Athletic Recruitment during COVID-19

BY: GABBIE K.

As the Coronavirus, also known as ‘COVID-19’, impacted the entire world, it immensely impacted the recruitment of student-athletes playing high school sports currently. Typically, any athlete’s Junior season of high school is a common time for colleges to reach out to them. Whether it’s simply to visit a campus or even to receive an offer or full-ride scholarship, these times are often common for coaches to use as face-to-face time to meet potential recruits. As far as the sport of basketball goes, well, many recruits are seen during their Junior AAU seasons, which begins right about the time COVID-19 began. Needless to say, this year was different for everyone and was quite a scary time for college coaches and student-athletes alike.

Although the announcement of COVID-19 reaching our country and the announcement of AAU basketball being canceled for an unknown amount of time were separate, it felt like they were the same. Both caused heartache and uncertainty, especially for the Junior class of 2021. Not only did we get our proms, sleepovers, and final days of Junior year with our friends in the classroom taken away from us; we had the access to any basketball court and college coaches watching us run up and down those same courts playing the game that we love taken away from us as well. While it was one of the hardest announcements ever then, it wasn’t such a bad thing in the long run.

Just from my experience during this hard time, I’ve received phone calls left and right from college coaches and even attended Zoom meetings with others. And, as if things couldn’t get any better, I even received my first college offer. It’s hard telling if any of those would have happened if COVID-19 didn’t impact our country the way it did, or even existed to begin with.

Although it is a weird time unlike any other, it is definitely nice knowing that the recruiting process is still prevalent and very alive. Despite feeling like this is a missed opportunity for recruitment, college coaches will find anyone they are truly interested in. This is a new experience for both coaches and athletes. However, if any athlete at this time has film from their games and a burning passion to play collegiate sports, college coaches are for sure to find them. I am living proof of that, and many other athletes just like me are as well.