NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Once an athlete has been recruited, offered and is officially on the roster of a collegiate athletic team the responsibilities of both the institution and the athlete are not finished. The athlete must obviously carry his or her weight in terms of performance in the classroom and on the athletic fields. It is their own future they are most responsible for but, at the same time, the college or university and the coaching staff have specific obligations to fulfill in order to give the student athlete the opportunity to succeed while on campus and after they leave.

Education

Good college athletic programs have a strong academic support program. They provide the structure to help the athlete succeed and compete in the classroom. For the program to be successful it’s not the number or quality of the athletes that are “brought in” but the number that “stay in” and complete their eligibility. Study table, tutors, counselors and all types of individual academic support tools should be used to give the athlete a chance to receive the ultimate educational reward; a college degree. The NCAA along with certain conferences has passed legislation to require and encourage athletes to be working toward a degree as they progress academically. This is a good thing, but the schools and coaching staffs that demand excellence in the classroom in order to maximize career opportunities once the playing days are over are the models that need to be followed.

Opportunity to Compete

Everyone knows that every coach must put the best team on the field or court in order to survive. Not every athlete can be a starter and the battles become more severe at each level of competition. The athlete themselves have more to determine how far they progress in their particular sport than anyone else. The only obligation for the coaching staff, and a very important one, is to give each one of their players the opportunity to compete. Most high achieving programs know they must do exactly that in order to be able to go back into the specific high schools to recruit future athletes.

Parental Contact

This is the one area where college programs often fall short. The parent(s) are worked hard by the coaching staff while their sons and daughters are being recruited but many times the relationship breaks down once the student athlete is enrolled. Obviously, the time commitment for college staffs is huge and especially for the high profile and large participant sports. Nevertheless, coaches must go out of their way to keep the lines of communication open with the parents of their athletes. Parents often just get one side of the story if there are academic, athletic, or disciplinary issues. Minor situations can blossom into major problems if not diffused early. The better the communication between all parties, the less chance of a problem being magnified.

Character Development

This may be the toughest of the obligations to achieve since personality development is largely developed even before the athlete gets on campus. The college staff, however, can reinforce qualities such as discipline, hard work, individual responsibility, dedication, positive attitude, teamwork, etc. The same qualities that will help the individual achieve in any future endeavors. The means of reinforcement may be through training rules,
Sports psychology, counseling, peer leadership or various other methods. The important thing is for the athlete to leave the institution a mature and responsible person.

Coaching staffs are often looked upon as the parents away from home by families. Mom and dad want to make sure of their children are taken care of in terms of opportunities, achievement, injuries, and discipline just to mention a few areas of concern. The college programs that can best satisfy these needs gain a reputation that is “worth its weight in gold” in terms of recruiting for the long haul.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 12:07 pm and is filed under College Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.