<p>The number of emails daughter has been receiving has been increasing, it seems, since college swim season has ended. Most are schools she has never heard of and really has no interest in. Not sure how she should respond. It doesn't seem right to just ignore the email or letter.</p>
<p>Also why do some coaches send the solicitaion through the athletic office at school and others contact her directly at home?</p>
<p>So far, it has turned out to be true that she has had to initiate the first contact to schools she is most interested in. I don't know if it is becasue the coaches don't know when looking at swim times who has the academic stats to get into their schools or what?</p>
<p>Coach contacts school because they have seen swimmer time with only name connected with her school. Some, too, because they value swim team coach. Usually has nothing to do with academic value.</p>
<p>With No offers currently in hand, when athlete wants to participate at college level, why would athlete not respond/ “send me more info”.
Nothing wrong with athlete initiating the contact with their first choices/reach schools.</p>
<p>If it’s a personalized e-mail, then I would have your D simply thank the coach, but tell him/her she is not interested. Mass mailings can be ignored. If you registered with a recruiting service, then the coaches who are using that site probably got your D’s e-mail that way. Some of them may have gotten her name and address from the PSAT or SAT questionnaire. I think it asks about activities and sports. The other coaches have no way of knowing how to reach her except through the school’s athletic office, so that’s what they do. </p>
<p>As for your observation about having to initiate contact with the schools she is most interested in, that is normal. Making an unofficial visit to those schools will likely spike coach interest in your D, however. The schools with less to offer have to work harder to attract students. And the higher in the range your D’s athletic and academic qualifications fall for that particular school, the more they will be interested in her. D got the most mail from the lowest quality schools, and had to be the most assertive with her favorite and highest quality school. After all, LOTS of kids want to go there and so she had to distinguish herself.</p>
<p>If the swimming world is anything like the sport world my son plays it is pretty small and coaches know each other etc… it is a good idea to always be courteous and respond even if it is thank you so much for your interest and explain that you are seeking a different type of school, area or program. Coaches appreciate it if their time is not wasted and the few minutes it takes to write a quick email could go along way down the road as you never know when your daughter and any particular coaches paths may cross. Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>I def. have been uncomfortable about her not sending any kind of response back as I figured she may run into these coaches at some point or another in the future. Although the likelihood of them remembering her a few years from now is slim. She is definitely not going to be the “great one” who got away that they haven’t forgtten, lol. Just wondered if people who get 100’s of unsolicited emails/letters respond back to all of them. She is not in the 100’s at this point but getting there. </p>
<p>A high school athlete should always take the time to respond to a personalized email from a college coach. It’s also a good idea to respond to a form email with the athlete’s name posted at the beginning. A bit of courtesy goes a long way. College coaches not only talk, they also change schools and positions, so any coach may become a valued contact down the recruiting road. I can’t imagine an athlete being crossed off a recruiting list because he or she was too courteous or too responsive.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks for the input. I will have her come up with something to say.</p>
<p>A high school team mate and good friend of hers has Senior National Cuts as a sophmore. Can’t imagine what she is being inundated with. She is not a great student though so will be looking at completely different schools. Division 1 for sure though.</p>
<p>Daughter acutally found a few emails in her spam folder that were over a month old. Yikes! they were schools that are in a conference that she is interested in too. I now have her checking that more often. Just a heads up, lol.</p>
<p>respond. She can send a quick and polite email back to all of them in 30 minutes. And i don’t think it’s so much about the coaches as teaching your daughter to be respectful of the opportunities being laid at her feet. All she has to do is look at the regular admission kids to see how fortunate she is.</p>
<p>and good luck, it was a battle for me to get my daughter to respond to everyone, especially to the coaches who she didn’t already have a face to face relationship with. Of course that was one of many battles I had with my 16 year old daughter:)</p>
<p>teenagers and old people are mean so that when they leave you don’t feel so bad!</p>
<p>Do you respond to every coach who initiates contact? </p>
<p>Absolutely yes. </p>
<p>If a coach initiated contact in a personal manner, my son replied. That was the deal, and that was part of his job in this process. He learned to handle himself quite well via email or phone when the opportunity arose. He went from “shy kid” to a “real go getter” in the matter of weeks because he had to…if he wanted to play college baseball. </p>
<p>I look at it as a life lesson, becasue it won’t be too long until he is looking for employment. If it was a mail mailing or communcation, he was not obligated to respond.</p>