“Thinking something does not make it true. Wanting something does not make it real.”
― Michelle Hodkin
Every day we hear comments from friends, family, people in passing, characters on TV, and, more than we all care for, on social media who have a bloated impression of themselves.
In a restaurant, you might hear, “For $25, I could cook a steak better than that.” That person might even feel inspired to open their own restaurant based on their ability to cook a steak; even though, they have zero business experience and know nothing about what it takes to open and run a restaurant.
On Twitter, there is an ever-present cacophony of critics blasting their favorite pro teams coaches and GMs, “I could have assembled a better team sitting here on my couch!” This coming from someone who may have never played that sport in their life and has no idea the pressure or the circumstances that GM is going through to make the decisions they made.
[I am very guilty of that one.]
I heard a young high school athlete the other day discuss that he has a college program looking at him. This young man hasn’t even made the varsity team of a below average high school program. He had no idea if the coach’s at this college had ever seen him play. He assumed that “looking at him” meant they were recruiting him. He has had zero conversations with the coaches of this program, but he was still very confident that he was already being recruited because someone in that college program found him in a search on his online recruiting profile.
It immediately reminded me of why I focused Chapter 2 of my book on how to “Learn Your True Value and Reality.” Most kids and most families do not know where to begin to understand that truth. We just assume that because one coach likes us, we must be very recruitable.
The truth is that a recruit’s reality is the sum of 3 very clear components that I call The 3-Legged Stool. I always ask kids this question: “What happens if you knock the leg off of a 3-legged stool?” The answer is always “It falls down.” What most kids do not understand is that their recruitment works exactly the same way. College coaches are looking for 3 major characteristics when deciding who to recruit and who to offer…
1) Character (Team Fit)
2) Academics (University Fit)
3) Ability (Roster Fit)
…and if one of those characteristics is weak, than that coach will move on to the next recruit.
When you are having conversations as a family or with your coaches about recruiting, your first objective is to always have a conversation about your level of commitment to not only being recruited but to also being committed to being a good teammate, maximizing your opportunities in the classroom, as well as the effort you put into developing your body, game and mind.
Every week I interview a different college coach for my “Significant Coaching” Podcast, and every week I ask college coaches about how they recruit and what they focus on. To a T, they all come back to character and grades before ability. Ability HAS to be there, but they will walk away from a kid in a heartbeat who they witness act disrespectful to a parent, teammate or coach or a kid who simply does not have the grades and test scores to be admitted into their school.
As you are deciding on your recruitment journey, I encourage you to take a moment and reflect on the quality of your 3-legged stool and the commitment you are putting into all 3 legs.
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