Hi,
I’m a junior at a high school in the states. I just won an award for field hockey called “2nd Team all conference”
Is this something I can place on a college app? Will colleges who are looking for field hockey players start to notice me or ask me to play for them?
I’m not sure how this all works.
I’m also a goalie. I know that is a rare position so it should stand out?
Congrats on the award!
Definitely something you can put on your app/resume… but as far as playing FH at a college, that award will only be noticed by admissions officers, not the coaches at the schools you are applying to.
If you decide that you want to pursue playing collegiate sports, you should contact the coach of a certain school directly.
WJ
Have your HS coach contact some college coaches and see what they think. They may want some video of you playing.
Best thing to do is to research the schools you would like to attend and see if they have a field hockey team. Then I would reach out to the coaches with your sport and academic stats and ask if they can set up a nonofficial oncampus meeting.
Definitely reach out to your HS coach - they have contact with college coaches and can help you get noticed. My son’s coaches would also put together highlight reels for anyone interested in playing at college so you could send those to the colleges.
In our experience, HS coaches were hit and miss. While you certainly should reach out to your HS coach, I’d follow the path of @noanswers in post #3, but I think before you contact the coaches, I’d have both game and skills videos ready. You have a better chance of attracting their attention. If you play for a club team, the coaches for those organizations usually are better clued in to the recruiting process as it is in their interest to “market” the recruiting success of their players. Also many colleges offer “camps” for various varsity sports or their coaches will be participants in camps organized by other schools and organizations. Look into the possibility of doing that to get direct exposure to coaches of schools you are interested in.
Some good advice above. You might also attend a local college game if you can, even if it isn’t at a school you are interested in. Watch the play and see if your level of play fits what you see on a collegiate field. Try to get an idea where you slot from an ability perspective and target the right schools that suit your academic goals as well as your athletic ability. Also keep in mind that playing sports in college is much more time consuming than high school.
Agree with the good advice above – get a handle on where your skill set might fit, in terms of level of college play. Talk to your high school coach if she/he has experience sending kids to play in college. Another possibility might be seeing whether some colleges near you do one-day weekend camps as recruiting/promotion events and whether those camps include an evaluation of what kind of program you might be competitive for. The point is not to learn whether you might be recruitable at that specific school, but what tier you might be competitive for. You could get feedback like “mid tier D3 programs” or “low D1/high D3 programs.” Then you can start researching specific schools of interest, looking at whether they have field hockey programs, how competitive they are, what type of quality players they recruit (if they are all-state 4 years vs. second team all conference senior year). If you have specific schools you are already interested in visiting, you can email the coach to see of they can meet with you during your visit – those meetings are usually 15-30 minute informational meetings where the coach discusses their recruiting process and needs.
For an athlete who is not seeking to be recruited by the sports program, athletic participation is an EC – a good one, which shows team work, commitment etc., but not better or worse than music, service etc.
Congrats on your all-conference recognition!
There aren’t as many field hockey teams at colleges as other sports. Most are in the northeast or Atlantic coast. Div 2 has very few, mostly in PA, NY, NJ. Decide what type of school you are thinking of like small liberal arts, small public school, big D1 and then see which schools in that category has FH. If you can go to a college camp that would be good as often a number of coaches are at those camps. It’s a small sport and it’s likely everyone knows everyone else and can give good leads.
It’s great that you won that award. However, in all likelihood, merely identifying it as an award on your application will will do nothing to help you get on a college team. It may be a small feather in your “leadership cap,” but probably it will have no more impact than being the president of the French club – a slight help that is almost expected in one form or the other from applicants.
Go ahead and get advice from your high school coach, but understand that some high school coaches are more knowledgeable than others. Don’t rely on a high school coach to get you recruited. This is about what you need to do, not what others can do for you. Get video of your play, email coaches with the video attached, make a college resume and then send it to coaches, fill out college recruiting profiles and then see what kind of response you are getting. Meet with as many college coaches as you can. Ask lots of questions. This is the only real way to see if there is any demand.
Having just gone through the process with my D, I think this is the most important thing to keep in mind, especially if you are just starting to research and reach out to schools:
“…get an idea where you slot from an ability perspective and target the right schools that suit your academic goals as well as your athletic ability”
Agree, OP needs to assess whether she has recruitable college level skills. Or how she compares to the player competition. All we know about is this Second Team All Conference-- and in my understanding, that’s second team, not first. I think OP would need to tell more.
As a straight EC, FH is fine. If she wants any tip at all, it may be at a college that does have a team and doesn’t have enough players. Adcoms would know to be on the lookout. But that’s not D1. Not recruiting.
Yes, you still need to match in the rest of the ways.
@ecornes19, congrats! Start reaching out to college coaches via recruiting questionnaires and follow-up emails. If there’s interest, you’ll get responses but you have to be persistent as FH coaches don’t have recruiting budgets so they are relying on the student athlete and club team coaches to reach out to them. Club team coaches are great resources since they are effectively paid to place athletes into college programs and keep the funnel of MS and HS athletes coming to them. Also look into showcase events and any recruiting camps that are heavily attended by coaches.
Bear in mind that as a second team award winner, looking to play college field hockey may limit your choices rather than expand them, depending on your academic stats. It really depends on your desire to continue field hockey at the next level.
In my area, the ‘newspaper’ teams are nominated by the high school coaches in the area. There was some favoritism for the kids on the better teams, but the list generally reflected the level of play in the area and those named were deserving. In our country there were 6 big public high schools, and then another 4 or so private schools that may or may not have sponsored a particular sport, so there were probably 10 coaches nominating for basketball but only 6 for lacrosse.
If you were on the team, there are likely coaches in your area who have seen you play
Thank you everyone!!
I plan to talk to my parents and my high school coach sometime to work out the process in more details. I’ve also started researching some of my top schools of interest and their field hockey teams.
However, from my research, I’m worried I would need to decide between field hockey and academics. I’ve never played on a club team and this is only my second year playing overall. I like to believe my skill is intermediate, but not D1 material. The colleges I have been aiming for are extremely competitive (I’ve looked at Harvard, Stanford, Vanderbilt, etc.) and I worry my athletic skill will not match theirs. I am a goalie, and many schools are consistently look for goalies due to their rarity, but I’m still worried.
I guess the next step would be to speak to athletic reps, coaches, and my coach.
Should I consider playing on a club team?
Thanks again!
I meant to say “are consistently looking,” I’m sorry!
I don’t know about FH but in my D’s sport, she had to play club/AAU to get noticed by colleges. And then they wanted her to attend the “elite/prospect” camps the colleges had.
My D started her search by researching D3 schools she would love to attend because of academics. Then she narrowed the search down based on her sport. She also had coaches from schools she never considered reach out to her. That is where playing club/AAU comes into play. Regardless, she has committed (by applying ED1 to her 1st choice). THis process started in freshman year when D started atending the elite camps and trying to determine what coaches/teams she loved and those she did not.
Do you mean playing on a club team while you are in high school? Yes, that would probably be a good idea and give you more experience and more exposure. You are right that goalies are a little different as a team either needs one or doesn’t. But it may be just the right thing. The second goalie often needs to be willing to sit on the bench for a year or two, and that may be perfect for you.
You can still try to be recruited by those top D1 schools, but it will be harder as those schools have top students and top athletes.