Onboarding Your New Athletes
Picture this: you and your staff have recruited an amazing class full of talented players that complement your returners. It’s August: your team has arrived on campus, and you have a plan for preseason in place. You step on the court Monday morning for your first official practice only to realize that one of your athletes still hasn’t gotten through the NCAA Eligibility Center, two are missing paperwork and aren’t cleared to practice by your athletic training staff, and another is having issues with scheduling classes around your practice times. Now, your banner season has started off on the wrong foot, and you’re running around like a chicken with your head cut off trying to put out fires and get everything taken care of before your first match later that month.
Sound like something that’s ever happened to you? As a fall sport, it’s a tough task to get all your ducks in a row before stepping on the practice court day 1. There’s not a lot of buffer time, and sometimes it can be difficult to take care of everything before they ever step on campus. However, there are a few tips and tricks that I’ve found can make this process a lot smoother for everyone involved.
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