How does athletic recruiting for High School work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid attended a summer camp for his sport at the high school. The coach told my kid he’d love for him to play on his team and talked to DH one day when he picked him up from camp. DH and he exchanged many emails after that time and I know the coach was in touch with the AD. DS also got a call from the coach the night admission decisions went out encouraging him to attend and inviting him to visit and practice with the team. I’m not sure how much the coach had to do with DS getting into the school, as our middle school sends many kids to this HS every year. This is likely where DS would have ended up regardless.

My nephew was recruited by our HS for a different sport. He went to a Catholic middle school that typically sends kids to Catholic HSs, rather than our independent school. The coach called my BIL and invited them to a private tour. My nephew has previously been dead set on attending a particular Catholic school, but after meeting with the coach for two hours, the whole family fell in love with the school. The coach and their family communicated steadily throughout admissions season. Then come admissions decisions and nephew was WL. He has better grades and test scores than my son who attends the school and was devastated. BIL immediately called the coach, who was shocked. The athletics head and a Board member of the school called my BIL and told him to be patient. Shortly thereafter, the AD called, offered him a spot and $20K off of tuition (which they don’t need).

This sounds like someone in Admissions dropped the ball, which happens. But everything else you outlined regarding private tour, invitation to practice, and aid that the family didn't need sounds spot on. However, did they follow up with an acceptance letter and financial aid offer from Admissions and not just the AD? At some schools, ADs and coaches have put families (without the know or resources) in a real bind with offers that were non binding.

[Anonymous]

OP here,

I have more questions. If he goes to a school that recruits him, and gets aid, is he then required to play all 4 years? What if he's injured, or wants to pursue something else? Or what if he comes out of puberty and it turns out he's not as good as people seem to expect?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

I have more questions. If he goes to a school that recruits him, and gets aid, is he then required to play all 4 years? What if he's injured, or wants to pursue something else? Or what if he comes out of puberty and it turns out he's not as good as people seem to expect?

They don’t want a kid playing a sport who isn’t helping the school win. Most schools dont recruit, unless the kid is advanced enough to immediately go in and compete at the varsity level or close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

I have more questions. If he goes to a school that recruits him, and gets aid, is he then required to play all 4 years? What if he's injured, or wants to pursue something else? Or what if he comes out of puberty and it turns out he's not as good as people seem to expect?

They don’t want a kid playing a sport who isn’t helping the school win. Most schools dont recruit, unless the kid is advanced enough to immediately go in and compete at the varsity level or close.

This is part of the reason we are seeing so many kids who have reclassed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

I have more questions. If he goes to a school that recruits him, and gets aid, is he then required to play all 4 years? What if he's injured, or wants to pursue something else? Or what if he comes out of puberty and it turns out he's not as good as people seem to expect?

They don’t want a kid playing a sport who isn’t helping the school win. Most schools dont recruit, unless the kid is advanced enough to immediately go in and compete at the varsity level or close.

That doesn't really answer the question. A kid who is good enough to play varsity as a freshman can still get injured or change his mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

I have more questions. If he goes to a school that recruits him, and gets aid, is he then required to play all 4 years? What if he's injured, or wants to pursue something else? Or what if he comes out of puberty and it turns out he's not as good as people seem to expect?

They don’t want a kid playing a sport who isn’t helping the school win. Most schools dont recruit, unless the kid is advanced enough to immediately go in and compete at the varsity level or close.

That doesn't really answer the question. A kid who is good enough to play varsity as a freshman can still get injured or change his mind.

It answers part of the question. OP asked about a kid who isn’t good after puberty. Recruiting coaches try to protect the schools from that.
A kid who just doesn’t want to play anymore or can’t play anymore, won’t lose financial aid or kicked out of school.
Maybe those answers are more to your liking.

[Anonymous]

A moco private that everyone assumes offers athletic scholarships made clear at the open house that they don’t. A lot of parents were shocked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

I have more questions. If he goes to a school that recruits him, and gets aid, is he then required to play all 4 years? What if he's injured, or wants to pursue something else? Or what if he comes out of puberty and it turns out he's not as good as people seem to expect?

They don’t want a kid playing a sport who isn’t helping the school win. Most schools dont recruit, unless the kid is advanced enough to immediately go in and compete at the varsity level or close.

That doesn't really answer the question. A kid who is good enough to play varsity as a freshman can still get injured or change his mind.

It answers part of the question. OP asked about a kid who isn’t good after puberty. Recruiting coaches try to protect the schools from that.
A kid who just doesn’t want to play anymore or can’t play anymore, won’t lose financial aid or kicked out of school.
Maybe those answers are more to your liking.

But you didn’t answer. My kid is really good now. Everyone who sees him agrees. But he’s also a kid who has a lot of growing to do, and I know plenty of kids like that who end up sidelined by some kind of growth related issue, Osgood-Schlatter or whatever. So, it’s a reasonable worry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A moco private that everyone assumes offers athletic scholarships made clear at the open house that they don’t. A lot of parents were shocked.

They were no doubt “shocked” because they went into the open house in a clueless state.

The average person’s conceptions about scholarships are woefully wrong.

This isn’t helped by the rumors or false claims of current parents that their kids are on “free rides” or receive significant financial aid tied to athletic prowess.

It’s true that athletic potential does have weight in the private school admissions process as do a host of other things.

But comparing this to the college recruiting and scholarship model is extremely misleading and confusing.

Their aren’t mountains of financial aid cash. And what money there is is carefully distributed to ensure incoming classes are filled and that the many competing interests on campus are satisfied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

I have more questions. If he goes to a school that recruits him, and gets aid, is he then required to play all 4 years? What if he's injured, or wants to pursue something else? Or what if he comes out of puberty and it turns out he's not as good as people seem to expect?

