The Clackamas print., April 30, 2014, Page 7, Image 7

WaæBSDAY; APRIL 30, 2014
Clackamas
coaches
overcome
unique
recruiting
challenges
by BLAKE THOMASON
sports editor
Fierce battles and critical decisions
are happening all across the globe, all
year round. Potential candidates are
studied, poked and prodded in order
to find the best o f the b est There’s
nothing quite like college recruiting.
You might not think o f two-year
schools when you think of recruiting,
and that’s reasonable. High profile
athletes sign with the Oregon Ducks,
Washington Huskies o r the Cal Bears,
not Southeastern Little Prairie Oregon
Community College. It’s easy to think
the big schools are the only ones
traveling around and recruiting all
year, while com munity colleges just
pick up the leftovers. However, that’s
not the case at all.
Since athletes here at Clackamas
Comm unity College only have two
years, coaches are constantly on
the trail looking for their next star
players - only one year after signing
their last star.
- i At junior college there’s so m uch
turnover,” Josh Rhoden, wrestling
coach, said. “It’s literally every year,
every weight class.
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Clackamas Community College athletes come from all over the United States as well as internationally. Here ’s how
many athetles come from each location in 2013-2014.
I talk to [Division I] coaches and
tell them their jobs are kind ofeasy
because they have guys there for four
o r five years.”
It’s not just replacing one star
either. Every year, coaches have to
replace half of the team, or more. Next
year the volleyball team will graduate
10 of their 15 players. As o f now, the
women’s basketball team only has
seven players for next season, but the
coaches ¿w ays have several targets.
“We talk to about 75 [players],” PJ
Martineau, recruiting coordinator,
said. “We’re looking for around five
to seven players. We usually carry
around 11-12 kids.”
Perhaps what’s more difficult than
getting the flayers, is building the
team. It takes more than just gathering
athletes to build a successful team; the
players have to learn to work together,
and they have to do it quickly.
“Thafs the unique challenge every
year,” Rhoden said. ““How do we get
them all on the same page early?’ and
‘how do we get the buy in from them
in us?’ It makes it hard because you
don’t get them for that extra year that
you could.”
While the. majority, ofathletes
com e from our hom e state, the
recruiting trail does expand past
Oregon, past the west coast and even
past the U.S. There are athletes here
at CCC from 14 different states, as far
as New Hampshire and Alaska, and
from different countries.
“[We recruit] the whole United
States,” Rhoden said. “Shoot, we
even have a kid on the team from
Australia.”
Even though com m unity col­
leges don’t seem to be big tim e sports
schools, there is a lot o fw ork being
done to build successful programs
here. Coaches travel as far as they
can or need to in order to get the
best players, and they spend a lot of
tim e doing i t
“It’s a never-ending* job,”
M artineau said.
W ith college coaches all over
competing for the same athletes,
CGC has to make a good pitch. So
how db CCC coaches sell recruits
on their program? Each sport has its
own features, but one aspect stands
out above the others.
“Ifs a family atmosphere,” Rhoden
said. “Part o f m y promotion o f our
program is this is a family. These
guys come over and m y wife makes
them dinner. We try to nave all 30 of
the guys to o ur house at.som epoint
through the year?
M artineau echoed Rhoden’s sell­
ing point.
“We definitely havea family atmo­
sphere,” Martineau said. “Thafs some­
thing we all take pride in. We not only
care about the player on the court, but
off the court”
Recent volleyball commit Cassidy
Scott decided to sign w ith CCC for
that very reason.
“I liked the sense o f com munity
and friendship within the team. All
the girls were nice and welcoming to
me,” Scott said.
Com m unity colleges are a great
starting point for athletes. I trmay
not be the brightest stage or the
m ost glamorous-choice, but two-
year schools have delivered results.
Professional sports stars C am
Newton, Aaron Rodgers, Dennis
Rodman, Ben Wallace, Albert Pujols
and Bryce H arper all have one thing
in common: their careers started at
com munity colleges.
Comm unity colleges do the same
work as four-year schools, but without
the brand name, millionaire boosters
or luxury ofhaving four years to play.
CCC has done it, and they’ve done it
w ell That’s why top athletes from all
over the country are here.
“N o w people know us,” Rhoden
said. “They know the school with the
funny nam e in the national rankings
is a good one.”
BASEBALL: The season
struggles continue for the
Clackamas Cougars baseball
team as they dropped three
of four games to the Clark
Penguins over the w eekend
T he Cougars Were swept
in- Friday’s, doubleheader at
O regon C ity high school
by scores o f 14-1 and 9-0.
Saturday’s doubleheader was
played in Vancouver and the
Cougars managed to split the
doubleheader, losing the first
game 11-6 and winning the
n ext 4-1. Their record now
stands at 4-15 in league play
and 5-18 overall The Cougars
have five games remaining;
their next games are Friday,
M ay 2 at ho m e against
Chemeketa and Saturday, May
3 at Southwest Oregon CG.
SOFTBALL: The Cougars
softball team kept their streak
rolling as th ey swept th e
Penguins on Saturday, 13-0
and 13-3. Then on Monday,
the Cougars took on the M t
H ood Saints in a battle for
1st place in the South Region.
The first game took extra
innings, but eventually the
Saints pulled out the victory
5-4. The Cougars had an easier
time in the second game of
the doubleheader, w inning
5-2. The weekend wins helped
improve the Cougars’ record to
11-1 in league and 30-2 overall
There are only four games
left for the Cougars before
the NWAACC Championship
Tournament. Their upcom ­
ing games are Wednesday,
April 30 at h om e against
Chemeketa and Saturday, May
3 at Southwest Oregon
— Compiled by
BLAKE THOMASON