Tag Archives: high school athletes

The Over-Exposure of High School Sports

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Is there too much coverage of high school sports?

It seems to me that the coverage of high school sports is growing to the level of coverage that college and pro sports receive.  There are many people out there who wish that high school athletes receive no coverage so they can focus on their sport and academics.  Maybe too much coverage can be a distraction to some high school student athletes.

I’m sure some high school athletes played to the cameras because they knew the cameras were in the gym or on the football field or the baseball diamond.  Some coaches play towards the media as well by over-reacting or over-coaching when they see TV cameras.

That’s one of the examples I can think of regarding too much coverage of high school sports and how it can go to your head, in other words you would get big-headedness.

I can remember a long time ago when I was in high school in Virginia Beach, Virginia, when there was very little coverage of high school sports. On the local news channels the sports coverage would have some highlights and the scores of the games but that was about it.

In those days, you knew very little about the other players on the other teams because there was absolutely no coverage of what the players were doing.  There was also no Internet so any information you heard about players was all rumors or speculation on what was going on in your league.

I think what changed was the fans who enjoy high school sports wanted to know about the players in the communities.  It became a fascination of gathering information about high school athletes from all sports, from all cities and towns.  We all wanted to know where the local kid was going for college or who was recruiting which players.

High school players have always been talked about in the newspapers, now that’s changed to having discussions on the Internet.  High school athletes are being written about on blogs, message boards and many websites.  If you want to see a player’s latest game just go to YouTube and just type in the athlete’s name and you may find a video.  In most communities throughout this country, high school sporting events are being covered on local TV and streamed over the Internet.  ESPN is now covering high school ball games.

The coverage of high school sports is big and getting bigger. It’s all because of the fans’ fascination about high school players.  The public wants to know about these players so much that this is why there is TV networks covering all high school sports; why there are so many blogs posts and message boards about high school sports.  So much exposure of these student athletes does help with recruiting.   Recruiting is such a critical aspect of high school sports that many parents believe if their son or daughter is on the team that is getting national coverage those players will receive national recruiting coverage and exposure.  I believe some of that to be true but you still have to be able to play the game, be an outstanding student and an outstanding person to get into college in the first place.

At some point, college athletes are going to get paid-it’s bound to happen and because high school sports is extremely popular those student athletes will also be looking for some kind of compensation.  Look at it this way: no one is buying a ticket to see some student take a math test, who cares?  But a lot of people are buying tickets to these high school games all the time because they, the fans, do care.  High school student athletes at some point will receive some kind of special compensation for being an extremely privileged athlete.

There are some parts of this country where high school sports is so popular that the players are treated extremely special.  Some communities have raised enough money where they have built incredible football stadiums or basketball facilities just to support high school sports. Now if that’s not privilege, I don’t know what it is!

This might sound kind of crazy but, I always felt that if high school coaches were paid full time to coach their sport like college coaches do I believe it would be a huge benefit to the sport, to the parents and most definitely the student athletes.

Paying high school coaches to coach full time would only work with high revenue producing sports.  So if the soccer coach is not selling out a lot of tickets they wouldn’t be eligible for this new coaching role.

Recruiting is such a big deal these days; by having the high school coach totally focused on their players I believe this would help eliminate many recruiting problems and issues going on now.

There’s no way around it: high school sports is more popular than ever. The players are being over-exposed but that might not be a bad thing.  If more people are talking about high school sports then that’s always a good thing.

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Should high school coaches be paid full time to coach their sport?

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The high school coaching profession is extremely challenging; the hours are long and the pay is low.  Many high school coaches do outstanding and unbelievable work every year for the student athletes that they coach.  Should high school coaches be paid full time to only coach their sport?

This question will spark a huge debate because many people do not believe that high school coaches bring any value to their sport or to their schools.  I believe high school coaches are a critical aspect to the success of high school athletes.

School coaches, in my opinion, bring a lot of value to the schools they coach for and for the players that they teach and coach.  If they did not matter what high school teams were doing then no one would show up for the games.

I know every school district would not be able to afford to pay a coach a full time salary to only coach.  Maybe high school coaches in revenue-producing sports such as football and basketball should be paid full time.

What are your thoughts?

I know that it may not be a great idea to hire someone to just coach their sport and do nothing else, but it’s done at the college level. I do understand that colleges and universities have the money and the resources to pay a coach full time to only coach. I’ve heard stories of how the head coaches would use their coaching salaries to pay assistant coaches and to put money back into their program.

There can be creative ways to possibly raise money to pay a high school coach’s salary to coach full time.  At the college level, I do know that they have basketball camps to help fund their athletic programs and pay for a coach or two.

Maybe this process can work at the high school level where there could be some sort of fundraising for basketball camps or host an event where money could be raised to pay a coach a full time salary or give them a larger piece of the pie.

I’m sure there are many parents and fans of high school sports who do not understand the amount of hours that it takes to coach high school players and to develop that program in which they coach. In my opinion, and maybe I’m wrong but it is my opinion and I believe high school sports is a critical part of a school’s curriculum.

I understand that education is extremely important but I also believe that playing sports is also important.

In many school districts throughout this country high school sports is everything to a high school kid that play sports. Many of these young men and women look to high school coaches as father-figures or role models and I believe there is a huge value to having a full time high school coach.

The world is changing; the things we use to do 15 or 20 years ago do not apply to young people today. Everything is different and I believe having strong mentors as head coaches can do a lot for the young people who play a sport and uplift a community or even a high school.

There is a crisis in this country when it comes to the many school districts that are having financial problems.  Enrollment is dropping at many school districts and that affects money but I believe more creative thinking can create a better future for the overall success of high school coaching, athletics, school districts and, of course, the students.

The struggles of some high school student athletes

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Many high school student athletes struggle with the prospects of not being recruited by college programs. Many high school athletes who do receive interest from college programs are still unsure if that interest is sincere.  There are a huge number of high school athletes but there are only so many scholarships to go around and, because of that, someone will be left out of an outstanding college opportunity.

I spoke to thousands of high school athletes over the years that, for no fault of their own, end up in a bad situation when it comes to recruiting these athletes and some end up at in a bad college program because there were no other opportunities available.

For a long time, I was once a college recruiter. I spoke to many parents and most of the time their stories were the same, of how their son or daughter was not receiving any help with recruiting from their high school coach, or were not getting any type of help or assistance in the college recruiting process.

College recruiting is a major struggle for many student athletes; even though these athletes are very talented athletically sometimes they slip through the cracks of the recruiting process.  Every year, thousands of talented student athletes end up at college programs that were not even in their thought process a year ago.  The process of gaining exposure to college programs is a struggle because of all of things that a student athlete must do. Parents must help in dealing with that because at times, it can become overwhelming and frustrating.

Only the best high school student athletes will gain exposure and be recruited because they are so good and talented that they need no help from anyone; their talent speaks for itself.  Only a very small percentage of the so-called “superstar high school athletes” are in a position to pick where they will play ball for the next four years.  A huge percentage of high school athletes are not so lucky, they must fight their way through all the other student athletes, to stand out and be seen therefore it will always be a constant struggle for exposure for them.

There are an endless number of camps and tournaments that a student athlete must attend, all leading to one goal of gaining exposure to college programs. This is the struggle that student athletes and parents must deal with. For instance, the constant mailing out of DVD’s or corresponding with college programs; this can be an uphill battle.  Consistently worrying about your academics or improving your athletic abilities is all a part of the constant daily struggle that high school student athletes will always face in the recruiting process.