Athletic Scholarships

There is a misconception when a player signs an athletic scholarship that he has signed on at that school for four years.  Actually a player has to resign each year in order to go to that school for free the next year.  What happens when that player does not resign.  Most cases he transfers to another school.  There is one major catch if a player leaves and heads elsewhere.  He must sit out a year before he can play at the school where he transferred in to.  We have seen this a lot in the past couple of weeks.  Coaches get new gigs and off they go and a player who signed to play for that coach is stuck staying put after the coach leaves.

We live in a world where TV people like Dick Vitale scream the virtues of players that are Diaper Dandies and those that have an interest in these certain players after hearing the Vitale's of the world spout off keep feeding into the heads of young players how great they are.  By the time they show up on campus and find out this guy they never have heard of is just as good as they are and  their playing time is not as much as every one had told them it was going to be.

If you don't already know this but the worse judge of athletic ability is the parent of any athlete.  90% of all parents way over rate their child .  It is only natural since the kid was 10 he was the best player on his team.  After every winning game your parents friends are patting them on the back telling them what a great job that your kid did.  There are many who need that free ride to be able to send a kid to the college of their choice. Parents become blinded just like the players.

The big day comes and your child shows up and there are three guards on the team better than your kid.  I can tell you that the end of a basketball bench is only 20 feet from the coach.  But in practice they have decided that your kid won't play much this year, when it is time to put somebody else in the game a coach can't see that far down the bench because of all the players better than your kid are closer to the coach..  He never has to look that far down the bench to find a player better..

It is truly hard for a kid who has been pumped up to be better than sliced bread to find out there are other players already with butter on their bread.  There are examples every year of players who transfer and when they show up at the next place sit at the end of the bench there too.  Yes transfers do work but not as often as people think.

Lack of playing time  and the desire to play more is the top reason to transfer.  Can't get along with the coach is another.  Most of the time that means he won't play me like I want.  There is one other reason players transfer but hardly do you ever hear this as the reason.  Players who are dissatisfied have a bad habit of not keeping up their grades and more than you would believe have to transfer and sit out a year just to get their grades back up.  Have you ever heard a coach say" well he was too dumb to pass over there but he will be alright here."  It happens more than you know.  The next time you hear somebody is transferring you may never hear what the real reason truly is.

There are the times when college just isn't for any young person.  They never figure out how to delegate time to study but are experts at partying.  Colleges are not in the baby sitting business, but I will say that most on athletic scholarships are controlled more than the average student.  Athletes are required to be in study hall to stay eligible. There is never an off season as you lift weights or run to stay in shape.  College life is the first time most students have ever had to do anything on their own that mama didn't do for them at home.

Transferring to another school can be the answer sometimes but most of the time the other school is the same old problem just new faces.  Many students now with knowledge  of what happened last year grow up and adapt better the second time around.  Regardless staying put or transferring every student is armed with a year of knowledge of experience.  Isn't that life anyway?