My D21 heard back from a coach today that the coach cannot promise her a spot on the team but invited her to tryout for a spot. My D21 plays tennis and the total number of tennis team members is 8-10 players. The team seems to be comprised of 1-2 walk ons with the remaining members being recruited athletes.
My D21 had also asked for the coach’s academic support, but such academic support is not really needed as my D21 should get admitted ED and/or RD based on her academic record.
This school was one of my D21’s top choices, so My D21 is disappointed. Also my D21 had been talking to this coach since late January 2020 and the coach gave my D21 a pre-read.
My question for any parents of D3 athletes is what exactly is an invited walk on mean at the D3 level where no athletic scholarships are awarded?
Any insight that can provided would be very appreciated. Thanks
It’sgetting, your assessment is shared by me too. But we find it a bit strange that the coach would perform a pre-read for my D21 just to allow my D21 to tryout like any other student. It would have been just as easy for coach to invite my D21 to walk on and make no promises or perform any pre-read at all at the beginning of the process.
Coaches have admissions do more pre-reads than they have slots, in order to make sure they have an adequate number of recruits to choose from to fill their slots.
Many schools require coaches to hold tryouts for their teams, sometimes there are open spots, sometimes not. Does your D know if there are spots on the team after accounting for returning team members plus the incoming recruits? She needs to understand this from the coach.
Fundamentally, your D has to ask herself whose spot is she going to take on the team (if there are not open spots)? It is generally difficult to take a spot away from a veteran of the team and/or one of the coach’s recruits, for obvious reasons.
If your D really wants to play tennis in college, I would not count on her being able to walk on at her first choice, unless the coach says there are likely to be spots open. Is she interested in continuing to pursue other opportunities?
My D has looked at the team roster and believes that with the graduating seniors next year and the incoming recruits that there could be at least 1 (maybe even 2) walk on spots. Currently, the team has 1 walk on who will be graduating this year. We will definitely have my D ask the coach how many walk ons, if any, will the coach include on his team.
As far as tennis ability/ranking, my D seems to fall within the middle of pack of current players. This is probably the main reason why my D was disappointed to hear the walk on news from the coach.
My D does want to play college tennis and has some other options in terms of schools. But this school was my D’s first choice so we are still getting over the initial disappointment.
We were hoping that the recruiting moons would align for my D in these crazy times with this school/coach and were initially encouraged. But unfortunately this was not the case and now my D will hopefully show her character and move forward.
The plan to ask the coach about the number of walk-on spots makes sense. It sounds like your D has build a good relationship with this coach, so hopefully they will be candid about the likelihood of walking on. From there, your D can gauge her next steps and move on if need be.
As many have written on these boards before, recruiting is a hard, stressful process. Student-athletes generally experience all of their rejection during the recruiting process, rather than during the traditional admissions process like most students.
Many people look at the recruited athletes and think oh, they have it so easy thru the admissions process…yet they didn’t see the situation where there was a positive pre-read but the athlete wasn’t ultimately selected by the coach, or the failed pre-reads, or the dozens and dozens of unacknowledged communications. Not to mention the blood, sweat, and tears that go along with playing a sport at a fairly high level.
Good luck, it sounds like you have both been on top of the process and thoughtful throughout. I hope that things work out for your D.
Mwf thanks again for the feedback. At the end of the day, my D has been surgical about being able to play tennis in college as some specific schools that my D has deemed to be a personal, academics and athletic fit. If these specific schools do not work out for tennis as a recruit (or at least as a potential and viable walk on), then my D plans to apply to some other T25 schools and give up playing college tennis (with the possibility of trying out for the school team she ultimately attends).
The advantage of tennis vs a team sport is that the decision should be more objectively driven. If your D is consistently beating teammates in matches, she should be fine. It is more dicey in team sports when subjective evals come into play.
Is your D still pursuing other schools/teams? The harder call is if she gets support at her number 2 school.
Athletic recruiting is hard! No one sees this part when they see the athlete committing or getting a likely letter. Hugs to you and your daughter @dadof3and1dog
How do you know who on the current roster is a “recruit” vs. a “walk-on”? And in my experience there’s often a difference between an invited walk-on (you can come for pre-season tryouts but no guarantee you’ll be offered a roster spot) and an “open tryout” (day 1 of school let’s see if any stud has enrolled and wants to play).
Eb, we are simply making an educated guess as to which team members are recruits and which members are walk-on based on the current team roster and published recruiting lists for this school.
Is there a difference being an invited walk-on and a open tryout participant in the context of D3 schools (which do not offer athletic scholarships)?
Yes, there’s a difference - sorry if I wasn’t clear. I don’t know women’s tennis but I would assume it’s similar to other sports. There is a pre-season (before non-athlete students are back on campus) which includes “invited walk-ons” participating with recruits and returning players. At some point, whether it’s early, middle or end of the pre-season, coach will finalize their roster and either cut the walk-on or invite them to join the team. Once non-athlete students are back on campus, the coach will hold an open tryout for all other students (as I said above - in case some stud enrolls in school and decides to try out).
The likelihood of “an invited walk-on” making the team will depend on number of spots available, and obviously how well the invitee performs. The likelihood of making the team via open tryout is much lower, although I have seen it happen. And as someone above noted, Tennis is very objective, so if you’re winning all your matches then you have a chance.
