If it Bleeds it Leads...

College recruiter’s and college coaches routinely scan headlines, stories, and photographs that appear in local print and online editions sports sections. If these recruiter’s and coaches learn that one of the kids they have been recruiting has been injured, no matter how minor or major the injury, that may be enough to terminate the recruiting process or worse yet, rescind an offer previously made and thus deny the student-athlete a college education.

October 29, 2017 - Fort Pierce, FL > When a student-athlete is injured in a high school competition to such an extent that they are taken off the field on a stretcher is that news?

Yes.

But, is it newsworthy? Should we as journalists report on it or publish photographs of the incident?

The answer to that is not just a resounding no it is HELL NO!

While our colleagues who report and work for mainstream news media take an “if it bleeds it leads” approach to newsgathering, all in an attempt to create sensationalized headlines, hoping to get more readers or clicks on a photo just so they can increase their audit numbers and thus increase their advertising rates and profitability, little consideration is given to the injured student-athlete.

An immediate issue and concern is the privacy of the student-athlete and how the effect of publishing health information about him or her may very well be a direct violation of HIPPA laws. Frankly, it is none of the general public’s business or concern about an injury that a student-athlete may sustain, even while in public where there is no expectation of privacy.

Just as concerning as the potential for HIPPA violations is the fact that reporting on or publishing photographs of an injured student-athlete may have life-long consequences for him or her.

College recruiter’s and college coaches routinely scan headlines, stories, and photographs that appear in local print and online editions sports sections. If these recruiter’s and coaches learn that one of the kids they have been recruiting has been injured, no matter how minor or major the injury, that may be enough to terminate the recruiting process or worse yet, rescind an offer previously made and thus deny the student-athlete a college education.

Treasure Coast Sports Journal has a long-standing tradition of never reporting on, or publishing photographs, of any student-athlete that has been injured during an athletic event.

We can only hope that going forward our friends at other media outlets will see the value in protecting our student-athletes, and being a part of the solution and not the problem!

Top six reasons why employers want to hire college athletes

Top six reasons why employers want to hire college athletes

This story is brought to you in partnership with USA Today High School Sports and is © Copyright by Gannett. TCSportsJournal.com takes no responsibility for the content of this story. 

For most college athletes the ultimate goal is to make a living by playing a game they love. If, however that doesn’t work out, you better have a backup plan! That’s where a college education comes into play. The reality is that a career in professional sports is probably not in the cards for most college athletes and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Over the last several years there have been several studies indicating that many businesses want to hire college athletes. Most employers associate college athletes with the traits they are looking for in prospective employees. Participating in college athletics is viewed similarly to other extracurricular activities such as student government, volunteering for charitable organizations, or even working a part time job.

Let’s face it, being a college athlete isn’t like having a part-time job, it’s like having a full-time job, while going to school. Managing the hours of practice, team meetings, homework and games while going to class is difficult, and is a clear indication of a student’s work ethic. Additionally, there is no question that the experience of being a college athlete and balancing all that it requires helps to prepare every athlete for the working world. As you can see, there are many reasons employers want to hire college athletes, but here are my top six.

1. College athletes are goal oriented

Most college athletes started playing their sport as a toddler. They’ve been competing their entire life. They know how to set goals and work hard to achieve them. Most athletes who are talented enough to play in college set goals every year, every season, every game and sometimes every day. Being goal oriented is a mindset that prospective employers are looking for in their employees.

2. College athletes are mentally tough and resilient

To get to the college level, most athletes have failed as many times as they have succeeded.  That said, they always move on and continue to compete. College athletes learn to be mentally tough every day, even on days when they don’t feel 100 percent. For an employer, this translates into an employee who can be counted on under any set of circumstances.

3. College athletes are hard workers and good time managers

Being a college athlete is a commitment. You need to be disciplined, manage your time and sacrifice many things other college students enjoy. A student-athletes’ schedule includes class, homework, strength training, team meetings, conditioning, practice, travel and games. In addition, they need to find the time to eat, sleep and occasionally watch Sports Center. College athletes cram 25 hours into a 24-hour day. Any student that can pull all that off and maintain a good GPA is an excellent candidate for employment.

