Smart Athletes

Why in the world would a coach steer away from a bright athlete?

Most coaches would want a bright athlete. All things being equal the smart athlete wins. not much risk of losing player because of grades.

Are you crazy. The first question Coach Stotz (Stanford) asked my son was what his GPA was. This was typically one of the first questions asked.

Now that said very few top 50 D1 programs support baseball players taking difficult majors. (Eng, Sciences, where labs are required) Stanford and a handful of others do.

quote:

Originally posted by 2013leftydad:
Does anyone know of Suma Cum Laude athletes in HS who received athletic scholarships?

Wondering if college coaches steer clear...

Through two sons at two D1's....I know a LOT who received significant athletic scholarships. In fact, they were the hottest of hot commodities if the baseball talent was there.

quote:

Does anyone know of Suma Cum Laude athletes in HS who received athletic scholarships?

Wondering if college coaches steer clear...

Thanks

2013leftdad,

Yes to question one, and probably not to question two. I have seen coaches steer clear or avoid certain majors. Possibly this is not the question you wanted to ask?

What is really on your mind?

Ok, so I have a secondary question. How do the coaches know the academic ability before applications are submitted? Our son is a 2016 and we expect his academics to be very high and his BB talents are pretty decent now. We're learning how to get his talent seen, but how do you showcase their grades/scores?

2016 is really quite young, and I don't think your son really has an academic history yet. Probably between his sophomore and junior year he will be writing potential schools, and can include his gpa. Our son actually took the SAT and ACT at the very end of his sophomore year. Scores were pretty good, so when he received questionnaires he could complete that section as well. Your son's gpa and test scores aren't going to be what gets him recruited, but certainly when they see he has a nice gpa with some good test scores to go with them they will be pleased.

smalltownmom has given you great advice.

quote:

Ok, so I have a secondary question. How do the coaches know the academic ability before applications are submitted? Our son is a 2016 and we expect his academics to be very high and his BB talents are pretty decent now. We're learning how to get his talent seen, but how do you showcase their grades/scores?

Please...please try and relax a little. Your son is a freshman in HS and there is so much road to travel between now and then. I have an older son who played at Stanford where the academics and baseball are about as good as it gets...and we were not thinking one single bit about this stuff when he was a freshman in HS. We were just trying to help him have fun in HS, make the varsity team and do well in school.

In fact, knowing the Stanford coaches fairly well I am quite sure they would give the same advice.

Do everything you can to support your son. At this point, grades and social development are #1. Have fun this HS and next summer season and see where you're at this time next year.

All schools would love to have such a scholar/player.

Hundreds of schools are required to have such scholar/player, 29 act 3.5 gpa.

They use something called AI Academic Index.

More than just Ivy leagues uses AI, look for schools and there's a ton, that have acceptance rates of 30% or less, totally different market for athletes.



"But there is one thing the Ivy League does that truly sets it apart from its sporting brethren nationwide: it tracks and scrutinizes the finite, detailed academic credentials of every recruited athlete welcomed through the doors of the eight member institutions. And it has done so for more than 25 years — creating a dossier of grades and test scores for more than 40,000 student-athletes.

To accomplish this, the league came up with a measurement called the Academic Index, which gives all prospective high school recruits a number, roughly from 170 to 240, that summarizes their high school grade-point averages and scores on standardized tests like the SAT. The index number of every admitted recruit is shared among the member institutions to guarantee that no vastly underqualified recruit has been admitted at a rival institution and to allow member universities to compare classwide index averages for athletes against similar averages for the overall student body.

While the Academic Index, referred to as the A.I., is a routine part of life in an Ivy League athletic department, outside those offices, it is frequently treated like the most furtive of secret fraternity handshakes.


Deputy Dean of the College Peter Quimby said the determining factor for a student-athlete’s admission is whether his or her academic abilities are in line with those of the student body.

“Student-athletes at Princeton have to be within one standard deviation of the mean of the academic population as a whole,” Quimby said of the entire group. “In other words, the student-athlete has to look like the rest of the undergraduate population.”

