Fencor 1989s

College recruiting: How soon is too soon? Coaches approach players as early as junior high By KEVIN TRESOLINI Staff reporter 12/26/2002 Elena DelleDonne recently received a recruiting letter from the women's basketball coach at No. 1-ranked Duke University. At last count she's heard from 13 colleges, including defending NCAA champion Connecticut, Villanova, Penn State and Delaware. DelleDonne is just 13 years old and hasn't played a minute of high school basketball. She is in the seventh grade at Wilmington's Ursuline Academy. But she's also 6-foot-2, nimble, a deft ball-handler and an accurate long-range shooter. As DelleDonne's experience shows, the college recruiting process is beginning early these days - too early, some people said. Young players may not be able to handle the attention, demands, expectations or potential disappointments, they said. "It's amazing," said Tom Ferrier, in his 15th year as a girls coach at St. Elizabeth, the last six as head coach. "Recruiting used to be a sophomore, junior, senior thing. Now it's eighth- and ninth-graders. I fear we're pushing some of these kids too soon." Outstanding players can be pinpointed at an earlier age because of the proliferation of national tournaments and camps, most held in the summer. Talent scouts who scrutinize those players will put together rating lists that, with the help of the Internet, can be widely circulated. Early recruiting has risks Recruiting players as young as DelleDonne comes with risks. Their games and schoolwork could suffer. The physiological onset of adolescence could undermine their athletic development. And parents or coaches who may not have the child's best overall, long-term interests in mind could do more harm than good, experts said. "It can be very distracting," said Bill Shearer, a sports psychologist who is an adjunct professor in exercise science at UD. "It can make a player feel isolated from his or her team. Teammates may expect too much of that player, and the player may expect too much from himself or herself. A lot depends on the support system provided by the parents and coaches." University of Delaware women's basketball coach Tina Martin agreed. "You have to be really, really smart when you're talking about a young kid like that," Martin said. "You have to let them develop at their own pace, let them enjoy the game." Last summer, DelleDonne was named most valuable player in the AAU national championships after leading her team to its age-group championship. DelleDonne scored 37 points when her Philadelphia-based team, Fencor, defeated the Texas Express 71-64 on July 6 in Amarillo, Texas, for the AAU national 12-and-under title. Her summer of basketball didn't end there. DelleDonne and her teammates attended a camp for elite players at Penn State. From that camp, DelleDonne was selected for the Best-of-the-Best Camp in Philadelphia, where she was the youngest of 100 players, some of them high school seniors. She's now playing on her Ursuline junior high team and on the Delaware Wildcats and Fencor club teams. She'll be able to play for the Ursuline varsity as an eighth-grader next year. State rules allow eighth-graders to play for the varsity when the middle school and high school are located together, as is the case at most private schools. "I'm really anxious to get started," DelleDonne said. Martin said that DelleDonne has a bright future. "I haven't seen anybody her age better," the veteran women's coach said. Coaches' ethics in play NCAA guidelines regarding the recruitment of basketball players kick in when a student reaches ninth grade, or plays on a high school team as an eighth-grader. But there is nothing barring contact with players before they're in high school. That is where college coaches need to be careful, Martin said. "It comes down to college coaches' ethics," Martin said. "Are you going to barge in and chase around a 12-year-old and her family? A lot can happen between then and when she decides where she's going to college. "I wrote to [DelleDonne] because she's in our back yard, but am I recruiting her? No. You've got to give kids time to grow." DelleDonne tries to keep the recruiting letters in perspective, but hearing from the No. 1 team in the country got her attention. "It meant a lot to me to get that because I didn't really like Duke. I was more of a North Carolina fan," DelleDonne said. "Now I like Duke. It's a motivator. But I know I have a long way to go and have to keep working really hard to get there." College coaches may send a player form letters and questionnaires when they are in ninth and 10th grades. They may not initiate contact with players or their families, but may talk to coaches and guidance counselors. The players and their families may make on-campus visits if they initiate the contact. When students reach 11th grade, they may receive personal letters from coaches, as well as other information regarding the school and the basketball program, such as admissions material, media guides and newspaper articles. Men's coaches may phone players beginning on March 1 of their junior year. Women's coaches cannot call players until June 21, after their junior year. Dave Telep, editor of theinsiderhoops.com, said it's a "common misconception" that middle school players are being rampantly scrutinized by recruiters. "There are a few kids every year who get some attention, but I only know of one example where a men's coach went to see an eighth-grader play last year, and that's because he was in the coach's back yard," said Telep, a 1992 Glasgow High graduate now living in Raleigh, N.C. "They just don't have time for that. "I've seen lists where someone might say so-and-so is the best seventh- or eighth-grade player. But, really, how many players that age has the person really seen? Probably not very many." Former Indiana coach Bobby Knight made headlines in the mid-1980s when he went to watch Damon Bailey play as an eighth-grader. Bailey, a guard, ended up leading Bedford North Lawrence High to a state championship while setting an Indiana high school scoring record. He went on to star at Indiana. High schools get focus The families of DelleDonne, Rushdan and Angel Henderson said they've recognized early that it's important to protect the child and diligently manage the recruiting attention. "The people who are recruiting her couldn't be nicer," Ernie DelleDonne, Elena's father, said. "They're just trying to make sure we remember that college when it comes time to make a decision. "She definitely takes it as a compliment. But she also knows there's a long road ahead and she needs to work hard on her schoolwork and her basketball." Reach Kevin Tresolini at 324-2807 or ktresolini@delawareonline.com.