4. College athletes are self-confident

The dictionary definition of self-confident is “trusting in one’s abilities, qualities, and judgment”. Most athletes develop these traits early on and to be honest some athletes take it too far. However, a self-confident, mature student-athlete who isn’t arrogant or overbearing can be a great find for any employer.

5. College athletes are good teammates

Good teammates make good employees. That’s a fact. The ability to work with others toward a common goal as a team is the definition of a good teammate. Being a good teammate includes being coachable, respectful and having the attitude that the goals of the team are more important than the goals of the individual. Most college coaches will drive this point home starting in the very first practice.

College athletes know when to be a follower and when to take control of a situation. By the time they graduate from college, most have been a member of a team for 16 to 18 years and being a good teammate has become a habit.

6. College athletes tend to be leaders

Right or wrong, in our society athletes tend to be looked at as leaders. Many of our United States Presidents participated in college athletics. To be a good leader you have to be confident, resilient, a strong communicator and willing to put the team’s goals ahead of your own. Most athletes tend to have those traits and they usually know how to be a leader. Employers want to hire employees who have the potential to become leaders in their company.

Most college students have no real employment experience, but the character traits and experience a student-athlete develops bodes well in the workplace. Certainly, you don’t have to be an athlete to be successful in life. But, if you have the talent and desire to play your sport in college, then you need to pursue your dream. You will have an incredible experience and it might help you find a job!

When can Division I coaches contact athletes?

This story is brought to you in partnership with USA Today High School Sports and is © Copyright by Gannett. TCSportsJournal.com takes no responsibility for the content of this story. 

Sports news organizations frequently post articles about high school freshmen who’ve verbally committed to a Division I sports program. A lot of families see this and scratch their heads. How can that student be in contact with a coach so early on? Don’t NCAA rules prohibit communication before a student-athlete’s junior year? In this article, we cover the ways coaches and athletes get around the NCAA rules and how athletes are connecting with college coaches before the official NCAA recruiting periods.

What the NCAA rules say

The NCAA recruiting rules around coach-recruit contact are written to protect student-athletes from getting too many calls and visits from coaches. To do so, the NCAA created a recruiting calendar that dictates when and how coaches can contact recruits. These are called “recruiting periods,” which include the contact, evaluation, quiet and dead periods. 

The rule of thumb is that coaches can’t contact a recruit before June 1 of their junior year. (There are some variations depending on the sport.) While these rules limit when and how coaches can contact recruits, coaches often recruit and offer scholarships to athletes well before their junior year.

How does a high school freshman get a scholarship before coaches can contact them?

The NCAA rules state a college coach can’t “recruit” an athlete before September 1 of their junior year, so it might seem illegal for recruits to get offered and be accepting scholarships as freshmen or younger (be advised some sports have different contact rules, review the NCAA recruiting calendar for your sport here. It isn’t illegal and here’s how it happens:

• “Recruiting” has a very specific definition by the NCAA. Recruiting as defined by the NCAA means a college coach actively reaching out to an athlete. While the NCAA limits how and when a coach can initiate contact with a recruit, there are no rules prohibiting an athlete from calling or visiting a college coach. If the athlete initiates the contact, coaches and recruits can talk and discuss whatever they want, including scholarships.
• These recruits’ coaches are very involved. Because college coaches can’t contact the recruits or families directly, they utilize their club or high school coaches to arrange a way for them to meet with or talk to the recruits.
• These athletes are getting noticed by being at national events. The hard truth about athletes getting scholarship offers as 8th graders is they are very clearly some of the top athletes in the country for their age. When an athlete receives an early scholarship offer, it is very likely they are already competing at the national level in their sport. If you want to get interest as an underclassman, you need to be at these elite events and championships.

Get proactive in your recruiting

If you aren’t getting recruited as an 8th grader, not all hope is lost, but if you are dreaming of playing D-1 sports, you need to get busy.

Coaches can talk to athletes if the athlete initiates the contact

The NCAA rules prohibit coaches from calling, emailing or visiting an athlete before their junior year. However, if the athlete initiates the contact with the coach, they can talk. Here are the most common ways this happens:

• Athletes schedule a call with a coach. A third party—like the athlete’s coach—will tell the college coach that the athlete will be calling at a specific time. When that athlete calls and the coach answers, they can talk about whatever they want.
• Athletes make unofficial visits to the coach on their campus. If an athlete or family visits a college campus, they are free to meet with the coach and tour the campus. The key here is the athlete needs to make sure the coach knows they are coming and has agreed to meet with them. This is usually done through coordinated calls ahead of time.

