Parents right and wrong ways to do publicity

[Deleted member 18037]

You guys are going to get me started on this whole "commit" thing again. A verbal "commitment" is only as good as the paper it is written on (that being none, it won't hold up anywhere). Until paper is signed by both sides nothing is a given.

I would think a couple of injuries and buh bye commitment.

 

[wandrewsjr]

You guys are going to get me started on this whole "commit" thing again. A verbal "commitment" is only as good as the paper it is written on (that being none, it won't hold up anywhere). Until paper is signed by both sides nothing is a given.

Agree, the "verbal commitment" thing is a whole other discussion, but I think it does go to show that there must be some exchanging of video info to the coaches at these young ages for the verbal commitments to even happen.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Agree, the "verbal commitment" thing is a whole other discussion, but I think it does go to show that there must be some exchanging of video info to the coaches at these young ages for the verbal commitments to even happen.

Regardless, I think the point is "publicity".

I don't think posting you tube videos publically is going to get you recruited. I just don't see high level college coaches trolling for gymnasts.

And I think a truly exceptional gymnast name will get out there, because they are going to regionals and nationals. And I think coaches talk and so it goes.

Do I think the kids have be active about recruiting themselves? Of course, but they need to get to the coaches, not the masses.

 

[MeetDirector]

Totally, totally agree - publicity seeking is not the way to go. I will say this - the gymnast's coach is probably the biggest key to success in the college recruiting process. Who do you think a college coach is going to call to talk about a gymnast when they aren't allowed to call the athlete? You guessed it - the coach. Who are they going to ask for the real skinny on skills and coachability - the coach. Keeping the coach informed about the video page is critical too. That way, the coach can send the link or specific videos to the college coach.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Totally, totally agree - publicity seeking is not the way to go. I will say this - the gymnast's coach is probably the biggest key to success in the college recruiting process. Who do you think a college coach is going to call to talk about a gymnast when they aren't allowed to call the athlete? You guessed it - the coach. Who are they going to ask for the real skinny on skills and coachability - the coach. Keeping the coach informed about the video page is critical too. That way, the coach can send the link or specific videos to the college coach.

That was kind of my thought. These coaches know who is out there. Our coach's daughter went to a NCAA Div 1 school. Another an academic ride, on gymnastics coattails at an Ivy League school. I am sure those connections if it ever gets that far, will go further then just plopping videos of my kid on you tube. And she certainly doesn't need be out there now on you tube, instagram and FB publically. And were aren't anywhere near there yet.

 

[gymgal]

So how do they get around the not interacting until sophomore year? Or have they changed the rules?

Again, I am sure if you are a high performing kid, the coaches know who you are. But again, what about the rules?

The coaches are only banned from INITIATING contact. That includes call backs, responding to an email or text, etc. If the gymnast initiates it and is able to speak with the coach right away - calls the coach and he/she picks up, visits the college and the coach 'happens' to be there ready to meet with the gymnast, goes to a summer camp at the college, then that's all completely within the rules.

The top 15 or so ranked colleges have their rosters 4-5 years in advance, actively recruiting and verbally committing stellar 8th-10th graders (but mostly 9th) who have made it to nationals and whose names are well known. But the bottom half ranked colleges and the D2 and D3 colleges do recruit girls who don't make it to nationals. That means the gymnast families and their coaches need to do the leg work - sending out feelers, emailing websites, youtube channels, etc. in their early high school years, maybe even before if there are special circumstances. No it doesn't have to be public but sooner or later, if the gymnast competes in college, it will be out there anyway.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

The coaches are only banned from INITIATING contact. That includes call backs, responding to an email or text, etc. If the gymnast initiates it and is able to speak with the coach right away - calls the coach and he/she picks up, visits the college and the coach 'happens' to be there ready to meet with the gymnast, goes to a summer camp at the college, then that's all completely within the rules.

The top 15 or so ranked colleges have their rosters 4-5 years in advance, actively recruiting and verbally committing stellar 8th-10th graders (but mostly 9th) who have made it to nationals and whose names are well known. But the bottom half ranked colleges and the D2 and D3 colleges do recruit girls who don't make it to nationals. That means the gymnast families and their coaches need to do the leg work - sending out feelers, emailing websites, youtube channels, etc. in their early high school years, maybe even before if there are special circumstances. No it doesn't have to be public but sooner or later, if the gymnast competes in college, it will be out there anyway.

