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The college recruiting process is a jigsaw puzzle with 100,000 pieces and it could take years to make all the pieces actually fit.  One of the most important things to remember when beginning the college recruiting process is to give yourself enough time to contact and follow-up with as many college coaches as possible.

Many parents of student athletes sometimes are a little slow in realizing that they need to be actively contacting college coaches instead of waiting for someone else to do it.  This is a big mistake many parents and student athletes make; waiting too long to begin the recruiting process.

The reason why I say give yourself enough time is because you will make mistakes and if you have enough time you can fix those mistakes without ruining the recruiting process.

One of the more common questions we hear from student athletes is, “How do I get my name out there?” Here are a few ways to do that:

1.  Being seen by college coaches is critical in the college recruiting process.  Regardless of the sport, you must play in enough exposure events or club team events as possible where college coaches are in attendance.

Playing your sport in front of college coaches is basically your try-out to become a member of a particular college program.  Give yourself two (maybe three) summers of consistent exposure activities in front of college coaches then they can see how much you are improving over that time frame.

AAU basketball is huge when it comes to getting exposure to college coaches. It is a powerful tool to help college coaches recruit student athletes because they can see these players in many different tournaments.

It makes sense for a college program to go to an AAU basketball tournament to scout hundreds of players all in one place.

One of the other big things now in football is ‘7 on 7’. This is where players are out there running plays with no pads or helmets; kind of like a faster paced flag football game.  Of course there are showcases for baseball and softball and there is Junior Olympics for volleyball.

The absolute bottom line here is college coaches are not going to recruit you unless they can actually see you play.  So it is very important to be seen.

2. Pen, pencil and paper are still a powerful tool in networking with college coaches.  You’ve been seen at different events all through the summer so why not take the time to write a handwritten, one page letter to as many college coaches as you can think of.

Let’s say you knew for a fact that there were 25 college programs at different events you were at during the summer months.

I think it will be a great idea, while everything is still fresh in your mind, to write a letter letting them know who you are as a high school student athlete, what you can do athletically and academically and what event you saw them.  I think it’s important to keep handwritten letters to one page only; anything longer than that a college coach may, more than likely, set it down and come back and read it later.

You really want it to be one page so they can read it right now and not have to finish reading your letter later.

I think it’s important to write a one page handwritten letter because it’s one on one and a personal touch from a student athlete directly to a college coach. 

I believe recruiting is about building a relationship between student athletes and college coaches and a handwritten letter can do that.

Also, most of the coaches will take the time to write you back.  Be prepared to receive something in writing from them; maybe it’ll be a handwritten note or maybe a typewritten letter requesting more information about you.

3.  Your recruiting DVD is another important piece of the college recruiting puzzle. Once student athletes and parents have developed a relationship with a college coach, then I believe it is OK to mail them your DVD.

Sometimes parents and student athletes want to randomly choose 25 to 50 college coaches to mail the DVD to.  I believe that is a big risk because they’re not expecting your DVD and they may not even look at it because they don’t know who you are yet.

DVDs are expensive to get made and are expensive to mail so just be sure about what you’re doing before ever mailing out your recruiting DVD.

Some parents have mailed out DVDs to college coaches then later made a follow-up call to that coach asking them what they thought about the DVD they sent them.

The college coach response was, that they “never received it or never saw it and can another one be mailed?”  So now the parents are thinking in the back of their minds that maybe they did something wrong when they mailed out the first DVD.  The parents are thinking, “Okay, I’ll just mail out another DVD to that coach again.”

So, can you imagine if this scenario plays out with half a dozen or so coaches, just think about the number of DVDs a parent would have to re-mail to college coaches.  All of this is a total waste of time and a huge waste of money.  Before ever mailing out your expensively-produced DVDs, be absolutely sure that these college coaches know who you are.

