Athletic Recruiting Essay

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The NCAA has been around for more than 100 years. Recruiting has evolved immensely over this period of time. Dozens of recruiting laws have been added over the years. The NCAA is strict about these laws, and many schools have been punished for breaking them. One law that many coaches are trying to get passed is the law against the recruiting of young athletes. Why is this? College coaches are beginning to recruit athletes at a very young age. This can have a negative impact on the athlete’s mental and physical state. The pressure exerted on these young children to decide their future completely takes away their childhood. It is also an enormous amount of pressure on the athlete’s parents. It can be hard trying to find the right balance between getting involved in your child’s decision or handing them the full reigns in …show more content…

College coaches of all sports steered clear of recruiting middle schoolers and focused the majority of their time evaluating juniors and seniors in high school. In many of today’s sports, if an athlete is not committed by senior year, the chances of that athlete competing at a large school is very slim. This argument varies for each sport. In the past, their were very few lines of communication between the player and the coach. There was no texting, emailing, or calling. All communication took place face to face or through hand written letters. The coaches also did not have the same coverage of athletes that they do now. There were no recruiting websites or the sending of film, coaches travelled to numerous high schools a week to watch recruits play live. This puts a lot of pressure on the athlete, knowing their future rides on their performance of that game. Recruiting was simpler in the past. These coaches did not put the same amount of pressure on young kids as they do now a days. (Matthew, "How Recruiting of Elite Athletes Has Changed in Less than 20

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