Going Into Senior Year: What to do?

Athletic Recruits
1

I’m currently a junior, and I’m the best breaststroker on my team. Getting into the team isn’t really my problem; I have competitive DIII and DII cuts (I made sectionals this year in 100 and 200 breaststroke and broke our club record in the 200 breaststroke), and my academics (while some aren’t where I want them to be) usually more than match to the school-- the DII school in particular

But where do I stand with official visits? I’m planning on visiting my most likely school sometime August or September, but where is the line between I-want-you-please-come-on-an-official-visit and “eh?” If I joined the team right this second, I would be the third best breaststroker. If I join with my senior goal, I would waver between first and second.

I’ve contacted the coach. I’ll admit that I (well… I think) had a brilliant email; I asked for specific help from a friend, now-club-coach, and former-college coach. He has emailed back. He’s interested. So how do I go about getting an official visit? What does an official visit even entail? How good is good when scholarships come into play (this would be at the DII school, of course)? I’m not so worried about the scholarship (though it would be nice), because I have a high merit scholarship chance at the DII school.

Also, signing. I live in Oklahoma, which has a total of two colleges that have swimming, one of which is NAIA, the other DIII (I could be wrong: It might be NAIA as well), and both small private Christian colleges. As such, signing doesn’t happen very often on my team, so it’s extremely important to my coach and my friends on the team. Traditionally, the coach comes to the high school, the signee sits at a table with her parents and her coaches (both college and high school), and signs a piece of paper. Then there’s cake, or whatever. The important part is the people and the paper. How often does “traditionally,” in my sense of the word, come up? The coach would be from Colorado… Would he come all the way here just to watch me sign a piece of paper? I don’t know.

I’ve tried Google. NCAA. A recruited college athlete. Websites of all sorts. Advice. So, the short version: What were your experiences with communicating with coaches, official visits, DII scholarships, and signing? If you didn’t experience them, what do you know about them?

THAT was a bit longer than I expected.

2

I don’t know anything at all about swimming except that I am not very good at it. In a more general sense, I will say that recruiting can be an overwhelming process, particularly if you try and think of the whole thing as one event. In other words, there are a lot of steps in between contact with a school (where you are at now), official visits and then signing day. It will likely help you get through the process with a minimum of stress if you can break things down into steps. It is way to early to think about what will happen at signing day. Similarly, official visits can’t happen until Sept 1 of senior year, and I can not conceive of why a school would need to schedule visits this far in advance. So don’t worry about those things yet. In my son’s sport (football) the recruiting steps were 1)initial contact 2)unofficial visits/junior days 3)camps 4)offers/official visits/commitment (although he committed before his official visit). I assume the steps for swimming are similar.

Go to the NCAA recruiting calendar and look at the dates for contact rules, etc for your sport. This will give you some basic guide posts for when things are supposed to happen. Also, I am a big proponent of asking direct and clear questions of the coaches who are recruiting you. I know that is hard for a teenager (it was for my son) but it is the best way to get information, and also a way to truly get a sense of the program. Is the coach organized, is he direct, is he full of beans, etc. All valuable information outside of the substantive information you are seeking, which is basically what happens next? Ask clear, simple questions. Are my times recruit able at your school? How can I improve? What events do you you see me competing at for you? How many swimmers in those events are rostered now, and how many would you like to have in this recruiting class? And most importantly, what are the next steps in the process for you? it was hard for my son to ask such questions early in the process, but as he developed a rapport with certain coaches, it became easier and consequently it was easier for him to ask the tougher questions which come later in the process - how many guys are you looking at at my position and where do I stand on that list?

Generally, you need to think of this process as kind of a funnel. You start with a large group of schools and slowly whittle down to one at the end of the day. The same happens from the school’s end. They may need three or four swimmers this year and may be talking to dozens right now. At each step along the way, your choices narrow, and the school’s do as well. It seems like you are at the first step, generating interest. I would suggest that if the one school you like is interested, look at other schools in that conference or at that competitive level, since it is likely that if one is interested, others will be as well. The more schools you have in the funnel to begin with, the more leverage you will have later in the process, and the more options you will have as the recruiting process narrows. Once there is general interest from the school, start looking at the rosters. Try and identify certain schools which are “light”, or have a number of kids who will be seniors, in your events. See what the coaches who show interest say about the next steps in the process, and then work on that. Take it slow, be clear in how you communicate and be honest with yourself as to what you want and can achieve. Good luck!

3

Thank you so much! I’ll definitely be looking into that step-by-step approach.

How did your son approach unofficial visits/junior days? Did he contact the coach or meet the team? The visits are what confuse me the most, because I’m not sure how to go about them, official or otherwise, and if I meet with the team or go to classes at the college or whatever else typically happens.

Also, in regards to commitment/signing… Are you saying I should just ask if he could come down for the public signing, or is that a process that varies from recruit to recruit? How was your son’s signing?

Again, thanks.

