WAG Div I NCAA Walk-On Offer Info

[refugee]

A head count sport means they have a certain number of scholarships, rather than a pool of money. So it can't be divided into partial scholarships in order to have more athletes.

Correct. D1 W-Gym has a headcount of 12. If they give a girl even $1, she counts as one of the 12, same as a girl who gets a full-ride. D2 W-Gym is equivalency (I think 6), so they can spread out the money that would cover 6 girls amongst more girls, and the amounts don't have to be equal.

 

[Gym Beam]

I know that our gym also tailors our optional competition schedule to cater to what the kids need that year as far as exposure goes. Some years they choose less exposure for various reasons, some years big exposure for other reasons. This year we have several kids in prime recruiting situations so I assume we will be attending meets known to have lots of college coaches there. It makes a big difference if your coach is actively pursuing those avenues for their athletes. This summer we had several college coaches into our gym to observe practice. I made sure my dd knew that although they were there for the few at that age, they would for sure be looking at the younger girls too to see if this is a program to keep an eye on or if there is someone they want to watch as they develop.

We just had our pre-pre-Optionals parent meeting (our DDs are doing 6/7 in the spring) and the gym owner was explaining how the travel meets are decided. A big factor is to help our Level 10s in the recruitment process. It's the difference between a meet in sunny Hawaii (where none of the targeted college scouts were going to) to the largest meet in bone-chilling Chicago (where they ended up going to earlier this year).

 

[Stormy]

so a verbal offer, especially when given before the gymnast's senior year, has no real value since the school has no obligation to accept the gymnast?

when a verbal offer is made in the gymnast's sophomore or junior year, is the student already accepted into the college or is the verbal offer contingent on the student being accept into the college during her senior year?

Once accepted into the college, if the school decides to not offer the student a spot on the team, would that student also loses her college acceptance?

Holy crap that website promotes 12 year olds. Honestly the more I learn about college gymnastics (and honestly college athletics at the D1 level in general - I work with a guy who's kid is pursuing lacrosse), the less I want that for my kid.

Just so people don't misunderstand your comment about the website promoting 12 years I want to jump in and explain that people pay to have websites designed for their kids to showcase their kid's gymnastics accomplishments and skills. This is done because recruiting is global and extremely competitive and a website is a succinct way to communicate to coaches exactly what they want to see within 2 to 3 minutes. Keep in mind that because of NCAA regulations communication between coaches, gymnasts, and parents has very strict guidelines so keeping a website up to date and emailing a coach to say videos have been updated is a great way to communicate within the acceptable guidelines.....and yes some of the girls are very young........that is a reflection on how many really good young gymnasts there are out there with the goal of college gymnastics, how competitive getting a spot is, and how young some colleges are making verbal commitments. Its a fiercely competitive culture which results in some kids making decisions way before they are ready to. Anyway the service provided by the website is very helpful for gymnasts trying to showcase their skills .........just wanted to clarify that for people who may not be familiar with the webite.

 

[Stormy]

Verbal means nothing until the NLI is signed in their senior year. Once that is signed, it is a contract and now both parties are binded by that contract. I don't think that it looks good for a school to go back on an offer but I think you will see schools doing that and also girls changing their committed schools because it is happening way to early and when you are in 8th or 9th grade how could you possibly know what you want in a school and your future. From the schools perspective, offering a kid a spot who hasn't even gone through puberty and what not. Bodies change a lot in that 4/5 yr period. What if a school gives a verbal to a freshman, freshman accepts and then barely competes the rest of her HS years for injury or whatever, hasn't improved like was expected, I cannot see a school honoring that verbal agreement.

For my dd, she was not offered her scholarship until her senior year. She had to have a pre-read done and once admissions told the coach that she could get into the school on her own merit, it was then that he offered her the scholarship. I do know that times are changing though as some juniors have already verballed to her school now so times are a changing!

I have a question about the pre-read and merit. So is it a case of the coach simply making sure she would get admitted before he offered the scholarship or is it that pre-read also told the coach how much she would get in academic merit scholarship money so he then knew how much the athletic scholarship portion was going to cost his budget? Hope this question make sense. I am basing it on that someone said that if the kid is eligible for merit money they get that first. I am wondering if the coach uses the pre-read for more than admission decisions and I am wondering if that is fair???

 

[Stormy]

We just had our pre-pre-Optionals parent meeting (our DDs are doing 6/7 in the spring) and the gym owner was explaining how the travel meets are decided. A big factor is to help our Level 10s in the recruitment process. It's the difference between a meet in sunny Hawaii (where none of the targeted college scouts were going to) to the largest meet in bone-chilling Chicago (where they ended up going to earlier this year).

Other than Regionals and Nationals what meets are known for being meets that college recruiters attend?

 

[Stormy]

We just had our pre-pre-Optionals parent meeting (our DDs are doing 6/7 in the spring) and the gym owner was explaining how the travel meets are decided. A big factor is to help our Level 10s in the recruitment process. It's the difference between a meet in sunny Hawaii (where none of the targeted college scouts were going to) to the largest meet in bone-chilling Chicago (where they ended up going to earlier this year).

I think this is a great focus when selecting meets. I think this is a good criteria to put on your list when you are looking for a gym if you think your dd is in it for the long run and wants to be at gym that supports their high level gymnasts pursuing college gymnastics.

 

[Gym Beam]

Other than Regionals and Nationals what meets are known for being meets that college recruiters attend?

We were told the IGI Chicago Style meet is the largest in the country and that 2 of the Ivy League schools that some of our 10s were considering were going to be there.