Use online tools to monitor your recruiting interest

Online profiles like the ones provided by NCSA allow athletes to see what coaches have been looking at their information. The challenge for recruits who can’t be contacted by coaches is that a coach can’t tell the athlete they are interested. If the recruit can see a coach is looking at in their profile, however, they can take that as a clear signal the coach is interested. Then, the recruit can try to establish contact.

Use your current coaches to establish contact

A student-athlete’s high school or club coach is the perfect person to help them establish connections with college coaches before the contact period. It is not uncommon for elite recruits’ coaches to arrange a visit or phone call with college coaches interested in them. Without this third party, families would rarely be able to take advantage of the major rules loophole.

When can coaches offer athletic scholarships?

This story is brought to you in partnership with USA Today High School Sports and is © Copyright by Gannett. TCSportsJournal.com takes no responsibility for the content of this story. 

No doubt you’ve heard of kids getting scholarship offers as early as eighth grade. It’s true, it happens. But unless your student-athlete is one of those rare prodigies, they will likely need to go through the regular recruiting process to receive an athletic scholarship. College coaches can extend your student-athlete an offer at any time, but there are some windows where it’s more likely to happen.

Coaches must follow strict contact rules

Student-athletes can reach out to college coaches without restriction, but, per NCAA recruiting rules, for most sports, coaches have to wait until June 15 or September 1 before the athlete’s junior year to reach out directly. In addition, the NCAA’s recruiting calendars outline four different periods within the year:

• Evaluation Period: For certain DI sports, this is a period wherein college coaches can watch a student-athlete compete, but they cannot communicate with them directly.
• Contact Period: Any and all communication is permitted. College coaches will come to the student-athlete’s school and potentially home to get to know them better.
• Dead Period: College coaches may not talk to recruits or their parents in-person, but other forms of communication are allowed.
• Quiet Period: During this time, coaches may not have face-to-face contact with student-athletes off-campus.

Insider Tip: Contact rules vary by NCAA division. The rules for DII and DIII, for example, are more relaxed than DI.

READ MORE: NCAA recruiting calendars: When does recruiting start?

When is your student-athlete most likely to receive an offer?

For most recruits, athletic scholarships will be offered in their junior year or early in their senior year. However, depending on the division level, an offer might come later. For example, DI-AA football programs extend offers early to get the top-level recruits committed. DI-A programs then try to get the best of those who don’t end up committing to DI-AA. DII and NAIA follow, and DII schools finish the process. (Although they cannot offer athletic scholarships, DIII coaches will suggest a student-athlete walk on.)

While each student-athlete’s recruiting journey will look different, here are some ways a coach might offer a scholarship:

• On an official or unofficial visit: For all division levels, official visits can be made after the first day of your student-athlete’s senior year. It’s an official visit if the coach has explicitly invited you and covering the costs; otherwise, it is an unofficial visit, which can be taken at any time. Whether official or unofficial, you and your student-athlete will have a chance to speak directly with the coach. There’s no guarantee that a scholarship offer will come during the visit, but it’s a possibility.
• Through a high school or club coach: Because of the NCAA recruiting rules, college coaches do not have direct access to student-athletes at all times. They can, however, speak to high school or club coaches—and often do. A college coach might tell a student-athlete’s high school coach that they have an offer for them, and the high school coach can either pass that along to the student or have the student call the college coach themselves (since they can at any time).
• During a camp or tournament: This is not as common, but scholarship offers are sometimes extended during a college camp or tournament.

Insider Tip: College coaches usually give a short time frame for the student-athlete to either accept or turn down the scholarship offer.Depending on when the offer occurs and how many offers the student-athlete has or can expect to receive, you may want to ask for an extension so you can compare offers and select the one that’s the best fit.

Keep in mind: Verbal offers aren’t binding

Although it is unlikely that a coach will rescind an athletic scholarship offer, it’s crucial to know that a verbal commitment is not official until there’s a written offer. There are a few reasons why the offer might not actually materialize come senior year: your student-athlete could get injured, the coach could leave the program, your student-athlete could become ineligible or get in trouble, etc.

