Although the 2013 XC season has just begun the recruiting process for the Class of 2014 is in full swing. Shaun Simms, an assistant coach at Maryville brings you his perspective of 10 things student atheltes who want to compete in college should consider.
Ten things to keep in mind during the recruiting process:
1) Education matters! The fact is, only a very small percentage of collegiate athletes ever go on to pursue the sport professionally, so education should be your first priority. This starts in high school, not in college. For many schools, it is possible to add or “stack” academic and athletic scholarships, so working hard in school can quite literally “pay off” in the end. The NCAA has academic rules on competition, and poor grades can keep you out of competition, lead to loss of scholarship, or get you kicked out of school. Teachers are willing to help you succeed at all levels, so work hard, seek help when needed, and make this your top priority.
2) Be professional! You may not believe this, but most coaches don’t find the email address “bigpimpinJ@...” to be very professional. While I must say I do get a laugh out of such an email address when I receive it, the email address combined with broken sentences and high demands of scholarship money (i.e. he feels he is “worth at least $15K), lead me send a simple response informing him our university had no interested in him as a recruit. If your email address is inappropriate, consider creating a new one. This may be an obvious to some of you, but refrain from using profanity when speaking with the coach. Before sending any correspondence with a coach, especially the initial email to the university, have a teacher, guardian, or coach proofread it.
3) Dates are important! Signing Day is in early February; this is when track and field and cross country coaches like to sign their top recruits. Often, large portions of their scholarships are allotted to these recruits. This means that communication is important as you move towards the signing date. Sometimes, runners try to wait to sign until the end of their senior year in hopes that if they have a big year, they can get a larger scholarship. While this does work from time to time, often the coaches have already used their budgeted scholarship money on February signees. If you feel your senior year is going to be big, try and work something out with the coach you sign with that ties additional tiered scholarship money to your senior year results.
4) Details, Details, Details! People like to have their name known, and coaches are no different. You, as the recruit, would not like to be called “that kid from that school.” In the same manner, coaches like to be called by their name (i.e. Coach Simms, etc.), rather than “that coach from that school.”
5) Opportunity Knocks! While a large Division I school will be a good fit for certain athletes, the majority of high school track and field and cross country athletes will end up competing elsewhere. The good news: There are Division II, Division III and NAIA schools looking for hard working athletes to compete for them.
6) Respect your High School Coaches! Collegiate coaches almost always talk to the high school coach of the athlete they are recruiting. Since your high school coaches spend a great deal of time with you, we rely on them to help “fill in the gaps” to help us get to know you better.
7) Learn How to Talk on the Phone! While the NCAA recently started allowing coaches to text, collegiate coaches are going to call you, and yes, you will need to speak with them on the phone. Since kids seem to rarely talk on the phone these days, conversations can often become one-sided and awkward. We want to know and learn about you, so be prepared to talk through this media. You can practice by talking on the phone with your friends and family members. J
8) Questions! To know what school would be a good fit, you need to know what you’re looking for in a school. Various topics are important for athletes and parents to consider, such as: training philosophy, scholarship opportunities, if you will be competing freshman year, where the team competes, how they handle conflicts with classes, and others. It may be beneficial to have a notebook and write down the answers to these important questions for further review as you begin to narrow your search. Asking the coaches questions shows a true interest in their program. Athletes should also be ready to answer questions about your academic status, potential major, and what schools you are looking at. All these questions will help both the athlete and the university decide if they will be a good fit with each other.
9) Narrow Your Search! There are literally hundreds of universities to choose from, so you need to start narrowing your search based on the important criteria selected by you and your family. A few of the criteria athletes should keep in mind are: location, size, if the school has your major, etc. Once the criteria are selected, the athlete can research online to see pictures of the schools, what majors are offered, and the team roster and stats.
10) Visit Several Schools! Once the athletes have the schools narrowed down, they can begin visiting schools. So often athletes will visit one school and fall in love with it and not visit any other schools. These same athletes will visit friends or compete at other schools and realize they should have looked at all of their options.