BEst Advice: What you wish you had known/done

Athletic Recruits
1

<p>OK
So many parents with wisdom here</p>

<p>Before I forget--from what you are all saying---</p>

<p>1- Prepare for the long haul, pace yourself as its a long process 14-18 months for example
2- Rest
3- Nutrition
4- Relieve your worries/anixiety here and promote calm exterior at home with student
5- Recognize the difference between interest vs recruitment
6- Research team's coach/history and if possible injury list
7- Communication is king. Context is king. Student must realize this is self promotion as coaches can't always find everyone
8- Be prepared for the gray areas</p>

<p>Please add....</p>

2

<p>Wait as long as possible before making any commitment.</p>

3

<p>Be prepared for hard choices! DH just got into a VERY selective department at a DI school, but it looks as if he wouldn’t make the track team there. Sigh. What a choice to have to make! We still need to hear from nine other schools, so we’ll just see how everything shakes out.</p>

4

<p>fogfog - I would add the following…Understand where your son/daughter athletically fits in the college recruiting hierarchy. What skills does your son/daughter possess that sets them apart from the various D1, D2, D3 levels. Each one of those levels has sublevels. The athlete and parent should have a feel for this athletic level, and it is absolutely paramount in my opinion just as it is for academics. It is marketing 101…understand your product and what is going on in the marketplace. “Price” accordingly.</p>

<p>I agree with EMM1 to wait as long as possible. Good advice.</p>

<p>fenwaysouth</p>

5

<p>believe what you hear and see. and don’t spin it up or down in your head incorrectly. aka don’t be overly optimistic regarding a coaches comment…be level headed about it. </p>

<p>the mistake I made was a spun things down, I think in a kind of “don’t get your hopes up” way. In hindsight I realize what they (D1 coaches) said was accurate, but boy was I playing emotional catch-up to realize that they were talking about my kid…again, in hindsight I realize I was bit numb as it was happening.</p>

<p>So, if I could do it again I’d try to be more present minded and accurately believing what I was hearing. And enjoy the experience of watching the top sports schools in the country knock on my door, literally!</p>

6

<p>If your athlete has a hard number to hit (a certain stat that will determine in large part his/her desirability to coaches) do NOT focus on the number. Your job is to support, to love, to cheer, to remind him or her that, no matter what happens, it will all be all right. Let the athlete and the coach focus on the number. I knew an athlete that could hit the number for his sport (swimming) in practice but could never do it in competition - too much pressure. His mom is the person who gave me this advice and I am forever grateful to her for it.</p>

<p>Oh, and if your athlete is lucky enough to likely be offered multiple, uh, likely letters, apply to ALL the possible schools RD and tell the coach of your chosen school that when the likely letter is in your hand, you will change the app to ED if they have it. A coach suggested this to us and it was GREAT advice.</p>

7

<p>I’ll add a few:</p>

<p>along pacheight’s point, and I’m sure others have stated as well, but try and view things objectively, as if you were discussing a third-party’s recruiting. If a coach only seems mildly interested, but then invites you on an official visit, despite the late developments don’t get your hopes up too much. If a coach says you’re at the top of his list, would be a significant contributor freshman year, etc., this is a much better sign than he “wants you,” “likes your game,” “you’d be a good fit,” etc.</p>

<p>As a corollary, know and understand your athletic level. If a team above your level is recruiting you, pursue it, but be realistic, too. If you’re a strong D-1 level recruit, and are looking at top D-3’s, realize you’ve probably got more bargaining power and can put those more in the “match” category if you’ve got the academics.</p>

<p>Listen to your gut and the vibes you get from coaches, assistant coaches, they’re recruiting styles, etc.</p>

<p>Be proactive in communications with coaches, maintain contact, and try and schedule visits early if possible, especially to your top choices. It makes things much easier when some coaches give you a week to make a decision and its the middle of September.</p>

