<p>I will not make this specific to lacrosse though my son is a lacrosse recruit. He is in regular contact with about 5-6 coaches who all seem interested. 1 we have visited and the others are on the agenda in the next month.</p>
<p>How and when will he know if he is seriously being considered? I would like to think thats the case already given the email exchanges but I might be naive and know little about how all this works. At what point will a coach or will this even happen say that he is one of their top recruits. OR at what point can my son ask them if he is? The season is just starting this week so I feel maybe this is premature?</p>
<p>Any advice most welcome. This is when I wish I could afford a company or person who specializes in this.....though i know there are no guarantees, I just am nervous that I am not guiding him properly!</p>
<p>mom – fwiw, we thought that interpreting the coach’s emails and knowing how to gauge their interest was really difficult too. For starters, be sure your son contacts the coach at every school he is interested in attending. Others probably know more and can hopefully advise you, but it was our impression that personalized emails that asked about school, followed up on how tests went, inquired about specific games, other events in his life, etc indicated more than just passing interest. The more of those you get, the greater the interest. Coaches can call your son now as well, so if he’s getting any phone calls that’s a good sign. When that’s established more specific conversations that gauge each parties interest can begin. Your son’s club and high school lax coaches should be able to give advice as well. If you’re anywhere near a school he’s interested in then he needs to let the coaches know his game schedule, and then he has to let every coach know where he’s going to play in the summer. Lax recruits out of club play at least as much as out of HS play. Also, the sooner your son posts test scores that put him in the range for admission, the sooner the school can show real interest in him. This is an oversimplification but, generally, it’s my impression that D1 schools are looking for players who are good enough students and D3 schools are mostly looking for students who can play. I think there’s more help with admissions at the D1 level than at the D3 level.</p>
<p>This process can be fast and slow at the same time. Step back with your son and think about what it is that he wants out of his college athletic and academic career. This is the most important step because everything after that is focused on that end goal. Very often, I know and see people pursue schools because the schools have shown interest in the recruit. That is all well and good, but consider if the school meets your son’s goals.</p>
<p>I think the first thing you need to establish is “are you fishing in the right pond”. Find the appropriate talent level, and pursue those schools that fit your goals. It will become incredibly apparent when you are talking to seriously interested schools versus casually interested schools. Your high school or travel lax coach should be able to give you an idea of where to start or possibly make some introductions for you. In my oldest son’s case, his travel coach introduced him to a half dozen schools to get us started. Keep in mind that schools have different timelines, and recruirements. You’ll need to become familiar with those timelines and requirements.</p>
<p>You are in the initial contact phase that will hopefully lead to more emails, phone calls, unofficial visits, and official visits. Along the lines of “is he be being seriously considered”, you’ll need to establish does your son match the talent the coach seeks, and do the schools match your son’s long term goals. The only way I know of establishing that is to reach out to a couple dozen schools to see what interest there is, and find out when and how they recruit. In addition, begin researching the heck of these schools, coaches and programs. You can save yourself a lot of time and a lot of money if you know exactly what you are looking for. </p>
<p>I totally agree with Starsky’s advice. They are showing initial interest in your son right now along with many other candidates. That initial interest will turn to serious interest if your son has the talent they are looking for and possibly the academic profile. No academic school is going to seriously recruit your son and make an offer until they have a clearer picture on SAT/ACT scores. </p>
<p>I had all of the same concerns that you did. I always wondered if I was helping my sons recruiting or hurting it-I guess I will never really know the answer to that one but we just trusted that God would open doors that needed to be opened and close doors that needed to be closed-and He did.
