What parents should expect from College Football Teams
As a parent of a recruit you may be faced with difficult decisions while keeping your son’s best interest in mind. Your sending your son away from college and what you really want is reassurance and peace of mind. The good news is you will began to get a sense of this when communicating with coaches. Most college football coaches are parents themselves or have been a college football recruit at one point or another. With that being said that’s what makes my blog so unique. I have actually been through the college football recruiting process. I have been through the official visits, complimentary football games, College Football Questionnaires, contacting and being contacted by football coaches. I can tell you first hand it’s a stressful process from beginning to end. Once your son commits to a school the next step is the planning for their departure.
Parents worried about College Academics
If your son has a 3.0gpa right now you won’t have to worry to much because this is showing that he takes care of his academic work. But do know that most college football programs have mandatory study halls a few times per week. In my own experience we had mandatory study halls but if you had a 3.0 or above you were excused because you were doing good in your classes.
College Football Study
In college football study halls you have a majority of the team in a specified area usually a room in the library. You are closely supervised, attendance is taken and you may go to other areas for additional academic help. From my experience study hall helped me to form a relationship off the field with my teammates. Here’s how the schedule would look out of practice by about 6:30pm and in study hall by 7:30-9:00 or 9:30. Now in study hall you could get help from teammates or give help. Cell phones aren’t permitted so don’t think your son is in study hall texting all night.
Parent relationships with coaching staff
Parents should have a relationship with college football coaches. From my experience I had coaches that after games would just walk by my parents without acknowledging them. Now granted some coaches are in the zone after games, but it’s very welcoming and reassuring if a coach can atleast acknowledge a players parents. Anyhow parents should feel that they can contact coaches whenever they need to. If you have a concern you need to express that to the coaches. The coaches need to know before any bad situations develop. I have spoke with parents that were concerned about playing time and they told me that they told coaches their philosophies were screwed up and yada yada yada. As a coach myself that is the last thing that I want to hear but I will say that those parents should atleast feel good that the coach took the time out to speak with them. Also parents you should network with other parents and you can do this by the following:
Get to games early Take advantage of tailgating opportunities even if your not cooking, just be there Introduce yourself to other parents Go to family day
Be supporting of your son playing college football
I’ll tell you from experience that my parents supported me from day one. I’m going to briefly share an experience of mines.
My first week of football camp I was ready to go home. I saw everything from teammates fighting, on the field the locker room and inside the shower. I saw coaches grabbing face mask and jacking players up and calling players the following: You are a fucking dumbass, cocksucker, pussy and other explicit terms. I also seen a player baracade himself inside of his dorm room refusin to practice. He ended up quiting after his parents came to get him out. But me I said it’s time for me to go.
When I had seen enough, I packed my bags and told my mom and she told me to hang in there. She said if I came home my car was gone and I agreed to it. I just wasn’t happy. I think partly because I was only 18 I’m surrounded by men, not like in high school. I was with mature players and it was like mentally I wasn’t ready. Performance wise no lie I did a great job, and I actually have footage of me playing and practicing as a freshman. But long story short my roommate came in while I finished packing, “Yo what you doing you” with his Yonkers, NY mentallity. And I decided to stay, and after I graduated I was glad that I hung in there. One thing to note is that Your son is going to need someone to vent to so be there to take his calls. And keep in mind that they may only be allowed to call you at specific times. Be encouraging and be supportive.
I gained so much out of my college football experience. It taught me discipline, to be on time, and to appreciate opportunities for education. It taught me networking skills and leadership skills. It made me tough, stronger mentally and physically and it definitely prepared me for the real world.
Train Hard
Coach Lewis