I was driving on I-290, windows fully down, Savage Love blasting on the radio, long blonde hair obstructing my view at 65 mph when my phone rang. My solo performance came to an abrupt stop.
“Hi, Coach Beer! How are you?” I asked. “How are the kids?” It’s been eight years since Coach Beer showed up to 5 AM practices and ran alongside us on Schaumburg’s paved sidewalks. He sweated in solidarity with a bunch of giggling high school girls, six days a week without complaint. I called him Coach Heineken once, and that was the only time he ever got mad at me.
He would stride next to us in the summer, swinging one of his arms, and pull down tree branches so dew would fall on us and cool us off. In the winter, he would hold branches up, so the snow wouldn’t drop and freeze us even more than what we were already shivering.
Since then, he’s gotten married, had two kids, and now coaches a different girl’s team in the Chicago Public Schools system.
“Coach, I need your help,” I said. A million questions surfaced, racing at 80 mph, but I tried to consolidate them to a select few. How are you training the girls’ team? What does college recruiting look like now? How are you helping in the process as a high school coach?
You see, high school coaches play an essential role in the recruiting process. According to NCAA guidelines, college coaches aren’t allowed to reach athletes until their junior year in high school. Student-athletes can reach out to coaches themselves. But if coaches follow procedures, recruits won’t get a response until junior year at the earliest.
College coaches are, however, allowed to reach out to high school coaches to see if qualified and interested athletes are looking to pursue their programs.
“I haven’t seen that much of a change in recruiting just yet,” Coach Beer said. “I’ll forward you the emails I’ve received from college coaches so far.”