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Guiding Students into College athletics

Ask Athletics Director Keith Zalaski about his program’s success in preparing Rivers students to compete at the college level, and there’s one word he’ll return to over and over again: Balance.

“When I talk about why I love working here,” he says, “there’s just a healthy balance. Our kids are really balanced in what they do. They care about the classroom and about sports.”

In recent years, much has been made of the pressure to push students into college athletics—not just at the Division I level but at all levels. Stories abound of parents and students so laser-focused on a particular program that they risk injury, neglect their academics, and, in some ways, miss out on simply being high-school students. When Zalaski speaks of balance, he is contrasting those stories with the experiences of Rivers student-athletes, who are typically well-rounded and serious about their studies.

That’s not to say that they don’t go on to top college programs. Rivers athletes are fierce competitors in a league that demands a high level of play, and their success is inarguable: In this year’s graduating class, nearly one-third of students are planning to compete at the college level. Zalaski and his coaching staff view shepherding their players into the right college programs as an integral part of their jobs.

The key word is “right.” Counselors often speak of finding a fit as students go through the college application process, and that’s no less true for coaches seeking to guide their players into programs where they have the best chance of succeeding. “Multiple times a day,” says Justin Walker, boys’ lacrosse head coach, “I help steer kids toward or away from programs.” That steering process involves a holistic view of the student and the program; it’s not simply a matter of choosing the most prestigious or highprofile school. “I don’t want my players just to pick a lacrosse school; I want them to pick the school first, and then see it through a lacrosse lens,” says Walker.

Sometimes the steering begins at a more basic level. Field hockey head coach Janna Anctil jokes, “They used to call me the ‘converter coach.’ I make kids into fieldhockey players—girls who didn’t know they liked the sport or had never tried it.” Many “convert” from ice hockey, and part of Anctil’s persuasion lies in urging them to consider field hockey as an alternate (and somewhat more accessible) route to college athletics.

Nowadays, that route will almost always run through club sports. That trend has had an impact not just on the players, but on the coaching staff. “When I started doing this, 20 years ago, it felt as if club/ high school coaches (or ‘outside coaches,’ as we are sometimes called) were looked down upon in the ISL at times,” says Walker. The old model was the teacher-coach, but now, because competition has ratcheted up so sharply, many more coaches come from club sports. The club coaches’ connections and year-round involvement often givetheir players a leg up when it comes to recruitment, says Walker.

Anctil says, “It’s super-exciting to me when girls approach me about playing club. That’s the path [to college play]. It’s driven by the student, but I’m happy to provide some guidance and help them be strategic with camps and showcases.”

Zalaski, who played basketball and golf in college, notes that the process begins much earlier now. “When I was playing, I didn’t think about it in eighth or ninth grade,” he says. “Now, a lot of families are talking about it at that point.” That’s not a bad thing, he believes; it can help serve as a motivator. “But it’s a process of figuring out how to run your own race. We’re helping them work toward their goals and”— wait for it—“find their balance.” — JD