 

[JBS]

Other than Regionals and Nationals what meets are known for being meets that college recruiters attend?

None really...that's what you are going for...nationals is key.

 

[proudgymdad]

The Lady Luck Invitational in Vegas has several college coaches that attend. As an added bonus this year, NC State and LSU are having a college meet the Thursday night before the meet.

 

[ZJsMom]

On the boys' side it's Vegas too. Blackjack is held in conjunction with Winter Cup, so lots of college coaches are there with their athletes for Winter Cup.

 

[Stormy]

The Lady Luck Invitational in Vegas has several college coaches that attend. As an added bonus this year, NC State and LSU are having a college meet the Thursday night before the meet.

Thanks for the info. Its great when the gymnasts can take a college meet at the same time as their own meets. Its exciting, inspiring, and great for team bonding. Great planning!

 

[gymgal]

We were told the IGI Chicago Style meet is the largest in the country and that 2 of the Ivy League schools that some of our 10s were considering were going to be there.

The meets that host the Nastia Luikin qualifiers will have college reps there to watch the L10's. They tend to be the bigger meets as well.

 

[Stormy]

The meets that host the Nastia Luikin qualifiers will have college reps there to watch the L10's. They tend to be the bigger meets as well.

Anyone know if that is true of the Greensboro NC, Wisconsin Dells, or Massachusetts meets that are Nastia Qualifiers?

 

[bookworm]

Ok so I posted this early this morning and the CB fairy has spirited it away so i'll try again....

Here's some info for those of you embarking on official visits: the college pays for your daughter's plane flight ( but not yours), and for your hotel room (your daughter stays in the dorms with the team), and your meals while you are there with the team. I'm not sure if all schools operate this way but we've done official visits 5 years apart, and that's how it went both times (at different schools in different conferences). One of the families with us this weekend was unaware of this and had booked a non refundable hotel room.... they said they got no info from their club coaches on any of this and this was their first time doing this ....another thing too is if you attend a sporting event, you get 3 comp tickets ( gymnast and parents) so if you bring sibs, you need to pay for their ticket ( and meals).

This goes for girls who are getting scholarships and are walkons....they need to be a Sr in High school, and registered with the NCAA clearinghouse, and having taken SATs/ACTs by then is a plus too.

 

[Muddlethru]

Ok so I posted this early this morning and the CB fairy has spirited it away so i'll try again....

Here's some info for those of you embarking on official visits: the college pays for your daughter's plane flight ( but not yours), and for your hotel room (your daughter stays in the dorms with the team), and your meals while you are there with the team. I'm not sure if all schools operate this way but we've done official visits 5 years apart, and that's how it went both times (at different schools in different conferences). One of the families with us this weekend was unaware of this and had booked a non refundable hotel room.... they said they got no info from their club coaches on any of this and this was their first time doing this ....another thing too is if you attend a sporting event, you get 3 comp tickets ( gymnast and parents) so if you bring sibs, you need to pay for their ticket ( and meals).

This goes for girls who are getting scholarships and are walkons....they need to be a Sr in High school, and registered with the NCAA clearinghouse, and having taken SATs/ACTs by then is a plus too.

Are these paid for official visits for athletes who have verbal offers already and/or how are these official visits initiated and how are the families compensated for room and board? When my son was looking for colleges last year, merely upon applying, some colleges offered him $500 and up to spend to visit the college. He stayed in the dorms, (so room and board was covered), was sometimes picked up at the airport by a school arranged pick up service. This was purely for admission into the school; no sports involved. So why could the mother with a non-refundable hotel not get reimbursed? If they wanted the parents to stay at a preferred hotel, this information must have been disclosed. My experience is you either get the money upfront or you show them receipts and get reimbursed. If not, it seems like a poorly managed/planned official visit and may not bode well to prospective students. Procedure should be standard already. No?

 

[gasrgoose]

FYI. Reportedly an 8th grader (Class of 2020) verbally committed to LSU this weekend. Recruiting starts early!

 

[tomtnt]

there's something strange going on with the forums.. messages will disappear for awhile and then show up later...

here's the first recruit from class of 2020!

http://www.gym-style.com/haleighbryant/

 

[Stormy]

I have a question about the pre-read and merit. So is it a case of the coach simply making sure she would get admitted before he offered the scholarship or is it that pre-read also told the coach how much she would get in academic merit scholarship money so he then knew how much the athletic scholarship portion was going to cost his budget? Hope this question make sense. I am basing it on that someone said that if the kid is eligible for merit money they get that first. I am wondering if the coach uses the pre-read for more than admission decisions and I am wondering if that is fair???[/QUOTE
Looking at this again I am still confused about the pre-read and merit. Can anyone explain it in simple terms?

 

[Stormy]

there's something strange going on with the forums.. messages will disappear for awhile and then show up later...

here's the first recruit from class of 2020!

http://www.gym-style.com/haleighbryant/

Wow............2020...its insane how early colleges are committing!

 

[MeetDirector]

Wow............2020...its insane how early colleges are committing!

It is a verbal; worth as much the paper its printed on. A ton of things can happen between now and then. She hasn't even taken a single college admission test or pre-test; she has no academic record; she has to be able to last another 4 years as a level 10. My bet - 50-50 she actually goes to LSU.

Sometimes I think these kids just say "I am going to LSU" and that gets spread around as a verbal commit when in fact there hasn't been a bit of communication with the college (because there can't be) other than going to a summer camp.