My son is in the process of initiating contact with college coaches. He has a fairly generic email he sends out with a resume attached. There are a couple places in the email where the school is mentioned by name, with that changed every time obviously. He is starting out the email with 1 or 2 sentences saying something like "congratulations on (“having 3 All Americans,” “qualifying 4 for nationals”, or something similar). Does that seem like enough personalization to make it not sound like a form letter? Seems ok to me but thought I would get another set of opinions.
I think your right on track with not wanting to send out a form letter. The more customization you can do the better. Everyone likes to receive what they perceive as a letter written just to them.
Many schools also have those interest places on the athletic website where you can fill out an on-line form and a coach will follow up. Both methods work well. I would use both methods. Some coaches are better with e-mail than others.
Best of luck.
Thanks for the affirmation. I also like the idea of saying something positive about the coach and/or program. They are human, and like the rest of us I’m sure like being told they are doing a good job.
It has been interesting helping him come up with something to say a few times. A few that you almost want to say “Congrats on weathering that season. Hopefully with some good luck you will still be there when I am a Freshman.”
And I am not trying to judge them for that either, but as with all competitions, some clearly had better seasons than others. I have a friend who is a college football coach, and I can relate to some of their struggles. As he told me once, “You don’t want a job where your job security is dependent on whether your 19 year old quarterback had a fight with his girlfriend last night.” Lots of things that they have to deal with that are completely out of their control.
I’ve seen a couple of emails from coaches to my daughter, and their personal touch can be anything from a comment on the weather (here or there) to a compliment on her recent times (she is a swimmer–all of her times are available online). She does something similar and says something about their conference meet that she has followed online, how swimmers she knows there swam (“Oh, I see Suzy had a good meet”), etc. If she’s visited the campus or is planning to, or if she knows the area, she mentions that as well, especially as she is contacting several colleges that are far from home. She has gotten a lot of good responses.
My daughter would throw in a reference to the conference the school was in and the school mascot. Also, don’t have your son be afraid to pick up the phone and call (assuming it is within the proper recruiting timeline). Coaches like that kind of initiative and so few kids are willing to talk on the phone.
@jumpermom makes a good point: coaches like kids that have the maturity and initiative to own these recruiting relationships and make their own calls. It probably won’t be enough to move your son up a list, but as a tie-breaker it can separate him from a scatter-brained kid or helicopter parent.