November 25, 2015 -- Today, I basically finished the work allocated to me for softball recruiting. Last week, I began helping Alison Haehnel with the first steps in her recruiting procedure. She had a national list of students that showed general interest in Occidental College. I replied to all of these potential softball athletes, and sent them a short survey for the school. In addition to students showing interest, Alison informed me that she and her assistants have a list of players that they are interested in themselves. This is just the first layer in the multi-layered process that is NCAA recruiting. Once again, I learned from the simple process of reading and sending emails to potential student athletes. Something as small as this can later lead to the landing of a prized student-athlete, so these exchanges are important.
November 20, 2015 -- Today, I was able the help Alison Haehnel with some of her first steps in the recruiting process. Although the NCAA budget is quite large, the bulk of it is allocated to the sports in Division I, which makes sense because the men's basketball tournament is the big money maker. Small schools in any division have trouble recruiting for a variety of reasons, but two big reasons are budget constraints and talent scarcity. Those also go hand in hand in some ways, as when a school cannot recruit a coveted player because of budget issues, so that school has to resort to lesser talent. Alison is the coach of women's softball, and she started her recruiting process for next season. I assisted her with sending emails to her large list of potential recruits. She had a general template, but each email had to be tailored for some students, and this is where I stepped in to help.
Alison Haehnel Bio -- http://www.oxyathletics.com/sports/sball/2012-13/allisonhaehnel November 18, 2015 -- It goes without being said, that racial issues in our country run deep, all the way back to the foundations of our great nation. Last week, the University of Missouri saw its president and chancellor step down in the wake of public pressure. Those incidents inspired students around the country to demonstrate, with Occidental College also included in that group. Several days of protesting eventually led to a student sit in at one of the administration buildings on 11/16. Students occupied the administration building for about 4 days, and luckily for the athletic department, our offices are in another part of campus. Even though the demonstration was peaceful, there was an air of tension around the campus. For me, it was a good reminder that although there is diversity in L.A., there is still a lot of work to be done at all levels. Surprisingly, I have read some statistics on the athletic departments of NCAA universities, and diversity could certainly be infused in some programs nationwide.
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Augustine Caguco
Play sports, work in sports, live through sports.
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