Saturday, July 08, 2006

College Admission for Sailors

Scheherazade from Stay of Execution, who in real life is the sailing coach at an elite US college, had an intriguing post on Thursday. She said...
I would never blog about the things parents do and say to coaches, in an attempt to gain an advantage for their children in the admissions process.

Which is too bad for you, because sometimes, it is extremely misguided, and extremely entertaining.

I can't imagine what she is talking about. Buy maybe you can. Here is the challenge. What do you think is the most outrageous, misguided or entertaining thing you might do, or say to the college sailing coach, if you were desperate to secure the support of the coach in assisting your precious child, your pride and joy, to gain admission to that college?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I bet Sherry wins this contest hands down....truth if far stranger than fiction, especially in things like this.

Pat said...

Yep, I could try to make some guesses or my own ideas of how to influence a coach, but truth is probably stranger than my imaginings. Just getting into he spirit of the question...

If we were fat cats, we could offer to buy her and her co-captain/crew a brand-new Etchells from Ontario Yachts.

Or, likewise, but on a smaller budget, invite her and her crew and parents to a mid-winter escape where they could enjoy non-sub-zero sailing.

Or, were we living near the college in question, volunteer to take on the least-wanted, hardest-to-fill volunteer jobs in support of the team -- telephoning, scheduling, fund-raising, tutoring, whatever.

Or, have Carol Anne's bachelor cousin in Arkansas send a case of homebrew ale.

But, truth has gotta be a lot stranger. Unfortunately, we may never hear the best stories, given professional propriety. (Though perhaps a few stories might somehow reach us indirectly if we're lucky.)

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