<p>This is your child’s choice. Be their for support, provide knowledge and suggestions when you can, but ultimately it’s up to them (this is excluding financial circumstances individual to each family) . Let him find his “best fit” and be supportive as much as you can.</p>

<p>Enjoy the process. This may be one of the last times you’ll be directly involved in your child’s day-to-day life, get to see them play all the time, etc. If all goes according to plan, they’ll be competing the best they ever have and will have exciting choices to make. Enjoy getting to see them mature, grow, and learn through the process. Enjoy what all the hard work has culminated to. Don’t get to caught up in the recruiting and help them remember why they compete in the first place.</p>

8

<p>^^opposite for us, commitment meant one school. my D filled out only 1 college application. my understanding was that if you have multiple offers (all verbal) you choose and “commit” to one…hence the the definition of commitment! and that’s why it’s nerve racking in the final weeks because you’ve already said no to your other offers while still waiting for admissions to accept you. for ivy kids u have your LL letter but you’re still not in until April, right! although LL’s are golden unless you commit a felony:)</p>

9

<p>Ask for a walk-thru with admissions before applying Ed to any D3 school.
Take the SAT2s twice if you want to go to a very selective school that requires them, even if EVERYTHING else is stellar
Don’t go on too many overnight visits-try to do some visits spring junior year and start narrowing down then by feel/fit.My S was exhausted after 6 visits, had his top choices, so we stopped.
Only visit schools in session.
Have a back up or two
Don’t be afraid to ask hard questions</p>

10

<p>Understand what the rules of the league are when trying to determine a coaches interest. For example, NESCAC schools cannot visit high schools for recruiting visits. We incorrectly believed that the coach wasnt as interested as some others since he didnt come to HS to visit, within the same state. It wasnt until another Nescac coach sent our head coach a recruiting email did we learn that they couldnt come to HS. It certainly gave more credance to the first coaches interest and yes my son did end up at that school. </p>

<p>Also, dont believe what another coach tells you about a different school, coach, etc. Even the one’s who seem like the nicest people, could trash another program if they want the kid enough. Thankfully, the acceptance came before the trash postcard from the other program.</p>

11

<p>^^wow, there have certainly been many post about NESCAC school coaches trash talking so it must be true. I guess it’s a sport by sport issue because I know in D’s sport there’s very little of it, most of them know each other well and many competed together in years past, many together on past Olympic teams, and they have very good manners, and are accurate in what they communicate. It’s one of the things I love about D’s sport, the coaches are good role models.</p>

12

<p>paceight, yes, this strategy only applies where likely letters apply (i.e. Ivies) - which is why I used the world so often in the post!</p>

13

<p>i missed that…what strategy r we talking about?</p>

14

<p>The coaches didn’t trash talk too much, although they would get their little jabs in. The students, though, will. Most usually do it more subtly, i.e. “What other schools are you looking at? Oh, all great choices. The thing is…”</p>

<p>I did like from multiple people my Amherst visit - “Just don’t go Williams”</p>

<p>Multiple people on my Williams visit - “Just don’t go to Amherst”</p>

<p>I mean, come on, they’re practically the same. The biggest discrepancy they could come up with was that Williams pulled off the better football field prank.</p>

<p>Also, I second the “don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions” part. If you or your child aren’t comfortable discussing anything with the coach during the recruiting process, it probably won’t be a good fit.</p>

15

<p>As far as “jabs” about other programs go, I didn’t get that feeling too much. It was more like “Oh, uhhh, so you’re looking at them huh, (sigh).” It was more of a kind of implied thing rather than completely explicit.</p>

