Day: July 17, 2013

College Q&A

Question of the Day

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Thanks for answering that last question! I figured it wouldn’t be that difficult since men’s rowing isn’t an NCAA sport, but I thought you would know more about this than me. Do you have any advice for making the best out of the situation when you’re on a team that you don’t necessarily want to be on for an extended period of time, knowing that you want to transfer?

No problem! I can’t imagine you’ll encounter any issues but better to find out ahead of time and be able to deal with it rather than when you get to your new school and it be too late.

As far as being on a team you don’t want to be a part of…do you have to/even want to be on the team for the rest of the time you’re at your current school? Obviously I never want to tell anyone to straight up quit but there comes a time when you’ve gotta ask yourself if it’s worth it. The commitment to your team as a whole is one thing but the commitment to your teammates as individuals is another. If you’re saying you’re going to go back in the fall and be a part of the team you’re committing yourself to the four or eight other women in your boat. As the coxswain, it’s your responsibility to … not be happy-go-lucky about everything because that’s annoying and unrealistic but to be that person who always shows up, regardless of whatever else is going on, simply because you’re the leader of the crew. If it’s obvious you don’t want to be there for whatever reason, how do you think that would make the other people in your boat feel? I don’t mean to say that to make you feel bad or guilty because you shouldn’t, but think about it from their perspective.

Anyways, back to your question. How do you make the best of the situation? Show up, put the work in, keep off-the-water stuff off the water, have a positive attitude (even if you have to fake it sometimes), try not to make it super evident that you’d rather be anywhere but there, and find something to dedicate yourself to in order to make your time there worth it. If you’re going to be getting up early to go to practice you better have a damn good reason for doing so otherwise you will encounter new levels of disdain and misery that you didn’t know were possible. Been there, did that, can confirm, it sucks. There’s a certain level of selflessness that’s required in rowing, especially as a coxswain, but beyond that, do what you’ve gotta do to make sure you don’t feel like you’re wasting your time.

The summer is a good time to evaluate all of that and gauge how you’re feeling ahead of time so that if you do decide to walk away, you can give your coach(es) plenty of heads up. Regardless of what you ultimately end up doing, your teammates deserve your very best when you’re there and if there’s any question about whether or not you can give that, you’ve gotta ask yourself if it’s worth staying on the team knowing that you’re just going to be transferring to a new school in a few months.

College Q&A Recruiting Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Do you know anything about NCAA rules and talking to coaches when you’re already on a team but trying to transfer? Specifically from a women’s program to a men’s program…

Your best bet is to get in touch with the athletic department of the university you’re looking to transfer to, specifically the compliance department, and ask them any questions you have. They’ll be able to tell you specifically what rules do and don’t apply to you and what you should do going forward. There’s also plenty of information on the “want to transfer” part of the NCAA’s website.

I did some research and found the NCAA’s Transfer Guide, which I recommend you read because there’s a lot of good information in there that might end up being helpful, regardless if you go with the men or stick with women. Here’s what it says about talking to coaches (at the bottom of page 9).

“Generally, if you are enrolled as a full-time student at an NCAA or National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) four-year school and you want to transfer to a different NCAA school to play, your current school’s athletics director must give written permission-to-contact to the new coach or member of the athletics staff before you or your parents can talk with one of them. That is called having a permission-to-contact letter.

You may write to any NCAA school saying that you are interested in transferring, but the new coach must not discuss transfer opportunities with you unless he or she has received written permission-to-contact from your current school.

If your current school does not give you written permission-to-contact, another school cannot contact you and encourage you to transfer. This does not preclude you from transferring; however, if the new school is in Division I or II, you cannot receive an athletics scholarship until you have attended the new school for one academic year.

Also, if your current school officials deny your request to permit another institution to contact you about transferring, they must tell you in writing that you have a right to appeal the decision. In that instance, a panel of individuals from your current school who are not involved in athletics will conduct a hearing to decide the issue.”

I would start doing all of this as early as possible. Now would probably be a good time to call the compliance department and talk to them since the summer is, for the most part, relatively chaos-free.