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R. Simone’s Recruitment Tips Part I

By R.Simone @R_SimoneP, 07/03/19, 5:30AM EDT

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R. Simone’s Recruitment Tips

Lady Ballers Insider (LBI) is dedicated to ensuring that we play a beneficial role in the scouting and recruiting process for players and their parents. The mission of our service is designed to be an advocate for players, including educating them and their parents/supporters about the recruitment process whenever we can. R. Simone, a 5-year writer, and evaluator for LBI is also the parent of one collegiate and two high school athletes. She will provide recruitment information and suggestions with the sole purpose of helping parents be as proactive as they can during their student athlete’s process.  

Are you helping or hurting your child’s recruitment?

I have never met a parent that purposely sabotaged their student athlete’s recruitment chances. However, there are plenty of parents that have done just that. After conversations with coaches on various levels, travel team program directors and even some parents with regrets, there are some commonalities that they all agree parents of student-athletes should be mindful of, especially if their child is being heavily sought after.

Colleges and universities are recruiting you, just like they are recruiting the athlete.

The basketball world is not as big as many people may think. Many coaches or programs who you would assume are foes are actually good friends. You never want to build a reputation of being “that parent”. They love to see your kid coming but cringe when they see you behind them. The parent that causes a commotion, the parent that doesn’t think about the other players on the team, and the parent that is disruptive and…well, you get the picture. Do your best to be professional and presentable at all times. You never know who’s in the gym watching you while they are watching your baller.

Allow coaches to coach!

If you have allowed your student-athlete to play on a team, especially a travel team, let them do their job. If there are concerns, find a way to address them so that you’re not being rude, becoming a distraction, or becoming a nuisance. Coaches understand that this is your little girl, however, it is impossible for them to play the entire game or shoot every shot. Athletes will make mistakes. They will need to be taught and any coach that’s worth their money is going to do a lot of correcting and teaching. If the ultimate goal is for your athlete to play on the collegiate level, then get used to coaches challenging and chastising them. Coaches talk to each other and you don’t want a reputation of your child being un-coachable because of your constant interference and potentially be a major factor as to why they’re not getting the scholarship that they deserve.

Parents can’t want “it” more than the athlete!

Never make permanent decisions for your  Many time's parents advocate for their players and will go to the ends of the earth to right what they feel is wrong. The unfortunate side of this is many of them never take the time to ask the athlete how they feel or what they think about a situation. If they aren’t bent out of shape, then dig deep down and try really hard not to be bent out of shape either. Often kids don’t understand or see what adults see and we shouldn’t force them to. There are exceptions to every situation, so be honest with yourself when assessing the severity of an issue. student-athlete that is fueled by temporary emotions.