16

<p>At a visit to Middlebury this past summer one of the coaches jokingly said, “I’m sure many of you will be visiting the “purple school” tomorrow. Just make sure to compare and notice how much nicer our new facilities are!” But otherwise we did not experience any trash talk by the coaches. In fact the Nescac coach at the school my son finally decided to go with was very genuine and after some initial pressuring to go ED or nothing said he should really think about where he would be most happy and most successful.
What we did learn is that, at least for our son’s sport, is that initially you’ll receive many emails, which you have to realize are going out to many prospects. Then come the calls asking for transcripts, test scores and senior schedule and senior game films and then if you pass the preread from admissions you get more “how’s it going” calls. We would watch the caller ID on Thursday evenings to see which school was calling and since none of our children actually answer the house phone anymore, we would have to shout out to our son to “answer the phone!!!”<br>
Then as the fall moved along he actually started getting calls from the coaches directly on his cellphone. So frustrating for us, because sometimes he would come to us and say, "Oh coach…called. Then we would have to drag every word out of him. “what did he say?”!!
All the while you have to try and keep it all in perspective and not get him too nervous. He still had games to play, and AP classes to study for and applications to finish.</p>

<p>Honestly after seeing all the prospects at so many great schools we were surprised our son was still in the running. Maybe we should have given him a little more credit. But the coaches in this sport are looking for a “whole package” player. Sure there are the super stars but honestly many of those stars start at the IVY level.</p>

<p>But you will see coaches suddenly drop off the radar and other coaches call later in the game. So don’t be surprised by anything! We received constant emails from one NESCAC coach who kept asking for films, etc. the recruiting coach would call, leave a message, my son would call back and the coach would never return the call , only to call the next week again. Finally my h called the head coach and said, “What’s the deal?” We soon found out that that head coach was let go… now we know why they were so disorganized and happy we did not pursue.
Save your energy for the fall! Depending on the sport I guess the recruiting times are slightly different but if they all an ED deadline than I would agree with an older post that said apply RD everywhere because you can always change it to ED very easily if you decide that’s the school for you.
Have your child visit and stay with a current student athlete if at all possible. This is impossible early in the season if you’re playing a fall sport and have weekend games etc. but you may be able to squeeze in a visit after the season and before decisions are due.
Good luck to all!</p>

17

<p>Figure out the money part early.</p>

<p>If money is no object, every league and division stays on the radar, and the student can feel free to fall in love with any school he desires, and hope for reciprocity.</p>

<p>If money IS part of the picture, or the whole picture, gather as much information as you can, as early as you can. Ivies do not give merit or athletic scholarships to anyone, ever. DIIIs do not give athletic scholarships. DI, DII and NAIA can give a combination of athletic and merit money. Every sport is different. Use your networks to figure this out: run the financial computers available on most college websites, talk with your kid’s HS coach, club coach, college coaches, guidance counselor, your kid’s friends and their parents who are current college athletes, and, of course, ask CC athlete parents right here! Ask the hard question: how much money are you getting/giving to play?</p>

<p>The list of schools you help your child pursue should be those you can afford. I’ve seen too many heart-breakers where the kid is offered a “scholarship” that just won’t work with the family finances.</p>

18

<p>Make sure your child loves the school not just for the athletics. If there is an injury, if they hate the team, if academics are too hard and they have to quit, they should still love the school so they still can remain happily at the college.</p>

<p>We asked D2 constantly, “would you still want this school if you didn’t play your sport here?” This answer would have to be “yes” for the school to remain in the running.</p>

19

<p>Someone in this forum mentioned recently to be organized</p>

<p>File folders so student kepts dates/notes/calls/infor written down–</p>

20

<p>zero trash talk of others schools by d’s new college coach. but a lot of “are you sure you want to be here…and we only want you if you really want to be here” </p>

<p>and as I mentioned before, she chose the coach and team and not the school. Had that coach and team been at some other school, I think she would have gone to that other school.</p>

<p>I think most athletes choose that way. I know most of the athletes d knows from around the country in her sport chose the coach and team…not the school…granted it’s a mutually selective process but the athletes were choosing the best coach and team they could get on, and the school was a distant 2nd.</p>