is it OK to wait?

Athletic Recruits
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<p>Track and field (and i guess this may apply to some other sports too); I am currently a junior and definitely going to seek recruitment, but I haven't emailed any coaches yet because I know that my PR will increase by the time the spring season rolls around. Is it smarter to:</p>

<p>-email coaches now and get on their radar earlier with a sub-standard PR or
-email later (probably in march or april) with a fantastic PR?</p>

<p>granted 'sub-standard' still means all conference, all class, all state etc, but not quite yet what i would imagine would get a significant scholarship or recruitment by the ivies</p>

2

<p>Every coach has a different timeline for thinking about recruits. They also have very different resources: staff to read and file recruit correspondence, look up performance PRs on athletic.net and so on. You are quite correct that track and field is about times/heights/lengths, and no matter what else is on your brag sheet, that’s where their eyes will go, but you are probably not far off of where you’ll eventually be, so I would vote for going ahead and starting the conversation.</p>

<p>Are you thinking about visiting any schools this spring? If you’ve introduced yourself to a coach by filling out the questionaire, then you can also ask to meet him/her when you’re on campus. These unofficial visits were VERY important to narrowing things down for us during junior year.</p>

3

<p>I would absolutely start getting on the coaches radars now, particularly if your “sub-standard” is still really strong. Then, you can develop a relationship/rapport with each interested coach as you continue to email them with your new PRs through the spring.</p>

4

<p>Something specific you can do now is go onto the different colleges track and field web sites and look at their schedules…so you have a sense of when the coaching staff might be really, really busy… indoor Heps are at Dartmouth the end of Feb, so their coaches will be very busy getting their own team in place, along with all the hosting logistics… Princeton is holding several big meets this spring for outdoor track…including outdoor Heps… and Penn has one long weekend with the Penn relays… having a sense of when to reach out is always appreciated…</p>

<p>I know my son sent several emails to one Ivy coach a few summers ago, got no replies and sent out one final pass…and got a response…turned out the coach had been away coaching an Olympic team for a foreign country (some island in the Caribbean) and was interested and was glad my son had been persistent… ultimately my son went elsewhere… but that was his call and he was satisfied that he had explored all his options… </p>

<p>track and field is very quantifiable… if you are already all conference, all class, all state thru your soph year, then you should feel good about your effort/results so far… again, take a look at the rosters of the teams you are interested in…and take a look at the results of the current athletes … are your numbers close to current team members? It is especially helpful to show continued improvement over time…vs one off results. </p>

<p>finally, provide a quick synopsis of your academic records also…GPA, course load degree of difficulty (specifically at your school, are you taking the toughest classes available and doing well), include any test scores and recognition highlights… as the coach can quickly see if you have athletic talent…and then they will immediately want to see if you can cut it academically. </p>

<p>You may already be on some radars… for instance, you might get some letters at your high school sent to the attention of your HS coach… you could “practice” your self-marketing skills by engaging in a dialog with one or two that have already expressed interest in you… I think it is always helpful to start with one of your C prospect schools as opposed to your top choice… in other words, save your favorites for later in the cycle when you have more experience…and won’t be holding your breath waiting for answers. </p>

<p>Another final, small tip is understand the size of the schools, the size of their teams… for instance, assuming everything in your transcript is equal, you will have less of a chance making a team at Amherst than you would at Cornell…just because Cornell is sooo much bigger than Amherst and their track roster is significantly bigger… always better to fall in love with a school that has more slots, not fewer. Fall in love with a school that needs & values throwers or jumpers… it is easier to be recruited as a distance runner because it involves all 3 seasons… if they just took a big thrower, then they may not need another one for 2-3 years… do as much homework as you can about the different teams you might be interested in… start following them and see if they hold your interest!! good luck…</p>

5

<p>thanks so much, this forum is so helpful!!
i guess i will talk to my coach and guid counselor and then start emailing some coaches very soon then!
and the advice about looking at the coahces’ schedules is very helpful-- i hadnt thought of that!</p>

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<p>However, a school like Cornell, though the roster is large, competes at a high Div.I level, and recruits talented athletes than Amherst (Div.III). If you read Amherst College’s Depth Chart for 2009, the fastest women’s 400m was more than a minute, quite slow compared to Ivy teams where recruits have closer to 55 second times.</p>

<p>Best to check the record times for your event from recent meets.</p>

7

<p>yes fauve exactly, in fact i was wondering: if i compare myself with the stats of the jumpers of the teams that i’m looking at, how close should i come to their PRs? I am going to try to tie with them during my next season, but how much lower than them can I be while still having a plausible shot at ivy’s / other high academic DIV I colleges?</p>

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<p>when you are looking at the members of the teams…look at what year they are also… depending on the event, some freshmen don’t do as well as they did in hs because the new training regimen is harder than their hs experience… watch the sophmores and seniors as that gives you a sense of the up and coming replacements!! Jumping is such an individual event… demonstrating the ability to nail your mark… can you deliver a clutch jump in a big meet? and don’t forget the mentoring of others and teamwork and leadership… if you are delivering on specific performance metrics, make sure you deliver on the soft stuff too… make it as easy as you can for the coach to tell admissions that you are what the school needs… that you will be a positive addition to the campus besides in a jumping pit… or on a starting block…</p>