4

I really don’t know how well football recruiting meshes with swimming recruiting, so take this with a grain of salt, but my son picked which schools he wanted too visit unofficially (whether for junior days or just a visit) based on a couple things. First, it was a school he was at least preliminarily interested in. Second, there was some level of contact with the recruiting coach that indicated some interest in him as a football player. He was fortunate in that more schools were interested in him at that stage than he could reasonably visit, so we broke down the rosters of the current players to see who had an apparent need at his position and how he matched up physically with the guys on the roster (kind of like a swimmer looking at times on the current college roster) then he looked at whatever tape he could find of some college games to see what the style of play was and whether he thought he could fit. He also was very fortunate in that a few of his former teammates were playing at the schools he was considering, so he reached out to them to get a feel for particular programs.

From there, he and I plotted out a trip over spring break and a shorter trip over Easter to visit a half dozen schools. Those trips really helped him get an idea of what he liked and didn’t like, and when we got back broke, tired and grumpy from too much fast food and too many miles on the highway, he had a pretty clear picture of schools in basically three bands - those he really liked, those he kinda liked and one (my alma mater as it turned out) that just got struck from the list. It is a lot of front end research, I know. But I really believe it helped him later in the summer when time draws short and he was trying to prepare for his season and the start of school and coaches were coming at him from all different angles. When the time came, he made his decision fairly quickly because he had gathered a lot of information over junior spring and summer.

As far as signing day, my kid’s was probably a little different than most. They had 24 boys (its an all boys school) sign for Division 1 or 2 in February, including 15 football players. Since some of the kids were going to serious programs (Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan State, UCLA) there was a lot of local media. All the boys sat at two long tables and each stood in turn while that particular coach said a few words about them. Then the athletic director said OK, time for the main event and they all signed at the same time. Of course, since my kid went to an Ivy there was no NLI. He told me later that he drew a stick figure in his folder. They did the ceremony in the gym, under the schools’ 50 odd state championship banners (including the brand spanking new football banner from this year) which was wicked cool, I am not gong to lie.

I have never heard of a college coach attending a signing day event, and I would think that would be very rare, particularly since at least in football, signing date occurs during a dead period where the college coaches are not allowed to have any contact with the recruits whatsoever. Whatever your school does, I can guarantee that it will be a day you remember forever, because it is the day you join a very elite group of people who have been blessed to continue playing a child’s game far longer than most are able to. I still remember the date I singed my NLI long before you were born. At that time, they just called me out of class to the vice principal’s office, handed me a pen and said go back to class. I still remember staring at the fax machine when the vice principal sent the signed letter to my school as one of the formative days of my life. You will as well, I promise.

5

And yes, rereading the above it is not clear but he talked with the recruiting coach at each school by e mail a few times before making his unofficial visits, not sure how productive such a visit would be without having something set up with the coach. At about half of the schools, he also got to meet some of the current players. Junior days are much more structured, although at most there was an opportunity to at least talk with the recruiting coach and a couple of players.

6

That cleared up a couple signing questions, thanks. I’ve been to different signing ceremonies-- several kids signing in the gym, signing individually at the Aquatic Center… I guess it’s just a case-to-case basis. I’m also planning on an unofficial visit this summer, so that should probably clear up some more uncertainties.

Thanks for the advice!

7

You are making a lot of the signing ceremony and that is the LAST thing to worry about. First, D1 coaches cannot attend signing ceremonies, and usually other coaches do not attend either, as many take place on the same day in many different states, some are during the season the coaches are coaching their own teams, etc. Different sports are at different times of the year (early signing for most sports is in Nov., football in February, regular signing in April)

My daughter signed early, in our dining room, and I faxed the documents back to the school the next day. She did her public, party signing in April with the bulk of the other athletes from her school. As Ohiodad described, all the ‘signers’ sat up on the stage, had exactly 2 minutes to thank their coaches and families, and then all ‘signed’ the NLI. Of the 22 signers, I’d guess half were not actually signing - some D3 schools, some junior colleges, some NAIA, one to the Naval academy, and a bunch, like my daughter, who had already signed in November. It was great fun, there were pictures, every athlete had a table out in the lobby with cake and balloons and a school banner.

The neighboring high school did individual public signings whenever. Those who signed in November had them throughout the year, but the college coach did not attend. Lots of youth coaches, high school coaches, favorite teachers, etc. but the college coaches aren’t expected to travel to signing ceremonies. Even if it is local, the college coaches don’t come.

Make appointments to visit in the summer after July 1, then the coaches can meet with you. For D2, you should make sure you are academically a top fit for that school and you’ll likely get merit aid too. There is not a lot of swimming money to go around, so the coaches like it if the student can get merit money too. Start with emails or the recruiting questionnaire on the webpages. The coaches can’t contact you directly until July 1, but you can contact them, or they can contact your coaches (so list that info in your email or on the questionnaire). Keep them posted about your improving times. Tell them if you will be swimming in their areas (state meets, club team).

