I use NCSA and coaches appear to just be opening my emails but not responding. What’s the meaning behind that? And what steps should I take next?
We used NCSA as well, but had pretty good success with coaches responding. You could use the tactic of stating in the email that you are going to follow up with a phone call and then actually call. Our daughter had excellent response to coaches when she called, as they appreciated the initiative. Have you read back over your emails to be sure that they are well-written and portray you in the best possible light? How long has passed since the emails were opened?
You might have better luck by sending e-mails to coaches at specific schools that you have targeted as potential good fits for you. It is nice to have an on-line profile that is available for you to use as a link when you e-mail coaches directly. DS2 had great responses by e-mailing coaches directly and then following up a few days later with a phone call. Depending on your sport, it might be necessary to have a highlight video that you can also link to. E-mails should be fairly short and to the point. It is always a good idea to include a picture so they can connect a face to your name. Things you should include: address it to a specific coach by name, not just to a generic person (you can get coach names from college websites); let them know when you graduate, your GPA and test scores (especially if they are good); tell them exactly what you do (position, times if track or swimming, etc.); Let them know if you are competing somewhere in the near future, invite them to come watch, and include very specific details as to location, name of team, etc. It is also always nice to include something specific about their team so they know you have researched- “I notice your team had a great season and advanced to the state…” or “I feel I would be a great fit for your style of play”, depending again on the sport. Make it personal. Some coaches like it that kids follow-up with a phone call as it shows maturity and initiative . Phone calls can be intimidating so sit down and write down what you want to say first so you don’t get confused. I would not rely on NCSA or any other recruitment website as you may get responses but a lot of time it is from random schools that you are not going to be remotely interested in.
We were told specifically by several coaches that they never open any emails from recruiters. It’s fine to have a profile, but you have to have your DD or DS email the coaches themselves…regularly…with a catchy heading like “Susi Smith ACT 36 /20sec 50m freestyle time loves Yale!”
My daughter was very successful with NCSA and definitely got the attention of MOST of the coaches for which she was an athletic fit.
No need to spend any money on recruiting services, just set up a profile and then use it only to see if any coaches look at your profile - if they do you know they have some interest in you so definitely fill out their recruitment questionnaire and send them an introductory email.
But by no means, limit your outreach to those coaches. Figure out a basket of schools that are both academic and athletic fits, and then fill out each’s recruitment questionnaire and send introductory emails, and then keep following up and staying in touch, over and over again - this is a must as few coaches have the budget to chase after athletes.
‘…and then keep following up and staying in touch, over and over again…’
True, true, true. I think I’m having PTSD flashbacks from the almost daily training videos sent, emails each week with competition schedule time, then email with how the meet went, then email with updated report cards, then rotating weekly phone calls… The recruiting process when you are not a top 5-star athlete is no joke.
@Chembiodad While I agree it isn’t necessary - for what we spent I thought it had value. The matching process including potential athletic match helped my daughter and I figure out the best coaches to focus on based on schools including athletic fit, academic fit, size, potential scholarships and net cost affordability. It would have been much harder to figure all this out without the service.
A lot of your success with services like NCSA has more to do with how good the school is than how good the athlete is. Top programs are already on top of their recruiting and don’t need random suggestions from people who aren’t being pursued, but lower level programs who might not get a lot of interest will jump on emails pretty eagerly. One of the points that some coaches have made is that because these services make it so simple to blast out a lot of emails with little effort there has been a wave of casual interest that is really hard to sort through. Blind deletion is almost necessary for a high profile program that might get dozens of these emails a day and not have significant resources to investigate and respond to each one.
So what do you do? Personal emails that look like they were written directly to one school from a student will get read. Include relevant info about yourself, your current level of play and (always) a link to your highlights. If you’re not sure what to include you can use the free parts of the NCSA site to host that stuff since they have templates to guide you and a place to store a video or two. Follow up with a call from student to coach. At D2 and D1 there are times of the year and age cutoffs that prevent them from calling you, but they can receive calls so be sure to make the call. If sports are going to be a significant part of your school selection criteria then get comfortable with the idea that you’re may have to reach out to a lot of them. That’s doubly and triply true if you want a sports scholarship. Only the very luckiest don’t have to make some compromises to play for money.
There are a lot more specific things to know that depend on your sport and level of play. There are people here who have walked the journey in most sports, so add some details if you want more info than what you’re received so far.
I was just reading some suggestions from coaches yesterday, mostly talking about what they are looking for on the field at tournaments, but some of the coaches talked about other things too. One said hers is a different type of school (SCAD, for Arts) and she needs to know WHY a student is interested in not only the team, but the school. My daughter goes to a STEM school, and the coach needs to know that there is a major this student is interested in, and that the student can get into the school (lost a few who couldn’t get in). Several mentioned that they can’t read the numbers on the uniforms, so wear bright socks or somehow describe yourself so they can figure out who you are (my daughter had gold and maroon tape on her stick). Follow up with an email.