Don’t Choose D1 or D3. Choose Value

What’s the most common collegiate playing goal college coaches here? Simple. We hear it every day. “I want to play DI.”

The allure of Division I athletics might be a misguided objective. And it’s got nothing to do with any institutions, the level of play, or what is or is not offered at any school. 

It’s about value and being valued.

If you walk in the room and the coaches don’t remember your name, you’re not valued. If you can’t have a frank conversation about your role and your development, you’re not valued. If you don’t get the opportunity to meet people within the program other than your recruiting coach, you’re not valued.

What matters is not the division of competition that matters. In most sports, you’ll find lower division teams that can beat teams in higher divisions. 

It’s not that division I is the only path to success. There are all-time greats who played at places like Yankton, Widener, Kutztown, Chadron State and Central Arkansas. And of course, there are all-time greats from all of the big dogs.

It’s not about being the savior for a misguided program. A program that desperately needs you may have very little to offer you as far as support, competition and growth.

Being valued is where it’s at. And make sure you understand the difference between needed and valued. If the program won’t win without you, you’re needed. If they want to win with you, you’re valued.

So, how do you know that you’re being value? The environment will tell you. 

When you visit the school, do people in the program already know something about you? If they do, you’re probably valued. When you talk to the coaches, do they talk about more than just sports? If so, they’ve probably got a culture of value. When you talk to current players, do they talk about wholistic development? If they do, they’re in a culture where they are valued.

College sports are about more than just sports. They’re about growth. They’re about competition. They’re about value. If you want to be part of a program where you have a great experience, play where you are valued.

Should I attend a showcase?

Collegiate Exposure showcases and college camps are expensive. There’s no two ways about it. I’ve seen prices at low as $300 for a week-long showcase and as high at $5,000. It varies from sport to sport, from location to location, and who’s running the showcase has a lot to do with it.

As a college coach, I recommend that every kid who’s serious about playing sports in college participate in at least one showcase. It’s a great chance for prospects to connect with coaches. But the problem with attending showcases in not the cost or the coaches on hand. The most common problem is that participants are not prepared for what to expect and not realistic about their own circumstances.

Some parents will say that showcases are hit or miss. If the right coach sees you at the right time, you might find the right fit. If they don’t, better luck next time. As a college coach, I say that every showcase can be a hit if your kid is prepared.

Try to find showcases at which players have direct communication with college coaches. If the college coaches are just watching from the sidelines, there’s no guarantee that any of them will ever even look at your kid. Some showcases offer a format in which the college coaches on hand are coaching the showcase. This might happen in a drills-and-skills session. This might happen in actual competition. Either way, hands on is better for the players and for the coaches.

When a prospect has the chance to interact with a prospect, take advantage of their coaching and their expertise. Don’t talk about their school. Talk about the sport. Talk about what they’d like you to do to improve. And, after you’ve developed that relationship, ask the college coach if they have a feel for what level of collegiate athletics is appropriate for you.

When asked what level is appropriate for the prospect, most coaches will be honest. If they like the prospect, but the prospect doesn’t meet their recruiting needs, they might be willing to contact a coach at the appropriate level on behalf of the prospect. College coaches have friends at every level that we like to help.

This summer I worked a three-day camp in Philadelphia. Since that camp, I’ve spoken to over a dozen other coaches about players at that camp. Some reached out to me, some I reached out to, so I bumped into at another event, all of them were looking to either help me or be helped by me. It’s what we do.

If every coach who worked that camp talked to a dozen other coaches about that camp, that means that hundreds of coaches learned about players from that camp. Word travels. Trust me.

And if the coach you are working with is interested in you, they’ll let you know. Silence is not an effective recruiting strategy. When you ask a college coach about your level and they respond with, “I think you’d be great for us,” they’re interested.

Aside from the recruiting end of exposure camps, kids are also getting exposed to new contacts, new competition, new friends, and a new place. Don’t discount that part of the experience. If you ever went away to a sports camp, you remember your experience.

