<p>Does your daughter play on an AAU team that travels? I would suggest she send her summer AAU schedule to the D3 coaches with her tape later in the year. Lots of college coaches from good academic D3 schools attend Junior Nationals, Penn State and the like. The other thing that may be worth the money is to attend a Blue Chip shootout at Babson and/or the one in Pennsylvania. A lot of the D3 schools have limited budgets and staff for recruiting. They are worried about seniors now. Good luck - sounds like she is a great student/athlete and I am sure many schools would love to have her.</p>
<p>movinmom, How do you know of Babson, or Penn State? Do you know of a website that would list the showcase opportunities in that area? In Texas ,we have Texas Hoops , a discussion board that lists about 50 % of all the NCAA certified showcase opp's, but not on a regular basis. I'll probably go to the NCAA site and see who is hosting individual showcases that say they pull a clientele of coaches from schools like D wants to attend. BTW ,D travels but only in Texas and Oklahoma so far. Maybe we'll branch out. I really like the showcases where you only have to worry about your kid getting there and not a whole team.</p>
<p>NESCAC rules don't allow a member college to <em>initiate</em> contact off campus, regardless of any date. So if you want to attend/play at one of those schools (AWS, Colby, Bowdoin, Conn, Bates, Hamilton, etc....) you have to make the first move and express your interest. Once you've done that, they can call, write, email to their heart's content , pursuant to the rules Mini posted. They won't (can't) come looking for you. But that's not true for all D3.</p>
<p>After spending our high school years pursuing one sport with a potential to play DivI, a brand new sport came to our school last spring, long story short, it is my DDs best sport ever and she has gone to the National level over the summer. This caused all our research and university list to be tossed out and research to commence anew, as she wants to continue in the new sport.</p>
<p>I spent the summer contacting coaches and program directors via email, mainly asking questions. I am not sure I would have had the guts to be that direct if I'd had more time, but with applications due in the fall, time was of the essence.</p>
<p>I found that there were some schools where my echats with the coach were enough to turn me off and in other cases, the coaches were so warm & friendly that is was very appealing. Also, the patience they offered in answering questions, old hat to them, but critical to our choices was a judgement factor. To really put them to the test, since several school are USNWR top 25, I asked them about other school's programs, given that admissions is a real roll of the dice.</p>
<p>My DD is qualified on numbers, but so are most of the applicants and whilst some coaches indicate they have pull, I will believe it when i see it! I do have to say, it has been fun to say "(insert name of top 20 school here) is calling again"</p>
<p>I have had excellent results from emailing a brief basic synopsis of accomplishments and asking about the program and what they would need to see. Thus far we have four coaches saying they can fast-track her in, but in these top schools, I have seen friends in the past not get in, even with National level competition and attention in a Div I sport. One friend in particular had sub-1300 SAT, though likely UW 4.0 or close, and National attention in her sport......did not get into top 5 school (despite coaches big talk) though did get in at top 20 school.</p>
<p>Our hope is that DD gets into a school she really wants and that her sport is the hook, but she already qualifies. We have discussed it in our family and agree that it is like the trials fo rteams going to national competition, there are many friends who she thinks should ahve been chosec, but were not......same thing in admissions, if you don't show your best profile in the packet, you may not get chosen, deserving or not. We plan to go visit all the schools to which she is admitted to see the teams during their season, then make the final selection.....hoping that the team at her favorite school is as good as the coach says.</p>
<p>I think I would not bother sending a video until the coah indicated interest and wanted to watch it.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Catch up here:</p>
<p>Soozievt: absolutely! And I confess to a tiny little flutter of relief when it is NOT mine and I am NOT on the hook for something!</p>
<p>Driver: thanks for the info on NESCAC. Are you aware of other leagues with the same rule? It would be helpful for people to know that. </p>
<p>I agree with somemom about not sending the tape unless it was requested. I have heard several coaches say they will just toss unsolicited videotapes in the wastebasket. That sounds like a waste, but when you realize how much they have to do with year-round conditioning, planning, scheduling, training, and adding recruiting the best possible team they can put together, it is understandable I think that they just can't do everything. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if they ask for it, get it in quick or they will consider you less than completely interested. Those recruiting lists they keep have a quick "cross-out" factor as far as I can tell.</p>
<p>Curmudgeon,
Sounds like we are following a similar path. D is a junior and wants to play D3 bball or at a small D1 program. The AAU Nationals are in Amarillo this summer--which is good for your home base. My D's team may go but she might not participate because she wants to play in the East or Mid-Atlantic and our guess is that Amarillo will not attract that many east coast coaches. At last year's Nationals in Winston-Salem, there were coaches from all over but primarily east of the Mississippi. I suspect this summer in Amarillo there will be more mid-West and West Coast coaches but your daughter may get seen there by someone she is interested in. And since it's in Texas, you may not need to spend a small fortune to get there.</p>
