Coach-Athlete Incompatibilities Can Shorten An Athletic Career
By
Dan Tudor
of
All-Stater Sports
Succeeding despite athletic disappointment:(from left) Kim
Stainer, Sarah Slayton, Alisa Bennett
|
College athletic careers aren't supposed to end like this.
After winning back-to-back state high school volleyball titles, all
three girls were highly recruited. Their team-from Centennial High School in
Bakersfield, California-was a state volleyball powerhouse, finishing
with a national championship and a no. 1 ranking in USA Today.
Colleges were interested, coaches were calling, offers were made. Every
starter on the team won a college volleyball scholarship. Sarah
Slayton, Alisa Bennett, and Kim Stainer headed off to volleyball powerhouses in
Utah, Texas, and California.
Sounds like a fairy tale, huh? Yes, but that's just the beginning of
the story. Instead of enjoying what might have been the prime of their
college athletic careers, these three student-athletes ultimately found
themselves out of college athletics and unhappy with how they handled the
"recruiting game."
"When I was going through the recruiting process, my coach was
completely different from how she was when I got to the school," says Slayton.
"She was very controlling. Unfortunately, I didn't pick up on that when I
was going through the recruiting visits."
Bennett had a similar experience. "My coach was not good at interacting
at all," says Bennett. "He was a great teacher, but an absolutely horrible
person to deal with on a daily basis." She adds, "He called me almost
every day while he was recruiting me, but after I signed, he didn't talk to
me until I got to the school and started practice."
Kim Stainer echoes these sentiments. "I had always played volleyball
because I loved the game," she says. "But my experience at the college
level took the fun out of it." Stainer's coach recommended that she
red-shirt her freshman year. She did so, but then she was activated
later in the year when a player ahead of her on the depth chart was injured.
Although it would mean losing most of her freshman year of eligibility,
the coach insisted that Stainer play. "I had a coach who was a huge success
at the college level," she says. "I was kind of intimidated and did not
question his motives."
