# Who's watching



## Torros (Oct 19, 2016)

I read some of the post on the forum and wonder what some people are thinking, especially those who share their personal info and are posting inflamatory things. Just a heads up. College coaches are on this forum. I would hate to see any kid lose their shot at playing in college or have their scholarship offer pulled because of what their parent posted. That's it.


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## genesis (Oct 19, 2016)

Torros said:


> I read some of the post on the forum and wonder what some people are thinking, especially those who share their personal info and are posting inflamatory things. Just a heads up. College coaches are on this forum. I would hate to see any kid lose their shot at playing in college or have their scholarship offer pulled because of what their parent posted. That's it.


Absolute Nonsense


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## mirage (Oct 19, 2016)

Don't know if any college coaches read any of this stuff or bothers to figure out what screen name belongs to which recruit but what I do know is this.  They do hire a service to do a social media checks for both the players and the parents.  We've been told by multiple coaches that they've walked away from recruits because of their social media and other online presence. 

To dismiss it as nonsense, I believe, is a mistake.  But it is all up to you.

Just remember that EVERYTHING online is essentially there forever....the good, the bad and the ugly.

ps, large employers have been doing this for a while as they are down-selecting for potential hires.


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## espola (Oct 19, 2016)

mirage said:


> Don't know if any college coaches read any of this stuff or bothers to figure out what screen name belongs to which recruit but what I do know is this.  They do hire a service to do a social media checks for both the players and the parents.  We've been told by multiple coaches that they've walked away from recruits because of their social media and other online presence.
> 
> To dismiss it as nonsense, I believe, is a mistake.  But it is all up to you.
> 
> ...


Never post anything you wouldn't want your mother to read.


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## MessiFTW (Oct 19, 2016)

Your mother must be really ignorant.


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## espola (Oct 20, 2016)

MessiFTW said:


> Your mother must be really ignorant.


I'm guessing this is what got Messi banned.


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## Round (Oct 20, 2016)

Torros said:


> I read some of the post on the forum and wonder what some people are thinking, especially those who share their personal info and are posting inflamatory things. Just a heads up. College coaches are on this forum. I would hate to see any kid lose their shot at playing in college or have their scholarship offer pulled because of what their parent posted. That's it.


Could you provide a list of those coaches?  
Generally I think picking a college for soccer is a bad idea.  Definitely a bad idea to go to a college with a coach that cruises the soccer forums and has so little respect for the kids that they would make a life changing choice over a overzealous parents bad behavior. 

Didn't stop UCLA.


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## espola (Oct 20, 2016)

Round said:


> Could you provide a list of those coaches?
> Generally I think picking a college for soccer is a bad idea.  Definitely a bad idea to go to a college with a coach that cruises the soccer forums and has so little respect for the kids that they would make a life changing choice over a overzealous parents bad behavior.
> 
> Didn't stop UCLA.


There are perhaps two dozen players every year (each, male and female) that any coach would recognize as an immediate starter likely to last 4 years.  Then there are a couple hundred that are hard to tell apart, that are stars in their club or high school teams, but who the coach thinks will fall into the typical college player mold of bench or red shirt the first 2 years working onto a starting role by Senior year.  The coach will look at off-field issues to sort those players out, things like grades, disciplinary issues, and parents (good or bad) to select the last few spots.

You can easily tell if your kid is in the top category - he will be getting emails and phone calls from schools you never heard of before the start of his senior HS year.  If you're not - don't take a chance on poisoning the well.


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## Sped (Oct 20, 2016)

I don't expect my kid to play in college, so I don't care.


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## Sheriff Joe (Oct 20, 2016)

Round said:


> Could you provide a list of those coaches?
> Generally I think picking a college for soccer is a bad idea.  Definitely a bad idea to go to a college with a coach that cruises the soccer forums and has so little respect for the kids that they would make a life changing choice over a overzealous parents bad behavior.
> 
> Didn't stop UCLA.


Nice.


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## Multi Sport (Oct 20, 2016)

espola said:


> There are perhaps two dozen players every year (each, male and female) that any coach would recognize as an immediate starter likely to last 4 years.  Then there are a couple hundred that are hard to tell apart, that are stars in their club or high school teams, but who the coach thinks will fall into the typical college player mold of bench or red shirt the first 2 years working onto a starting role by Senior year.  The coach will look at off-field issues to sort those players out, things like grades, disciplinary issues, and parents (good or bad) to select the last few spots.
> 
> You can easily tell if your kid is in the top category - he will be getting emails and phone calls from schools you never heard of before the start of his senior HS year.  If you're not - don't take a chance on poisoning the well.


Well I guess we do have some common ground. My daughters coach had to address this issue in a parent meeting. His concern was the undo attention a certain parent was creating on the team. His daughter fit in exactly where you said, top player on the team but the parents behavior was scaring away college coaches. Coach even had a one on one with the Dad to tell him to stop posting on the forum.


