By Amanda Fletcher
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
There is no question that UCLA has a great athletic tradition.
Nearly every team the Bruins field is competitive in its conference
and is a national title contender. Much of this has to do with
incredible coaching and training, but behind these factors lies the
first step toward creating a winning team ““ recruiting.
Recruiting is what brings young athletes full of potential to
UCLA and allows them to become legends like Lew Alcindor, Marques
Johnson, Gail Devers and Lisa Fernandez.
UCLA spends between $500,000 to $1 million annually on its
recruiting efforts. With the program’s 82 NCAA titles
overall, it’s easy to say that the money is well spent.
But how is the money spent? The recruiting process is long and
complicated. Director of Recruiting Michael Sondheimer calls it
“an ongoing four-year process.”
Coaches travel the country attending every major event in their
respective sports. Baseball coaches go to the Area Code games,
where they find many of their recruits. Tennis coaches attend the
hardcore under-17 and under-18 tournaments.
And sometimes the coaching staff just spots them. Men’s
volleyball found out about Kevin Morrow, an opposite, when he came
to watch his older brother Scott play middle blocker for the Bruins
last season.
“The dad kept bringing the 6-foot-9 kid to the
matches,” Bruin head coach Al Scates said. “It was kind
of hard not to notice him.”
The UCLA athletic department also receives over 100 letters a
week from high school students wanting to compete for UCLA. Often
these letter are accompanied by highlight tapes. That’s how
men’s basketball head coach Steve Lavin stumbled upon one of
his top recruits.
“They were watching the tape and the kid was really
good,” Sondheimer said. “It was one of those cases when
everyone else missed on him.”
That was also how Scates came upon Jonathan Acosta, a 6-foot-4
outside hitter from Puerto Rico. “He sent us tape, and I was
very impressed with him,” Scates said.
The men’s volleyball team, with 12 recruits, pulled in
possibly their best recruiting class ever. Most of the class also
signed in the fall before the Bruins won their 18th title in
May.
“I don’t know why,” Scates said. “Maybe
because they want to play at UCLA and win national championships
and get a great education.”
The coaches and their staff only look at the top ninth- and
10th-graders in the country. They are tracked into the 11th grade
and official recruitment begins Sept. 1 of their junior year in
high school.
“Usually by the end of summer coaches know who they
want,” Sondheimer said. “We get letters from seniors in
high school, but by 12th grade it’s too late.”
Formal recruiting begins July 1 of senior year. This is when
athletes are invited to go on recruiting trips to UCLA. They are
taken to a game or match, shown the dorms and the fields, and
introduced to the team. This is where UCLA gets them.
“We have a lot going for us,” Sondheimer said.
“Few schools can match us academically, athletically and
socially.”
With its combination of great athletics, the sunny Southern
California weather and the excitement of L.A., for many athletes
seeing UCLA is love at first sight. This is what happened to
Olympian Natalie Williams of the women’s basketball team.
Heavily recruited by USC, she was brought by the Trojans to UCLA
to watch a game which pitted USC against the Bruins. Williams liked
UCLA so much that she returned twice; once on a recruiting trip and
then permanently to play basketball wearing the blue and gold.
The youth sports camps that UCLA holds every summer are another
way in which future Bruins are spotted. Volleyball first learned of
outside hitter Gray Garret when he came to a summer camp.
“Gray came to camp when he was a junior,” Scates said.
“He’s gotten a lot stronger since then.”
Forward Maylana Martin, who starred for four years on the
women’s basketball team before graduating last year, also
came to one such camp. It was there that she got to know the
coaches and had a chance to showcase her talent, long before
regular recruits could.
So although there are many ways to get noticed by UCLA coaches,
only an elite few will become Bruins.