<p>My D has done 2 Blue Chip showcases (see <a href="http://www.bluechipbasketball.com%5B/url%5D">www.bluechipbasketball.com</a>) and one was worthwhile and well-run and the other was not. Same folks, different venues, just luck of the draw. In the one that was not well organized, her reversible jersey was white with black numbers (easy to decipher) and purple with black numbers (coaches could not see which number she was to identify her.) So for half of the games she played, she wore the purple shirt and I'm sure coaches could not make any notes about who she was.</p>
<p>I am soooo confused by the NCAA recruiting rules, esp. for D3. How is a "contact" defined? Is a phone call by the coach a contact? One D3 school calls my daughter ( currently a junior) 3 or 4 times a month. Other D3 schools (smaller, less well known) that she has written to has never responded. It's hard to determine if that reflects the school's resources or their lack of interest in her. Maybe Driver's comment about Conference rules for different D3 schools explains that.</p>
<p>And one local D1 school sends her a letter every week and to my knowledge they have never seen her play. Brenda Frese, the U of Maryland coach recently said that even for big D1 schools, they rely heavily on AAU and showcases for recruitment. They can't go watch high school games due to the limited calendar opportunities for contacts. So for current juniors, this coming summer is important and then the month long period in the fall when the showcases take place are really the best time for these girls to be seen. Good luck and maybe we will wind up cheering on the same East Coast team??</p>
<p>dcmom, you might try reading the ncaa guide (you can download it and read it online and I think you can print it also), but phone calls during junior year sounds like it might not be kosher: I believe that "contact" includes meetings and phone calls, and I believe that is only supposed to happen after June 15 of junior year. But I'm just going by what I read, maybe there is something to explain it. Most of these terms are defined specifically in the NCAA guide.</p>
<p>My understanding of D3 contact is that a high school coach can communicate with the D3 coach. The D3 coach can write the student after 9/1 of the junior year. The D3 coach can meet with a student while s/he is visiting the campus. Email and letter contact is fine. I don't think the coach can call until after July of the summer after the junior year.</p>
<p>Another aspect is that a college coach at any level can talk to an AAU coach or club coach at any time about a player whereas D1 coaches cannot talk to high school coaches till July 1 after the junior year. So if your kid plays on a club team, that coach can be a real asset/advocate.</p>
<p>For an overseas basketball player with Div 1 size and unknown potential--I contacted a Div 1 coach by email and asked if there was any way this boy could get a look.</p>
<p>Coach happened to be the one who recruited one of country's NBA players to a midwest college and he asked the boy to show up for a 'players only' practice in July. No coach involved, technically legal by NCAA rules.</p>
<p>My 74 year old Dad took him to the practice and had to leave halfway through. Watching the Div 1 players tear up and down the court was too much for my dear Dad! Even though there was no coach, it was very clear that the boy did NOT have the athleticism required--and he never heard from the school.</p>
<p>He went for a PG year instead and will probably be ready for Div 3, at least, at the end of this season. </p>
<p>That's my first suggestion. Contact all 10 coaches of her top ten choices and ask them for advice. She might be invited to a similar practice during a visit.</p>
<p>My second suggestion, if she were a boy, would be to go to one of the five Star basketball camps. <a href="http://www.five-starbasketball.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.five-starbasketball.com/</a></p>
<p>"No one had done more for the game of basketball in the past four decades than Five-Star's Howard Garfinkel and Will Klein." - Mike Krzyzweski</p>
<p>Some of the best players in the country go to their camps (MJ went there and his boys go there). Their coaches are well connected to college coaches and many college scouts sit in the stands and look for talent.</p>
<p>Since she's not a boy, I suggest you call Five Star and ask them to recommend THE Five Star equivilent for girls. I corresponded with them when I arranged for this boy to go to their camp--and they couldn't be nicer. Phone: <a href="http://www.five-starbasketball.com/contact.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.five-starbasketball.com/contact.htm</a> </p>
<p>or <a href="mailto:leigh@five-starbasketball.com">leigh@five-starbasketball.com</a>. </p>
<p>ps. C; Are you English?</p>
<p>Most NCAA D3 schools have very limited active recruitment - tho quite a bit of passive recruitment goes on for sure. They are not able to give any fin aid based on athletics and students participate in their sports for the love of it for the most part - tho there are some very competitive D3's and it is also sport dependant. The scholar/athlete really needs to be a well rounded package also and must have a passion for their sport. Athletes/coaches can contact athletes/coaches after the completion of their junior year in high school and in many cases it is best that the student contact the coach directly if possible - by telephone call, email, personal letter - and don't forget that place at the schools website where you can show interest - make sure to complete it and let the coach know who you are that way also. The more you can interest a coach in you - the better. </p>
<p>Most coaches in D3 will request stats, video, info of some sort - good idea to have a very nice package - including a nice resume - ready to pop in the mail directly to the coach when you find one of interest. A visit to the school is always worth points also and make sure to catch the coach while you are there - or make sure you make your visit based on the sport itself. Most coaches have the ability to 'tag' so many applicants they are interested in - they may have a say during the actual admission process - so it always a good thing to make a great impression for the coach to go to bat for you.</p>
<p>Make sure to do the NCAA Clearinghouse application - usually available at your high school or request one on-line - tho not really needed for D3 - it is a good idea to have it done in case you do decide to change to a D1 or D2 school and playing a varsity level sport - fyi can't play without it done at D1 and D2's. It is also a good idea to review it as early in the process as possible as there are deadlines to be met and good info to be aware of also.</p>
