09/25/2024
Message from anonymous college coach:
I was at a recruiting tournament this weekend and the things that made me walk away from games where I was watching kids I was interested in recruiting were:
1. Parents screaming from the sidelines at umpires and girls on the field (including their own child).
2. Kids leaving the dugout. Running to their parents during the game and talking about coaching decisions, umpires, and asking for special treatment and snacks during the game from their parents. (This might sound harsh, but I don’t want a kid who runs to their parents and complains about everything and needs to be coddled during the game).
3. Dirty looks towards umpires and talking back to umpires.
4. Inability to recover after a strikeout, hard inning, or call they didn’t agree with.
5. Lack of hustle. Walking everywhere and talking back to coaches or treating teammates disrespectfully.
We recruit the family and the athlete. We recruit attitude and effort. We recruit athletes who can recover after failure and push through mistakes. We recruit athletes that keep working hard when things get hard or when a play or call doesn’t go their way. We recruit grit and athleticism, mixed with knowledge of the game. We recruit kids who don’t give up and blame others for their circumstances. We recruit kids who run out pop-ups and don’t give up on the play. We recruit kids who recover! We recruit kids who lead! We recruit kids who want to COMPETE!
If you want to be recruited, be present for every play and every action performed on the field. You never know who’s watching in the stands.
