Summer can be a relaxing time for students. We are encouraged to take a break from studying and enjoy the perks of being a college student. However, the school’s athletes and coaches are not awarded that same luxury.
Coaches start their next cycle of recruiting at the end of their respective seasons, and then dial it up during the summer, when they have more time and are able to host camps and meet highschool athletes.
“We start contacting the [2023] class and inviting them to camps during the summer, and then kind of start mapping out what the fall would look like for them, in the sense of applying to school and then coming up for visits,” women’s wrestling coach Travis Mercado said.
Coaches not only take advantage of high-school recruits, but also try to lure other collegiate athletes to Colorado Mesa University (CMU) via the transfer portal.
The transfer portal is a relatively new phenomena in the NCAA that allows athletes who are dissatisfied with their current school to enter an online database where they can contact other coaches and institutions about potentially transferring schools.
“The only date that really matters in our calendars is June 15. If they are in before that, then they can transfer, but otherwise there is a restricted period for division two {… ] We are kind of lucky at this university that there is a good reputation and the athletics speak for themselves,” women’s soccer coach Megan Remec said.
Athletes and coaches were also focused on their annual youth summer camp hosted on campus. The camps are a great way for coaches and players to give back to the community and build relationships with the next generation of athletes.
“We had about 70 campers come out for the team camp at the end of June. We had a team from Canada come out, which was really exciting, because some of them are going to be competing in the Pan-American games. It was neat to help them for their upcoming competition. Our next camp had 75 wrestlers from all over the United States and it turned into a big camp for us,” Mercado said. Summer camps are also crucial for coaches to promote their program. The school is allowed to recruit highschool athletes after June 15 heading into their junior year. While the majority of the campers are from Mesa County, there are a fair amount of campers from outside the county.
“They get to play as a team with people that they just met like, three days ago. It is awesome to see them succeed because at first they walk in and everyone’s quiet and then all of a sudden there is a switch and it seems like the [campers] are just like let’s go, we got this,” said Redshirt senior middle blocker Tye Wendhorn said.
After the conclusion of the season, according to NCAA rules, athletes are only allowed limited contact with coaches until a later date. This means that collegiate athletes have to get creative with their offseason schedule if they wish to continue practicing. The women’s volleyball captains host a voluntary practice in the middle of the summer, for example.
After the conclusion of camps and summer workouts, teams look forward to coach-sanctioned practices and pre-season exhibition games against other schools before regular season games commence.
