Randy Snow, former Wheelchair Tennis World Champion, made this statement during a motivational talk that he delivered in 2000 to a group of athletes at UT. He was frustrated by a disturbing trend that he was seeing develop in young people.........a constant, almost obsessive need to know how they stack up against others. Randy's comment resonated with me. More than ever before recruiting had become a question of exactly how many times do I have to tell this kid (and more importantly his parents) how awesome he is? For a team to win an NCAA Championship, the athletes have to want it more than the coaches. It has become increasingly difficult for college coaches to find recruits who inspired them..........the drive to compete just oozing out of their pores!
I decided to develop a Competitive Personality Profile to help me evaluate prospects. I listed negative characteristics in the left column and the corresponding positive characteristics in the right column. I then constructed questions designed to help me determine whether a recruit was a "left sider" or a "right sider.". For instance, questions about experiences they had with their coaches while growing up provided me with insight into traits 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, and 9. In many cases their answers revealed attitudes and trends in behavior that were likely to be repeated in college.
A similar method of screening, called behavior-based interviewing (see Feb. 18th post), has become increasingly popular with corporations as an integral part of the hiring process. It has proven to be a more reliable predictor of future excellence than conventional screening protocols because it is more difficult to simply tell the interviewer what he or she wants to hear. Will our young students be prepared for this gauntlet? Will they be Left Siders or Right Siders? Will they be Comparors or Competitors?
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