The Age of Recruitment

It seems like every month a new story is published about a middle schooler committing to a Division 1 college football or basketball program. Whether it be the thirteen year old quarterback from Delaware named David Sills that committed to University of Southern California in 2010, or the seven year old Argentine soccer prospect named Leonel Angel Coira that signed with Spanish club Real Madrid in 2011, professional and college teams are reaching out to recruits at younger ages in order to benefit their teams in the long run. Unfortunately, this has negatively effected these adolescents' social and educational development.

Whether it be to have positive publicity or  a competitive advantage over their competitors, professional and more importantly in America, college sport programs are putting more emphasis into their recruitment process. In a lucrative industry known as Division I college football, coaches spend a majority of their off season football related activities recruiting high school and even middle school prospects, as well as close to 10% of their in-season activities on recruitment. The pressure for big name  college programs to crack a top 10 recruiting class directly relates to how well the teams are expected to perform over the next couple of years.

If a well respected program such as Notre Dame fails to attract four and five star recruits to its program, its shortage of talent could result in dwindled performance, which in the long run could have financial consequences to it. Due to these potential program-altering repercussions, college coaches look towards improving recruiting as the first and foremost way to turn their programs in the right direction. I am willing to bet that the Ole Miss Rebels football team (University of Mississippi), which under first year head coach Hugh Freeze produced a top 5 recruiting class, begins to shift from a mediocre 6-6 doormat to a major SEC power player over the next couple of years.

With the increasing importance of recruitment, college and professional programs are reaching out to teenagers at younger ages, to both many successes and failures. Many current NBA and NFL all stars were highly touted NBA prospects even as underclassmen in high school. Brandon Jennings left his hometown of Compton, California to play for high school basketball powerhouse Oak Hill Academy in  Virginia before his junior year. At this point, he was already rated as the top player in the class of 2008 according to ESPNU 150, and he has turned out to be a skillful scorer in the NBA.

Freddy Adu at age 14

On the other hand, there have been many instances of failure while recruiting athletes at young ages. For example, Freddy Adu became a professional soccer player when he signed with MLS club DC United at the age of 14, and was quickly hailed to be the next Pelé. After years of struggling and moving from league to league, Freddy Adu has clearly not lived up to his original hype. In my opinion, Adu's downfall was due to him not taking the proper time to develop his skills, as well as the pressures that go along with being labeled a prodigy at such a young age.

Another example of an early recruitment failure is the case of Michael Avery, a basketball player who committed to the University of Kentucky in eighth grade. He was offered a scholarship by then Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie in 2008, and the offer became a controversial national headline. After Gillispie was fired in 2009, Avery rescinded his commitment, and he ended up committing to Sonoma State, a division II program. 

While early age recruitment opens opportunities for young athletes to ascend in the world of sports, its potential effects on social development can be severe. When teenagers dedicate there lives to one specific thing such as a sport, they are hampered from exploring new interests and developing a full persona away from the sports stage. Additionally, many students who have a full time sport-centered schedule are home-schooled. Studies on childhood development have concluded that learning in isolated environments is potentially damaging to a child's development of social skills such as empathy and awareness of diversity. While it is difficult to quantify all of the potential negative effects of focusing all of one's efforts on a specific sport, it is by no means unreasonable to state that they are readily apparent. 

While recruiting at earlier ages has proved effective for many college sports programs, it has put further pressure on adolescents and families to strive to great lengths to maximize exposure. There is no end in sight for early age recruitment to end, but adults in the sports industry must prioritize children's needs before their own professional amelioration.