They don’t want a kid playing a sport who isn’t helping the school win. Most schools dont recruit, unless the kid is advanced enough to immediately go in and compete at the varsity level or close.

That doesn't really answer the question. A kid who is good enough to play varsity as a freshman can still get injured or change his mind.

It answers part of the question. OP asked about a kid who isn’t good after puberty. Recruiting coaches try to protect the schools from that.
A kid who just doesn’t want to play anymore or can’t play anymore, won’t lose financial aid or kicked out of school.
Maybe those answers are more to your liking.

But you didn’t answer. My kid is really good now. Everyone who sees him agrees. But he’s also a kid who has a lot of growing to do, and I know plenty of kids like that who end up sidelined by some kind of growth related issue, Osgood-Schlatter or whatever. So, it’s a reasonable worry.

You will have problems understanding this because you don’t understand how Financial Aid at private high school works.

College athletic scholarships are given a year at a time. The school / athletic department can choose not to renew a scholarship for any reason. All of this is spelled out in the NCAA rules.

But since high school is completely DIFFERENT, you can’t apply anything you know (or think you know) to the situation.

Financial Aid is NOT a scholarship, although it is also given on a yearly basis. The financial aid package a freshman gets isn’t guaranteed for four years.

Who gets Financial Aid and how much they get is decided by a school committee after the student is deemed to be acceptable and that includes academically and socially acceptable. So it’s not based solely on anticipated athletic contribution.

If a student no longer can or chooses not to play, it’s unlikely the school is going to withdraw the financial aid as long as the kid’s academic and social behavior are up to the standard. That’s because his or her financial aid was not tied only to athletics in the first place. The kids financial aid is already baked into the ongoing plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid attended a summer camp for his sport at the high school. The coach told my kid he’d love for him to play on his team and talked to DH one day when he picked him up from camp. DH and he exchanged many emails after that time and I know the coach was in touch with the AD. DS also got a call from the coach the night admission decisions went out encouraging him to attend and inviting him to visit and practice with the team. I’m not sure how much the coach had to do with DS getting into the school, as our middle school sends many kids to this HS every year. This is likely where DS would have ended up regardless.

My nephew was recruited by our HS for a different sport. He went to a Catholic middle school that typically sends kids to Catholic HSs, rather than our independent school. The coach called my BIL and invited them to a private tour. My nephew has previously been dead set on attending a particular Catholic school, but after meeting with the coach for two hours, the whole family fell in love with the school. The coach and their family communicated steadily throughout admissions season. Then come admissions decisions and nephew was WL. He has better grades and test scores than my son who attends the school and was devastated. BIL immediately called the coach, who was shocked. The athletics head and a Board member of the school called my BIL and told him to be patient. Shortly thereafter, the AD called, offered him a spot and $20K off of tuition (which they don’t need).

This sounds like someone in Admissions dropped the ball, which happens. But everything else you outlined regarding private tour, invitation to practice, and aid that the family didn't need sounds spot on. However, did they follow up with an acceptance letter and financial aid offer from Admissions and not just the AD? At some schools, ADs and coaches have put families (without the know or resources) in a real bind with offers that were non binding.

Yes, the offer and $ offer came from Admissions (I meant Admissions Director, not Athletics Director). The rumor was there was some type of battle between athletics and admissions bc many of the recruited kids didn’t get admissions offers last year. Also, this was last year when our school had both a record number of applications and a higher than usual yield, which required the school to hire several new teachers to accommodate a larger than anticipated freshman class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

I have more questions. If he goes to a school that recruits him, and gets aid, is he then required to play all 4 years? What if he's injured, or wants to pursue something else? Or what if he comes out of puberty and it turns out he's not as good as people seem to expect?

They don’t want a kid playing a sport who isn’t helping the school win. Most schools dont recruit, unless the kid is advanced enough to immediately go in and compete at the varsity level or close.

Aid is usually offered on an annual basis and can be modified any time. It’s possible if the kid isn’t playing the sport, they could reduce or eliminate the aid. I don’t know if this is likely or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A moco private that everyone assumes offers athletic scholarships made clear at the open house that they don’t. A lot of parents were shocked.

The schools that don’t offer athletic scholarships (and this includes D3 colleges) offer “academic” awards and/or financial aid in lieu of athletic scholarships. I know of examples of both given to kids who wouldn’t have qualified for either an academic scholarship or FA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

I have more questions. If he goes to a school that recruits him, and gets aid, is he then required to play all 4 years? What if he's injured, or wants to pursue something else? Or what if he comes out of puberty and it turns out he's not as good as people seem to expect?

They don’t want a kid playing a sport who isn’t helping the school win. Most schools dont recruit, unless the kid is advanced enough to immediately go in and compete at the varsity level or close.

That doesn't really answer the question. A kid who is good enough to play varsity as a freshman can still get injured or change his mind.

It answers part of the question. OP asked about a kid who isn’t good after puberty. Recruiting coaches try to protect the schools from that.
A kid who just doesn’t want to play anymore or can’t play anymore, won’t lose financial aid or kicked out of school.
Maybe those answers are more to your liking.

But you didn’t answer. My kid is really good now. Everyone who sees him agrees. But he’s also a kid who has a lot of growing to do, and I know plenty of kids like that who end up sidelined by some kind of growth related issue, Osgood-Schlatter or whatever. So, it’s a reasonable worry.

The kid will not get any special treatment when it comes to financial aid unless they can immediately make a positive impact at the varsity level or or provide some type of extreme need.
The kid you are describing won’t be recruited in most situations, unless he checks some other highly desirable boxes.

[Anonymous]

Soccer? Seriously, boys?

Our school gets enough regular admits that they found fill 6 teams with top area players. They don’t recruit for soccer.

Basketball and football they start recruiting young.