his youth and high school career. The kid is a sports maniac. He is also a D1 lacrosse player on a team going to Baltimore this weekend.</p>

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<p>I did some checking at the school's on my son's list to see who offered crew, lacrosse and track and field. I didn't realize that all three are spring sports -- so he could only do one.</p>

<p>two of the schools offered crew, five offered track and eight offered lacrosse (at least one of the sports was offered at every school on his list).</p>

<p>it isn't really a deciding factor of anything -- since he doesn't fall in the recruited athlete pool and he isn't set on any one sport. But I did find it interesting and it will be something he consider if he gets into more than one school.</p>

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<p>Crew is technically a spring sport, although there is some fall racing (head style racing as opposed to sprints) and some places will offer intro to rowing in the fall. There's also some winter conditioning usually available as well. When my S did fall crew we did see some boarding schools competing in the head races as well as the community based clubs.</p>

<p>Lacrosse really only competes in the spring -- but again there is a limited amount of fall ball. </p>

<p>Running in the fall is cross country -- track and field is definitely spring. Some schools will have winter indoor track.</p>

<p>He could try the sports on for size in the fall ...and decide what to <em>do</em> in the spring.</p>

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<p>"He could try the sports on for size in the fall ...and decide what to <em>do</em> in the spring"</p>

<p>That is a great idea -- he is also interested in Drama, speech and debate and the different "outdoor education/leadership" programs that many schools offer (and these sometimes take the place of a sport). He wants to do it all, of course -- but it seems like most boarding schools encourage the kids to check out alot of different options at the beginning. He is eager to try new things.</p>

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<p>Congratulations, cnp55! That's gotta be a big thrill. Can you tell me which team I should root for this weekend? It would be awesome for your son to wear that NCAA NC ring! The NCAA athlete group is a nice "club" to belong to. But the NC club is truly elite! Good luck to him!</p>

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<p>Interesting article just came across my desk from one of the "elite" schools...
I got the friend of mine who gave me the article mad by disagreing with it abnd saying of course the PG football payer was recruited and even going as far as saying that a good number of any Jr/Sr/PG who comes to the school that year and starts a varsity sport was recruited.</p>

<p>It describes a 6'5" PG "successful contributor on the football team and a class of '08 lacrosse starter...</p>

<p>*"Many people wonder what goes into our recuriting process to find such athletes. Yet recuriting in our community is quite different from college recruiting. Athletes have to approash <em>School</em>, not vice versa. </p>

<p>Athletic Director <em>name</em> said, 'We don't solicit kids to be interested in us...We don't find them, and their families [have to] step to <em>school</em>.'</p>

<p>Boys Varsity Hockey Coach confirmed saying 'I nver go to a rink to watch a hockey player. Stedents hear about us through our former players, alumni and parents.'</p>

<p>.....soccer coach described the actions he pursues when "recruiting" applicants interested in the soccer team. First, he talkes to the families of the applicants and describes the probrams. Then, he reports to the admissions office if he beleives the athletes have potential. </p>

<p>Despite each athlete's athletic credibility, the academic achievements of each applicatnt contribute to his or her admission. An athlete has to be 'both academically and athletically capabel, a good citizen, and a strong person,' mr. assist. athletic director said. ...related that athletic ability can be used as a tie-breaker among applicatants, but thier abilities do not guarantee the athlete' places on campus."</p>