<p>I have a DS2015 Swimmer. So the going to camps etc is a bit foreign to me but the September 1st of Junior year is the same. My son very much wants to swim in college but like your son was not motivated (or maybe just didn’t understand) to write to coaches. We actually did it together. He sat at the computer and I helped with some wording with emails. He filled out the questionnaires and then followed up with emails to the coaches. He has had 14 programs contact him since September 1st - some that he contacted first - some that he didn’t. He wasn’s sure what to do about the emails, so again, we sat together with him on the computer and answered the emails. Some of those coaches have responded again - and guess what - now he is checking the email and responding on his own (has asked me to come in and look to make sure he didn’t have any errors). So, my point is - I don’t think you should do it all for him but sitting with him for the first couple of times may help. It really strokes their ego and their interest when the email conversations start happening.</p>
<p>I should also say - when we started with the questionnaires - it was a team effort with DS, DH and myself. We all sat together and filled out different questionnaires on three different computers - but then DS did the emails. Those questionnaires take a long time to fill out swim times!</p>
<p>With my two children, we used the divide and conquer technique. I picked up the ball (no pun intended 
) and helped them build a target list and then we proceeded on a structured contact method. I think the biggie here is just sitting down and helping them understand that if you just sit back, you will have little to no options. You absolutely have to market yourself unless you are a total phenom. Once they start to get some responses and interest, it is amazing how their attitudes change.</p>
<p>I have helped both children fill out forms. It is a tedious task. As long as they write their essays and talk to the coaches when they call, who really cares? I don’t see a correlation between wanting to play in college and wanting to fill out forms. Signing up for berecruited really helped my S as well because he could then see what coaches were actually viewing his profile and that would get him excited. I don’t think berecruited is really necessary but for $89, it is a great ego booster and maybe that is what is needed here.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s filling out the forms, but writing emails to coaches that others were suggesting earlier should be done solely by the athlete (with feedback from parents as needed/requested). I don’t think my kid even bothered filling out those long forms for schools unless the coaches specifically asked him to. Sending an email and a brief athlete profile did the trick.</p>
<p>I did everything secretarial. If my son wanted me to meet a coach or be with him when he did something, I was there. Otherwise I waited to be asked. I filled out all the questionnaires and provided him with the resume and attachments of score reports, transcripts and stuff to send out to coaches when requested. Once he had a rapport with coaches, I retreated into the background and I no longer had personal contact with the coaches.</p>
<p>I have to say that I have confused my D’s not knowing what to say to coaches with it being a lack of enthusiasm. I try to have D contact as much as possible, she is now a Senior and she has been in contact with coaches since her Freshman year. I just don’t think that she always knows when to send an email, so I will just be like, you should send out videos (skills, in my d’s case). She knows to send meet results and video of routines, don’t really have to help her there, but there is nothing wrong with send emails about personal life as well. D had her most responses last year, from new schools that never responded before, when she sent out an email about being inducted into the NHS. </p>
<p>She just sent an email a week ago about starting her Senior year and how Sept. is a busy month for her, her 17th birthday, taking the ACT, then the SAT the beginning of Oct in addition to some new stuff she has been working on in the gym. She also tailored some emails to specific coaches by adding some more details. I mean all emails are just to one coach, but she basically sends the same email, with some additional information to coaches she is closely in contact with. </p>
<p>She also plans to send an email on her 17th birthday along with a picture of her with her driver’s license (fingers crossed). Anything to keep in touch. Like I said before, I do find coaches responding to things going on in her life other than her sport and that are important to her as well.</p>
<p>Teens seem to not understand the timing…
and you might be the executive secretary.</p>
<p>This year will prove insightful–stats, GPA, SAT/ACT as far as recruitability.</p>
<p>Also–teens don’t understand the world of recruiting --and as adults we do have to support them in this new “business” transaction.</p>
<p>Keep supporting him clerically–and let him work on his grades, sport, SAT/ACT and in time you will be able to sift out what he wants.</p>
<p>Sports in college - varsity–is waaaaaaay more demanding.</p>
<p>PM me - I am free to help out
Good luck</p>
<p>Rhandco – Despite a difference in sport, your family’s situation is not alone. When we went through the recruiting process I got a lot of good advice from this forum. However, let me share will you that getting my S to participate was VERY painful. He loves his sport, loves the school he chose but don’t think that there aren’t other families out there who had to sit over their kids and make them type these e-mails or answer the phone to make them talk to a coach (my S hated phone calls because he is a quiet kid). He was an honor student in HS, AP classes etc. and we never did his schoolwork for him (even if I could understand the subject :), but recruiting is different. If you note most of the people on this particular forum all seem to be the parents, not the kids, yet it is clearly the kids doing most of the posting on the school specific cc sites! </p>
<p>My S filled out a grand total of TWO recruiting questionnaires, slumped and moaned over the keyboard and mom filled out the rest (not unlike GingerPeach ^^^) We got better “bang for the buck” from e-mails. We wrote the first intro one together and every night I stood over him to make him check for responses. By the time recruiting was done we had a spreadsheet on the refrigerator with what needed to be done when , who we talked to and what was or wasn’t needed. It was a FAMILY project to find the right fit for my S. It was hard, even as an adult to figure out what each coach was looking for, what was a good fit and what to do. But his job was to keep the grades up, keep doing well in his sport, and stay healthy. </p>
<p>When all of this wrapped up and my S was signed, sealed and delivered to freshman orientation, I had no shame in saying we helped him A LOT but we would do it all again, the same way if we had to.</p>