Athletic Scholarships and Social Distancing
March 22, 2021
By Sophie Bright
Editorial Page Editor
Like most of the major events this year, most Millikan sports have been altered or canceled all together due to COVID-19 precautions. This has also greatly affected the ability for seniors and juniors to receive athletic scholarships. After speaking with Mike Garibasio and JJ Fiddler from the562.org, it is more clear about how athletic scholarships are still being handed out, with the exception of a few alterations.
Firstly, the scholarships are typically given out by college scouts watching the athletes play in the games that take place during the fall and sometimes spring semesters. This year, since there haven’t been any games to observe, the scholarships are being given out in other ways such as through film. Mike Garabasio said, “This is actually how most evaluation was done even prior to the pandemic,” so some methods have not been dramatically changed due to COVID-19.
One thing that has really been altered from the pandemic is the ability to see how the athletes fit into the team that they could be joining, as well as the on campus recruiting visits which allow for the incoming athletes to preview the campus and dorms that they will be living in. These visits can be very important for the athletes to pick between two schools that could be offering up a scholarship to them. It has been stated by Garibasio that they have been doing the campus tours via zoom, but most know that that is never an ideal situation.
Recently, the Long Beach School District has been approved to hold few sports games against other schools. In the month of February Millikan’s football team attended a game against another Long Beach high school for the first time in almost a year. This did not affect the process of scholarships though, because the attendance level of the games was limited to athletes’ family and coaches with no outside attendees or students.
PHOTO COURTESY OF millikanathletics.com
The picture is a photo taken off of the athletics website, displaying how no games are taking place
Secondly, the process is of course going to be different than other years in the fact that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has lengthened its “dead period,” which is the time where in-person recruiting (which includes in-home visits, and official visits by athletes to college) has been prohibited.
“There are also club sports and states that have fewer COVID restrictions. So athletes who are in those more open states, and the ones who can afford to play club, have an advantage when it comes to getting noticed by recruiters,” says JJ Fiddler from the562.org. Because Millikan is in a city with a higher COVID-19 count, it is less likely for athletes to be noticed because of the circumstances.
The last thing to account for is that the NCAA is offering fewer scholarships overall, which means fewer opportunities for the incoming freshmen. “Those players who are back for another year are basically using roster spots and scholarship money that would usually go to incoming freshmen. Overall there’s just less opportunities.” says Fiddler.
Everything this year has been altered to fit the COVID-19 guidelines so it’s really no surprise that a few tweaks had to be made in order to fit the CDC’s recommendations.
Kate Dillon • Apr 1, 2021 at 12:17 pm
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 7 (March 22, 2021), Sophie Bright wrote an article titled “Athletic Scholarships and Social Distancing”. This was an amazing and informative article that truly gave us some insight into how college scouts were recruiting during these strange times. She interviewed Mike Garabasio and JJ Fiddler from our local Long Beach Athletics news and footage source, The 562.org. Garabasio said that with these new precautions and rules, a lot of the recruiting is done through film. He also noted that a lot of recruiting was doen this way pre-pandemic as well. Bright also informs us that the main thing that has changed in sports recruitment is the on campus visits. Garabasio says that they are now done via zoom. JJ Fiddler also noted that kids in other states that have looser Covid-19 guidelines will have more of a chance to be seen by recruiters since they have been able to play games more often then the kids in Long Beach, who have stricter guidelines due to our higher Covid-19 count. Overall, Bright’s article was thorough and right to the point. It was also very informative and could be very useful if kids are looking to get recruited and need more information on it.