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## Torros (Oct 31, 2016)

genesis said:


> Absolute Nonsense


Based off of what? Mine is based on first hand knowledge. If you choose to ignore it that's fine.


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## genesis (Nov 4, 2016)

Torros said:


> Based off of what? Mine is based on first hand knowledge. If you choose to ignore it that's fine.


Any college coach who cares about this forum is an idiot.  They will take any player so long as the player meets their needs. To think anything else is naïve. Yes First, First, First hand knowledge.


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## Torros (Nov 4, 2016)

Well then you better call the college coaches who check out this forum and other forums and explain to them how naive they are. If this were Football or Basketball, sports that actually make money for schools, then I would completly agree.


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## genesis (Nov 7, 2016)

So Mia Hamm's parents are on this forum calling people idiots and you all think a coach would not take her because they don't like her folks? You are nuts.


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## Sunil Illuminati (Nov 7, 2016)

genesis said:


> So Mia Hamm's parents are on this forum calling people idiots and you all think a coach would not take her because they don't like her folks? You are nuts.


I can't think of one college coach who would currently sign Mia Hamm?


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## espola (Nov 7, 2016)

genesis said:


> So Mia Hamm's parents are on this forum calling people idiots and you all think a coach would not take her because they don't like her folks? You are nuts.


It's not the obvious stars who are at risk.  It's the hundreds of maybe-stars that a coach has to select 4 or 5 from - don't give him any reason to dislike you and thus pass on your kid.


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## Torros (Nov 7, 2016)

genesis said:


> So Mia Hamm's parents are on this forum calling people idiots and you all think a coach would not take her because they don't like her folks? You are nuts.


If any parents are on here posting negative comments about coaches, clubs or other players and they make their identity known and that of their kid, then yes, you are going to scare away some coaches. If you don't believe it why do most people on here keep their identity secret? 
Why not use your real name? Some people know my name as I do others, but that's because they are my friends in real life. Coaches look at Social Media, just like this forum. I can tell you for a fact that there are two Mens Soccer coaches from So Cal schools, one is NAIA and the other D1 that have profiles on this forum. Why would a coach want to deal with a crazy parent for four years in a sport like Soccer?

 Most of the parents posting on here don't have a kid as talented as Mia was and will not go to a major D1 school. If that's the case then their kid is lumped in with a lot of other kids, good players but not amazing. If a coach has a choice between two kids with equal abilities but knows the parents of one of the kids is a troublemaker then it makes the coaches choice that much easier. 

http://www.nhregister.com/sports/20140811/bad-social-media-behavior-can-ruin-your-athletic-scholarship-offer


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## wildcat66 (Nov 7, 2016)

How would a crazy parent affect a college coach?


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## Torros (Nov 7, 2016)

espola said:


> It's not the obvious stars who are at risk.  It's the hundreds of maybe-stars that a coach has to select 4 or 5 from - don't give him any reason to dislike you and thus pass on your kid.





wildcat66 said:


> How would a crazy parent affect a college coach?


If a parent is going to be making negative post while their kid is playing club then whats to stop them from continuing their post once their kid is in college? If your going to post negative stuff its best to keep your identity and that of your kids to yourself. Personally, I try to stay away from posting negative stuff best I can. But to each his own. It would just be a shame for a kid to miss out on a school they want to go to because their parent  gave away too much information.


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## genesis (Nov 7, 2016)

espola said:


> It's not the obvious stars who are at risk. It's the hundreds of maybe-stars that a coach has to select 4 or 5 from - don't give him any reason to dislike you and thus pass on your kid.


If your kid can meet the needs of a coach and program they will "generally" overlook parental nonsense. Just ask the Harvard men's program.


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## espola (Nov 7, 2016)

genesis said:


> If your kid can meet the needs of a coach and program they will "generally" overlook parental nonsense. Just ask the Harvard men's program.


I don't see how your posting makes any sense, but ask yourself this - would the Harvard coach have recruited any of those players if he had known that their behavior would eventually lead to the ongoing public mockery of the program?


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## sandshark (Nov 10, 2016)

The truth is if any college or club coach comes on here to creep around to find out what a parent is saying about what club or club team then he/she needs to get a life! The parent/coach, player relationship is almost ZERO when your kid starts playing in college!  I think a college coach would be way more likely to go on a players Instagram or FB if they are not set as private and the coach can actually see what that player is about in real life. I would worry more about you kid as a parent and what they are doing right or wrong on their social media accounts then WTH some coach thinks!


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## espola (Nov 10, 2016)

sandshark said:


> The truth is if any college or club coach comes on here to creep around to find out what a parent is saying about what club or club team then he/she needs to get a life! The parent/coach, player relationship is almost ZERO when your kid starts playing in college!  I think a college coach would be way more likely to go on a players Instagram or FB if they are not set as private and the coach can actually see what that player is about in real life. I would worry more about you kid as a parent and what they are doing right or wrong on their social media accounts then WTH some coach thinks!


Coaches would like it to be zero (except for a few cases***), but not all parents agree.