Right and they know who those stellar girls are because they are on the National Team or have gone to nationals.

And then there are they gymnasts that need to actively recruit themselves, directly to the colleges.

Again, competing, is public. Even my daughter has "press". Its on our gyms website and our very local paper. Her scores are out there.

And she doesn't at nine, want or need a public Social Media account. She won't need it a 15 either. If by some chance she really gets up there competitively, we would address it then. But no mostly and for most kids no need.

 

[kayjaybe]

According to collegegymfans (https://www.collegegymfans.com/index.php/recruits-sp-367083677.html) looks like 32 girls have already "committed" for the 2018-19 season(meaning they are just finishing their freshman year), and 2 have already committed for the 2019-20 season(8th graders!!!). Crazy times....

Yep. Our gym has 2 people on the 2017-2018 list and 1 on the 2018-2019 list!

 

[BachFlyer]

^^^and when your dd gets there, you might feel differently. As a parent with an 8th grader starting the recruiting process, you'd be surprised how you end up feeling about it. She has nothing but a few youtube videos that her coach posted and stuff that gymnastike has posted, no website. We are thinking about it now, but I wish i had put more out there from L8 and up, when she was 10yo, because guess what? Everyone else is. Which means like it or not, those girls are on coaches' radars already and mine likely isn't, despite her scores being higher than some of the earlier verbals. I attribute some (definitely not all) of that to good marketing on the part of the parents and gym. But not all gyms are on the ball like that. With the competiton fierce for scholarships, I understand why people do it. You can't predict at level 7 if your kid will end up a hot shot L10 superstar or "just" a good L10, so for the kids who end up in the latter category, I think they could benefit from some early publicity, they might need it!

 

[gymgal]

Right and they know who those stellar girls are because they are on the National Team or have gone to nationals.

And then there are they gymnasts that need to actively recruit themselves, directly to the colleges.

Again, competing, is public. Even my daughter has "press". Its on our gyms website and our very local paper. Her scores are out there.

And she doesn't at nine, want or need a public Social Media account. She won't need it a 15 either. If by some chance she really gets up there competitively, we would address it then. But no mostly and for most kids no need.

It's all well and good to preach when you have a 9yr old... Come back in 5 yrs when she is looking for college gym and tell me how you feel about it all then. You are SOOO dis-illusioned....

 

[raenndrops]

And that coach would not be able to chat with a gymnast until after Sept 1 of sophomore year.

So a sophomore is how old. 16-17?

A sophomore is usually 15-16.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Oh don't worry. I get if she gets that far, we will need to actively be part of the recruitment process. We will have a well thought out targeted plan. And that doesn't necessarily mean a public plan. Really they don't need to be seen by thousands of people, they need to be seen by the right people.

 

[wandrewsjr]

The top 15 or so ranked colleges have their rosters 4-5 years in advance, actively recruiting and verbally committing stellar 8th-10th graders (but mostly 9th) who have made it to nationals and whose names are well known. But the bottom half ranked colleges and the D2 and D3 colleges do recruit girls who don't make it to nationals. That means the gymnast families and their coaches need to do the leg work - sending out feelers, emailing websites, youtube channels, etc. in their early high school years, maybe even before if there are special circumstances. No it doesn't have to be public but sooner or later, if the gymnast competes in college, it will be out there anyway.

Agree, the top programs now seem to have verbally committed all of their spots 4 years ahead. The one exception to this is Stanford, I can't recall hearing about early verbal commitments to their program. I am curious if it is because they just don't do it or if they request that their recruits don't publisize it.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

It's all well and good to preach when you have a 9yr old... Come back in 5 yrs when she is looking for college gym and tell me how you feel about it all then. You are SOOO dis-illusioned....

I'm thinking if I have a kid rocking it at Nationals, she'll be OK.

Again if you got kids going to Nationals and placing well, sure they need videos for coaches to look at. But they don't need them public. Its the Nationals that are publicity. They coaches know who they are.

You have kids going to Nationals, their coaches know how to get them connected.

 

[BachFlyer]

^^again, not necessarily true. There is an unbelievable amount of insider information that people in-the-know have, that parents dont have. If your dds coach isn't actively helping, it's very possible that you wont know exactly who the "right" people are when you get there. That 468th person looking at your kid's video might be the right person.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

^^again, not necessarily true. There is an unbelievable amount of insider information that people in-the-know have, that parents dont have. If your dds coach isn't actively helping, it's very possible that you wont know exactly who the "right" people are when you get there. That 468th person looking at your kid's video might be the right person.

Again, what is getting lost here is that I have repeatedly stated that of course you have to have a well thought out plan and be active about your college future. Be it academics or sports. Of course you need a sports resume, including video. And that resume has to get to the right people and coaches. I completely get that.

The resume/video needs to get to the right people, not thousands on the internet.

Now does anyone here think the top three finishers at Nationals are going unnoticed by colleges. The top 10 finishers even.
Does any one really think rather then seeing the top gymnasts at Nationals the coaches are home trolling you tube videos.

I would expect my girl if anything to have a very reasonable chance at Div 3 schools, with an academic ride. But who knows. But if we get that far, my type A husband and myself will have a well thought out plan, sports resume in place.

 

[BachFlyer]

Yes, the coaches watch videos because they cant see every routine and skill that every gymnast at Nationals has. No one is talking about the top 10 or maybe top 50 at Nationals, we all know who they are. It's the other 400+ girls at nationals and the other 1000 or so not at nationals. The original comments were about publicity, and when kids need it. And I'm just pointing out that while you may not see the logic behind some of the choices that are made regarding public videos or other marketing, there is a bigger picture you might be missing. I think parents reading this should know all of the information, instead of just a knee jerk reaction. There is some grey area. However, people should also know that Marta is definitely NOT scouting their 6 year old, nothing grey about that

 

[gymgal]

It's all well and good to preach when you have a 9yr old... Come back in 5 yrs when she is looking for college gym and tell me how you feel about it all then. You are SOOO dis-illusioned....

huh? I meant delusioned, which I know is a made up word but I still like to use it. I even corrected it from spellcheck, which didn't like it and somehow it changed it to disillusioned.... but I think you all got my point.

 

[lilmisssunshine]

Publicity or not, I would like to thank the people who've uploaded public videos of their boys' level 4 routines because it helps me to see what's expected, as a complete newbie.

Also, is getting into college the only reason a gymnast would want to market themselves? I'm curious if there are opportunities for sponsorship or gymnastics related modeling or something. I don't know, so that's an honest question. (A friend's kid races BMX and I know that in the "extreme" sports, doing well at social media can get you a sponsorship on a major brand's team, and then skateboarding/racing/scooter riding/whatever becomes a "job".)

 

[gymgal]

I'm thinking if I have a kid rocking it at Nationals, she'll be OK.

Again if you got kids going to Nationals and placing well, sure they need videos for coaches to look at. But they don't need them public. Its the Nationals that are publicity. They coaches know who they are.

You have kids going to Nationals, their coaches know how to get them connected.

Boy, I remember the days when I thought the way you do. I truly had no clue. Now I know better.... Yes, the girls who rock it will get noticed at Nationals. But we are not talking about the girls who make nationals - and I think you are over estimating one's ability to make it to nationals. What you don't realize (or choose not to acknowledge) is that there are hundreds of girls who sit at home, not making it to nationals - not because they are not great, but because they are from very tough regions, where they are sitting home because even after scoring a 37.75 they did rank in the top 7 (check out region 8 scores. I am pretty certain that a couple other regions are similar) , or because they had an uncharacteristic fall at regionals, or because they got hurt, or because their coach refuses to let them participate in the NIT - it's nationals or nothing... Sure, local college coaches will go to nearby regional meets and even some state meets but most are not traveling across country for a regional meet - and if they do, you can bet it is to watch a select few girls, usually in the younger age divisions. Even at nationals, the top ranked schools are looking at the younger age divisions for early recruits. Many don't even watch the older age divisions unless one of their recruits is competing.

Have you looked at the numbers of who goes to Nationals? In our region, the average age division had about 35-40 girls in it for regionals. 7 make it to nationals. That's about 20% chance. Not great odds, regardless of how good you are. One fall and you are out of contention.