I assume that most of the coaches that your son is hearing from are coaches that he’s contacted since you are his ‘recruiting service’ so they are no doubt schools that he thinks would be a good fit? I believe for the most part that you will be better able to gauge interest when you visit the coaches that he is talking to. I suggest that he takes a highlight film on his visit-I also put together a small packet with a very brief r</p>
<p>Just ask. Most coaches are pretty upfront if you ask. At this point, they are probably still getting feelers from athletes all over. If they are in regular, personal contact with you, it’s probably a good sign. If you are just getting general form letters to "all recruits’ probably not very interested.</p>
<p>@momoffour11 What year is your son in high school? I ask because Starsky mentioned the coaches can call and, I could be wrong, but I thought coaches were prohibited from calling until after the junior year.</p>
<p>I may sound jaded and negative, but here’s my advice: This comes from being recruited 35 years ago, and being around many players who were recruited at many schools and all levels. Some became professional athletes, some were ignored after a few weeks on the team when the coach determined that the player wasn’t good enough, and some were (in the student’s mind) aggressively recruited and then dumped unceremoniously and either not admitted or not offered a scholarship when the coach decided the player wasn’t the best he could get.</p>
<p>It’s hard to gauge what is going on behind the curtain at the coach’s office. Your son may be on the top of the coach’s list, or just a maybe, and the coach may still make it seem to you and your son that he is a high priority recruit. It is in the coach’s best interest to get all of the potential recruits excited while he determines which ones are good and which ones he can get. Do your best to try to determine interest. Form letters and form emails are not real interest, as mentioned before. Phone calls are the start of true interest, but coaches call and meet with many players before deciding who they go after.</p>
<p>Because coaches court many and dump most, your son’s best bet is to get as many players (colleges) in the game as he can. He can’t fall in love with a given school, when that school will bring on only a handful of recruits. I’d recommend contacting the coaches at 50 schools if he can come up with a list of that many schools that make sense for him (meaning he is within academic reach, he is the right level lacrosse player for them, and he would have some level of interest in attending that school). He should be inclusive, rather than exclusive in developing that list early on. I’ve seen lots of kids change their mind about a school once they see it and get to know it, so press him to consider schools that aren’t in exciting locations or play at levels that are too low for him (every high school kid thinks he is better than he is).</p>
<p>If his high school coach is knowledgeable, the coach may be able to contact the schools and give him some guidance about what level he should be aiming for. He should also talk to his coach and to the college coaches about which summer programs or camps are best to attend to get noticed, because that is where the college coaches see the players, or learn about their ability to compete at a higher level. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the process ends only when he has some kind of confirmation in hand, whether that’s a Likely letter, Acceptance Letter, Letter of Intent or whatever the school uses to assure your son that he is in.</p>
<p>I know that more experienced people will disagree, but I think most of the advice on coaches interest (which is great advice) really applies most directly to D-1 players. My S did exactly as Boondocks suggested. Over his recruitment, he contacted over 100 coaches. He is in no way a blue chip athlete and so he took the jaded position that any generic type correspondence meant the coach was not really interested. If S was not able to get a personal contact from a school, he had to drop them because of the time it took to keep pursuing them. The problem with that ended up being timing. He was pursuing D-3 schools before they were willing to evaluate him. As a result, he committed to a higher level at the school he fell in love with - he was lucky enough to be welcomed to the team (but I think he would have gone there anyway and been the water boy if he had to) It seemed like the very next week, 5 of his favorite D-3s that he thought weren’t interested began bombarding him with phone calls, letters, texts, applications, invitations to visit…it was not a fun time as he did sometimes second guess his decision-(I didn’t help matters bc my favorite school came to the game late and I was conflicted on advising him! Argh!) even though in his heart, he loves his school and I know he made the best decision for him. He still has 2 schools that he has told he is not coming but they still continue to call. It is a play on his emotions that he would rather not deal with so he stopped answering his phone. </p>
<p>I don’t think there is a good answer for gauging coaches interest. He felt extremely blessed when a coach took time to advise him that he was NOT at the top of their list. At least then he could close that door.</p>
<p>Anjintrader – things might have changed, but my recollection is that rules are different for the D3 coaches than they are for the D1 coaches, and it seemed like the D3 coaches were calling during my kid’s junior year. I think momoffour11’s kid is interested in D3. All that said, rules change and I might have misled her.</p>
<p>I think Boondock’s advice sounds good. The whole recruiting process is exciting and maybe even fun, but I wouldn’t say it was easy. There was a fair amount of work and angst involved.</p>
<p>You are right-D-3 can and do call. My caveat was though, that just because they don’t call during the Junior year absolutely does NOT mean that they won’t call the Senior year because many do wait until then.</p>