Recruiting Athletes

There are many different aspects that go into the recruiting of an athlete. There was an article written by Doug Samuels on June 17, 2016 titled "7 things college coaches want to see in a prospect's social media". Not only is talent in the sport vital to a recruit's future with a collegiate team, but how the recruit showcases their life on social media will affect the decision a coach will make when deciding what type of players they most likely want to join their team. Coaches typically want players who are good at the sport and a good person. 

The first thing the article discusses is that coaches want a player that is a true fan of the sport. Meaning they post or share about decisions being made in real time and understand why a team went for two instead of kicking the PAT. They like to see that they can actual analyze and understand the game. A coach stated: 
“They will def know about and retweet any crazy highlight that they saw – but I love when a recruit / player tweets about the details of a particular game. It shows me a level  of maturity when it comes to the game of football. It shows me how they spend their free time.”

The next thing the article discusses is that coaches like to see that they show respect to the other people in their lives. For example, showing respect for family members, previous coaches, and teachers. You are definitely able to tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats their family. A coach mentioned: 
“It also shows that the recruit isn’t ‘too cool’ to interact with the people who provide so much for them. In a round about way, that shows a level of gratitude in my mind.”

Other things the article states are that coaches look for athletes who are supportive of other winning teams, those who are not sore losers. Also those that are tweeting about positive things in life. Recruits may not understand that social media is so prominent nowadays and that prospective coaches are smart enough to do their research on the athlete before signing them on. This reminds me of an article published by the same author, Doug Samuels, about a year ago, when three separate college assistants tweet about dropping a recruit based of their social media. The coach assistants stated, "how a young person's social media presence can have a direct reflection on their recruitment". There is nothing in the NCAA social media policy that states that coaches cannot "stalk" their prospective recruits on their social media sites. Coaches obviously cannot post on their wall or things like that, but athletes need to remember that things posted on the internet are out there for all eyes to see. Once on the internet, it will always be on the internet.

Another thing I found interesting from this article was that coaches are going to watch for when an athlete tweets or posts complaining about certain things. Athletes need to be careful about what they complain about. They shouldn't be complaining about high school workouts, because not only are college workouts more intense, but they are also early early in the morning (5:30AM or so). So no athlete should complain now about working out in high school, coaches will notice and won't be able to imagine how they will be able to embrace the workouts required in college.  

The social media platform an athlete holds is very critical to the success in their recruitment process. Prospective athletes need to be very careful how they display themselves across all different medias. Understanding the importance of acting mature online will benefit any athlete who desires to play at the college level.