4. The Unofficial Visit by student athletes and parents can be a powerful weapon in getting recruited for college.  Basically, the parents are paying for their trip to go visit a college campus.  If there are several college programs in your home state that have an interest in your student athlete then why not set up a time to go and visit that college coach?

If I remember correctly, depending on the time of year and the recruiting calendar, college coaches may be limited in their interactions with you.

So as parents and student athletes, don’t get offended if a college coach can only spend five or ten minutes with you.

Your goal is to be seen by that college coach, take a tour of the campus and the athletic facilities, maybe pick up some information from the admissions department and then go home.  Now that head coach and his coaching staff know who you are and this could help you down the road with getting recruited. 

Several months or, maybe a year later, depending on where you’re at in the recruiting process, could lead to an official visit which could lead to a scholarship offer.

Final thoughts: There are no exact steps to take in the college recruiting process but this list of information I provided you is an excellent place to begin.  You may think of four or five other ways to network with college coaches.

I just believe the most important thing is to begin the recruiting process early to give yourself enough time to do all the things that are required to gain the attention of college coaches.

Also, by giving yourself enough time you can fix any mistakes that are bound to happen during the recruiting process.  It’s all about exposure; the more schools you contact, the more the opportunity increases for scholarship opportunities.  Sitting back and waiting for someone to do the recruiting process for you could hurt you in the long term.

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High school recruiting can be a complicated, confusing process to understand. Many a student athlete fails to understand it fully and as a result, misses out on a place in the college of their choice and lucrative scholarships.

Here are a few tips to help you understand high school recruiting better and make the most of your athletics career.

First of all, you need to know that the competition for a spot in the college team is very, very hard. Many a high school athletes live in a bubble; you might be the best player in your locality, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you are the best for a college team.

The sooner you realize and appreciate the level of competition, the better it is for you.

You need to understand that it is not really about your personality or your background. Since the competition at the college level is ten times as fierce as the high school level, the average college coach is also ten times as tough when it comes to selection.

A college coach doesn’t care about you or your family or your economic background. His job depends on the results he can produce, and for that, the college coach will do everything to get the right balance in his side, players who can perform rather than those with likable personalities.

As crucial part of high school recruiting is marketing yourself. Unless you are a star athlete whose exploits are well know around the region, you will need to work a lot to get noticed by college talent scouts and coaches.

Make sure that your athletic resume is up to date, and that you have a nice video of your best performances. These are essential tools to impressing coaches.

Never depend on your high school coach to see you through college. Your high school coach has no personal interest in helping you out, and even if he could, there is little he can do to influence a college’s decision. He can promise you a world of things, but remember, at the end of the day, you will have to do all the groundwork yourself.

Remember that even though you might be getting into a college team as an athlete, your grades do have an impact on your eventual selection.

Your grades reflect your discipline and ability to focus – two essential ingredients of success at any sport. If your grades are poor, you will find it twice as hard to get into a college team.

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The handwritten letter approach is a powerful and personal approach for student athletes.  Student athletes who are in their senior year should be writing a personal letter to college coaches. This could help recharge the college recruiting process.

A one page handwritten letter may not get lost in all of the other junk mail that college coaches receive each day.  If there’s a particular coach that you are writing to, of course address that letter directly to that coach.

In your letter get right to the point and ask that coach what their intentions are with you.  If they write you back with their answer then go forward from there. If there’s no interest then move on.

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A major problem sometimes in the college recruiting process is the lack of exposure.  Many high school student athletes along with their parents will only focus on college programs that they know about by brand name and college programs in your home state only.

By only focusing on schools in your home state could eliminate greater opportunities from college programs in the surrounding states.  I believe it’s critical to contact as many college programs as possible because you never know what’s really out there.

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There are situations where parents somehow believe that they are the ones being recruited.  Sometimes parents get in the way of the college recruiting process by accepting phone calls from the college and college coaches or writing letters or emails to college recruiters.

I believe it’s important for parents to have a role and responsibility in the college recruiting process but I also believe they should not do what for their kids.

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