The recruiting questionaires took just a few minutes to fill out, and some of them would auto-fill once she started typing which made it really easy. My D spent a couple of hours one evening last September and cranked them out for all of her top schools. After she submitted the questionaires she sent personal emails to each coach expressing her interest, etc and she also attached a pdf of her unofficial transcript (9th-10th grade) along with her resume. In retrospect, the transcript and resume may have been overkill, but all in all this approach worked well for her. Additionally, since her goal was to verbally commit early to a D-1 non-ivy school, taking the ACT in September of junior year turned out to be a good decision.
GolfFatherRegistered UserPosts: 1,519Senior Member
By the way, if there is anyone who thinks that I, just like any other parent, wouldn't do as much as possible to help my child, they are high on crack.
And I'm sure, when the time comes, my daughter will comply with any reasonable requirements presented by current or future coaches.
It is completely erroneous to assume that my tongue-firmly-in-cheek comment was based on a desire of avoidance of effort. C'mon, I wrote "a million questions." Some people took that seriously!?
It's been all over the place for us. D filled out a bunch of questionnaires online but only some got back to her. Some coaches found her through berecruited; some were at her champ meets and saw her swim; some searched collegeswimming.com looking for certain times/events and found her. She emailed a few personally because she was interested, and some of those had not responded to the online questionnaire, but all of them replied and were interested.
Overall I suppose emailing the coach directly has had a 100% yield; however, some coaches did ask to make sure that she had filled out the online form.
snowbeltmom=keep in mind that coaches are bound by NCAA rules and as a sophomore, they can't respond back to inquiries from your son yet, not until Sept 1 of junior year. He can call them and if he gets ahold of them, they can talk to him but they can't return phone calls, nor can they talk to him off campus yet. If he wants to express early interest in a school as a sophomore, the best way to do that is to visit that school. They can talk to him all they want on campus.
GolfFatherRegistered UserPosts: 1,519Senior Member
keep in mind that coaches are bound by NCAA rules and as a sophomore, they can't respond back to inquiries from your son yet, not until Sept 1 of junior year.
Just want to add that NCAA rules change every year and that there were big changes this summer. For example, basketball coaches can now text and email recruits while they are sophomores, not just juniors anymore.
Also keep in mind that the NCAA has different rules for different sports. It is all very confusing.
"My son is a sophomore, and his sport is tennis. He has his top college choices listed on tennis recruiting along with the SAT II's and AP score results that he took last year.
He can see which coaches are following his tournament results. Should he also be contacting these coaches directly to show even more interest? If the answer is yes, when should he start? He is our oldest, and the high school tennis coach has never had a player play in college, so he is not going to be any help at all in this process"
Just an fyi - I notice in looking at your posts that your son was a freshman in fall 2010.
Clock starts ticking the moment they are a freshman, and they have 4 years to complete high school,
whether you are at public, private or homeschooled ( online).
New regulation by the NCAA and they are sticklers for it
Your posts struck a chord with me, as my nephew was a 5 star too
and left his college tennis team as school ( pre-med) and tennis were too much....
Just an fyi - I notice in looking at your posts that your son was a freshman in fall 2010.
Clock starts ticking the moment they are a freshman, and they have 4 years to complete high school,
whether you are at public, private or homeschooled ( online).
New regulation by the NCAA and they are sticklers for it
Your posts struck a chord with me, as my nephew was a 5 star too
and left his college tennis team as school ( pre-med) and tennis were too much....
Not sure why you would be interested in my old posts, but yes, you are correct, we made an adjustment to my son's grade is school when he was prevented from applying to an academic program because he wasn't old enough despite being in the correct grade for the program. Now he will be old enough and eligible to apply this year.
He will now enter college when he is 18 with his age peers. He will not take 5 years to complete high school; we simply readjusted the "clock/grade level" to be on par with the traditional schooled kids grade level. He will be in high school for 4 years and will more than satisfy the NCAA course requirements in 4 years. The only bummer about adjusting the grade level is that there might be some colleges that won't accept the 5's he had on the AP exams taken when he was 14 yrs. old. Had we had a crystal ball, we would have had him wait a year to take those exams.
