Recruiting vs Loyalty

[sim111]

http://shutter15.pictures.aol.com/data/pictures/24/005/3F/7A/7D/99/3LixT00UzhoHMj4MJpmZmkp+GN4RDYt60300.jpg


These questions come up over and over when you have kids other people want. I have no problem with someone recruiting kids from our program, the problem I have is when someone makes false promises to kids.

RECRUITING
This happened to us with Howard Randles Houston Elite from Adidas and brain dead Cedrick Lafleur who represents his highness Mike White. First they throw TOP 10 or some other camp at parents along with the words sponsored. Well let me start with camps, you have to be realistic about your kids abilities and calling something top when you know other kids out there are better than the ones attending tells you it's BS. Second, they holler sponsored but again sponsored to me means free. Free gear, free travel, no fees. If you are paying money$700, $1000 or $1500, then you are doing the sponsoring. Using the logic some folks are telling you, I am being sponsored by Polo and Armani everytime I wear their GEAR and believe me Ralph and Giorgio don't know who I am.

LOYALTY
On the flip side, the only loyalty you have is to your kid. When my oldest daughter stopped playing, our head coach told me I might want to find another team for my younger daughter. A team that was more high profile with name recognition players. Well to me, that was stand up and because of all his honesty and straightforwardness, he became a friend for life but he was right, my loyalty was to my kid. The ironic part about it is that we started beating the teams with our old players and even won a National Championship.

The reason I am bringing this up is because we just won our 15u qualifier and some of the younger parents were telling me about folks approaching them to play with their teams and who they were sponsored by. I gave them an honest answer and I meant exactly what I said. When they approached me, I was flattered and I really appreciated it. Was it wrong or underhanded, no, well accept the part about being invited to a supposed top camp if my kid played for them but in my opinion she was better than those going so she should have been invited anyway. I'm throwing strikes and a friend asked my why I cared so much, my answer was becasue I do care.

[scoutnwhoops]

Simmie,

I talked to a parent at the Nike Skills Acadmey in Houston for a while about teams, sponsorship, etc. His daughter is young but the father admitted he was confused by all the sponsorship jargon, etc etc.

Shoes and maybe uniforms is typically what the cats on the street will consider sponsored. Some teams with more money may offer expenses for certain kids to get the big names in their program. But by and large sponsorship means gear only and even if there is money going to the program from the sponsorship group they are supposed to use that money for more gear and tournament fees for sponsored events.

If you can afford the shoes and travel then finding the best coach to help your advancement as a player should be more important. If you aren't lucky enough to have disposable income for new shoes to play then perhaps the sponsorship aspect is more important.

In my conversation with this father I told him it isn't about being on a sponsored team per say but having a team that goes and plays the best teams will afford you the same benefits in July as the college coaches will be there anyway. If you go to the wrong tournaments or choose the wrong level of competition for your goals then it won't matter.

This father's kid will have no problem getting scholarship offers whether she plays for Nike, adidas, Reebok/White or none at all.

I say all of this because the lack of understanding of "how it works" is the root of much of this chaos.

[sim111]

Yeah Chris parents do get confused about lots of things and I try and use my experiences to help. As far as traveling where the best teams are, let me say this, we will never attend the new gear guys tournament again because some of these people place you where they want, in the best tournaments, and I found it funny he had us playing in the OPEN division after we blew out several of his SPONSORED or SIGNATURE teams. It was also strange he placed us away from the action at some tin barn with the biggest fan I have seen in my life and our games were going against some top notch matchups at the main site, so we wasted $750 for entry fee, plus lodging, plus travel and in 5 games there may have been 30 scouts total, whereas we go to BOB and in 4 of the 7 games we have almost 100 scouts at each game. I send out many of Clays articles to our parents along with friends who have kids playing and the one on" Exposing Talent Or Getting Exposed" is some of the best advice I have seen printed for the novice to the know it all parent. You gave the father some great advice and I know what you're saying is true because Glenn saw Sydney on a DVD I guess 3 or 4 years ago from Basketball on the Bayou, I believe we were playing New England, but he set her up after seeing what she could do against them, this is also why I have made several posts about sending you guys video, but most don't however they complain when the kids aren't ranked.

[txbasketball24]

I agree with everything you guys have said. The first thing a parent should do is be honest with your daughter's abilities along with her coach's abilities/intentions as well.