The Ivy League requires that the average of athletic recruits’ scores on the Academic Index, a 240-point scale that combines SAT scores and class rank, must fall within one standard deviation of the mean score of admitted students."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12....html?pagewanted=all

quote:

Ok, so I have a secondary question. How do the coaches know the academic ability before applications are submitted? Our son is a 2016 and we expect his academics to be very high and his BB talents are pretty decent now. We're learning how to get his talent seen, but how do you showcase their grades/scores?

Canyaonsmom,

I agree with justbaseball. Relax, and learn about how the recruiting process works. THere will be plenty of time to stress out later. Trust me there is a lot to learn. Once you have a handle on the process, you will understand who does what and when. Different programs have different recruiting goals and seek different blends of academics vs athletics. Understanding that is key IMHO. If your son has the total package he will have many options, and that is a very good thing.

This is the best message board to learn about the process IMHO. THere are many, many folks to learn from. Best of luck.

quote:

Originally posted by CanyonsMom:
Ok, so I have a secondary question. How do the coaches know the academic ability before applications are submitted? Our son is a 2016 and we expect his academics to be very high and his BB talents are pretty decent now. We're learning how to get his talent seen, but how do you showcase their grades/scores?

Athletes should inform coaches about their GPA and test scores. If they don't, and a coach has any interest, he will ask for this information. Grades/scores are very easy to showcase (if you want to) and this task should be the least of concerns during the recruiting process

All the on line recruiting questionnaires ask about grades and test scores.

After his junior year my son sent coaches his unofficial transcript.

Thanks. I'm not worried about it, just curious as to how they know the academic info.

We are in the incredibly fortunate position of not worrying about how to pay for college, we just want them at the best fit place.

JustBaseball, I'm suprised that you didn't even think about it at freshman year. We have talked about college and visited campuses their entire lives. Not to pressure them one way or the other, but because we want them to realize what a variety is available. I can't imagine how one visits/considers the many possibilities if you don't start until junior year.

CanyonsMom, I have a game for you to play. Write down the top 5 colleges you see as the right choice for your son. Seal it in an envelope and check it again in 3 years.

I looked back at my list from a year ago and got a chuckle. Colleges are popping on the radar screen out of nowhere. Others my son LOVED are gone.

quote:

JustBaseball, I'm suprised that you didn't even think about it at freshman year. We have talked about college and visited campuses their entire lives. Not to pressure them one way or the other, but because we want them to realize what a variety is available. I can't imagine how one visits/considers the many possibilities if you don't start until junior year.

I agree with Justbaseball, in my son's freshman year all he was worried about was where to play summer ball and whether or not he might make the varsity team next year. A lot can happen between the freshman and junior year and I would be hesitent to create expectations/hopes that turn out to be unrealistic and get in the way of real opportunities. For 99% of the baseball players that go play in college there is a lot of physical and skill growth in those years that will determine what schools are realistic. As an aside my son ended up going to a college he never even thought about or even drove by until the coach talked to him.

Just my opinion. Good luck.

Canyon, I think what will be surprising is how much what they think they want will change throughout the high school years.
Now, having been shown colleges can never hurt but until you have a kid go through it, nobody can make you understand just how much their thought processes change from 14 to 18!
If it's part of your life style, visiting colleges then great but the honest truth is that until about Junior year I wouldn't go out of my way to take them on visits as even they don't know what they want or what's conceivably attainable!

quote:

JustBaseball, I'm suprised that you didn't even think about it at freshman year. We have talked about college and visited campuses their entire lives. Not to pressure them one way or the other, but because we want them to realize what a variety is available. I can't imagine how one visits/considers the many possibilities if you don't start until junior year.

twotex and collegeparent have given good perspectives. I'll try to add a little more.

There is nothing wrong, whatsoever, with raising your kids with high goals and even high expectations. I'd like to think we did that ourselves. Exposure to colleges, etc... I think you'll find nearly everyone here would feel the same.

