Coleman Clayton

Walter Lembeck

4/18/18

COM 360

Multi-Media Project

For many athletes, recruitment can translate to excitement if an assortment of colleges want your name on their rosters, and for some, disappointment, as the offers that reach the table weren’t as expected.

For Braves defender Alex Ciaramitaro, the offers were on the table but for not one sport, but two. Soccer and golf. The St. Louis native grew up playing the sports simultaneously, and now is able to balance playing both sports at the college-level.

“I’m coming from practice and coach called me, and was like, “hey I was talking with the golf coach, and we were thinking of having you do both here (soccer & golf),” and they have been phenomenal with working around my schedule so I can practice and play.”

Bradley university recruitment has always taken pride in getting to know the player, and creating a connection, before focusing on persuasion. Amongst the schools that recruited Ciaramitaro, Bradley was “overlooked” at times because of its size, but once the Bradley Braves defender discovered their prestigious engineering program, the decision seemed clear.

“They had done their research and knew about me, so they knew where I was from, and the parts of St. Louis, and they obviously knew a bunch about soccer…While other schools were good, I still felt more of a personal connection here.”

For Braves soccer midfielder Younes Dayekh the recruiting process was much different. Dayekh is a native of California and played his for the Sacramento academy. Many of the schools who recruited him were on the West Coast like: Sacramento State, San Jose State, UC Davis, Saint Mary’s, and Montana State.

Dayekh isn’t just your average California native, he was coached by none other than Bradley hall-of-famer Gavin Glinton. Glinton helped Dayekh in the recruiting process with Bradley.

“Being coached by Gavin Glinton helped me get an inside look at the program, since he had been through the program,” Dayekh said.

Bradley also made more of a personal connection with Dayekh according to him, “They were really personal, other schools I felt like weren’t in contact with me as often. However, it seemed like I was always talking with the Bradley coaches on the phone, through text, or through a call. They not only helped me out with the soccer aspect, but if there was any kind of help I needed they were there for me, and they still are.”

Bradley makes a big emphasis on finding players that fit into the program, that will gel well with the other players already on the team.

“Soccer has such a big team that you have to find players fit in with the team. Not only their play style, but also their personality,” Dayekh said.

“My advice to players getting recruited is, don’t go to a school based on the name. Go to the school that you feel is the best fit, not only as an athlete, but also as a student,” Dayekh said.

Overall Bradley makes it a point to have a personal connection with the players on their team, and the players they recruit. You can see this both with Dayekh, a native of California, and Ciaramitaro, a St. Louis native. It doesn’t matter where you are from they try to make a personal connection with you.