How To Get Recruited?
As an athlete who one day wants to continue playing the sport you love in college, or the guardian of such an athlete, I am sure you are curious about the nuances of the recruiting process and how to get recruited..
Believe it or not, the process for getting recruited is pretty simple. The best advice is to start early, contact as many coaches as possible, and continue to focus on your academics. It is also important to not get discouraged. It can be very difficult to attract recruiting interest, so you’ll need to stay positive along the way.
While the recruiting process may seem intimidating at first, there are many things you can do to ensure that it is as smooth and successful as possible. To help, we have included more detailed advice on how to get recruited.
How To Stand Out And Get Seen
College coaches are very busy people and there are far fewer of them than prospective recruits. This means much of the burden to getting seen and onto a coach’s recruiting list falls on the prospect. In fact, most recruits are not simply discovered by a coach, but initiates the first contact with their desired program. Which is an example of why you’ll need to be motivated and driven to make sure your recruiting process goes well.
Stay Focused On Academics: Before beginning the recruiting process, it is important to remember this: colleges will be significantly more interested in recruiting you if your grades and test scores are up to their standards. Academics are often a tie breaker when coaches are forced to choose between comparable athletes, and coaches often decide to stop recruiting a player if they see them struggling academically.
Be Proactive: Ideally, you should start your recruiting process as early as freshman year. By starting early, you give college coaches the ability to watch your progress as an athlete. It will be logistically easier for coaches to come watch you play in person, and if you start the process too late, you also face the risk of programs you were interested in having already filled their spots. Remember, getting recruited is all about forming a relationship with a college coach. Relationships take time to build. By starting early, you’ll give yourself the best chance of getting recruited.
Play On More Than Your High School Team: Although it is possible to get recruited only playing for your high school team, you are much more likely to get recruited by joining a travel, club, select or AAU team. These clubs offer a few benefits. First, teams are made up of the best players from a region and require athletes to try out. This means you’ll be playing and practicing with the best players in your area helping you to progress as a potential recruit. Second, these teams travel all over the country to compete, increasing your chances of getting seen by college coaches. Lastly, these teams compete based on age, which means college coaches are able to track and evaluate you based on your recruiting class.
Target More Than YourDream School: Like many athletes, you probably want to play for the school you’ve been a fan of for your entire life. But the honest truth is, odds are against that happening. For this reason, you should target many schools. You are much more likely to gain traction if you contact 100 college coaches than if you contact only 10. By being open minded you’ll increase your chances of playing at the next level and you just might find that a different school is actually a better fit for you.
Leverage Those Around You: Your support network is your best resource during the recruiting process - more specifically your parents and current coaches. They can help guide you through the ambiguity of the recruiting process, while also celebrating your successes. Most likely, your current coaches have helped athletes through the process before, making their experience another valuable resource.
While following this advice will help ease the stress of the recruiting process, there are no guarantees that you will receive interest from the programs you are interested in. However, it is important to keep your spirits up, because you never know when a coach may reach out.
Methods Of Contacting A College Coach
One of the most important steps to acing the recruiting process is initiating contact with college coaches. The next logical thought is to determine how best to contact a college coach. While there are many different options, we’ve included some guidelines to follow below.
Send An Introductory Email: Sending an email introducing yourself to the college coaches at the programs you are considering is the best way of initiating communication. In addition to including key information, such as your high school, position, and highlight video, each email should be personalized. Including a sentence or two about why you are interested in each specific program would differentiate you from other recruits and improve your chances of receiving a response.
Follow-Up With A Phone Call: After sending an email, it is best practice to follow up with a phone call to the program’s recruiting coordinator or assistant coach. The timeframe for this is a day or two after sending the email. College coaches and their staffs are incredibly busy - meaning they may have simply not seen your email and they may not answer your call. If they do not, be sure to leave a professional voicemail introducing yourself, explaining your interest in the program, and mentioning the email you sent.
Don’t Forget About Letters: If you have participated in showcases or tournaments, or if you have created a recruiting profile, coaches may have chosen to send you a letter or questionnaire. Because they send out hundreds of these a year, it does not mean that the coach has concrete interest in recruiting you. However, it is important that you fill these out promptly to signify to the coach that you are interested in their program. It is also a good idea to follow up with an email or phone call after receiving a letter.
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of how to get in touch with college coaches. Remember to start the process as early as possible, and to contact as many coaches as possible. While contacting a college coach can be stressful, it only gets easier with practice!
Materials To Prepare For College Coaches
After you start getting into contact with college coaches, they will want certain materials from you. This ranges from your transcript to highlight videos, and can be incredibly hard to keep up with. Below you can find an explanation of the materials coaches will most commonly ask for.
Highlight Video: A highlight video is essential for any athlete who wants to continue playing their sport in college. It can be difficult for college coaches to find time out of their busy schedule to watch you play in person, so they often rely on highlight videos to initially evaluate prospects. When creating a highlight video, make sure to focus on the actual clips you are choosing to include in the video – not the music or transitions.
High School Transcript: Often, coaches ask for your high school transcript. In addition to determining if you are likely to be admitted to their school, coaches use your performance in the classroom as a way to evaluate your locker room fit. You can easily obtain an unofficial copy of your transcript through your high school’s counseling office.
Club/School Season Schedule: If a program, especially a local one, has serious interest in recruiting you, they most likely will want to come see you play in person. Coaches will often ask recruits for both their club and school schedules. This allows them to fit in attending one of your games around their busy schedule.
Contact Info For Potential References: A final piece of information that college coaches may ask for is the contact information for your current coaches. If their program has serious interest in you, they will likely contact your current coach to learn more about you as both a player and a person. While you may not want the college coach to talk to your current coach, make sure that you do not show hesitation if they ask for your coach’s contact info - doing so will lead the coach to think your current coach will have bad things to say about you.
Having the information above readily available for college coaches will minimize the stress the recruiting process causes you. Additionally, you can streamline the process even further by including this information, specifically your highlight video and schedule, in your introductory email.
Things To Keep In Mind
Keep Your Options Open: Because of the difficulties generating recruiting interest, it is a good idea to keep your options open initially. While you certainly will have programs you prefer to others, you should cast your net wide when reaching out to programs and their coaches.
Be Persistent: College coaches are very busy, meaning they will often miss that you attempted to contact them. Don’t be afraid to keep trying. A coach will not be mad if you send them a second email reaffirming your interest in their program.
Allow Yourself To Be Excited: It is very easy to get caught up in the difficulties and downsides of the process. Be sure to remember to celebrate the positives! Ultimately, you are getting the chance to choose where you spend the next four years of your life playing the sport you love.