Recruiting enhances fall, winter teams
Campus Times
December 6, 1996
It has been a season full of thanks for the athletic teams at the University
of La Verne this year. Freshman and transfer students enrolled at ULV in
herds this fall as a result of prosperous recruiting efforts by coaches.
The University of La Verne is affiliated with the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III level. It is a non-scholarship
school, which means the athletes are not given money to participate in athletics.
Many athletes come to ULV as students to get a good education and become
athletes somewhere along the way. Others come here to play sports initially
as well as get their education. There are many ways in which coaches do
their recruiting but the one angle that seems most successful is to sell
the athlete on the school and its academic programs and let the sports come
as an added bonus.
"We take what a student wants in an education and try to fit it
into what we have to offer in the athletic program," said men's volleyball
head coach Don Flora.
Flora had what he considered a good recruiting year for men's volleyball,
posting a roster with eight new names on it. He recruited four freshman
and four transfers.
Such good recruiting resulted from a lot of local talent. When recruiting,
Flora says he focuses on players within a 40-mile radius.
"A lot of kids write me, I talk to the Junior National Volleyball
Program, go to tournaments," Flora said, "but most of all I look
for good kids as well as good athletes and try and fit them into our program."
One of the most youthful teams on campus is the women's volleyball team
which fielded seven freshman and two transfers. This past season the women
compiled an 18-10 record and received a playoff berth in the NCAA Division
III Regional playoffs. To go along with their first taste of playoff action
in three years, two of the nine new players received post-season honors.
Freshman outside hitter Sarah Henry was given a second team all-conference
award and junior setter Mercury Simonian made first team all-conference.
The La Verne football team also had a good year. After losing quarterback
Ryan Campuzano in 1995 to graduation, the coaching staff brought in two
transfers to replace him. Sophomore Ryan Hawkins from Azusa Pacific and
sophomore James Free from Citrus College shared quarterback duties this
year.
The team also had about 45 new players this year, who now have at the
least one year of experience under their belts.
Head coach Don Morel is not worried about the numbers he may lose this
year.
"We have a number of good players coming back next year that will
be key to our success," he said. "Yes, we are losing some key
players but that happens to every team, every year, we'll be fine."
He hopes to bring at least 400 prospective players on campus and keep
10 percent of them.
"That's what the numbers say. And we exceeded that this year,"
Morel said. "Hopefully next year we will be just as lucky."
When looking at prospective players, Morel and his coaching staff focus
mostly on local talent which includes about a 60-mile radius.
"We look at kids in the high schools that have at least a 3.0 grade
point average and a 2.6 in the junior colleges," said Morel, "and
most of all if they fit into the scheme here at La Verne."
One of the teams which plans to do a lot of recruiting this spring will
be the women's soccer team which graduates eight seniors. With only three
freshman listed on this fall's roster, head coach Wendy Zwissler says she
will be pounding the pavement looking for new talent.
Zwissler attributes local recruiting to the fact that "most kids
want a scholarship." But also adds that La Verne offers athletes a
lot of things that Division I schools cannot, and one of them is the opportunity
to play more than one sport.
"Many of the coaches and I get together in a group effort to try
and get athletes here," Zwissler said. "And often times it works
because playing two or three sports is very important to a lot of people."
As for the prospective students view, what they have to rely on is getting
their name to the coaches. There are services now that are helpful in doing
this. College Prospects of America, Inc. and College Bound Student-Athletes
are just two of the programs designed to help students go to college, get
an education and play college sports.
For a fee, professional recruiters will make a profile of a students'
academic and athletic achievements and distribute them to colleges.
"They are difficult to use sometimes because it's not realistic
that a student will move from coast to coast," said Flora who rarely
uses the profiles.
"If they are within the states I do my recruiting I will send them
a letter, if not, I won't," said Zwissler.
Men's basketball brought in six freshman and nine transfers. Add to
this three returners, and the team, which already has a 2-1 record, hopes
to do well this season.
Coaches also agree that it is important to sell the education first
and that ULV's close knit setting is appealing to athletes who visit.
"We have been very fortunate to get athletes who either could have
or went to higher divisions but ended up at La Verne," said Zwissler.
Several of the athletic teams at ULV have been successful in recent
years and it is a consensus among coaches that convincing students to come
to La Verne is not always easy. Because they are not able to give scholarships
it does put the University at somewhat of a disadvantage, yet the Leopard
teams continue to finish at or near the top of the final standings.