If you were a college coach...

[plansrme]

This is going to sound like one of those bragadocious posts not-so-very-well-disguised as a question. I truly do not mean it that way, but I understand if no one believes me. So disclaimers aside, here is my question:

 

My gymnast daughter recently completed a week at a well-known gymnastics camp run by some well-known former gymnasts. She received an award at the end of the week for being the hardest working female camper. I had been forewarned about a minute in advance and had the rare (for me) presence of mind to whip out my phone and video the presentation. The coaches, including two of the most well-known male gymnasts in the country, said such lovely things about her, with very specific examples about her work ethic and attitude. I was in tears, because there is nothing I would rather hear about my child than that she is a hard worker. Anyway, my question is this: would it be weird to put the video on her recruiting channel on YouTube? Her website will have a link to her YouTube channel with her routines, so I will have plenty of space to explain what the video is and why.

 

My thinking is that this is the only unbiased character recommendation that we are likely to have. Her club coaches have a vested interest in her being recruited, so they would say great things but shouldn't be trusted.

 

So what say you--weird or no?

 

Terri

[Osmosis Mom]

Not weird at all. Kudos to your dd for her hard work!!

[amtmcm]

there is nothing I would rather hear about my child than that she is a hard worker.

 

That's a great compliment! I totally agree!

 

I think it sounds totally appropriate to post this to DD's recruiting website.

[Sunshine State Sue]

I think it's a fantastic idea. Congrats to your dd.

 

If you go to the NSR website, you can look around at some of the athletes websites, there are awards, letters of recommendation, newspaper articles, and more. Anything that shows your athlete in a positive light helps the coach get to know their strengths.

[MamaT]

From one gym mom to another, I say not weird at all. I would use it.

 

Did she go to IGC? My dd is going next week.

[Teachin'Mine]

Absolutely!!!! Congratulations to her!!!!!

 

:hurray::party::hurray:

 

Don't mind my celebrating as I have nothing constructive to

add - I'm just thoroughly impressed! Couldn't ask for a better

endorsement than to have a great attitude and be willing to

work hard. And this from people who KNOW hard work! :001_smile:

[plansrme]

From one gym mom to another, I say not weird at all. I would use it.

 

Did she go to IGC? My dd is going next week.

 

Not IGC, Flip Fest, which is "local" to us (as in, "only" 3.5 hours away). She does a couple of skills that are more common among male gymnasts than female, so my one suggestion to her before she went was to actively solicit input from former male gymnasts or coaches of male gymnasts, both of which abound at Flip Fest, for input on those two skills. Those tips alone were worth the 14 hours' of driving.

 

Best of luck to your daughter at IGC!

 

Thanks, everyone, for the input. I have the camp's permission to use the video and and have saved it for future use. It was such a fluke that I was able to get the video, and I am so grateful for it.

 

Terri

[Candid]

Okay, let me run the cynical thought I have at you and you can vet it by what you know of the program your daughter was in. I'm going to be fairly negative in my thinking about how summer sports programs work so if you want, please ignore me, and bask. :D

 

Did every student in the program get some award and some chat from the coaches at this wrap up event? If so then you may wish to discount this award just based on that alone. I've been to enough of these types of programs to know that except for the MVP awards, many of the other awards are not worth much.

 

Even if not every student got personalized attention on the last day I would still consider the program's interest in making parents happy. Even well known programs need to make money, and they do that by getting you to do two things: return to their program and recommend their program to other parents. So having an awards ceremony on the last day and being able to say nice and somewhat unique things about each student is a skill set for the coaches.

 

Next, like it or not, sports are about skill not about hard work, although the two go hand in hand. If I am a college coach, I would assume that the best at something have put in enough hard work and seeing a video of two coaches praising a student's hard work wouldn't impress me unless I saw videos that showed her skill. AND I would think long and hard about the balance of someone who is working as hard as they can to get somewhere and the person who isn't but is at the same level. I might recruit the one working less hard IF I thought I could get them to work harder to rise up to the next level while the one working as hard as they could had topped out. (Although I am sure that some coaches would also lean towards recruiting the hard worker because they've dealt with their share of lazy stars over the years, so this point maybe a wash.)

 

I'm sorry to be negative, I just want you to think carefully about the overall situation.

 

However, this does not mean you should be less proud of your daughter.

Whatever their motivation, the coaches running the program, noticed that she worked hard. Even though that maybe a wash in sports, it will not be a wash in life.