College Recruiting ?

[mtolson]

FOF'ers:

I know some of you have participated in college athletics so I thought you may be able to help a little.

My daughter is a senior in high school and beginning to get recruiters to call her for track. Last year, she sat out of the outdoor track season to have microfracture surgery and another procedure to correct injuries she suffered as a freshmen that had be causing her to run in pain ever since. Now that she is being contacted and asked to come out for official visits how much info do you think is appropriate to divulge to colleges regarding her injuries. I don't want to mislead anyone by not bringing it up but at the same time don't want to cast a cloud of doubt on her. So far no coach has asked about it so I have told her not to bring it up herself until we figure out how much tell them (and when). I not afraid for her to talk about it because she has worked extremely hard over the summer and is already back to running at 90% (had surgery in April) but at the same time don't know how recruiter may react to us telling or not telling !

Any suggestions ?

[HerRealName]

That's a good question. In the old days this type of information would typically be passed along from the high school coach to the college coach recruiting the kid. I'm guessing HIPAA might prevent that type of knowledge transfer now. If she didn't compete last year, that should be a pretty big red flag for any college coach to look into.

I'm guessing once she builds a relationship with the coaches calling, the coach will work injury and other background questions into their conversations.

Congratulations and good luck.

[Dr. Sak]

This is just my opinion...

I am sure you want the best for your daughter, as you should. When I chose a school to play at there were many factors, such as location, and how good the school was for engineering. When I paired my choices down my final schools I then considered the coaches and their staff.

Your daughter is going to be spending the next 4 to 5 years with them (hopefully). I wanted some who I felt comfortable with, and you'll notice that right away you can pick out the ones that are salesmen and the ones that are genuine right away. I would suggest that you do not with hold this information. I'm not saying go out of your way to tell them, but if you want them to be honest with you, you have to reciprocate.

I'm not sure of the wording of a scholarship but they are really renewed each year at the coach's discretion. If they aren't aware of the injury and she comes to school and has further problems, then realize she's had this injury history...they could probably pull her scholarship.

At the same time if they do know about it, they could help her get the proper rehab and strength training (or shoes) that could help prevent & strengthen her so that this injury doesn't happen again.

Again just my 2 cents.

[mtolson]

Originally Posted by HerRealName

That's a good question. In the old days this type of information would typically be passed along from the high school coach to the college coach recruiting the kid. I'm guessing HIPAA might prevent that type of knowledge transfer now. If she didn't compete last year, that should be a pretty big red flag for any college coach to look into.

I'm guessing once she builds a relationship with the coaches calling, the coach will work injury and other background questions into their conversations.

Congratulations and good luck.

This is kind of what I was thinking. The only problem was that despite her injury she did run during the indoor season. She had run the 4th fastest high school time in the nation in the 55h but then a week later struggled mightly at the indoor nationals (which was pretty much the pattern all season long - good day followed by bad day). We new when the season started she would need surgery but she wanted to wait until the summer so she could put up good numbers during her junior year. However, during the indoor nationals the doctors at the meet noticed how she had been favoring one leg and examed her and recommended she have the surgery immediately. So result wise, she has some excellent times and jumps from the indoor season. I have been waiting for the question to come up as I figured they would miss her at the outdoor county and state meets but not a single question, YET !

The input from Dr. Sak was also great, I do see the value in letting them know about her circumstances. She thought that recruiters wouldn't actually start calling the home until after indoor track started and at that point her results would put to rest an notion of her injury but they came sooner then expected.

[CU Tiger]

Well I will be the different one I suppose.

Will the coach tell her every mistake he makes?
Will he tell her how hard practice is or how hard Cal III is?

No he will sell her on friends, parties, pretty meadows and green grass. She should sell herself the same. Now DO NOT LIE if asked directly, if an injury comes up in the future and she lies there have been cases (albeit rare) of a school coming after a player for reparation of a scholarship. If they dont ask I wouldn't tell.

Here is the question, does your daughter think it will hamper her future performance? If not, then the past is the past. If she thinks she will never recover, then Id tell them that. If it ever comes up down the road, "I didn't think it was a big deal. Simply another obstacle I had to over come. Some people have asthma, I had a bone crack."

Thats what I did, I had ACL surgery twice in high school, it never came up during recruiting. When I got hurt my second year the team doctor asked me when my first surgery was (because of the scar) but thats the only time it was mentioned.

Just my $.02 your results may vary.

[mtolson]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Well I will be the different one I suppose.

Will the coach tell her every mistake he makes?
Will he tell her how hard practice is or how hard Cal III is?

No he will sell her on friends, parties, pretty meadows and green grass. She should sell herself the same. Now DO NOT LIE if asked directly, if an injury comes up in the future and she lies there have been cases (albeit rare) of a school coming after a player for reparation of a scholarship. If they dont ask I wouldn't tell.

Here is the question, does your daughter think it will hamper her future performance? If not, then the past is the past. If she thinks she will never recover, then Id tell them that. If it ever comes up down the road, "I didn't think it was a big deal. Simply another obstacle I had to over come. Some people have asthma, I had a bone crack."

Thats what I did, I had ACL surgery twice in high school, it never came up during recruiting. When I got hurt my second year the team doctor asked me when my first surgery was (because of the scar) but thats the only time it was mentioned.

Just my $.02 your results may vary.

CU, thanks for the input. Good to hear from someone that has been through this. I also spoke with her coach and the schools AD and they basically said exactly what you said, even offered up an analogy similiar to yours !!!!!! Sure you don't live in Bowie

I spoke with her about how she felt and her reply was "what surgery" with a smile. She says she feels great compared to how she felt when she was running hurt. She ran for two years at the national level with a patella tracking problem and OCD (cart. ripping away from the bone) so I'll take her word on that.

[muns]

Originally Posted by mtolson

CU, thanks for the input. Good to hear from someone that has been through this. I also spoke with her coach and the schools AD and they basically said exactly what you said, even offered up an analogy similiar to yours !!!!!! Sure you don't live in Bowie

I spoke with her about how she felt and her reply was "what surgery" with a smile. She says she feels great compared to how she felt when she was running hurt. She ran for two years at the national level with a patella tracking problem and OCD (cart. ripping away from the bone) so I'll take her word on that.

I coach womens basketball at the d-3 level. If I know a kid has had 2 surgeries, im looking in a different direction. One is fine, but 2, im possibly putting the team at risk and need to bring in someone else that doesnt have the injury questions. I have only so many roster spots, and just cant afford it.

With Track and adding Schlorships some things are prob a little bit different, but coaches are well aware of the injury bug.

I wouldnt let your daughter come right out with the info, but if she is asked, I wouldnt lie about it either. I just wouldnt bring it up.

The coaches will find out about it once they get looked at by the teams trainer for physicals, so its gonna come up, but by replying "that it never came up before and you didnt think it was a big deal" seems to do the trick.

[kingnebwsu]

I'm no expert here. I'd say to only mention it if asked. Not competing for a whole season, it should be pretty obvious that there was either an injury or a major life event. If coaches were truly concerned about this, wouldn't they ask?

Best of luck to your daughter. A full scholarship to any school is a good thing