I was talking with one of my clients about her decision to go to a Division III gymnastics team and this is what made her decision easy.
The synergy between social media and college recruiting continues to grow in popularity and is evolving into the primary tool of communication between prospects and college coaches. Student-athletes can offer coaches with instantaneous updates about college recruitment, and if used prudently, these high tech platforms can help streamline evaluations significantly and help college coaches recruit better.
We've passed the mid-point of the season and we're approaching the final stretch. With March we see a mad dash to secure coveted Regional Seeds and qualifying spots. The National Rankings have now switched to the Regional Qualifying Score or RQS. The RQS is computed by taking a team's top three away meet scores and assembling the next highest three scores (home or away). The high is discarded and the results are averaged. The Top 36 teams qualify to the Regionals, and the Top 18 are seeded and distributed among the six Regional sites (more on this later).
I meet with club gymnasts and parents every week. After getting to know their backgrounds, skill level and goals, I ask them a question. “Can you define a scholarship?” What I have found is that most parents and gymnast have a basic idea of what a scholarship contains, but they do not know the details.
Skills of Note in the 2016 Season (W)
The following is a listing of high level skills performed by women in the 2016 Season. To make this list, the skill had to be successfully competed in a meet sometime during the season. The skill competed must have an FIG rating of "E" or "F" or "G", or an FIG Vault Difficult Value of 5.3 or higher.
The issue of escalating difficult leading to higher injury rates and more wear and tear on the athlete is important. The purpose of this list is not to encourage or foster unreasonable risk or other threats to the safety of the athletes. In fact, many of the skills on this list were only competed in special circumstances. This list simply serves as an archive and collection of skills actually performed by the athletes.
The season is well underway and we're already seeing some trends, early leaders, and stars begin to emerge. Here's a few observations on the season thus far...
We're about to start the 2016 season, and we're here once again to release our ranking of the Top Recruiting Classes. We wait until the last possible moment to release this ranking, as the final picture never seems clear until January 1st. Once again, this season, we're seeing some of the impacts of the acceleration in early recruiting. In some cases, the gymnasts who originally committed at age 16 or younger did not end up matriculating at their original college choice. And, with scholarships opening up due to transfers or retirement, we're seeing an increase in late recruiting, early college…
Many of my clients have asked me what they should do when they are injured and did not get to complete or start their season. Of course, injuries are never part of your plan, but you must remember injuries are a part of sports. College coaches deal with injuries all the time and you should not let this deter you from continuing your college search.
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The NCAA teams have started official practice, and the process of polishing routines and assessing lineups has begun. Each of the Top 25 teams have some scores to replace from last year's lineups, but some are better off than others. Here's a quick look at the vacancies as we start official workouts.
The college search for athletes is an individual and tactical quest that will play out differently across the board. If you happen to be that elite prospect that every college coach has his eye on, your biggest challenge will likely be which college to choose! But if you are among the majority of prospects that are lumped into the next level of recruits, your college journey will be a little more challenging.
It is very important to pick the right colleges to target in the recruiting process, as well as be sure to know when to send out your information.
Season is over and now on to summer! What should you be doing to make the most of your time and become the most marketable college gymnastics recruit?
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