If your student-athlete has been given an offer from an NCAA DI or DII school, they should receive a National Letter of Intent (NAIA and NJCAA schools have their own version of the letter). In order to receive the scholarship, the student-athlete and parent or legal guardian must sign the NLI during the signing period, which varies by sport. The scholarship is now binding for one year at that college.

Insider Tip: National Signing Day is just the first day of the signing period; student-athletes do not have to sign on that exact day. View all signing dates here.

Final tips for success

Getting an athletic scholarship is almost never a passive process. Proactive student-athletes are much more likely to receive an offer than those sitting back and waiting for scholarships to roll in. Staying in contact with college coaches and letting them know you’re interested goes a long way in the recruiting process. Take advantage of the tools at your disposal: emailing and calling coaches of multiple programs, visiting schools, following up, etc. to set yourself apart from other recruits.

Insider Tip: If your student-athlete is a senior who hasn’t stepped into the recruiting game yet, it’s not too late. Learn more about how to get recruited as a senior.

Three reasons you haven’t heard from college coaches

Not hearing from college coaches during the recruiting process can be tough. And the uncertainty may leave you wondering: What is my student-athlete doing wrong?

Here are three reasons why your student-athlete may not be hearing from college coaches—and three things you can do about it.

1. You’re looking at the wrong schools

Before your student-athlete reaches out to a college coach, they should have a good understanding of how they would fit into the athletic program and school. Recruits often send emails to college coaches not really knowing where they stand academically or athletically. At a minimum, your athlete’s key stats need to match—or have the potential to match—other players’ on the team, and their grades and test scores should meet the university’s admissions requirements.

What to do

• Trust us, a little research will go a long way. Visit the university’s website to ensure your student-athlete can qualify academically, and then go to the athletic page and check out the team roster (it’s pretty telling of the type of prospect the coach is looking for). Compare your student’s athletic skills to the players’ backgrounds. Would they be able to compete?
• Also, look for your student’s position and note the athletes’ grad years. Coaches typically recruit on demand, so if they already have newer athletes at your son or daughter’s position, they’re probably not filling that roster spot this year.

Insider Tip: You can check out hometowns on the current roster to make sure the coach recruits in your area.

2. Your message is too generic

Time is everything to college coaches. They are contacting and being contacted by thousands of high school athletes. So when a message rolls in without much thought or effort, it’s sure to get left behind. Bottom line? Copying and pasting the same email to different coaches is the wrong way to connect.

What to do

• Did we mention the importance of research already? It really does matter in the recruiting process, especially when it comes to emailing coaches. There’s some basic information that will be in every email, such as their stats, position, schedule, GPA, test scores and coach references but just as important, your student needs to tailor their message to the university and coach. They should dig into majors offered, campus life and academic counseling, as well as program information, such as notable athletes, upcoming games, and how the season is going.

3. You aren’t reaching out at the right time

Let’s say your athlete is doing everything right—they’ve got a solid list of target schools, done their research, and have crafted near perfect emails—but they still aren’t hearing back from college coaches. What gives?

Most likely, the coach isn’t allowed to reach back out to them just yet. The NCAA dictates when and how Division I and Division II college coaches can contact student-athletes. For example, Division II college coaches can send emails and personal recruiting materials to athletes starting June 15 after their sophomore year, and Division I begins September 1 of their junior year (expect for men’s basketball, which is June 15 after their sophomore year, and men’s ice hockey, which is January 1 during their sophomore year).

What to do

• Lean on your student’s club or high school coach. Even though college coaches can’t personally reach out until these dates, they’re still recruiting. Here’s how it works: athletes are allowed to contact college coaches at any time, and when they do, the college coach can speak with them. So, the college coach will reach out to the recruit’s high school or club coach and schedule a time to talk. Then, the athlete can call the college coach at that time.
• It may also be your just not sending enough emails.
• Waiting to hear back from college coaches can be a challenging part of the recruiting process for many student-athletes. But if you encourage your student to be proactive, research the school, spend time on their emails and loop in their high school coach, you’re sure to have more success.