The collegiate sports industry combined with a surge in social media has built up a stigma around the recruitment process and all it entails for high school athletes. The road to commitment is much more than just a coach email and a handshake or one instagram post or signing day, and causes just one more layer of stress for student athletes trying to get to the next level.
“Everynight before I go to bed I’m thinking, what if I pick the wrong school?” Claire White said.
Because of the great numbers of athletes around the country wanting to compete in college athletics, getting themselves in front of a coach and declaring their interest fast enough is part of the struggle. Different sports all have their ways of recruiting, but for the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs soccer commit Luke Noameshie it was not a straight shot.
“My team goes to three recruiting events a year, and therefore you just have three chances to show a coach you are worthy for their team,” Noameshie said. “That is if they go to your game, open your emails and watch your film, and after that they probably have their mind made up before they even see you play.”
With not many mens soccer programs in the midwest, Noameshie had to look elsewhere. Similarly, Concordia Irvine Volleyball commit Eleanor Brislin who was set on a California school had to do a little bit more to make that happen.
“Going to the school’s camps I think were the biggest thing, especially being from Nebraska and wanting to go all the way to California,” Brislen said. “If I didn’t go to the camps then, it’s such a big state, there are so many other girls to choose from.”
With already so much going on, recruitment adds another layer of stress. The traveling for camps and the emails, visits and ultimately having to make a decision is hard. Senior Claire White is in the midst of the recruitment process and the stress that comes with it.
“The hardest part is the fact that you don’t know if you’re going to end up picking the wrong school,” White said. “I wouldn’t say to enjoy the process like everyone tells me, because you are not going to enjoy the process.”
Recruitment is an exciting lengthy process but also dreaded, it’s stressful and for many athletes a time of unknown.