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## Multi Sport (Nov 10, 2016)

I posed the question to my sister. She played D1, was nominated for an ESPY, won Collegiate Player of the year and was recently inducted into her schools HOF. She's still involved, but on the National level and High School. I asked her if she or any coaches she knows checks or has people who check for them the social media acoounts of recruits. She laughed and said of course. I then asked her if they also check on the parents and again she laughed and said without a doubt. I asked if a parents social media post would deter a coach from recruiting a player... her comment, it has.


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## clarino (Nov 10, 2016)

I call bull shit on this last post.  Give me her name and phone number and I will call her to confirm.


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## espola (Nov 10, 2016)

clarino said:


> I call bull shit on this last post.  Give me her name and phone number and I will call her to confirm.


I call bull shit on your bull shit.  Give me your name and phone number and I will call you to confirm.


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## sandshark (Nov 11, 2016)

Ok maybe if your parent is all over Instagram or FB bashing the shit out of clubs and other players? But a college coach  creeping on some random forum like this  looking for something I DOUBT it!


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## Sheriff Joe (Nov 11, 2016)

Multi Sport said:


> I posed the question to my sister. She played D1, was nominated for an ESPY, won Collegiate Player of the year and was recently inducted into her schools HOF. She's still involved, but on the National level and High School. I asked her if she or any coaches she knows checks or has people who check for them the social media acoounts of recruits. She laughed and said of course. I then asked her if they also check on the parents and again she laughed and said without a doubt. I asked if a parents social media post would deter a coach from recruiting a player... her comment, it has.


Well, I'm good.


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## Multi Sport (Nov 11, 2016)

sandshark said:


> Ok maybe if your parent is all over Instagram or FB bashing the shit out of clubs and other players? But a college coach  creeping on some random forum like this  looking for something I DOUBT it!


This is a soccer forum, so it would make sense for a soccer coach. Again, read what I posted. Some have people who do this for them. But you can ignore what I posted. But I will be seeing my Sister and her family soon and I'm curious to see what her husband says. He played D1 and in the NFL.


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## espola (Nov 11, 2016)

sandshark said:


> Ok maybe if your parent is all over Instagram or FB bashing the shit out of clubs and other players? But a college coach  creeping on some random forum like this  looking for something I DOUBT it!


The coach is just doing due diligence (and he may actually hand off the drudgery part to an assistant or a work-grant recipient).  The last thing the coach wants is to get a call from the AD and not know how to answer it.  "Did you know what your new recruit said about female teachers?"  "Do you know what his father said about college graduates?"


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## sandshark (Nov 13, 2016)

Well let's hope that the parents raised a player with some class and respect for others.


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## genesis (Nov 13, 2016)

I would check to see who they voted for.  Hehe


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## genesis (Nov 13, 2016)

espola said:


> I don't see how your posting makes any sense, but ask yourself this - would the Harvard coach have recruited any of those players if he had known that their behavior would eventually lead to the ongoing public mockery of the program?


Of course not but unless he/she was Carnac there would be no way to materially predict future behavior based on the words of parents on a forum or even the adolescent behavior of young people.  Besides more often than not most coaches naively believe they have the ability to change the problem child regardless of past behavior. Yes, yes there are exceptions.


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## genesis (Nov 13, 2016)

espola said:


> The coach is just doing due diligence (and he may actually hand off the drudgery part to an assistant or a work-grant recipient). The last thing the coach wants is to get a call from the AD and not know how to answer it. "Did you know what your new recruit said about female teachers?" "Do you know what his father said about college graduates?"


You mean like Donald Trump? Hehe.


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## Torros (Dec 18, 2016)

About a month ago I was hanging out with a friend of mine, a fellow forum member. He started to receive PM's from another forum member that were unsolicited. This guy obviously thought he was just sending messages to my friend and that for some reason nobody would ever read them, but I was sitting there reading them along side my friend. Again, don't send messages or post things that you wouldn't want to get out. You never know who the person on the other side knows, it might even be your kids future college coach.


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## PaytoplayinLancaster? (Dec 18, 2016)

So now our kids need a public relations expert to get into college...


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## The Driver (Dec 18, 2016)

Torros said:


> *About a month ago I was hanging out with a friend of mine*, a fellow forum member. He started to receive PM's from another forum member that were unsolicited. This guy obviously thought he was just sending messages to my friend and that for some reason nobody would ever read them, but I was sitting there reading them along side my friend. Again, don't send messages or post things that you wouldn't want to get out. *You never know who the person on the other side knows, it might even be your kids future college coach.*


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## Multi Sport (Dec 22, 2016)

clarino said:


> I call bull shit on this last post.  Give me her name and phone number and I will call her to confirm.


Hey Clarino...if you have a kid who is good enough to play in college and is interested in going to a major school on the East Coast then I would be more then happy to pass your kids info on to my sister , or if you have a son who plays football, to my brother in law. Then you can talk to her face to face next month when they come out.


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