Injuries are a part of life and but when it happens to an athlete it can sometimes create quite a dilemma. Whether it’s deciding when to return to action or how to handle the injury with college recruiters that are courting them it’s an unfortunate situation. This newsletter is going to deal with the latter.
I was in Denver, Colorado the past couple of days conducting College Recruiting seminars and after an event one evening a mother approached me about her daughter who was recovering from a serious knee injury she suffered last year. She said her daughter had been recruited up to that point but things have slowed down and no one had made any offers yet. She asked me if there was anything she could do to help make the situation any better. My response was simple. Be honest and up front with each college coach that was interested in her daughter. Athletes have injuries all the time. It’s an unfortunate part of sports and it probably won’t be the last time her daughter has some kind of injury during her college career. My advice to her was to be proactive about the injury instead of trying to hide it.
I encouraged her to explain to the coaches exactly what her injury was, when it occurred, what the prognosis is, how her rehab is coming along, and where she was now with her recovery. And of course last but not least when will she be 100%. I told her to contact all the parties involved in her daughters’ injury from the trainer to her doctor, to the surgeon, to the rehab specialist. Ask each of them to draft a letter on their letterhead along with their contact information explaining each aspect of her daughters’ injury, and recovery. This will give the college coaches all the FACTS and won’t allow them to wonder how bad things really are and should they even bother taking a chance on her.
By taking on this situation head on and looking it straight in the eye you will find that the coaches will appreciate all that you have done and will put more credence into the information you are providing them. Then, her daughter will find out which colleges really want her. And more than likely if they want her that bad then they must believe that their school and their athletic program is a “good fit” for her. Injuries are not the highlight of any athletes’ career no matter at what level they occur and there is never a good time to have one. My son Coy had many injuries throughout his career including 9 years in the NFL. But sometimes an injury can be the best thing that ever happened to an athlete. All it did to Coy was made him work even harder than he ever worked before and it made him appreciate how blessed he was just to be able to play that glorious game he loved to play since he was 7…… Football.
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