Before beginning my story, I have to clarify that the dad mentioned in this story did not intend to hurt the recruitment process of his daughter. Mistakes were made, and I hope parents that read this can learn from this story.

Maya was sixteen and played basketball for her high school in Pennsylvania. She always played with older teenagers because her skill level was higher than the kids her age. Her parents supported her and had both agreed to send her to the basketball summer camp at The University of Texas. Even though she was only sixteen, she excelled in multiple drills, so she was promoted to a higher skills/age level within the camp. 

Maya's dad, who will remain nameless, is a huge football fan. He was almost more excited than Maya to visit UT because Vince Young, his favorite football player, had attended school there. Seeing his daughter get the attention from the coaches at the school made him proud because he was hoping that she could attend the school in the future. 

After the basketball camp, the head coach decided to have a one-on-one meeting with Maya and her parents to discuss future opportunities. At the end of the meeting, the coach had given Maya an offer to attend the school with a full scholarship. 

You can only imagine how she reacted. Tears of joy appeared, and she smiled at her parents. She was aware that she was too young to commit right there and then but was smart enough to know that she wanted to take her time with the recruiting process. She thanked the coach for the offer and said that she would keep coming back to the camps to get better. 

Maya and her parents drove back home very excited about the opportunity and discussed it the whole way home. Her dad had already texted his immediate family with the good news; he even looked at the Texas shop website to buy gear. He was overly excited about the offer. Maya, who started getting more offers that upcoming fall, was still open to look at the different options. 

One day after practice during the spring semester, her coach, who helped her through the recruiting process, talked to her about phone calls she had received. Supposedly, she had committed to The University of Texas and had not contacted the other school to announced it to them first. Maya's mind was blown away. She was so confused about the whole situation. She looked at her cell phone and had received multiple phone calls and text messages from different coaches, including UT's coaching staff, who had thanked her for accepting their offer and welcomed her to the family. Later, she found that her social media page said that she had made a decision, and she was very excited to attend UT after her senior year. The only other people who knew her social media passwords were her parents; this left her dazed and confused.

When her dad picked her up at her high school wearing Texas gear, she knew he was the culprit. She was livid and asked him what he had done. Her dad admitted to committing her to UT! Not only did Maya have to call the coaches from other institutions and tell them she had not committed to UT, but she also had to tell UT's coaching staff she was removing her commitment to them, and she had to explain that it was a mistake. 

Sadly, some schools rescinded their initial offer, which changed her initial top 10. Her dad deeply regretted being overly involved in her recruiting process. It almost cost her a full ride to college at one of the programs she wanted. Nonetheless, after visiting a Division I school closer to home, she felt like it was the best fit and committed to the school.

The one piece of advice Maya wanted me to share for parents dealing with the recruiting process: 

“Always stay supportive of your children, but also trust them enough and give them space to explore their options on their own and make their final decision. They are the ones who will attend the school.”

* Originally published on March 19, 2018, by Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau