<p>So now that things have settled down with a few OVs lined up and starting in two weeks, none of the main schools have really been calling. The ivy who called seems to have lost interest, at least for now, and we're still having back and forth with the one school who is having turmoil with their coaching staff. One of the higher end D3's called the other day.</p>
<p>My daughter is really busy, still working 40 hour weeks and trying to finish up AP packets and common app (barely started) School starts on Tuesday.</p>
<p>All of a sudden there's a huge influx of calls coming from of her berecruited profile. Anyone else having this? Some of the schools are decent, but they're in random inconvenient places compared to where we are, and many of their academics are low if we look them up. We keep telling her to call the coaches back, it's rude not to do so, but now her list of calls is getting rather lengthy.</p>
<p>I saw someone else call these "cold calls." What is the right way to handle a call from a school (messages on the machine) that you didn't contact first? Is it rude not to return the call? Seems to me she should just call them and say, thank you, but your school is outside of my geographic range (as they mostly all are). She has emailed a couple of them, if they send her mails as well, but sometimes she gets overwhelmed and just completely ignores them.</p>
<p>I was thinking of deleting the phone number on her profile so they could only contact her via email. Any thoughts? Then the ones who had already called would see that if they went back in. Since we paid the $60, we can track who views the profile and when. I guess this is when berecruited is not so much fun!</p>
<p>We screened calls during the recruiting period so that we had time as a family to do research on some of the coaches/schools who came out of the woodwork. I did, however, make DD respond to all coaches, both as a manner of etiquette and as a learning experience in communication. If we felt it was a cold call, she filled out the school’s on-line questionairre and sent a short e-mail with her list of questions for coaches. Those coaches who weren’t serious fell by the wayside soon enough. If she thought there might be potential, she called back to speak directly to the coach. The process brought forth several opportunities that we hadn’t originally identified. </p>
<p>In short, responding can’t hurt, and it is an opportunity to exercise mature communications skills for your student athlete.</p>
<p>I would change her profile on berecruited, leaving the phone number blank. That still gives them the option to contact her via email and makes it easier for her to respond, at her convenience.</p>
<p>You decided to use becruited; that is in effect “cold calling” the coaches. Now that your plan worked, you can either delete the profile entirely (since your goal of being recruited has worked or tell your daughter to respond to the coaches in kind (i.e., those that called deserve a phone call; those that e-mailed deserve and e-mail, etc.). But it is you who decided to use the website; you now have to deal with the effects.</p>
<p>MereMom and fishymom, I’m going to make sure she gets back to them all, at least by email. I’m trying to teach her how to ‘exercise mature communications skills’ as you say, and this is a great way to do that.</p>
<p>The option to list yourself as ‘committed’ is helpful, but at this point when there aren’t enough weekends between now and November, we have to slow down and focus on the ones already on the table.</p>
<p>I have to disagree that registering for berecruited is the same as cold calling a coach. You list scores and stats and preferred majors. We have heard from some very high quality schools as well as a few who I can’t even see where they think there is a match. These are the ones to whom I was mainly referring.</p>
<p>While it is true that you are putting information out for any coach to view, you do so hoping they will use discretion. I’d understand if these were all schools to whom she had sent letters inviting them to view her profile, but they’re not.</p>
<p>You put what is essentially a “want ad” on a recruiting site. You can’t limit the responses. Think about an employer placing a help wanted ad on the internet and then wondering why he didnt get ONLY inquiries that fit the parameters of the ad. You get all types responding to what you believed was a clear, concise and narrow description of your requirements. </p>
<p>You went fishin and caught non-keepers along with the keepers! (Could have been worse you could have not caught anythin!)</p>
<p>From a coaches perspective, they believe they may have something to offer you a location; a school size; a school discipline; etc., etc., that your student/athlete hadnt thought about before (choosing a school can be an evolving process which leaves you in a way different place at its conclusion, then was believed possible at the beginning of the process).</p>
