I've been on this website since 2000 and have seen just about every subject recycled several times.
Smart, sincere, interested people contribute and become experienced and able to share their expereinces so someone can benefit. Yet, the same pitfalls and problems resurface and too often, almost always in fact, we as a group simply shrug our shoulders and say...oh well...that's just the way it is.
But what if we could make a difference? What if everyone who shrugs their shoulders and says it's wrong, it's unfair but we can't do anything about it actually tried to do something?
This website can use its power to try and effect changes where it is clear changes should be made but there are no advocates for change.
Point in hand...there is a very long thread in the recruiting area on "over recruiting" everyone has weighed in and there are lots of problems identified and even some good suggestions. But the general conclusion of the thread is "oh well" it is wrong, it exists, and just beware of it.
Folks, this site is the people who are most affected and who care the most...why don't we do something about it? Why can't we write an open letter to the NCAA asking for them to address the problems we see and encounter year after year. An open letter with support of the thousands of HSBBWEB readers might have no effect...but it might just get someone's attention, if only to go on record and identify it publicly as an interest group.
Interest groups banded together get action...MADD, SADD, any and all...why not baseball kids?
Overrecruitment is wrong but some say well that's life...but choosing a school, getting an education and playing sports is not the same as having a job with performance parameters that everyone understands the consequences of not fulfilling...you get fired. The problem here is there aren't any performance parameters for studnet athletes to base there futures on...! It's all relative to what's available in the next recruiting class or the transfer route.
C'mon! Ostensibly every parent on this site is instructed to get the "good fit" - and every parent tries and most always think they did. Never a better time than the time between when your son signs and when he enrolls -- always the "good fit". But yet, so many parents find the good fit was really a little "squishy" Johnny plays hard contibutes to the team, gets going well in school and then WAM! A coach, brings in 4 transfers and it's "Johnny you don't fit in with our plans" Johnny soory we got a better kid. So there goes Johnnies life, either quit playing ball or find somewhere else to play. Life is uprooted, the school which did fit is out the door and Johnnie is a victim of "she's better looking than you are."
Really, kids aren't adults yet, they can't legally vote, or drink but they can be manipulated and they can be lied to and why? Because the system as set forth in the NCAA rules fosters it. Coaches work within the context of the parameters they are given! Can't blame em, but you know what! There's always going to be a "college world series winner," a conference champ, etc. What there doesn't have to be is a system which allows 17 and 18 year olds to be bid on (recruited), and then let go, because a better looking prospect becomes available. Which then causes a chain effect and it's the equivalent of moving chairs...but's it's more like migrant workers...but why? There's not a good reason, if schools were forced to sign kids for four years and only allowed to drop em for injuries or grades there would still be good teams and bad.
I say the colleges can back their word, a student athlete can have all that's good in athletics and still get a stable education. All that has to stop is the rules which allow/compel/induce/force (choose your word) coaches to be able to drop their committment after 1 year.
Do that and then the coaches have to coach, develop and take an interest in all their players...kind of like they did when they first recruited them! What they want is a finished product ready made RIGHT NOW -- it's like being a (don't kill me ladies) a middle eastern woman without rights, they can be let you go anytime if a prettier face comes along.
Oh well, it would be nice if we could find someway to use our wonderful site for the good of the game and the kids!
APrdon me while i get down from my soapbox...don't want to kill myself with the fall
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