A Quiet Signing Day for College-Bound Athletes

Photo Courtesy of Choate Flickr

On November 11, three Choate seniors officially signed with their future colleges, cementing their athletic and academic careers. Grace Bohan ’21 committed to row at Boston College; Mia Scarpati ’21 committed to play golf at Lehigh University; and Patrick Yowan ’21 committed to play lacrosse at Loyola University Maryland. All three of these schools compete in NCAA Division I.

The recruitment process for high-school athletes has changed drastically since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ten months ago, the NCAA made the decision to suspend all in-person recruiting until April 15, 2021. Athletes can no longer visit college campuses prior to committing, nor can they easily display their talents for college scouts in person. 

Bohan found the recruitment process to be “challenging this year because many college campuses didn’t allow visits.” Nevertheless, she was able to get to know coaches and teams through “virtual events, phone calls, and emailing back and forth.”

Under normal circumstances, most athletes have the opportunity to get to know their future teammates and coaches before committing to a school. Even without that luxury, Bohan feels she found a home at Boston College. The head coach, she said, “made a great effort of making sure I knew my future teammates even though I couldn’t meet them in person. She kept in constant contact.” Both the coach and current athletes at Boston College answered “all of my questions and were understanding that this year and the process was very different and difficult.”

Scarpati faced similar challenges after many important golf tournaments were cancelled or delayed. “I couldn’t formally visit any campuses or meet with coaches because the NCAA instituted a recruiting ban on coach-to-recruit contact, and obviously campuses were closed,” she said. Without the opportunity to connect with schools through the traditional recruitment avenues, Scarpati decided to focus on schools she had already talked to before the pandemic hit. 

“I was fortunate enough that I had been in communication with Lehigh since early in my junior year and managed to get on campus and meet with the coach right before Covid-19 hit,” Scarpati said. “It was important to me that I found a school with a great business/finance program, a motivated golf team, and a welcoming community.” Luckily, Lehigh checked all of those boxes, and Scarpati will join the golf team as a finance major in the fall. 

Although Yowan also struggled with limitations due to the pandemic, he was still able to establish strong relationships with both the coaches and the other new recruits. In describing his experience, he said, “The head coach always kept in touch with me and gave updates on how things were down in Baltimore. It was also nice that he set up Zoom meetings with me and the rest of the recruits in my class. Everyone already knows each other moderately well without having met each other in person.”

Traditionally, a signing day allows athletes to celebrate their accomplishment with friends and family. However, this year, parents were forced to attend the signing ceremony virtually, while students were joined only by coaches and a few close friends.

“I felt most badly for my parents because they were unable to be there with me,” Scarpati said. “It definitely felt a lot different than I had expected. However, it was still an awesome culminating experience for my recruiting process, despite the less-than-ideal circumstances.” 

Similarly, Yowan had been looking forward to signing day throughout his athletic career and felt frustrated that his parents could only make it through Zoom. However, he still looked on the bright side of things. “I’m grateful for their presence nonetheless. At the end of the day, it’s just watching someone sign their name, and I hope my parents understand their immense role in getting me to where I am now.”

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