I know other kids in our area who have graduated from high school when they are 19 and they will be playing their sport all 4 years for their college team.
Sorry that your nephew couldn't balance school and tennis....I know many other pre-med kids who have....
CBW - interesting new NCAA rule that I wasn't aware of. What about kids who reclassify (sometimes for academic and sometimes for personal/behavioral) and what about kids who graduate HS and then go for a PG year at a Prep school?
Imafan, Here is the info regarding a gap year taken from tennis recruiting website (I don't see a definition of "gap year". I am not sure if the NCAA would consider it a gap year if the student was still attending school that 5th year:)
ETA: Before we reclassified my son, I did check with the NCAA. In my son's case, the only grade level he had was an internal one assigned by me, so my son's case is probably atypical. The way I understood it in my son's case was that as long as he completed the NCAA academic requirements in 4 years (ie. not taking 5 years to complete the courses) it was ok to reclassify - especially since there had been nothing official designating his grade level and he would be entering college at 18.)
"Prior to this year there was no rule preventing a player from taking a gap year, regardless of their reason for doing so. In April of 2010, the NCAA voted to reduce the grace period from one year to six months for Division I schools. Here is the exact wording of the Bylaw that is effective August 1, 2012:
14.2.3.2.2 Tennis
In tennis, a student-athlete who does not enroll in a collegiate institution as a fulltime student in a regular academic term within six months (or the first opportunity to enroll after six months have elapsed) after his or her high school graduation date or the graduation date of his or her class (as determined by the first year of high school enrollment or the international equivalent as specified in the NCAA Guide to International Academic Standards for Athletics Eligibility and based on the prescribed educational path in the student-athlete's country), whichever occurs earlier, shall be subject to the following:
(a) The student-athlete shall be charged with a season of intercollegiate eligibility for each calendar year after the six-month period has elapsed (or the next opportunity to enroll) and prior to full-time collegiate enrollment during which the student-athlete has participated in organized competition per Bylaw 14.02.9.
(b) After the six-month period, if the student-athlete has engaged in organized competition per Bylaw 14.02.9, on matriculation at the certifying institution, the student-athlete must fulfill an academic year in residence for each calendar year after the six-month period has elapsed (or the next opportunity to enroll) and prior to full-time collegiate enrollment during which the student-athlete has participated in such competition before being eligible to represent the institution in intercollegiate competition.
The goal of this legislation is to encourage continuity in the educational process and to level the playing field in college tennis based on age and experience. Some years back it was not uncommon in the higher levels of Division I tennis for a 24-year-old player to be competing against an 18-year-old player."
"interesting new NCAA rule that I wasn't aware of. What about kids who reclassify (sometimes for academic and sometimes for personal/behavioral) and what about kids who graduate HS and then go for a PG year at a Prep school?"
It is confusing for tennis juniors and parents as the NCAA changed the rules mid game, and unfortunately many juniors got tripped up in the process.
(I think if you are going to change any rule, it should be done with enough notice)
The rule I am referring to is the 4 year rule, in that the clock starts ticking to do high school in 4 years, and not 5 years. Now, this is either interesting or I would say punitive as it only applies to Americans, not foreigners.
So, just to digress, you can have a 20 year old foreigner who comes onto a team and perhaps has to sit out his first year for eligibility reasons. His second year, he might only have one year of eligibility left. You are probably asking why would a coach waste a spot on a young man who only has one year of eligibility, well that young man might be ranked 300 in the world….. And that is a far cry from a blue chip junior. Check out Division 1 Mens tennis, 70% foreign now....Some state schools are 100% foreign too.
But, back to the American rules. You have 4 years, and the clock starts ticking with that first class the first day of school. If you fail a grade, go back a grade for behavioral issues, or want to kick up your TRN by going back, you will be penalized as you will lose eligibility. And you can’t count the last 4 years of high school for eligibility either if you have been doing high school classes for 5 years. Definitely, unfair to the kid who is struggling in high school.
