<p>For everyone who is contacting coaches or actively trying to get recruited, what grade are you in?
I am just curious to see how many juniors are currently contacting coaches, and to what extent.
Thanks!</p>
<p>My D is a junior who recently sent out e-mails to coaches (almost all ivy & 4 others) introducing herself (she did know 2 from sport camps) - she heard from all but one almost immediately - 2 are inviting her to make unofficial visits this year to their colleges. It is early as she has no SAT/ACT yet - she is taking the SAT this month at the request of one of the ivy coaches (to get an idea if she is a viable recruit?). She is a strong recruit and good student, but not a genius!</p>
<p>Son is a junior; started the process over the summer (before junior year).</p>
<p>Hi mayhew and fulcrum, and welcome! Not a genius is OK. It’s important that student athletes find a fit academically, as well as athletically, though. </p>
<p>If your kids are interested in Ivies and selective DIII’s, visits in the junior year can save you lots of time in the senior year crunch. </p>
<p>Keep asking questions and reading old posts on this forum. You guys are in the right place…</p>
<p>^^Yes, it is never too early for unofficial visits. My son actually started “looking” at campuses in 8th grade when his sister was looking at schools. We started taking him on his own looks the summer before his sophomore year at whatever city we happened to be in for a tournament. He has seen a lot of schools! And we took photographs of all of them.</p>
<p>My D first started looking during 8th grade as well because she was tagging along with her sister on college visits. Found one she liked a lot and is now a junior about to go on an unofficial. Has been emailing coaches since freshman year.</p>
<p>what sort of thing would you say in a first email to a coach? could someone give me a sample of what you would say if you were looking to be recruited for track and field?</p>
<p>Hi fulcrum,</p>
<p>You can start the conversation by saying you’ve been watching their team and you’re impressed by their performance at X meet! You are thinking about majoring in Y and you know they have a strong program in that area.</p>
<p>Expain that you are a junior, list your PRs and any regional, state or national recognition you’ve received.
If you have any standardized test scores, you can list them, as well as your GPA.
You can also list other interests- clubs, leadership, but this isn’t really necessary.</p>
<p>Coaches cannot initiate contact with you yet. However, if you are interested in making unofficial visits (at your expense) it is perfectly fine to ask if you can make an appointment to meet with the coach while you are on campus. The coach CAN reply to your email setting up a meeting. They can answer specific questions about how they run their program, etc. They cannot recruit you yet: they can’t tell you that you’re wonderful and someone they’d like to coach. Don’t fish for “am I a match for your school?” They can’t tell you.</p>
<p>It is also OK for you to send followup emails to coaches at the end of your track season to let them know of new PRs, etc. </p>
<p>July 1st before your senior year, coaches who are interested in you will call you. If you don’t hear from your absolute favorite program, give them one more shout-out and then let it go if your numbers just don’t match what they’re looking for.</p>
<p>Best wishes!</p>
<p>River runner - I really like how you wrote that out - and particularly like the advice that you offer for any silence post-July 1st. That definitely sounds like the healthiest approach - if you haven’t heard from somewhere you had hoped to hear from, contact them one last time, and then move on…If they want to contact you (if they lose a recruit, change their minds, etc.), they know how to find you…</p>
<p>Not to give false hope, but you do always hear stories about coaches an athlete didn’t hear from for months breathlessly contacting them at the last minute if their roster hasn’t firmed up as they had anticipated, and the athlete can play on that level. Hope we can avoid that stressful (yet positive) sceanario! That happened to the nephew of a friend last winter - very quickly recruited by an ivy around March, and he hadn’t even applied there as they had been dismissive of him when he was trying to be recruited by them earlier - now he is enrolled and on the team!</p>
<p>^^March of his SENIOR year??? Now that’s a cliffhanger!</p>
<p>Junior right here. Just got my first D1 interest for my sport (ACC!) so I’m pretty excited and hope this bodes well for my recruitment process and my tentative future playing ball in the Ivy League.</p>
<p>Yes, keylyme, a rollercoaster of a senior year for our friend’s nephew! Like your child and mine, he attended a highly regarded NE boarding school. The college in question had no interest in him when he had contacted them in the hopes of being recruited several months before. The college came to him in March, he had no application with them, and when he explained to them he wasn’t even a candidate in the admissions pool, this ivy had no problem with that, and just took care of the whole process for him - clearly a top recruit had jumped ship, been injured, etc. and they needed an immediate replacement. This just goes to show how unpredictable this all is though. I hope and dream that D will have this put to rest by around this time next year, but clearly, one never knows how each athletes story will end…!</p>
<p>Congratulations monstor344 - and good luck with every step of your journey! From what I read and hear, Div 1/Ivy coach interest starting in the first part of your junior year means you may well be a true contender, as in a top recruiting material - well done!</p>
<p>monstor…just curious what you got in the way of “interest”? Did they talk to your coach, come see you play, respond to an email, etc.?</p>
<p>Just preliminary interest - e-mail after the school’s showcase saying they were very impressed with my performance and would keep in contact for the next several months, etc. I know it’s nothing to jump over right now but just 3-4 months ago the only e-mails/letters I was getting were from D3s, not D1/D2 (let alone ACC); I know I’ve made some huge strides since.</p>
<p>Congratulations! What is your sport, I have forgotten? ACC is a great conference.</p>
<p>Baseball; I am a left-handed pitcher.</p>
<p>Ah yes…what my husband would have preferred my son pursue! Best of luck to you; baseball is a great sport.</p>