Students experience ups and downs of college recruiting process

Ethan Frankel, Reporter|October 12, 2022

Charlie Scola, Archie Williams’ starting center fielder.

The college recruiting process is a pivotal period for many high school athletes. It is the time when college coaches scout for athletes with promising talent and extend offers for high school athletes to play their sport at the next level. The process is challenging and extensive for athletes and their families. Some athletes never receive offers. But for the handful that do, the chance to play their sport in college is life changing.

The recruiting process requires hard work and dedication from student athletes. They must hone their skills and become the best player they can be. Many athletes will additionally travel around the state or country to go to showcases to show their skills firsthand to college scouts.

Senior Elsa Snipes is committed to play beach volleyball at Arizona State University. She is the captain of Falcon’s Varsity volleyball on the beach and indoors.

“I love the PAC 12 and am thrilled to be able to compete at such a high level,” Elsa said. “I was open to all Division 1 schools, however, I really wanted to be on a team in the top 25.”

Elsa’s decision was not an easy decision, beginning in eighth grade when she first started communicating with college coaches. From the beginning, she had no doubts about whether or not she wanted to play in college. Elsa’s recruiting process heavily ramped up in her junior year.

“My recruiting process taught me it isn’t about the wins and losses or the points scored, but it’s about your mentality regardless of your opponent or how well you’re playing,” Elsa said.

For many athletes like Elsa, the recruiting process is a balancing act. Student-athletes balance their school, sports, family, and everything in between, with the addition of having to spend time making film reels to showcase skills, traveling to play in front of scouts, and talking to coaches.

Elsa’s commitment to Arizona State University was not an easy decision.

“I broke it down into multiple categories, social, academic, and environmental,” Elsa said. “Arizona State ticked all the boxes I was looking for and felt right.”

Another Archie Williams athlete currently going through the recruiting process is senior Charlie Scola, the starting center fielder on the Varsity baseball team. His goal for his recruitment is to play baseball at a four-year college.

“For me this process has been [challenging], especially with roadblocks that come with being a student athlete in high school,” Charlie said.

As for Charlie, he will keep persevering through the ups and downs of the college recruiting process. Charlie plans to commit to any four-year college he is able to play baseball at.

During his summer break from school, Charlie spent a lot of his time going to different showcases around the Bay Area to display his skills in front of college coaches and scouts.

“Over the summer, I only did two things, play baseball and work,” Charlie said. There’s not a lot of free time that comes with this.”

During his recruiting process, he has also played for different teams throughout the fall, winter, and summer. Playing a sport year-round is a physically draining experience, with trying out for different teams, having constant practices, going to showcases, and then at the end of it all still playing for high school.

Archie Williams has many other athletes who are going through their very own unique recruiting process. Recruitment forces a student athlete to dig deep and perform their absolute best over, and over, and over for college coaches. Some athletes never make the cut. For those who force their way through the pressure, four more shining years of playing the sport they love wait patiently on the other side.