Sincerely,
Kate Dillon, Grade 11
Emily Winters • Apr 1, 2021 at 12:16 pm
April 1, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In issue 7 (March 22, 2021), Sophie Bright wrote an article titled “Athletic Scholarships and Social Distancing”. Bright’s article caught my attention as an upcoming senior for Millikan high school as I became curious on how scholarships would be handed out to those in the athletic fields due to social distancing. The formatting used to explain the crisis at hand flowed very well, giving not only a brief overview on regulations, but overall properly explained the protocols used with recruiters and regulations within different states. I found it very interesting on how Bright claims that some states have certain advantages for students trying to earn scholarships within sports because of the state’s open regulations throughout covid. What would this mean for the California students who never got the open regulation opportunities like states such as Florida or New York? Will the college recruiters only look at previous years-which may lack skills learned over covid- or will students get one final chance near the end of the year to be seen by recruiters as schools slowly open back up again? I also noticed that within the second to last paragraph, Bright explained that there were fewer scholarship opportunities being made throughout covid, which I believe to be an unfair play of cards to those who have been relying on sports scholarships and now have a much more minimized chance of acquiring one. I am curious to hear more about the subject of scholarships, not only for sports, but for other programs such as music scholarships, arts scholarships, and so forth.
Sincerely,
Emily Winters, Grade 11
Alexis Pitts • Apr 1, 2021 at 10:50 am
April 1, 2021
Dear corydon editor
In issue 7 ( March 22, 2021) by Sophie Bright wrote an article tittled Athletic Scholarships and Social Distance. In this article she explaiins how there is a huge issue regaurding the sports system. Covid really has taken a toll on sports and the performance of those in sports. One key point that I thought was important was her comment regaurding the scholorships. Due to the season being pushed back the time where most scouts came out got held back. For some it was seniors and that was the year they needed in order for colleges to notice them. It also sucks hhow many games areant able to be perfomed and the seasons are now shorter than usual.
It’s good that now they are letting up on restrictions for sports so now they can have more oppurtunieties. Games are allowed to still be held along with the percosions of Covid. Many people are still skeptical due to covid not just dissapeeering rhe disease is still out there. Although that is fine life still has to go on, as long as people follow the saftey porcossions for the virus. For next year they should do the same as they are doing now, having sports but still social distincing.
Sincerely,
Alexis pitts, Grade 11
Emily Camacho • Apr 1, 2021 at 10:30 am
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 7 (March 22, 2021), Sophie Bright wrote an article titled “Athletic Scholarships and Distant Learning”. This young woman, Sophie Bright did an excellent job writing the article, she displayed how sports has been a struggle for the past year since many people have dreams of becoming professional athletes. Not only that, but people also use athletic scholarships as a way to make it into college. A huge question that has been stirring around the mind’s of students is, how are seniors or juniors going to get recruited if we aren’t allowed to play any games. We know a lot of things have been altered from Covid, like learning, everything has become virtual, perhaps even jobs use zoom to work. Bright spoke with Mike Garibasio and JJ Fiddler from the562.org, which is a media outlet that covers sport and education in Long Beach, they stated that students have been recruited this year through films. This has always been used before, but became the main method this year. Athletes who can afford to play club have an advantage, which is unfair to those who can not, but overall there are just less opportunities for students.
You did a great job incorporating Mike Garibasio and JJ Fiddler, making your article stronger. A suggestion I say would be adding the perspective of a student athlete who got a scholarship or is trying to, to have different perspectives on the people who were affected this year. Also that would be considered a credible source, which will make your article more valid.
Sincerely,
Emily Camacho, Grade 11
Ethan Navas • Apr 1, 2021 at 10:21 am
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 7 (March 22, 2021), Sophie Bright wrote an article titled “Athletic scholarships and social distancing ”. Overall this article was very accurate to what has happened in college sports and highschool sports over the past year due to COVID-19. I think this article should have talked more about the precautions that the highschool athletes and coaches have had to take in order to get to the point that we are currently at. The article talks about scholarships and official visits to colleges, which not everyone is going to get, and while it was informative about how they are working in this day and age I think the focus should have been shifted more towards highschool sports. I understand that the title of the article has to do with scholarships, but I think diving into how highschool coaches and players are handling it could have been more informative. I believe that the club sports that have been going on also have a big part in scholarships because they are the most recent film that some people have due to the fact that we are having a delayed season. Also when talking about the football team playing for the first time in a year it was a little bit unclear as to who they played and the wording around it was just a little bit confusing for me.