<p>Its really easy to tell a coach who left a message no. That phone call takes a minute and the coaches will move on (they will move on if they dont hear from the athlete also, but not returning a phone call is, . . . well, just put the shoe on the other foot if your athlete phoned a coach who didnt return her call).</p>
<p>We went through the process it was more overwhelming to the parents then the athlete (he got, by the end of time, over 50 calls some even up through this week). He needed some pushing about returning the calls in the beginning; and some advice about stringing schools along (when to do it and when not to) and how to say no, but pretty early in the phone call process he was able to cope with the five minutes here and five minutes there.</p>
<p>Every communication with a coach is an opportunity to communicate with an adult expert in your athletes field. Like a free job interview. Every communication teaches the athlete something. The athlete should take advantage of every such opportunity.</p>
<p>well, some of the main ones she needs to cut loose are easy - they’re on the opposite coast and that’s all she has to say! I think it’s just the rush of them all coming in this week that’s so dismaying; what is bringing them out of the woodwork now, of all times? Don’t they have freshmen to entertain?? :-)</p>
<p>“…IF your athlete phoned a coach who didn’t return her call”?? That’s how you find out that a coach has lost interest–they don’t return your calls. That’s not an excuse to descend to their level of course, but boy does it happen.</p>
<p>Wilberry228, recruiting is generally done in 2 waves, early and late. Top of list recruits are courted over the summer and encouraged to commit early so that the coaches can determine where they are at against goal/wish list. </p>
<p>The second round of signings occur in the spring, but they will start increasing the scope of their searches (to the other coast, 2nd tier prospects at target high schools, etc.) and so the net gets cast again, right about this time. </p>
<p>If you think about it, it has taken from March to September to get the first round prospects onto campus. It makes sense that late Aug/early Sept to March would be the logical second cycle period (especially when they have Thanksgiving and Christmas interfereing with potential calls and OV dates).</p>
<p>Your athlete is one of the lucky ones who looks good to many coaches!</p>
<p>I guess so! I advised her to let the new batch know that she has a few visits lined up right now and has to go through the process she started, and she will let them know if anything changes. At this point, even if she had an interest, there just isn’t time (one of the schools that’s calling her is probably 8 hours away)</p>
<p>Then there are a few she hasn’t heard back from, so there she is at the other end of the barrel. Hard to say if they’ve filled their OVs for now, or what is going on. But several of them did drop communications on their end. So it’s not like she is the Queen of the Party all around!</p>
<p>Thanks fauve, yep. I know. But she has three set up right now, and some of the schools are D3 so wouldn’t fall under that umbrella anyway. I’m more worried about schoolwork and time constraints than NCAA guidelines right now!!</p>
<p>Be careful with the visits-they are very time consuming, and esp if your child is applying to selective schools, those first semester/quarter grades and repeat SATs can make or break them!
We had to cancel our third round of official/semi-official(D3) overnights due to fatigue and homework issues. He had visited 3 of the school in the spring, but they all wanted him to make official visits to “meet the team”. He ended up staying overnight at 5 schools, which was all he could stand.</p>
<p>Thanks Oldbatesiedoc, I am worried about this. She has four lined up so far, and I worry as well about the time away from school. Does it have to be the full 48 hours or can we shorten it by a bit? All four are within a 4 hour drive or less from our home, and since they are mostly isolated, we will probably drive her to 3 of the 4. As there is no 5th school on the horizon, we’ll save that visit for ‘just in case.’</p>
<p>We are done with all the testing, so that’s good, but I have worried about the grades. On the other hand, I’m hoping if a school comes through after all of this as a good fit, there will be no distraction for the rest of the year, and those absences can be rectified. This is the only reason I can see for doing this in this way. She has two weekends in a row lined up in September, a break of a few weeks, and then two in a row in October. She’s also missing practices for these visits, also not a great situation.</p>
<p>But they’re all D1 - hence the rush to get it done in the fall. And with a winter sport, fall is better anyway.</p>
<p>I have no D1 experience, just top tier D3 where that 4.0 and 700s are key unless you are a very elite athlete, or have some other hook.
Best to your D and remember, you know your kid and her(his) limits.</p>