Recruiting
A parent’s perspective
Expectation Management
The time of year is finally here,
the time when young ladies are receiving college offers, making commitments,
and preparing to sign their National Letters of Intent (NLI) during the early signing
period. It’s a very exciting time for
young ladies across the country, a time when the fruits of their labor are
starting to show through, it can also be very frustrating, starting to feel
pressure about making a life changing decision on their futures armed with
insufficient information. As a parent of
a student athlete, I feel compelled to share part of the process I used, which
can make your daughter’s transition to playing at the next level a smooth one.
The first step in this journey is
Expectation Management. As parents, it
is our job to prepare our children to handle a variety of situations; our
daughters have put in long hours in the gym and classrooms to perfect their
basketball and academic skills, which have allowed them to achieve a certain
level of success. It is also our jobs to
perfect their life skills as they move forward in the next phase of their
careers by teaching them to manage their expectations.
We all believe our daughters are
great basketball players, but how do they handle adversity? Can they handle the first time a coach tells
them they are not as good as they think they are? Can they handle the possibility of limited to
no playing time? These are just a few
situations all players have to deal with when entering a college program. I call this the Spades principle; no it’s not
the card game, but the similarities are striking when you put them in
perspective. Thirteen total books in
spades, 13-15 players on a roster, so remember these numbers as your prepare
your child for the next step, five, two and a possible, and five.
·
Five - the number of players on the floor at one
time
·
Two and a possible - the number of players
coming of the bench
·
Five - the remaining who may not receive any
playing time
Remember, everyone is on
scholarship, everyone was a star at her school/club program, and everyone is
competing for a spot. Take nothing for
granted, prepare for the unexpected, and then ask, “Is my daughter prepared to
handle one of these situations?” If so,
great, if not, start laying the foundation now, because once they leave, it’s
too late.
