So let’s say that you aren’t exactly Mia Hamm, or one of the top players in your respective sport, and the college emails everyone’s been talking about just aren’t finding their way into your inbox. You’ll begin to double check to make sure you wrote down the right email, and start to worry that your connection is down. However, you must take a step back and realize that college coaches are just people too. They have families, jobs, and a detailed practice plan to make so that they can effectively gather their team each day. They can’t be at every single tournament and they can’t email every prospective athlete in the country, so it’s time to take matters into your own hands.
Start by researching the team online, and doing a little homework. Most colleges now have pretty easily accessible websites with a plethora of information about each and every sport at the school. You may find out the reason they haven’t emailed you is because they don’t even have a team for your sport! Once you’ve determined a team’s existence start to look into their game schedule, coaching staff, and player’s roster. It’s also critical to determine what division the sport is in, and be realistic with yourself. By now you should know what caliber of player you are, and approximately less than one out of every hundred high school athletes will be able to gain an athletic scholarship for a division one program.
If after doing some research you find that you are interested, find the coaching directory. Locate the head coach and assistant coaches emails- assistants too because often times they are doing the majority of the recruiting and have more time to sort through and respond to players. Send them a brief email telling them that you are interested in their school and sports program, ask them if they are attending any tournaments during that season, and if there is any other information that they can give you to continue this process. Feel free to list the teams that you play on, as some coaches may have recruited a previous player from the team, or may know of your coaches from various events. It’s also a good idea to attach some game film or highlights so you make their job one step easier.
When sending emails the NUMBER ONE tip I can give is to proofread. Create your email in a word document and be 100% that you wrote the correct college’s name, along with the correct coach’s name. Sure, they obviously know that you’re looking at many other colleges, but you can pretty much guarantee no response if you put the wrong college and coach! Oh and the number two tip: create a new email account before you start to contact coaches. Browneyedcutie23@yahoo.com probably isn’t going to cut it anymore, so start up a new email account simply using your first and last name. This will also make it easier for them to pick you out and connect with you more quickly.
Even if you wrote the perfect email, some coaches will simply never respond. Don’t let this get to you, and instead continue with your search. Many times coaches will be glad that you reached out and will come to watch you play or give you other options to look further into their school as an option for the future. Sorry to be cliché but you miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take, so get yourself out there and start sending those emails!
This girl is smart!!!
Faith Kelly