How do I get the recruiting process started?
Coaches need to meet you and see you play – in person or swing video – in order to have legitimate interest in recruiting you. Before you start calling, emailing and taking unofficial visits – Get your student-athlete resume organized and your swing video ready. Giving coaches this basic information about you should give them reason to take the next step in recruiting you to play for their program. A few other things you might want to consider doing are making a list of 40-50 schools and categorizing them by “reach, goal and backup”. Also, signing up for the NCAA Eligibility Center if you’re looking to play Division I or II, and taking practice tests for the SAT/ACT are great steps you can take to become more prepared if you are a freshman or sophomore in the process.
So you’ve finalized your personal resume and swing video, you believe you’re on the fast track to getting noticed by coaches and being offered a scholarship any day now. Not so fast!
In order to “take the next step” you’re going to have to increase the number of meaningful interactions with college coaches. A “meaningful” conversation could be anything from an campus visit where a player is actually walking side by side with a coach, meeting the team, and touring the facilities to a quick phone call from the comfort of your own home explaining to the coach who you are, asking relevant questions about their program and being open and honest with them about your game. With the recruiting process changing, nowadays, your experience might start with the assistant coach. Don’t panic, many assistants are taking over the recruiting duties for the head coach – at least in the “hunting and gathering” stages of the recruiting process. If this is the case, you will most likely speak with the coach after a few interactions with the assistant, and then he/she will guide you through the rest of the recruiting process.
Always, always, always….
Be honest and open with coaches. “Fibbing” or misleading a coach will do you no good. If you’re honest and open from the beginning, you will not only be doing something your peers have overlooked, you will also create a respect and trust factor with that particular coach that will go a long way to building a relationship with them!
Best of luck on the recruiting trail!
-MS
Mike Smith is the Founder & CEO of ForeCollegeGolf and specializes in assisting junior golfers & their families through the college recruiting process. Email him @ mike.smith@forecollegegolf.com
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