Another worry this year is if students listed as seniors are really graduating. NCAA has given all athletes another year (spring 2020, fall and winter 2020-21). At LACs it is a little different as seniors can’t really stay around and take a grad year, but some students might need an extra semester if online classes didn’t work out or if they took a gap. If there is a grad school, those seniors might be sticking around for another year.
Not as big an issue with team sports, but tennis is a small group.
Eb, thanks for the clarification between an invited walk on and open tryout. My D has asked the coach for some explanation as to how the invited tryout would work and when it would occur so that we can make sure we know what type of tryout the coach was referring too.
My D wants to confirm that the coach is not simply asking my D to participate in an open tryout despite doing a pre-read.
In my view, it is a little early to give up on the school. Remember, an athlete’s “commitment” is non-binding, so there can be recruiting movement, even through October-November.
Just as you have asked here, you should drill down on exactly what is being offered with the coach. Coaches meet with a lot of students, some of whom couldn’t make their varsity high school team. The way that coaches encourage the application – without recruiting the student – is to say the student can try out if he or she gets admitted to the school. But, as noted, many schools require that all try-outs are open (some even require captain’s practices to be open). So the coach isn’t offering anything to these students.
As you state it, “the coach gave my D21 a pre-read.” This could be a distinction from the “you can try out if you get in” scenario, but I am not sure what you mean. Did the coach provide grades and scores to admissions, and admissions gave the green light? Or did the coach just look at grades and say that she will probably be admitted.
What concerns me is that your D asked for support and was told that she probably doesn’t need it, because she could be admitted on her own. At the high-ranked D3s, there are so many students who COULD get in on their own – meaning their grades and scores are where they should be – that not all those who COULD get in are admitted. I would ask about soft support. Would the coach write a letter for admissions saying that he thinks your D would be an asset to the team?
Can you ask the coach how many others are given invited walk-on status. Can you ask how far off the mark your D was from getting coach support with admissions, or put differently, where she was on the coach’s list of athletes. I definitely would ask how many spots he expects will be open at the time of try-outs. Keep it all positive, because as noted there can be movement even late in the process.
Not sure about tennis, but my son played D3 Baseball. Coaches over-recruited every year to make sure 25 man roster was filled. Lets just say there were 6 shortstops (usually most athletic so they are moved to other positions)10-12 pitchers, 3 catchers and any other stud lefties. No one was guaranteed a spot. I watched a NY All-State pitcher get cut when he got lit up in fall scrimmages.
Your daughter needs to look at how many roster spots are available, look at her own ability to compete.
As I told my son, if you blow out a knee or shoulder and could never play ball again, would you be happy here? If the answer is no, its the wrong school.
Good Luck
goin and bmac, thanks for the very helpful info and advice.
Goin, with regard to your questions, the coach did perform a pre-read where my D provided her transcript, ACT scores, senior classes, school profile, and planned major/college. The coach provided all of this info to admissions and the initial feedback was that my D’s transcript was solid but that my D’s ACT was a little concern for the major (neuroscience/pre-med) that my D planned to apply to at this school.
Since this initial pre-read, my D was able to re-take the ACT and scored better. Now my D’s ACT score puts my D in the 75% acceptance range for this school.
My D also provided her updated scores to the coach and at the same time requested the coach’s academic support AND athletic commitment. That is when the coach emailed my D back and told her that he could not promise a spot on the tennis team and told my D that she would have an opportunity to try out for a walk on position on the team. My D has since sent a positive email asking questions of the coach relating to tryouts and walk ons.
Our feeling from the coach is that the coach is reluctant to give academic support for any potential player because the school does not place too much weight on any coach support for admissions. The school and the coach have stated that a potential athlete must be admissible on their own merit. Thus, we do not know the extent of any pull that the coach has on admissions, and my D has always assumed that she needs to be able to get admitted as if there were no coach support.
We were just hoping that the coach taking the time and effort to conduct a pre-read would translate into being a recruited athlete for my D. My D is still motivated to apply to this school and walk on, but the ED/EA scenario for my D is a bit different without my D being promised a spot on the team.
All of this is fluid and new for us so please know that we appreciate all of the insight.
It could be helpful to know whether the coach provides admissions support for any athlete, or whether the coach is simply not providing admissions support for this potential player. There is so much said, and not said, “between the lines,” so being specific with the coach is useful.
From what I’m reading, when asked if the coach would support the student as a recruited athlete with Admissions, the coach said no. The coach is not saying, “I can’t provide admissions support but, if you get in your own, you have a spot on the team” but rather, “I can’t provide admissions support, but if you get in on your own, you are welcome to come to pre-season tryouts.”
In that case, it comes down to student/family priorities and preferences – how important is playing the sport for that student? Would the student prefer to apply ED with coach support elsewhere, in order to assure being able to continue playing? Or are they willing to “roll the dice” with this school because this is really where they want to be? If so, then go in with “eyes open,” realizing that deferral could be ED so that they won’t know until March, and then, if admitted, will be training and preparing to compete for pre-season tryouts. If that is the approach, then ask specific questions about walk-ons – how many try out every year, how many make the team etc.
As others have said, recruiting, especially D3, without money and fanfare, is a bumpy road. Others don’t see the heartbreak along the way. Hang in there and keep asking questions here, it is a wonderful, supportive community that got my D3 athlete through the process.