<p>And don't overlook those club sports either. Many colleges have very competetive programs that compete in intercollegiat conferences - some even have national championships!!! - and can offer great opportunities to continue to play or even compete in a new sport. Club sports are a bit easier to manage for many students as the committment is far less than at the varsity level.</p>
<p>Good luck to all student-athletes and their parents - you will live thru this hahaha.</p>
<p>D3 rules can be found in the NCAA guide, under "recruiting information" and then to D2 and D3 page. This should be the precise page link but if not, you can get to it easily as described above.</p>
<p>D3: recruiting materials can be sent to a player at any time. No rule about waiting to 9/1 of junior year. Calls/contact can begin on June 15, not July 1 (that is D1/D2). No limit on calls per week once that period begins, again unlike D1/D2.</p>
<p>Patient,
For D3, it says "an athletic department staf member....may contact you in person off the college campus after your junior year of high school. There is no limit on the number of contacts or the period when they may occur." I could interpret that to mean in person contacts may be initiated by the coach only after the junior year. The second sentence could mean other kinds of contacts can occur anytime. I don't know how else to explain the phone calls and emails that my daughter (current junior) is getting from D3 coaches. How would you interpret those 2 sentences regarding phone calls?</p>
<p>BTW - the tighter Division I recruiting rules make sense if you think about the implications for scholarships for the kids and possible revenue for the school ... the best players are very much in demand and recruiting could/would get totally out of control without lots of controls.</p>
<p>Looser DIII rules also make sense - schools want to have good teams and win but they are looking for student-athletes and sports recruitment has little financial implication to either the student or the school (aid for the student will be by need or academic merit and the DIII schools all "lose" money on sports). In addition, all high school kids know about major DI programs like Duke basketball but allowing a DIII school like Haverford to send a few letters or make a few calls earlier than Duke to get themselves on someone's radar screen doesn't exactly change the competitive balance of recruiting against a DI school such as Duke.</p>
<p>dcmom - I'd suggest asking your daughter's high school coach for help with the calls ... she/he should be aware of the recruiting rules and should stop any college making inappropriate contacts.</p>
<p>I think that the "phone calls" section seems to make those permissible. I think the next section has to do with in-person visits?</p>
<p>And sorry, I was wrong about the June 15th contact part above (too late to edit it directly). It is after your junior year and I guess that could be anytime from mid-May or something?</p>
<p>I emailed a D3 coach I know (not the one who has been calling my D) and asked the question. He said D3 (at least his conference) can call/email/chat with parents or students at any time. Could the NCAA maybe be a little more specific? Like define "contacts" or spell out when various types of contacts may occur for D3? Too much to hope for.</p>
<p>dcmom3, on the link I posted, the definition of contact is on page 26. I remember that I printed out this guide before my son's junior year started and put it in a binder. A contact is "face-to-face contact" off the college campus where the coach says more than "hello".</p>
<p>Curmudgeon,</p>
<p>I am in almost your same boat with my D, a senior. She is a D3 candidate for tennis whose academic stats put her just on the edge of being able to get into a really good college-- median level SATs-- but not a sure thing. Her tennis stats are great (first team all league since soph year; captain; division championship team, etc.) Here is what we did. </p>
<p>We took a list of all D 3 schools (available on the internet) and went through it for all the schools that were prestigious and wonderful that she'd love to attend (even if she could not play tennis.) Then we crossed off the ones with the very highly nationally-ranked teams, because they might not be as interested in her tennis-wise, and we figured at the academically well-regarded schools they'd probably <em>need</em> to be interested tennis wise for her to get in. Then we focused on the areas in the country that were interesting to her. Then we researched the schools and visited them, and she chose the ones that appealed to her the most, based on the visits. Luckily the college she liked best would proabbly really think of her as an asset to the team.</p>
<p>While we initiated contact with the "top choice" schools, we also concurrently signed up for a service from a local company that sends your stats out to all the coaches in a particular division. This meant she got calls from a number of smaller or less selective schools that became our "safety" list. We did get some calls from major schools (Johns Hopkins, Emory, Pomona) but these schools were not right for her in other respects. One of the safeties that came in through the service is a great regional LAC, has a great coach, and my D can qualify for merit aid, so it is a great safety.</p>
<p>The best part of going to the coaches is that they will really help you in setting up an overnight visit. The girls from the team are really nice to "recruits" and it gives the prospective freshman a great taste of the school. It is a nice personal contact in a very impersonal process. Also you get a sense of a group and a coach with whom you may be spending a great deal of time.</p>
<p>I was interested to read the numbers of coach "picks" at D3 schools. I know that the coaches we talked to present their ranked "choices" to the admission office, but I don't think there's really a guarantee. Time will tell how much a push is given, because either tennis will push her over at her reaches or it won't.</p>
<p>Curmudgeon,</p>
<p>Check your private messages! I replied but you did not pick them up.</p>
<p>SBMom</p>