What we did not do as an entering freshman with our two sons who went on to play D1 baseball is spend any time talking about how to engage college coaches nor specifically which coaches or which schools. We did plenty of encouraging, but did not make baseball nor any specific school or set of schools into any kind of 'make-or-break' proposition.

We spent our time focusing on getting off to a good start academically in HS, how to get better at baseball, how to make the HS team...and eventually the varsity HS team. We also talked about friends and girls and how they'd certainly soon be at a party somewhere/sometime with friends and maybe girlfriends drinking or trying drugs and the peer pressure that would surely come. We talked about how to enjoy these HS years (safely) and not to skip past what was right in front of them because they were worrying too much about what might(?) be in front of them in 2-3 years.

We reassured them that if they took care of business today/this year and repeated that daily/weekly/monthly/yearly...that grand opportunities and choices would be there in a couple of years...in a dozen years.

So far, I like how its worked out. Its not the only way...but along the way our sons have tremendous memories of HS, HS friends, HS classes, HS baseball and the whole HS experience because I believe we let them enjoy each and every day as it came.

That is the basis of my advice and in line with the advice of nearly every college and pro athlete I've gotten to know over the past 10 years or so.

quote:

Originally posted by justbaseball:

quote:

JustBaseball, I'm suprised that you didn't even think about it at freshman year. We have talked about college and visited campuses their entire lives. Not to pressure them one way or the other, but because we want them to realize what a variety is available. I can't imagine how one visits/considers the many possibilities if you don't start until junior year.

twotex and collegeparent have given good perspectives. I'll try to add a little more.

There is nothing wrong, whatsoever, with raising your kids with high goals and even high expectations. I'd like to think we did that ourselves. Exposure to colleges, etc... I think you'll find nearly everyone here would feel the same.

What we did not do as an entering freshman with our two sons who went on to play D1 baseball is spend any time talking about how to engage college coaches nor specifically which coaches or which schools. We did plenty of encouraging, but did not make baseball nor any specific school or set of schools into any kind of 'make-or-break' proposition.

We spent our time focusing on getting off to a good start academically in HS, how to get better at baseball, how to make the HS team...and eventually the varsity HS team. We also talked about friends and girls and how they'd certainly soon be at a party somewhere/sometime with friends and maybe girlfriends drinking or trying drugs and the peer pressure that would surely come. We talked about how to enjoy these HS years (safely) and not to skip past what was right in front of them because they were worrying too much about what might(?) be in front of them in 2-3 years.

We reassured them that if they took care of business today/this year and repeated that daily/weekly/monthly/yearly...that grand opportunities and choices would be there in a couple of years...in a dozen years.

So far, I like how its worked out. Its not the only way...but along the way our sons have tremendous memories of HS, HS friends, HS classes, HS baseball and the whole HS experience because I believe we let them enjoy each and every day as it came.

That is the basis of my advice and in line with the advice of nearly every college and pro athlete I've gotten to know over the past 10 years or so.

This simply priceless...as good as any post ever on the HSBBW...

Now, every parent, sports or not...listen to me...copy this...highlight it...post it on the frige, and refer to it...10 X per day...


44

quote:

Originally posted by observer44:

This simply priceless...as good as any post ever on the HSBBW...

Now, every parent, sports or not...listen to me...copy this...highlight it...post it on the frige, and refer to it...10 X per day...


44

Couldn't agree more about the quality of justbaseball's post!

quote:

Originally posted by justbaseball:

quote:

JustBaseball, I'm suprised that you didn't even think about it at freshman year. We have talked about college and visited campuses their entire lives. Not to pressure them one way or the other, but because we want them to realize what a variety is available. I can't imagine how one visits/considers the many possibilities if you don't start until junior year.

twotex and collegeparent have given good perspectives. I'll try to add a little more.

There is nothing wrong, whatsoever, with raising your kids with high goals and even high expectations. I'd like to think we did that ourselves. Exposure to colleges, etc... I think you'll find nearly everyone here would feel the same.

