Read the Article
The full text of “Recruiting Your Players” by JohnAllen Snyder, from the Vol 2 — Spring 2019 issue.
Page 22RECRUITING YOUR PLAYERS By JohnAllen W. Snyder johnallensnyder@gmail.com As a football coach we wear many hats, often times going way off the field to help our kids, program and cre - ate the culture we want. One area that often gets overlooked is helping our players and their families through the recruiting process. How does it work? What is our role? How do tiptoe that fine line of being honest with a player and not undervaluing them? Recruiting services and camps, which ones should we go to?
What is Mom and Dad’s involvement in the process? These are all valid questions. Below, I am going to outline what I have done in the past to help make this process kid centered, parent informative, build relationships with college coaches and make it easier on you as a coach. Please keep in mind that not everyone wants to play at the next level. Some kids have had enough at the end of high school, and that’s OK too.
Opposite side of that same coin is many kids want to fulfill that dream of playing on Saturday at the biggest stadiums in the country. Often times that’s not quite realistic, but I believe that there is always a place for a kid to play. Our job is to facilitate the process not force kids into playing. This can be tricky to navigate, we all know that.
INITIAL INTEREST: Every year at my first team meeting with the players, families and coaching staff I give a brief talk on what to do IF they are interested in playing at the next level. Once I put that out there I feel it’s on the kids and parents to approach our staff about testing those waters. Once a player comes to me (not the parent, it’s the kids life, focus on that even with the parents) I set up a meeting with the player, and family.
I require parents/guardians to be there in this meeting because I want everything on the table and everything very clearly laid out. I want to be able to answer questions right there about what’s going to happen. This meeting sets the stage for the recruiting process for the player. It also allows me to as the coach to get a feel for what this individual process is going to be like (is the player interested for real, is this parent driven, are expectations realistic etc.).
I ask the player and parents to have a realistic conversation before the meeting about what the player wants to do for a career/major, what level they believe they can play at and finally why they want to play at the next level. This conversation when done with thought and intent helps them to come into the meeting with a goal, direction, and a what if (what happens if your player walks on campus day one and gets hurt moving in…what now?).