Please pick more than 2 schools as targets. You never know when a school will suddenly need someone in your events, or when someone with better times than yours will decide that D2 school you’ve picked is her number one school now.

8

My son went through swimming recruiting last year. By now, you should be in email contact with the coaches that you are interested in. On July 1st they can start calling you - you should know by September 1st if they are going to invite you for an official visit. If they don’t say anything - ask them. It is truly a game and I agree 100% if you absolutely want to swim to make sure that you are in contact with more than 2 coaches. Things change quickly and sometimes come as a surprise. My son only had a few schools he wanted to go to - he was not going to go to a school that he didn’t want to attend just so he could swim. He went on three official visits - got two VERY small offers (D1 schools just don’t offer freshman money much - guys that is) and in the end decided to not swim. He was a “top” recruit at first with these two schools and other recruits that were a little faster came along (internationals) and my son became a “preferred walk on” and a “books” scholarahip offer. He just decided that was not the path he wanted to take.

Goodluck. Remember - DII schools only have 6 total scholarships for men so the money will be very little.

9

My son, currently a senior, will be swimming for a DIII school in the fall, so the experience is fresh in my mind. Here are some of the basics. Identify schools that you are interested in academically and for swimming. Fill out the swim recruitment forms on the websites; these forms will ask about your events and times and academic information (SAT scores, AP classes completed etc). Send an email to the coach with some personal and friendly information letting them of your interest and what you like about their school and the team as soon as you complete the form. This contact will hopefully lead to a relationship if you seem to be a good fit and they are interested. You will need to work a bit to maintain the relationship by keeping them updated about your accomplishments. If they are not interested, or you are not a good fit for the school, the coach will also let you know what you would need to improve upon to be a good applicant. Once you do this a few times it will become clear who is interested in you. Cast a wide net as the things you are looking for when you first start out may change over time.

If you are able to visit with any of the coaches this spring or summer this would be an unofficial visit and would also be helpful for you to gain experience and information about what you are looking for in a school and a team. Then during the summer or early fall you may be offered official visits, when the coach invites you to stay overnight and visit with the team and go to some classes. If overnights visits are not forthcoming it is also ok to ask a coach if they are planning on offering you a visit. Let them know of your interest, enjoy the process, and success will follow.

As for signing ceremonies, I have no idea.

Good luck!

10

Yeah, I really need to spread my net when looking at colleges; I’ve got one DII and two DIII’s on my list. I’m taking a couple SATs to get the needed scores for the DIII schools before I contact them. Academics has always been a priority, so I want to worry about recruitment for those schools after I know I have a good chance of getting in.

I’m already above-- academically-- most the applicants at the DII school, which will offer more merit scholarships. (This would be why I’m asking now instead of procrastinating until June 30.) I fit within most DII swimming ranges, and I could creep into DI if I really tried; DI usually means bigger where I want to go, though, and I want to stay in a smaller school.

I didn’t realize that signing ceremonies were more loose-- probably because I wasn’t the one sitting behind the table. Thanks for the clarification.

On the topic of recruitment forms: I’m wary of filling those out before my academics reflect the school, even though I want to open dialogue with the coaches. I don’t have an NCAA Clearinghouse # (that is it, right?), and I have to take the SAT Math II and Chemistry tests, as well as raise my SAT by another 100/200 points.

The picture might be misleading, but I’m a girl. That will also help with admissions, seeing as most the schools I’m applying to are math and science institutions.

11

You can’t do official visits before submitting to the NCAA (for Div 2), but that is easy (just costs money). Be sure to put the NCAA number on your SAT/ACT scores to have the scores sent in. Don’t wait for your scores, just contact those schools you want to go to or fill out the questionnaire. If you are in the merit range you, you are way above the NCAA minimums and coaches won’t be concerned. Big long list right now, shrinking as you weed out schools.

12

Actually, my list is limited to those three colleges. I had more colleges when swimming wasn’t a factor, but now I’m not applying to DI and non-swimming colleges, which has basically knocked out Ivies, OU, and University of Tulsa. I’m looking at Caltech (just need the test scores: classes are plenty hard enough), MIT (also test scores), and Colorado School of Mines (the DII school I keep alluding to).

Do coaches look past scores when the colleges are that prestigious? And I probably won’t be offered merit at MIT/Caltech… they actually specifically say that they don’t offer merit.

13

You need to expand your list of schools. Greatly. CSM does have a good team, and being a girl will help, but you won’t get a lot of money because there just isn’t a lot of money for swimming, and because it is a public school, your OOS tuition is going to be high. Scholarship money is limited. Caltech rarely, if ever, gives a nod to an athlete for admissions (see other threads in the Athletic Recruits section). MIT might be willing to recruit you, but it’s still a long shot for everyone.

Look at Florida or Texas division 2 schools. Money plus merit plus sunshine all year.