What we did not do as an entering freshman with our two sons who went on to play D1 baseball is spend any time talking about how to engage college coaches nor specifically which coaches or which schools. We did plenty of encouraging, but did not make baseball nor any specific school or set of schools into any kind of 'make-or-break' proposition.

We spent our time focusing on getting off to a good start academically in HS, how to get better at baseball, how to make the HS team...and eventually the varsity HS team. We also talked about friends and girls and how they'd certainly soon be at a party somewhere/sometime with friends and maybe girlfriends drinking or trying drugs and the peer pressure that would surely come. We talked about how to enjoy these HS years (safely) and not to skip past what was right in front of them because they were worrying too much about what might(?) be in front of them in 2-3 years.

We reassured them that if they took care of business today/this year and repeated that daily/weekly/monthly/yearly...that grand opportunities and choices would be there in a couple of years...in a dozen years.

So far, I like how its worked out. Its not the only way...but along the way our sons have tremendous memories of HS, HS friends, HS classes, HS baseball and the whole HS experience because I believe we let them enjoy each and every day as it came.

That is the basis of my advice and in line with the advice of nearly every college and pro athlete I've gotten to know over the past 10 years or so.

That is very much the same approach I had with my son, who also has gone on to play D1 baseball. And though my son had actually made that a goal of his on his own while in Jr. High, his Freshman and Sophomore years were about the "now" for doing well with his academics and working hard at learning and getting better at baseball. So many things change between the Freshman and Junior years, I feel it helped to let these years play out to get a better idea on the direction he really wanted to go.

And likewise, I'm VERY pleased as to how it's worked out for him as he has and still does work very hard at both his academics and baseball.

quote:

This simply priceless...as good as any post ever on the HSBBW...

Now, every parent, sports or not...listen to me...copy this...highlight it...post it on the frige, and refer to it...10 X per day...


44

Great advise. Indeed there is a big difference between freshmen and juniors in term of interests, growth and maturity. Son is a freshman and as a parent, it's hard trying not to get ahead of ourselves. Knew a couple whose son was in travel team for a long time. But by junior year, their son decided to quit travel team and join an Art and Performance group. Obviously, the couple is not too happy about it given all the investment spent on baseball. As a parent, we need to keep in perspective and have realistic expectation. I am taking it a step at a time with son. First get son used to the 60/90 field. Next make good grades and make it to the HS team. Son enrolled in the HS summer baseball camp this past summer and made a good impression with the HS coaches, one coach was a former D1 player, the other was a former MLB AAA player). Now that he has made a good impression and most likely to make the team, I am pushing him to get good grades. No studies, no baseball. No studies, no conditioning. And he knows it.

The following applies to every kid with the exception of the superstud who has every college program knocking on his door.

Don't get stressed. You will. But try not to. I got very stressed out when my son tore up his knee and missed the entire post junior year recruiting season. But it all worked out. If your son does the right things in the class room, on the field, puts in the extra effort and follows the advice on this site regarding communicating with college programs it will all work out. A kid my not get to play at their first choice. But they will find a place where they are ultimately happy playing college baseball.

How do colleges know a kid's grades and SATs before they are submitted? They ask right at the field. The three questions my son heard all the time after soph year were 1) What's your 60 time? 2) How are your grades? 3) Have you taken the SATs?

My advice on SATs is take them early as to determine your son's aptitude for the test. If he doesn't score well spend as much as necessary on tutoring. It helps to have sellable SAT scores summer after junior year.

quote:

Originally posted by CanyonsMom:
Ok, so I have a secondary question. How do the coaches know the academic ability before applications are submitted? Our son is a 2016 and we expect his academics to be very high and his BB talents are pretty decent now. We're learning how to get his talent seen, but how do you showcase their grades/scores?

Have you son start prepping for the ACT (or SAT) the summer after his freshman year. Emphasize to your son that he is building his resume of grades his freshman year.

My wife is putting together an ACT study program for the local high school and my son's travel coach has said he would like to see the team start prepping next year. Both my older sons scored a 33 and 35 respectively on the ACT and it helped tremendously with academic scholarships.