i thought it'd be a good idea for a thread for random preseason discussions. i've seen several posts from iu today about this being the first practice of the season. it seems crazy to me that our college teams are starting the week before their first exhibition matches while HS teams here in IN have been practicing since 8/1. if today is the first official day of practice, what have they been allowed to do this summer up to now?
ALL college teams have been having "captain practices" since 8/1... NCAA rules are a joke for player development but it is what it is...
To demonstrate just how far the cold, clammy hand of the NCAA reaches - my son before his first year of college soccer (2010) was invited by the team captains to show up 10 days early for captains' camp. He was eager to go, and for the time of the camp he slept on a couch in the living room of one of the senior players, since he had no lodging until the official pre-season practices opened up wherupon the schoolgave the freshman players temporary dorm rooms. Somehow the compliance officer heard about this, and judged it to be an unacceptable benefit because he didn't pay rent on the couch. He had to make a small donation to his favorite charity as punishment to clean his record.
The coaching staff (and by extension, the college) is not supposed to have any control of it. On one of our college visits, the coach showed the view of the practice field from his office - he made some comment like "I never watch from here" that I didn't appreciate at the time. I recall a parallel situation with a basketball coach whose office was in the same gym as the preseason captains workouts. The compromise judgement was that he was permitted to walk past the practice session on the way to his office as long as he did not stop to observe or comment on it.
How about 2 days of training before first exhibition match. UNC Tarheels vs Winthrop yesterday evening. UNC win 1-0 capitalizing on a Winthrop turnover in front of goal. College debut for several big names including Lindley, Adamolekun, Skahan, Kelly, Montesdeoca. UNC better and more chances. Winthrop surprisingly resilient for a team returning few starters. Last seasons goal total for players available for this game for Winthrop... 1.
I confirm my sons were "invited" to captain's training before the official date. Mostly, physical preparation without the ball to avoid injuries from too enthusiastic sessions.... And indeed, team mates compressed in the rare available flats, before dorms or other means are opened. It can be a couch or a thin mattress on the floor among suitcases, packs of toiler papers, kitchen equipment and other stuff that moms decided as critical for a student's daily life.
Wow!!! That's crazy!!!! One would think they had bigger problems to worry about! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Coaches know when preseason starts. It is their job. They also control the scheduling. So, if a preseason match is scheduled 2-7 days from start of preseason...it's the coach's doing. It's really not that unheard of to have a preseason match early. In fact, I like it as it breaks up the monotony of training during the preseason. Guys have been waiting for months to get the season rolling again, it helps get into (mentally) preseason that much earlier.
Another little twist on this - a couple of years later another player from his high school, from a family who has been friends of ours since my son was in first grade with his brother, went on an official visit to UC Davis. He arrived mid-day Friday and he wanted to stay for the game scheduled Sunday afternoon - but that is beyond the 48-hour limit allowed. The solution was for an assistant coach to walk him across the street before time ran out to the parking lot of an off-campus store where I was waiting. Then we walked back across the street and a short distance on campus to the game. But wait - there's more -- after the game, we all went out to dinner at a local-favorite hamburger joint with my son and a couple of his roommates/teammates. The visitor wouldn't let me pay for his meal and insisted on giving me $10 as his share of the bill. I guess he didn't want any possibility of an unearned benefit lingering over his career.
The coach offered me a CSUB scarf to bring back to Switzerland (for the chilly nights when watching the games on our computer screen at 4am): is it compliant? Did I ruin my son's future by accepting it?
Was the coach an established personal or family friend? Did you pay for it? Your kid didn't want to go to that school anyway, right?