<p>My junior daughter is interested in running track in college, most likely at a D3 school. She is not a superstar that coaches are going be aware of and come after; we are identifying schools where her times are in line with the team. She has not yet filled out any recruiting forms but will by the end of her spring season.
So how do you recommend handling coach contact when it comes to start visiting schools? Is it appropriate to email a coach, saying "I will be visiting campus on such and such a day and would like to meet with you about running at your school." And would you only do that with coaches who have responded to a recruiting form and/or letter?</p>
<p>I think the email you suggest is quite appropriate and don’t see any reason not to contact a coach even if he did not respond to an initial form or letter. Nothing to lose. Budgets are being cut everywhere, coaches are spread thin. Sounds like your daughter is taking a good tack, I wish her much luck! Continuing athletics in college can be such a great thing, even those not destined for the Olympics can do good things for themselves and their school, and really enrich their college years.</p>
<p>from a mom of both a D1 T&F athlete and a high school T&F coach</p>
<p>minoafrau,</p>
<p>Not only is the idea of emailing the coach appropriate, it is expected. If your daughter wants to play college athletics, she needs to sell herself to the coaches. if they do not respond to an email, I would have her call the coach if it within the guidelines for D3 recruiting.</p>
<p>I just posted the NCAA guidelines info on another thread. You can download it, and review the terms, timetable, and rules. 2009-2010 NCAA Guide for College Bound Athlete. This available for download at ncca.org -> legistlation and governance -> eligibility and recruiting. This is a very easy read with a lot of information. You can see the differences for D1, D2, D3 as well as what a sophomore, junior and senior can do for the various Divisions.</p>
<p>fenwaysouth</p>
<p>Thanks much.</p>
<p>1990mom, when listing best times (on the online recruiting forms or in a letter) is it acceptable to use hand times or are FAT times expected?</p>
<p>Hi minoafrau,
You are taking the perfect approach to contacting these coaches, and the wording of your email is exactly right. List both kinds of times, but annotate them as hand timed, if needed. Be sure and include your daughter’s academic stats in any email you might send.</p>
<p>Be patient with track coaches at this time of year. When you’re planning a visit, take a look at their meet schedule to make sure they’ll be in town. Try and visit on a day when they’re not hosting (or about to host) a big meet!</p>
<p>Welcome to the athletic recruits part of CC. I’m also the mom of track athletes, HS and college :)</p>
<p>Based on your experience, do you think waiting until the end of spring track season to make contact (to see if times will improve) and planning visits for summer and fall is too late?</p>
<p>I am about done with the process (T&F/XC recruit for a Top 20 USNWR school) and I would say wait until the end of this season before sending an e-mail. You say your D is not a “superstar” so I would wait until PRs are at their most improved and you can inform the coach what you look ahead to (i.e. off season training and next year). Either way a coach will not ignore your e-mails if you send them over the summer because that is when heavy recruiting commences and the coach is free from his/her own track practices/competitions. </p>
<p>Be sure to mention your interest and the desire to meet with the coach on your visit. </p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>minofrau,</p>
<p>Yes, other many others have already advised, this is entirely appropriate and expected. In fact when you contact Admissions to arrange your visit, most schools will also coordinate appointments with the coach along with the usual info session, tour, meet with professor routine. We ended up with several one on one guided tours by coaches which has its pluses and minuses. Lastly fill out the schools on-line athletic recruiting form when you schedule your visit. All this was our D3 experience, fwiw.</p>
<p>mino, are these schools your daughter has already visited? If not, it would be best if she could visit during the regular term ( this spring) so she could see kids on campus, maybe sit in on a class, and see the campus when it’s not at it’s prettiest (mud season). Whether she visits now or not will not factor into whether her times improve this spring. If you send her current PRs, make a visit, and then send updated PRs and a final junior year transcript in June, all bases are covered.</p>
<p>I agree with river. Best to visit schools when they are in session, and many schools don’t do certain things like overnight visits during finals. Plus for our family’s tolerance, 3 schools per weekend trip was the max. We did some pre-visits for screening, then in session visits starting in Feb Junior year. My S continued to develop as an athlete, the coaches expected that. They will want some kind of test score before they waste their time on you, and the GPA.</p>
<p>Minoafrau, I agree with submitting both times and noting hand or FAT. In our experience, coaches want recruits to visit when they can observe the team in practice and even meet preparation (we sat in on pre-meet team meetings, very interesting and informative). The team should help “sell” the school just as much if not more than the coach, they will be your daughter’s family for the next four years. In my opinion, I would do as you mentioned, wait until the end of this season and submit her best marks of the year. Then in her senior year, make sure her top choices are informed every time a mark improves.
I’m not up to speed on all the details of how DIII differs from DI in terms of visits and such, but whether invited or not I would make a point of at least attending a meet and closely observing the team members in her event. Not only is there a different vibe from school to school, there can also be a different vibe among sprints vs. distance vs. field, etc.</p>