How does that hurt, well coaches would rather have a kid who can play all 4 years, unless you have a world ranking. Sad, but true.
What is the trick then.....
You should go back in 7th grade, or repeat 7th grade, and you will be fine.
Zero risk here.
While, the NCAA is busy scouring your kid’s course selection to make sure it is up to par ( friend’s son had some online courses disallowed – yep they checked every course!), they have foreigners coming into school who can not read or speak a word of English…..
The rules are very strange, unfair, and catching a lot of people by surprise.
I would think the NCAA would focus on revenue sports, but their compliance office must have time on their hands.
Fill out the form because it's there and they are asking for it, but don't expect anything from it.
It will likely put you on their list to receive the general impersonal emails that they blast every so often.
Then email the coaches regularly with stats and any news you can think of reporting to them, and hope for some personal attention in response to the emails.
Filling out the questionnaire doesn't hurt in any way and some schools will require you to do it as some point in the recruiting process so they have you in "the system". How detailed the form is varies quite a bit by school. That said, do NOT rely on it. Follow it up immediately with a personal email with all your relevant academic and athletic stats (yes some will be dupes from the form, but they need to be in the personal email). I think the email should also include something about why you are interested in school "X" to show you have done some research. MOST IMPORTANTLY - follow that up with a phone call to the coach! If it's before your senior year they can't call you back, so be persistent in trying to get them on the phone. And the call needs to be made by the student, not the parent.
Replies to: online recruiting questionaires
:rolleyes:
Have a nice day.
And I'm sure, when the time comes, my daughter will comply with any reasonable requirements presented by current or future coaches.
It is completely erroneous to assume that my tongue-firmly-in-cheek comment was based on a desire of avoidance of effort. C'mon, I wrote "a million questions." Some people took that seriously!?
Overall I suppose emailing the coach directly has had a 100% yield; however, some coaches did ask to make sure that she had filled out the online form.
Just want to add that NCAA rules change every year and that there were big changes this summer. For example, basketball coaches can now text and email recruits while they are sophomores, not just juniors anymore.
Also keep in mind that the NCAA has different rules for different sports. It is all very confusing.
More info here:
2011-2012 NCAA Recruiting Calendars - NCAA.org
"My son is a sophomore, and his sport is tennis. He has his top college choices listed on tennis recruiting along with the SAT II's and AP score results that he took last year.
He can see which coaches are following his tournament results. Should he also be contacting these coaches directly to show even more interest? If the answer is yes, when should he start? He is our oldest, and the high school tennis coach has never had a player play in college, so he is not going to be any help at all in this process"
Just an fyi - I notice in looking at your posts that your son was a freshman in fall 2010.
Clock starts ticking the moment they are a freshman, and they have 4 years to complete high school,
whether you are at public, private or homeschooled ( online).
New regulation by the NCAA and they are sticklers for it
Your posts struck a chord with me, as my nephew was a 5 star too
and left his college tennis team as school ( pre-med) and tennis were too much....
Not sure why you would be interested in my old posts, but yes, you are correct, we made an adjustment to my son's grade is school when he was prevented from applying to an academic program because he wasn't old enough despite being in the correct grade for the program. Now he will be old enough and eligible to apply this year.
He will now enter college when he is 18 with his age peers. He will not take 5 years to complete high school; we simply readjusted the "clock/grade level" to be on par with the traditional schooled kids grade level. He will be in high school for 4 years and will more than satisfy the NCAA course requirements in 4 years. The only bummer about adjusting the grade level is that there might be some colleges that won't accept the 5's he had on the AP exams taken when he was 14 yrs. old. Had we had a crystal ball, we would have had him wait a year to take those exams.
I know other kids in our area who have graduated from high school when they are 19 and they will be playing their sport all 4 years for their college team.
Sorry that your nephew couldn't balance school and tennis....I know many other pre-med kids who have....
