October Update: The Gratitude Edition

This month, I want to take a moment as the CEO of College Athletic Advisor to talk about gratitude. I am profoundly grateful for the trust that so many students, families, and professionals have placed in my work.

Recently, many colleagues publicly expressed their appreciation, and it reminded me of how powerful gratitude is. I can’t repay their generosity, but I can pay it forward, so let’s talk about how gratitude is integral to your recruiting process!

It is important to remember that the recruiting process is often powered by a web of relationships – and that web is never fully visible. You never know when some strand will reveal itself because you took the time to build a positive relationship that was not explicitly in your immediate self-interest. Coaches talk – and you want them to be your advocate when you are not in the room. You also never know where a coach or friend is going to be down the road. 25% of coaches (or more) change over every year – the coach who ISN’T at a great fit school today might be desperately looking for you at the RIGHT fit school tomorrow.

You also would do well to remember you never know who is watching or when. Roster spots, scholarship offers and opportunities can come simply because a coach saw you taking the initiative to do something positive before or after an event or practice. And we are not going to even talk about opportunities that student-athletes never got after a coach determined that their behavior or attitude was not consistent with the culture of the program. Demonstrating your gratitude with positive action creates a tremendous ripple effect – it encourages your peers and coaches to contribute in selfless, positive ways, and creates a positive spiral of inspiration and commitment.

It is also crucial to demonstrate gratitude to your current coaches, trainers and supporters. Everyone wants to spend their time in communities that value and validate their participation. This makes the environment better around you and creates the kind of synergy and stability that fosters success. One thing that winning programs tend to have is a lot of folks who generously share their time and energy to foster success. Certainly, some of that is a byproduct of winning – people like being part of successful programs – but a lot of it is also that positive cycle where people tend to put their energy into areas where they are appreciated and they can see their effort contributing to increasing levels of performance for the organization.

Finally, everyone wants to be among peers who support them and “have their back.” That means that when coaches are looking for recruits, current team members are likely to recommend folks they feel will contribute to the program, but also to healthy culture. It means that when coaches reach out to THEIR peers, they value the recommendations coming from coaches who really want to promote players they like. Those positive student-athletes build long-lasting relationships between coaches, and everyone wins.

As always, if you are looking for the individualized or institutional consulting help that puts you ahead of your peers, check out our services here! You can make an initial appointment through the link on our homepage! School administrators and counselors access our free resources, appointments and programs for school collaboration here.

For more information, contact Dave Morris, College Counselor & CEO, College Athletic Advisor, dave@collegeathleticadvisor.com or phone: (719) 248-7994

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