<p>I totally understand the difference between Cornell and Amherst, Div I and Div III… but that was part of my point… really understand what you have to offer and who may need or want your strengths… there are sooo many wonderful schools out there… that you really owe it to yourself to explore how best to leverage your talents… if my memory serves me correctly, both Cornell and Princeton have many more freshmen on their track teams than Harvard or Yale or Brown… homework is soo key… we were physically on the Boston College campus looking for the track when we found out they don’t have one… they bus the kids to Harvard for practice… not only did we not know it, the first 5 people we asked didn’t know either, including officials at a football game/recruiting event. It was quite the surprise and we felt a bit foolish, in all honesty. </p>

<p>Another interesting track factoid is the Bowdoin track coach is also the dad of a couple of kids pole vaulting for Princeton, including one who tied the indoor Heps record last year as a freshman… so, as you said, talk to your own coach and perhaps talk to some of your local area college coaches…really pick their brain about what they know, who they know… how best to get some visibility and interest going… make sure you are participating at some of the hs invitationals the colleges hold and even better if you can make a regional championship… up here they are called the New Englands… placing top 5 there is always good… best of luck…</p>

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<p>…now!</p>

10

<p>maineparent,</p>

<p>“depending on the event, some freshmen don’t do as well as they did in hs because the new training regimen is harder than their hs experience”
why is that? shouldnt they be improving if they are working harder and have more experienced coaches?</p>

<p>also, you mention the large regional meets. Does this include the pretigious interstate meets at colleges? (i dont want to say which one sorry)</p>

<p>thanks for all the help!</p>

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<p>Fulcrum,
I have sent you a PM with a link to an article from March 4, 2009 on the Colorado Milesplit website, which was tagged on the Maine Milesplit website, which is how I came across it… this is part of a 7 article series on HS to College recruiting. This specific article #6 in a 7 article series specifically addresses the changes in training routines that college athletes experience. It also talks about some of the other distractions that can affect performance outcomes. I am including the link here…not sure if the moderators will let it live:
Section 6 link:
[Colorado</a> Track XC - College Recruiting: A Give and Take, Part VI - HS to College Transition](<a href=“http://co.milesplit.us/articles/22072]Colorado”>http://co.milesplit.us/articles/22072)</p>

<p>Introduction to Series Link:
[Colorado</a> Track XC - College Recruiting: A Give and Take, Part I - Introductions](<a href=“http://co.milesplit.us/articles/21864]Colorado”>http://co.milesplit.us/articles/21864)</p>

<p>When I mention visibility, I am talking about some of the interstate meets that some of the colleges offer to HS athletes. Penn has the Penn Relays…Dartmouth offers the Dartmouth Relays… Yale hosts the High School Track and Field Classic … to name a few… Bowdoin has a HS Relay event in early December, which is a nice place to start the indoor season, up here in Maine, anyway!! Our indoor track season is soooo short, these additional events can be crucial for building results and visibility. But you have to be careful, as many states have specific rules about the number of overall events an athlete can participate in during the HS season. </p>

<p>Additionally, I am also talking about the HS interstate regional meets… for instance, my athlete received a lot of correspondence from college coaches after finishing in the top 5 in the HS regionals as a junior… </p>

<p>by participating in the official HS events, along with the college events held for HS kids, you are demonstrating excellence across a wide spectrum of competitors. Adding in participation in a national event is icing on the cake… I do view the Penn Relays as a national event… along with the Nike events…</p>

12

<p>I WAS IN THIS POSITION TOO. definitely wait for a better PR. it doesnt matter that much if you wait until after your junior season to contact coaches. really, they don’t seem to care. what they do care about is PR’s.</p>

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<p>To fulcrum- One reason some freshmen do not improve their PRs is that the transition to college life can interfere with training. Tiny, noisy dorm rooms, cafeteria food, new roommates, and much more academic work, can hamper the rhythm of an athlete. </p>

<p>Most important is the new found freedom of college life–no parents to get you out of bed for early class, no one to tell you to get enough sleep, no one to warn you against drinking and wild parties seven nights a week. (Sounds heavenly doesn’t it?) </p>

<p>It can take a few months, or semesters, to self-regulate and keep up your optimal health and strength.</p>

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<p>thank you so much everyone, you don’t even know how helpful all of this is!
and maineparent-- that link was extremely useful, I will definitely read the entire series when i have time!! thank you!</p>

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<p>you are welcome…
there are wonderful threads in this Athletic Recruits subforum… there are nuggets of gold in many posts… read thru many of them to continue to build your understanding of athletic recruiting… depending on how competitive an athlete you are…and how strong your academic transcript it…and how high you are aiming, I would encourage you to start building a list of safety, match and reach schools…and reach out to your safety school coaches first… that way you will be more knowledgeable about what you want to know about the reach schools … one thing you might want to do is flesh out a calendar from now until September…try penciling in the things you know you have to do, whether it is school work, SAT tests, AP tests, PR’s you are aiming for at specific meets, the weeks you want to contact Coach 1 and then Coach 2 etc… it won’t take long to begin to see there is a lot to do and not a lot of time to waste… once you have a first draft of this calendar, you might want to see if your own HS coach will make time to sit down with you (and one of your parents?) to review and see what they think… and then start checking things off… or rescheduling when to do things etc… good luck… and keep asking questions… there is a LOT of good advice here on CC… there are great peers and great parents…</p>