NCAA classifies 7th graders as prospects

[mick]

Let's turn it up a notch in middle school. Call all those hacks and foot slides, temper tantrums and illegal entries. Go get 'em! It matters! [sigh]


http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/9...PHMA&gt1=42003

Jeez...what bothers me is the quote that it could eventually reach other sports, including football. That one bothers me the most, because football is just too physical a sport to be exploiting those 7th graders. I can just see it now, Bubba is recruited out of the backwoods during 7th grade so he can play for one of the SEC schools when he grows up.

[bigdogrunnin]

Now, FINALLY, parents have the justification that they have so richly and frantically yearned for when they declare that coaches and officials are costing their "babies" a chance to play college ball . . . even though they are still playing for the 7th grade "B" Team. Whew, just in time NCAA. Thanks.

[Eckley]

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

Now, FINALLY, parents have the justification that they have so richly and frantically yearned for when they declare that coaches and officials are costing their "babies" a chance to play college ball . . . even though they are still playing for the 7th grade "B" Team. Whew, just in time NCAA. Thanks.

Don't forget, we'll be costing them a scholarship or a "full ride" as well.

Originally Posted by Eckley

Don't forget, we'll be costing them a scholarship or a "full ride" as well.

Seriously????

[CMHCoachNRef]

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

Now, FINALLY, parents have the justification that they have so richly and frantically yearned for when they declare that coaches and officials are costing their "babies" a chance to play college ball . . . even though they are still playing for the 7th grade "B" Team. Whew, just in time NCAA. Thanks.

This is merely a validation of what parents have known for a long time.

[SamIAm]

Originally Posted by mick

NCAA classifies 7th graders as prospects

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/9...PHMA&gt1=42003

Isn't this a good thing as it now puts limitations on the coaches? Prior to this classification, the coaches could have unrestricted contact with the potential players. Or I am wrong, if so, educate me.

[jeffpea]

Originally Posted by SamIAm

Isn't this a good thing as it now puts limitations on the coaches? Prior to this classification, the coaches could have unrestricted contact with the potential players. Or I am wrong, if so, educate me.

you are absolutely correct...this IS a good thing. previously, kids in 8th grade and younger could be contacted, pursued, and recruited by colleges without any rules governing this process. now, those schools that wish to do this must follow NCAA guidelines that will limit access to these kids.

as we've seen with other areas of life in the U.S., little or no regulation/oversight leads to larger problems which require substantially more difficult solutions to be implemented after the fact.

[bigdogrunnin]

Originally Posted by jeffpea

you are absolutely correct...this IS a good thing. previously, kids in 8th grade and younger could be contacted, pursued, and recruited by colleges without any rules governing this process. now, those schools that wish to do this must follow NCAA guidelines that will limit access to these kids.

as we've seen with other areas of life in the U.S., little or no regulation/oversight leads to larger problems which require substantially more difficult solutions to be implemented after the fact.

It IS a good thing with regard to the unscrupulous recruiting that takes place across the country. I mean, c'mon . . . we already have websites that are ranking 5th grade (9-10 yrs old) recruiting classes. Really?!?!? Is the "science" of scouting now SO advanced that we are able to predict, with any level of certainty, just how good a ball player a kid is going to be BEFORE they even hit puberty? I don't think so.

However, though inadvertently, it also DOES promote the often narrow-minded, selfish, and vicarious nature of some (or many) parents/guardians. Sad, but true.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

It IS a good thing with regard to the unscrupulous recruiting that takes place across the country. I mean, c'mon . . . we already have websites that are ranking 5th grade (9-10 yrs old) recruiting classes. Really?!?!? Is the "science" of scouting now SO advanced that we are able to predict, with any level of certainty, just how good a ball player a kid is going to be BEFORE they even hit puberty? I don't think so.

However, though inadvertently, it also DOES promote the often narrow-minded, selfish, and vicarious nature of some (or many) parents/guardians. Sad, but true.

Well, the heights of children are often predicted: usign some formula using a study of dominate genes and heights of the mother and father and their parents. In addition, I've heard to take a child's height at age 30 months, and then double it.

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

Is the "science" of scouting now SO advanced that we are able to predict, with any level of certainty, just how good a ball player a kid is going to be BEFORE they even hit puberty? I don't think so.

Are they even allowed to hit puberty?

[Scrapper1]

Even if the scouting is not "unscrupulous", 8th grade recruiting has already been happening. This is from May 1, 2008:

To hear Howard Avery describe it, Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie knew nothing of his son when their paths happened to cross at a recent AAU basketball event.

As fate would have it, though, that chance encounter led to a scholarship offer from the Wildcats and perhaps the earliest verbal commitment in the history of college basketball's winningest program.

Michael Avery, a 6-foot-4 eighth-grader from Lake Sherwood, Calif., says he will play for the Cats. Now on with the business of finding a high school.

"That's the funny thing," Howard Avery said with laugh. "We've got our college. Now we need our high school."

[bigdogrunnin]

And Billy Gillispie is well known in coaching circles for his NCAA rules "interpretations". Maybe they should call this the "Gillispie Rule"?

[BillyMac]

I coached junior high school/middle school girls basketball for over twenty-five years. One year, a local university got a new womens coach, and she was trying to get local kids fired up about her program, and attend her games. Her team was very low profile at the time. We were one of the last junior high schools (grades 7-9) at the time in Connecticut. Most other schools were true middle schools (grades 6-8). As a team we were invited to attend her game for free, and to participate in a foul shooting contest at halftime. Before halftime, the site director discovered that we had ninth graders on our team. You should have seen the look on her face when she found that we were not a true middle school. She left us for several minutes, and when she came back, she had the athletic director with her. Only our seventh and eighth graders were allowed to participate in the foul shooting contest, not our ninth graders, and a few days after this, I received some paperwork that I was asked to sign explaining what had happened from my viewpoint. They had decided to self-report to the NCAA.