WE, the Breakfast of…Coaches!

Ask any college coach this question:  What one trait do you most covet in a high school prospect?  Work ethic (WE) will be at or near the top of the list.  Even with all the hubbub of late about character, WE wins out. For 30 years, NSR scouts have been working with college coaches to help them fill recruiting needs.  We’ve been through it all with coaches from the pinnacle of college athletics to community colleges with practically no recruiting budgets to speak of, yet there has been a consistent thread when discussing the prospects they want in their programs — kids who work hard. 

There’s an intrinsic value to WE and it trumps nearly all other desirable traits.  Why?  It’s simple.  A dependable, strong WE is transferable to almost any other aspect of college athletics, academics and life.  Once confirmed as a constant in an athlete, coaches can foresee excellent outcomes even if the prospect might be borderline in other areas, including character.  Coaches will, in fact, take more chances on prospects who possess proven, excellent work ethics than practically anything else prep athletes might potentially bring to the table.

It’s a trait which is born and demonstrated early, if not naturally, in individuals.  Kids with good WEs enjoy the day-to-day challenge of pushing themselves one step closer toward reaching their dreams and goals.  They’re the ones outside shooting hoops until bedtime or the kids sitting in the SUV waiting for somebody, anybody, to get in the driver’s seat and get on the road.  It’s a pride thing which many great athletic kids can’t muster up on a consistent basis.  It’s either there or it’s not. 

College coaches love to see proof of a prospect’s WE.  Documentation of workouts and verifiable speed and quickness times are reliable indicators which coaches can refer to with some degree of confidence.  And, the best kids, that is, the ones who are focused on their future and their progress, know where they started, where they are now and where they are headed.  It’s a familiar story.  On the other hand, prospects whose personalities lean more toward the lazier side of life are usually unable to recite any such story and rarely have a top notch WE.  They don’t know their story because they aren’t mentally committed to their own future.  Good athlete, yes.  Future college athlete, ehhhh, not likely.  

You want to see the WE?  Look for the kid who arrives early and stays late.  Find the one who isn’t talking a lot between sets or whose practice uniform never seems to be clean.  Home in on the one who cares about getting better today than yesterday.  This is the kid who has a grasp of the future.  This is the athlete who makes a college athletic program better