[CoachAl]

I would like to take this opportunity to chime in on your conversation and add my two cents in regard to being sponsored. Cy-Fair Athletics is proud to be among a select group of Nike affiliated programs in the country. However, being sponsored does NOT by any means translate into FREE or SUCCESS. We were a highly successful BB club prior to our relationship with Nike in 2007, and our previous sponsor in 2006. We hope to remain successful beyond any sponsorship continue that success into the future. Our girls' basketball club was affiliated with another shoe company in 2006, and actually won a national championship in Atlanta that summer. So, I can speak by expereince that being sponsored does provide certain priviledges.

We remained loyal to our previous sponsor, despite philosophical differences and personality conflicts. There are certain priviledges from being sponsored, however, we have earned those benefits because of our hard work ethic in Cy-Fair. You have to evaluate your own position and do what's best for your club. Obviously, our current sponsorship affords us the opportunity to recruit certain players. We can provide a necessay platform for our players to gain exposure. But, there are no guarantees that every player in our club will play DI basketball...players still have to perform on the court. There is a misconception that playing on a sponsored team is an automatic pass to a DI college. That type of thinking couldn't be further from the truth, but the education process falls on everyone involved, including coaches, parents and players.

We host tournaments and fundraisers, along with generous donations to afford our activities and keep our cost to a minimum. We offer scholarships to players that otherwise could not afford our program. But, nothing is FREE. I still think there's some loyalty in girls' basketball today, but those loyalties can change from one minute to the next. Every AAU or club coach recruites players, includes those players that may already be on other teams. We have lost our share of players to other teams over the years, but we've also gain our fair share. The program has to fit the player and vice-versus, otherwise, it's difficult for both parties to succeed. While, there may be a better situation for a player on a team, there are no perfect scenerios on any team.

Contrary to some opinions, winning is a very important factor on many fronts. It may not be that important for some teams, as it is for others, but still highly important in my opinion. You have to find a balance between individual player and team goals, unfortunately, we haven't always been successful in attaining that balance. But, if parents think that the grass is greener somewhere else, we can shake hands and go our separate ways. Anyway, long story short. We are thankful for our relationship with Nike, and hope that we satisfy our responsibility to them. We hope that we get the opportunity assist some kids along the way, but we'll still be here at the end of the day.

[txbasketball24]

How do you determine who's eligible for a "scholarship" on your team? Is it only based on their financial state?

[sim111]

Guys my whole point was parents should do what they think is best for their kids. If they feel jumping ship is better, sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. What I don't like is the fact that Howard used to run around and holler TOP 10 camp and people actually thought that meant automatic D1. Now Cedrick used the same TOP 10 Camp and pissed Jason from the Ft Bend Stars off because it wasn't the TOP girls being invited. Also, being sponsored does have it's perks, that's why we won't attend any of Mikes events because it makes no sense to travel over 1000 miles to be placed on Gilligans Island while the sponsored/signature teams were on TREASURE ISLAND.

Two of my parents told me some idiot was telling them about being sponsored and they should switch teams and I told them to do what they thought was best for their kid but the guy they were listening to didn't know what the hell he was talking about, he just got into this stuff. I DON'T recruit, that's the bottom line. If someone approaches me, that's one thing. I don't have time to run or suck up behind HS coaches or kids parents because again, it isn't that vital and this is where my player on and off the court mentality kicks in, that stuff is beneath me.

If you look at the players on our teams, many either hadn't played AAU with anyone or had journeyed around several teams. The parents of our big 3, Na, Diamond and Clarissa can tell you I never approached them, they approached us and all have been on at least 3 teams before us and they can tell you they had NEVER received ANY literature from a college and our phones are ringing off the hook, even mine and i'm only the assistant. Now on the flip side, look at our 15s who just won the qualifier. Stratford, Tomball, Lamar, those are the powerhouse HS they attend, not one all district player infact only one varsity player yet we got the job done. I'm into the developing and talking SH because I love doing that and Al you know damn well I like to win, as much or more than you.:)

[ielle]

sim it rough for young parents, but when said exposure or being expose that made me and family just keep working hard. It is hard to find just good team fit ( families,coaches,kids) . People play alot of games, you really have let the stars align

[sim111]

Yes I agree.