Coaches Get NCAA Nod for Middle-School Recruits

Do you have a middle-school kid who dreams of being a basketball star? If he or she has talent, don’t be surprised if your child is being recruited by college coaches. It’s happened before, and last month, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s legislative council lowered the minimum grade for recruiting an athlete in basketball to seventh grade.

The council apparently decided that since kids in middle school were being recruited anyway, they should be protected by the same rules governing high-school recruits.

The ruling came after eight-graders have been recruited by college coaches in the past two years. The news may be exciting for kids, but I find it a little absurd. What’s next, elementary school recruits? As a mother of a former middle-schooler, I can tell you that middle school kids are not ready to make important decisions about high school, much less college. To be honest, they often don’t have enough common sense to wear warm clothes when it’s cold. Ironically, in an effort to regulate the practice of middle-school basketball recruiting, the NCAA might be fostering it by legitimizing it.

The push toward earlier recruiting is just furthering a trend toward excessive competition at an early age. Kid’s sports have become way too competitive and stressful, rather than being about play and exercise. As soon as children get enough balance to run, there’s so much pressure to be good at athletics. I’ve even seen some of that push coming from parents. Why is it so important to be a star on the baseketball court, or baseball, soccer or football field? What about just having fun with friends?

Take the pressure off your kids. We parents know that childhood too soon becomes a memory. I’d like my kids’ early memories to be about play.