A Brief Note On Athletic Recruiting

Traditionally, recruiting has been done in a very physical manner. The creation of a successful team is the result of many factors; one fundamental component of successful college teams is the recruitment of the top athletes out of high school (“Amateurism and the High School Recruitment Process (sidebar)”, 2010). Every college sports team, whether it is soccer or football or gymnastics that participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) uses a variety of recruiting methods to impress potential student-athletes. While the concept of recruiting is not new to college sports, the methods of recruiting have begun to evolve in response to the increasing technological climate of society. As computers, cell phones, and social media play a more important role in communication patterns of the next generation of student-athletes, the ways in which these student-athletes communicate with potential athletic programs continues to change as a result. Collegiate athletic recruiting is evolving and, as stated in “Amateurism and the High School Recruitment Process (sidebar),” recruiting student-athletes for teams has become an industry (2010). Coaches are now using different recruiting methods, such as social media and recruitment websites due to the fact that technology

It is not enough to simply keep up with technological trends in today’s culture, in order to stay on the leading edge it is essential to be at least one step ahead. This need to be one step ahead with technology has seeped into athletic departments across the country. The overwhelming impact of modern technology on sports has caused many coaches and student-athletes to perceive information resulting from technological advances to be invaluable (Libermann et al., 2002). New technological recruiting methods can be convenient and useful while recruiting student-athletes; however, is this trend in recruiting putting more emphasis on the technology than