ETA: Before we reclassified my son, I did check with the NCAA. In my son's case, the only grade level he had was an internal one assigned by me, so my son's case is probably atypical. The way I understood it in my son's case was that as long as he completed the NCAA academic requirements in 4 years (ie. not taking 5 years to complete the courses) it was ok to reclassify - especially since there had been nothing official designating his grade level and he would be entering college at 18.)
"Prior to this year there was no rule preventing a player from taking a gap year, regardless of their reason for doing so. In April of 2010, the NCAA voted to reduce the grace period from one year to six months for Division I schools. Here is the exact wording of the Bylaw that is effective August 1, 2012:
14.2.3.2.2 Tennis
In tennis, a student-athlete who does not enroll in a collegiate institution as a fulltime student in a regular academic term within six months (or the first opportunity to enroll after six months have elapsed) after his or her high school graduation date or the graduation date of his or her class (as determined by the first year of high school enrollment or the international equivalent as specified in the NCAA Guide to International Academic Standards for Athletics Eligibility and based on the prescribed educational path in the student-athlete's country), whichever occurs earlier, shall be subject to the following:
(a) The student-athlete shall be charged with a season of intercollegiate eligibility for each calendar year after the six-month period has elapsed (or the next opportunity to enroll) and prior to full-time collegiate enrollment during which the student-athlete has participated in organized competition per Bylaw 14.02.9.
(b) After the six-month period, if the student-athlete has engaged in organized competition per Bylaw 14.02.9, on matriculation at the certifying institution, the student-athlete must fulfill an academic year in residence for each calendar year after the six-month period has elapsed (or the next opportunity to enroll) and prior to full-time collegiate enrollment during which the student-athlete has participated in such competition before being eligible to represent the institution in intercollegiate competition.
The goal of this legislation is to encourage continuity in the educational process and to level the playing field in college tennis based on age and experience. Some years back it was not uncommon in the higher levels of Division I tennis for a 24-year-old player to be competing against an 18-year-old player."
"interesting new NCAA rule that I wasn't aware of. What about kids who reclassify (sometimes for academic and sometimes for personal/behavioral) and what about kids who graduate HS and then go for a PG year at a Prep school?"
It is confusing for tennis juniors and parents as the NCAA changed the rules mid game, and unfortunately many juniors got tripped up in the process.
(I think if you are going to change any rule, it should be done with enough notice)
The rule I am referring to is the 4 year rule, in that the clock starts ticking to do high school in 4 years, and not 5 years. Now, this is either interesting or I would say punitive as it only applies to Americans, not foreigners.
So, just to digress, you can have a 20 year old foreigner who comes onto a team and perhaps has to sit out his first year for eligibility reasons. His second year, he might only have one year of eligibility left. You are probably asking why would a coach waste a spot on a young man who only has one year of eligibility, well that young man might be ranked 300 in the world….. And that is a far cry from a blue chip junior. Check out Division 1 Mens tennis, 70% foreign now....Some state schools are 100% foreign too.
But, back to the American rules. You have 4 years, and the clock starts ticking with that first class the first day of school. If you fail a grade, go back a grade for behavioral issues, or want to kick up your TRN by going back, you will be penalized as you will lose eligibility. And you can’t count the last 4 years of high school for eligibility either if you have been doing high school classes for 5 years. Definitely, unfair to the kid who is struggling in high school.
How does that hurt, well coaches would rather have a kid who can play all 4 years, unless you have a world ranking. Sad, but true.
What is the trick then.....
You should go back in 7th grade, or repeat 7th grade, and you will be fine.
Zero risk here.
While, the NCAA is busy scouring your kid’s course selection to make sure it is up to par ( friend’s son had some online courses disallowed – yep they checked every course!), they have foreigners coming into school who can not read or speak a word of English…..
The rules are very strange, unfair, and catching a lot of people by surprise.
I would think the NCAA would focus on revenue sports, but their compliance office must have time on their hands.
It will likely put you on their list to receive the general impersonal emails that they blast every so often.
Then email the coaches regularly with stats and any news you can think of reporting to them, and hope for some personal attention in response to the emails.