Does anyone of you have had the experience or heard what a committed D3 athlete should do to maintain a relationship with their future coach a year before going to their school? If yes, how?
My daughter was D2, but after committing and before signing, she was in at least weekly contact with the coach (there are some dead periods) usually through email, text, or snap chap. She was also in touch with the other kids who had committed. It was a new team so there weren’t any team members already at the school. After she signed we had lunch with the coach when we visited the school in the spring.
What did she usually talk to the coach about, update of her sports, school achievements or something else?
@twoinanddone forgot to tag
I assume it was about the sport, perhaps what was going on at the college. The coach was new to the college too, had a new baby, so would send photos of the baby, news about what another sport had done, little snaps about the school. There was some talk about where the team was going to live (a few different choices for freshmen) but the coach mostly let them work that out themselves; 4 of the freshmen quickly joined together to form a suite, 3 others were a little slower, but then there were 2 more and you can’t fit 9 girls into 8 beds, so there was some shifting. My daughter was playing fall ball (informal), and then during the spring season I think my daughter would send scores and her schedule as we were about 2 hours from the college and played teams in the area. I think the coach saw her 1-2 times after she’d already signed because there was no college team playing that year (this is the first year) and the coach was recruiting high school kids so visiting different games in the area.
Son will be playing his sport at a DII school in the fall. There has been some communication with the coach since commitment but none with future teammates. May be do to the gender difference. Coach has texted son on occasion to ask how his season is going, and there have been e-mails to the new recruits regarding housing, course selection, etc. I will be nagging son to contact coach to get firm dates as to when he needs to be at school, when he can move into the dorm, etc. I suggest your child send periodic e-mails to the coach updating him/her on what is going on in their sport, as well as asking any pertinent questions about school. We are about 1200 miles from the college, so son does not keep coach updated on his schedule.
I think the goal in the post verbal commitment/pre admitted student phase is to just keep in touch. It’s a weird stage of the process, because the kid is not yet a member of the team but is something more than a recruit. My son also committed fairly early (July before his senior year) and although the sport and level were different I would think the circumstances were the same. In his case, there was mostly e mail contact (because of the recruiting rules which I do not think are an issue in D3) on a weeklyish basis. Most of that was sport centric. Brief discussion of his game or the college team’s game during the season, how off season work was going. There were a number of offers to go up for a game, that kind of thing. We did go up to campus after one of his high school games in the fall and he hung out with a couple players and sat for a bit with the coaches while they watched some film of their game the evening before. It was all very low key, everyone was just marking time until things were official.
Should D bring up anything regarding academics if the school is a most selective in their area?
Sure, if she feels comfortable doing so. Use this time to build the relationship with the coach.
Thank you all for the comments and advice!