Sincerely,
Ethan Navas, Grade 11
Isaiah Alfaro Zavala • Mar 31, 2021 at 10:59 pm
March 31, 2021
Dear Corydon editor,
In issue 7 (March 22, 2021), Sophie Bright wrote an article titled “Athletic Scholarship and Social Distancing” she talks about how COVID-19 has affected sports and how its hurting students from getting their opportunity for scholarships for college. She also went over the process on how students are being chosen to get scholarships. She did do a good job on getting information on how scouts are going to look for students eligible for scholarships. She also did a great job on showing the disadvantages of being in california with more regulations compared to a state that has less restrictions and more opportunities.
I would suggest talking about how the students are being affected with this information by talking about how many have dropped out of the sport or how it has taken a toll on how the students are doing academically. I would also suggest making sure that all sentences are all grammatically correct because there were some sentences with errors, such as the sentence in the third paragraph you used two “that” back to back. Other than little corrections that should be made, this article was very informative and great in telling the process and position athletes are in being able to get scholarships.
Sincerely,
Isaiah Alfaro Zavala, Grade 12
Cameron Snyder • Mar 31, 2021 at 12:16 pm
March 31, 2021
Dear Corydon editor
In issue 7 (March 22, 2021), Sophie Bright wrote an article titled ‘’Athletic Scholarships and Social Distancing’’ she talks about the effects covid-19 has taken on students’ athlete recruiting process. She does so by getting input from two credited people Mike Garibasio and JJ Fidler from 562.org which covers highschool sporting events around Long Beach. Throughout the article she answers questions on how the restriction of sports attendances and sporting events in general are causing the student athletes film and chances to get recruited by college coaches. She does a very good job getting outside information and input from Mike and JJ to give the students and parents a better understanding about the recruitment process. She takes quotes from the interview she had with Mike and JJ, she implemented them smoothly in the article to give it an easy read for her audience.
Overall Sophie wrote a very clean grammatically correct article there was one mistake I saw which was with one of the quotes from Mike. She said that he stated they have been doing the campus tours via zoom, but most know that that is never an ideal situation. The only issue was she didn’t add quotation marks when inputting this into the article. This was the only mistake that I found, other than that one small error the article was very informative about the recruitment process student athletes are going through with covid-19 restrictions alongside the NCAA rules.
Sincerely,
Cameron Snyder, Grade 12
Danielle Paulson • Mar 31, 2021 at 10:08 am
In Issue 5 (March 22, 2021), Sophie Bright wrote an article titled “Athletic Scholarships and Social Distancing”. I really like that an article on this topic was written, because it highlights one of the many struggles that athletes are facing this year. The article does a good job explaining different factors that have affected athletes, but it could also include the measures and protocol that teams have to take in order to be safe once they are back on the field. The article also does a good job explaining how athletes are struggling to get noticed by colleges, but it could be helpful to include some more solutions to the struggles. If an athlete wants to play a sport in college, exposure is one of the most important factors in getting scouted, so maybe include more ways that athletes can gain exposure. There also seems to be some grammatical errors throughout the article, so make sure to pay closer attention to those errors. On the other hand, the use of outside quotes in this article is very effective in adding more dimension to the article. Overall this is a very insightful article, with helpful and useful information.
Allie Stone • Mar 31, 2021 at 8:23 am
March 31, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 7 (March 22, 2021) Sophie Bright wrote an article titled “Athletic Scholarships and Social Distancing”. It was written in a way that matches the reading capability of a young adult. The tone of the article was supportive and understanding for the athletes whose college dreams depend on scholarships. I enjoyed the snippets from the 562 representatives, especially how they enhanced the story line. However, it would have been nice to have a few more quotes for how long this article actually is. I am not saying it’s too long, on the contrary, this article is the perfect length. Not too short, and definitely not too long.
There are a few things that I would change, given the opportunity. In the first sentence of paragraph one, I would change “…most Millikan sports have been altered or canceled…” to “… the sports at Millikan have been altered or canceled…”. The only reason I recommend the change is because at the beginning of the sentence the word most is already used. Which makes the second most sound redundant; and it sort of loses its value. The last thing I would recommend to change would be the opening sentence of paragraph two. Since it opens with “Firstly,” then in other sections there should be “Second” and “Finally”, or something to that effect. Other than those minor things, this was an excellent article to read.
Sincerely,
Allison Stone, Grade 12