You can initiate the calls to the coach but they cant initiate them to you. So you can email them first with your resume and info. Then call them. If you get their voicemail, tell them you will call them back at a specific date and time. Then they can be prepared to accept your call. Then you can discuss anything you want. The coach just cant initiate any calls to you.
This is considered the best thing to do and not try-hardish or even annoying? @ccsouth
@codemachine I’m not really clear what you mean. This is part of the recruiting process. The “spirit” of the no contact rule is to protect the student from intrusive coaches/recruiters. Ironically this is rarely an issue to most athletes as they have to put in the work to get recruited. You choosing to make a call or send an email is ok since its initiated by you.
After a call or two to the coach (with leaving a message with the time and date you will call back) will indirectly give you a good idea on the coaches interest. Unfortunately some sports start recruiting very early during the HS years so you have to do your part in the process.
Personally, I do not know how big of a fan I am of “cold calling” a coach. One, because they can’t call you, there is no way to know if the time you state that you will call them back is available or if the coach is doing other things. Secondly, and maybe more importantly, a phone call with a coach does not leave a record for either the recruit or the coach. If you email a coach, s/he can e mail you back essentially an unlimited number of times and you can both maintain a record of the contact.
Email first and establish a relationship and a feel for the coach before calling out of the blue.
Yep. Which is what I suggested in post 20. My perspective is from how it’s done for women’s soccer. Other sports could be different. Unless you are national team pool level the athlete has to be proactive and do 90% of the work. Being passive does not work.
For most sports NCAA rules prohibit a college coach from emailing a recruit prior to September 1 of an athlete’s junior year even if an athlete sends an email to the coach first. To get around this rule a college coach can email a club coach and the email then can be forwarded to the athlete which can be somewhat cumbersome. Because of these rules emailing a coach first and then following up with a phone call as suggested in post #20 is a good technique for freshman and sophomore high school athletes to contact college coaches.
My son played college golf, there is a great website called Ping guide for college golf. Google it, its a tremendous resource for golf specific recruiting. I am not sure it is costs money or not but it if is not too expensive, it is worth it. Contacts for coaches are there, you can compare your golf scores to target schools you are looking at, sample resumes, and plenty more. As stated prior if you are good enough you do not need a middle man, but you do need exposure.
Thanks everyone! I’ll be sure to check all of this out.
As for filling out prospective questionaires for my target colleges (which appear to include HYPS) should I do this at the end of my sophomore year even wihout taking the SAT I and II?
Take your tests and get registered with the NCAA Clearinghouse. That tells the coaches you are doing your part and homework to be an athlete they can recruit.
Don’t pay any high priced recruiting service yet. My experience is they find a lot of slots at the D2 and D3 levels for kids that want to play college ball but maybe don’t have the measurables to get the attention of the D1 schools. So they are match-making. Not saying this is bad but I wouldn’t start here. I’d make a run at recruiting on my own, contacting coaches via email, filling out questionnaires, etc. If this doesn’t yield some results (after a few months) then maybe consider a recruiting service.
Then if you decide to use a service, shop around. Not a fan of the large services trying to hit every sport. Try to find a service or individual that specializes in only your sport. Typically they rely on a network of coaches, they want to keep that network intact by providing accurate assessments, and their fees are more reasonable.