Some sound advice.

The below is from OGBR director Tom Jenkins. Some very good advice.

College Coach Survey:


Several years ago, I was asked to speak at a conference on “Parenting the Successful Student Athlete”. Prior to my presentation, I surveyed the college subscribers to my scouting service, Ohio Girls Basketball Report. I ask each of them to provide me with a list of “red flags” having a negative impact on them deciding not to recruit a particular player. The common denominators and recurring themes from this survey are as follows:

1 Overzealous parents who do not let college coaches communicate directly with their daughter;

2 Parents blowing off colleges early in the recruiting process because their daughter is going “big-time”;

3 Parents bad mouthing their daughter’s high school and/or AAU coach;

4 Daughter’s poor performance is always someone else’s fault…the coach’s fault, her teammates’ fault and/or the officials’ fault;

5 Parents attending high school or AAU practices;

6 Parents coaching their daughter from the stands;

7 Parents gossiping about other players and other parents;

8 Parents with no perspective of team concepts;

9 Players and parents with a feeling of entitlement instead of privilege;

10 Parents who constantly transfer their daughter from one team to another.

NOTE: Every one of the negative impact considerations listed above by college coaches is controlled by you the parents. Whether it is right or wrong, it is what it is. Your conduct and actions will have an impact on the opportunities presented to or not presented to your daughter. You can not control whether a particular college offers a scholarship to your daughter, but, you can control not having a negative impact on a college’s decision. College Coaches will be watching conduct in the stands as well as observing your daughter’s skills.