Exposure camps can be hit or miss for kids with unrealistic expectations and no direction. But if you show up ready to work, informed on the process, and ready to learn from the experts, the camp will be a hit.

Looking to get into racquet sports? Try pickleball first

 Racquet and paddle sports are in a class all their own, and that’s not always a good thing.

Racquet sports are great for developing endurance. They help with the athleticism needed for athletes of all sports. They are relatively social and easy to organize when you don’t have enough players for pick-up basketball.

The tough things about racquet sports? Space, time, money, and competition.

Most racquet sports require a space dedicated to that sport specifically. In the 1980’s clubs everywhere had racquetball courts. While some clubs have held strong, I’ve seen those courts converted into locker rooms, weight rooms, storage closets and even classrooms.

Unlike sports like basketball or soccer, a general athleticism is often not enough to be competitive in many racquet sports. You'll need a specific racquet skill set for that. And while it can be similar from sport to sport, don’t assume that a paddle tennis player can pick up a squash racquet and be ready to compete.

OK. Now that you’ve got a skill set specific to your racquet sport, the equipment and training become very important. Good luck finding a quality tennis racquet for under $150, and that’s before you get it strung for $50 or so. Most competitive players carry at least three or four racquets in their bag, some carry a half-dozen or more. Lessons with a quality instructor can run anywhere from $50 to $500 an hour.   Tennis court rental fees at some indoor clubs are as high as $100 per court per hour, although many clubs will sell time for as little as $25 an hour. Location is key here.

And then there’s the issue of competition. While not everyone is looking to be super competitive, most small towns only have a handful of good players in each racquet sport. Finding a good opponent can be difficult, and the travel to that opponent can be pricey and time consuming. I just got home from coaching at a three-day tennis camp at which each camper paid over a grand for the weekend. 

Pickleball is different. Of all the racquet/paddle sports I’ve been involved in (which is just about all of them), pickleball has the quickest path from beginner to decent.

Most people with any level of hand-eye coordination can play a game of pickleball the very first time they pick up a paddle. Try that with squash or tennis and see how it goes. You’ll spend more time chasing a rolling ball than playing the game. You won’t need to worry about topspin, walls, formations, paddle weight or any sport-specific oddities that take forever to figure out in pickleball. Some players play with funky spin, but most just hit the ball.

 There’s even a safety rule in pickleball that keeps players from standing at the net and crushing the new guy. The area nearest the net is called the "No Volley Zone" or the "Kitchen." Players who step in the kitchen to hit a ball that has not already bounced in the kitchen automatically lose the point. This helps keep intimidation and ego to a minimum.

Pickleball can be played on a variety of surfaces. Those spaces reserved for tennis, squash and racquetball can all be quickly and easily converted into a pickeball court, and then changed right back to their original state just by folding up the net and putting it away. I’ve seen pickleball on concrete, carpet, asphalt, gymnasium floors, linoleum, and even on clay tennis courts.

Check eBay right now. Odds are you’ll find a starter set that includes paddles, a net, and balls for around a hundred bucks. Unless you’re talking about those cheap, backyard badminton sets that are garbage as soon as someone swings hard and gets a shuttlecock stuck in their racquet, your chances of getting started in another racquet sport for that price are slim and none.

The general skills required to play pickleball translate to every other racquet sport. So if you start with pickleball, you've already got a head start in tennis, squash, badminton, paddle tennis, or any other racquet/paddle sport.

Many YMCA’s, town rec centers, public parks, youth organizations and senior centers are now offering pickleball for free. Some are charging a reasonable fee, but “free competition” is something that’s all but been phased out in sports.

Here’s the best part. Because of the easy introduction into pickleball, the small court (about 1/3 of a tennis court), the low cost to get started, and the general social feel that surrounds pickleball, just about anyone can play. I was on a court last week with three different races, four different age groups, three different native languages and four different nationalities. We all had a blast.

T Time with Tarek Merchant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql5g2qZ34ak&feature=youtu.be