Coaches Advisor – May 2005

May  2005 – This Month in Coaches Advisor

In this issue:

Synthetic Turf Diaries – AD loves her fields

Lacrosse/ Recruiting – 5,000 Seen, 10-12 admitted.

Sport Specialization – do you have your facts straight?

Recruiting Rules – part II of an ongoing series, contact rules.

Synthetic Turf Diaries

This one from Lincoln Sudbury (MA) athletic director Nancy O’Neil who is in her first season this spring with the new turf fields. When asked how the new fields were during one of New England’s wettest and coldest springs O’Neil simply said, “The artificial fields have been just wonderful!!!

Thanks for asking.”

This is from an AD who was pulling her hair out last year because of flooded fields. Again, I know these fields require a large investment, but I can’t see the down side to the students, coaches, administrators and the community in general who often end up being able to use the fields in the off season
.

Lacrosse / Recruiting – 5,000 seen, 10-12 admitted

Hamilton College men’s lacrosse coach Gene McCabe told me that from June to August he could possibly see 5,000 lacrosse players compete in a variety of showcase camps and team invitational tournaments around the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. From that initial group he eventually ends up with an average incoming class of 10-12 players, plus a few walk-ons who pleasantly surprise him each year. (Sounds like a guy who could use Easy-Recruiter!) http://easy-recruiter.com/

”We can’t scout high school games because of our own season and since we don’t have large budgets for travel, this is the best way to see the most kids. For the most part the event directors provide coaches with a guide or even a disc so that we can mail letters to these kids. West coast players come east in the summer because they know this is where the coaches are.”

Because Hamilton is part of the NESCAC conference, there are strict rules about off campus recruiting. In fact, NESCAC coaches cannot make in home visits. McCabe relies a lot on the campus visit to sell the players on Hamilton. The bottom line however is that the players need to be outstanding students and McCabe tells every single family to make their decision on the school and the academics, not just the sports teams.

After a hard summer on the road, McCabe then changes hats to coach football at Hamilton. A lot of Division III coaches coach more than one sport like McCabe does. There is no Fall lacrosse allowed for NESCAC schools so both coach and players can do two sports

As a coach, understanding your player’s athletic and academic goals before their senior year will help you direct them to the appropriate educational and athletic opportunities. When a single coach like McCabe has to find 10-12 players out of 5,000, it would really help if a few qualified ones stepped forward proactively and identified themselves early in the process.

Sport Specialization – Some interesting facts you might not know

The debate about specialization is a hot one, especially if you are losing athletes who are committing year round to another sport! Recently I attended a seminar given at Boston University’s Athletic Enhancement Center and listened to Sport Psychology Coach Adam Naylor discuss the pro’s and con’s of specialization.

Here are a few interesting points:

  1. Specializing athletes peak at age 15-16 vs. 18+ for the multi-sport athletes
  2. Specialists are more likely to drop/burn out around age 18.
    3
  3. Specialists have a higher rate of injury.
  4. Specialists are less consistent performers compared to multi-sport athletes
  5. Specialists master their sport skills quicker than multi-sport athletes.

Most people still think it is unwise to specialize at a young age. Some even argue that it is bad in high school. Others have a mindset geared to Olympics, professional sports or college and plan out a course that calls for specialization. Before you decide, it is good to consider the ramifications of these the previously mentioned points.

Recruiting Rules Part II – Telephone Calls and Contacts.

When will coaches start calling? Can I call a coach? How many times can they call me? You’ve heard them all before, but do you really know the current information on this.

Let’s start with Division I football:

Sophomore year:

 

  • Athlete may make calls to the coach at the athlete’s expense.
  • No off campus contact is allowed.
  • Coach cannot call the athlete. (Leaving a message will not result in a call
    back because of this.)Junior
    year:

    1. Coach may call once during May of athlete’s junior year

 

  • No off-campus contact allowedSenior Year:
    1. Coaches can call once per week beginning September 1.
    2. A college coach may contact the athlete or the parent/guardian six times
      (this includes off campus evaluation)
    3. One evaluation can occur in September, October and November.

    We don’t advocate cheating, but summer camps are a way to get around these rules as summer camps do not count towards the mentioned limits. As long as a coach is not giving you a one on one workout, he is free to conduct his camp in any way as far as evaluating the talent at the camp. This is why you see a mini-combine like testing session as part of most college camps

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