The college experience is in many cases four of the most important years in the life of our children in that it will shape their future personal and professional direction. The high school prospect will enjoy a potentially strong position in the recruiting process, and if exercised with careful planning and organization, they will increase their chances in achieving their top college choice.
The student-athlete brings a unique quality to the table when it comes to college admissions. They offer a special talent that in many ways can improve the visibility of the institution and raise the level of popularity among future attendees. College officials understand this quality and in many cases, offer strong support to student-athletes both in admissions and financial aid.
The college recruiting process can be a daunting effort if it is not well planned and executed with organization and enthusiasm from start to finish. Below are some tips on how to best prepare for the college quest and help maximize the family’s best chances in gaining admission to their top college choice
Information
Gathering information is critical to the successful organization of any worthy project. Building an information profile for the college quest can begin as early as the ninth grade as a fun family hobby, and increasingly grow to a highly organized, disciplined project at the end of the junior year.
Maintain individual e-files on your favorite college programs that include information about the teams and their progress, along with information about individual academic offerings. These files will begin to grow and so will your knowledge about college athletics and the outstanding opportunity that awaits you.
Profiles and Videos
As one can imagine, college coaches receive hundreds of personal profiles annually from prospects. It is important to streamline your portfolio into a comprehensive and efficient format that stands above the rest. Collegiate coaches will begin to prioritize their recruiting file based on the initial cover letter and profile. These documents will usually be placed in one of three files of importance.
“A" file: Blue chip, top-tier recruits
“B" file: Second-tier recruits; still have excellent opportunity
“C" file: Little chance of impact; Admissions risks
Keep your profile simple, neat and professionally formatted. Make the job of initial evaluation easy for the college coach by highlighting pertinent information (Level of competition, honors and awards, skills, academic testing information etc.). Maintain a copy of your generic profile to send to the majority of schools, and then personalize 5-10 profiles to be sent to your top schools with additional information that will help you gain admission and/or scholarship attention (family legacy, connection to coach indirectly through club coach etc.). Commit to making a strong impression with a professional approach in all written correspondence. Remember, your goal is to move your profile to the “A" contact folder.
The video is another means of developing first impressions, and trust me when I say that first impressions are remembered. Typically, a coach will “roughly" evaluate a recruit within the first 2 minutes of the video. They need to! Along with the hundreds of profiles, they are being bombarded with hundreds of videos.
· Introduction: Tell coaches who you are, where you are from and what your specific goals are. Show confidence and project a mature image (20 seconds).
· The coach will have a good indication of your talent within the first 2 minutes of your video. Highlight outstanding moments and technical mastery of your talent. This will grab the coach’s attention.
· Show 5-7 minutes of your finest competitions along with training highlights.
· Finish your video with 15 seconds of “contact information" including club/high school coach and direct phone number(s).
Please note: Individual sports do differ and it is important to communicate with the college coaches about their requirements for DVD footage.
The profile and video will initially define you in the eyes of the college coach. These tools should be crisp, clean and to the point. Give the coach every reason to filter your information into the active recruit file.
Developing your plan
A knowledgeable consumer will have a clear edge in the pursuit of the attainment of any worthy product. I believe that the same holds true in the college search and I encourage families to make every effort and commitment to organize pertinent information regarding this process and to execute well-designed plans.
Develop timelines that will target general events in the beginning of the college search (unofficial visits, competitions etc), but will become more specific (communication with coaches, contacts, official visits etc.) as time progresses. This will take families step-by-step through a very challenging process with great skill and confidence and it will increase the chances of “hitting targets" throughout the process.
Build your team
A productive family effort will not only be well planned and impeccably executed; it should involve a team approach that may consist of the following players: Parents, prospect, high school/club coach, college advisor, guidance counselor and personal mentor. Each team player will have a specific role to play in order to ensure the prospect’s best chances. Advance goals should be set with clarity and purpose that compliment the organizational structure of the recruiting process. The well-prepared approach will, in the end, have the best chance of achieving success.
Suggested Team Areas of Responsibility:
· Financial aid/scholarships
· Admissions
· Development of target calendar
· Research (schools, majors, athletic programs, rankings)
· Video and profile development
· Planned communication and contact log
· Campus visits
· Scheduling standardized testing
· Organizing communication “role play"
· Researching college profiles and determining potential compatibility
By selecting the team approach, the responsibilities are equally distributed to the area experts. All assignments should be clearly spelled out and communication between the team members should be frequent and consistent. This will help streamline the college quest and assist in avoiding any confusion that could contribute to unclear thinking, misdirection and potentially poor choices.
Execute the Plan
Developing a strong plan for success is good,while following through on the objectives can be something all together different. Similar to a club coach who develops a constructive and well thought out cycle of training for his athletes that hopefully will result in a successful season; the college quest requires the same discipline and persistence in approach, commitment and enthusiasm.
Not only should there be a willingness by each member of the team to execute there individual role in this process, there needs to be a commitment to working in concert as a collective group that has only one objective in mind: Help the student-athlete find the right fit.
The team should communicate often and meet regularly to identify progress in every related area and make adjustments if necessary to the plan. You will begin to see the groundwork that you diligently laid out months prior (timelines, detailed plans and
organizational structure) will begin to develop clarity during this phase. It becomes a simple matter of “checking off the list one by one.
Communication
Effective communication between the family and the collegiate coach can be critical to the final choice in the college search. If your mission is clear, communication becomes the vehicle to move with definite purpose in your chosen direction. On the other hand, ill-prepared communication can cause confusion and misdirection. Your ship moves, but with a weak rudder.
Communication should be initiated early on by the family, and by the prospect. Although college coaches have clear restrictions to when and where they may contact prospects, a prospect may call or e-mail a coach at early, with few exceptions. An initial letter of introduction is a great way to begin, but it is very important to follow this up by e-mail and by phone. The prospect that practices persistence with respect, will grab the college coach’s attention.
Communication is especially important in the areas of gaining athletic scholarship and participating as a member of the team. Cultivating a strong and genuine relationship with coaches, based on honesty and sincerity is critical to building trusting relationships. Provide the college coach with everything he or she requests (profile, DVD, transcripts etc.) in a timely manner. This will make the evaluation of athletic talent and academic credentials an easy task for the coach, and they will develop a level of appreciation that could be the “tie breaker" when it comes down to support for the prospect.
Conclusion
The college recruiting process is both exciting and potentially daunting. It requires a disciplined and yet flexible approach, especially when timelines get tight and situations become challenging. Developing and executing plans are crucial to the success of any worthy goal and the college recruiting process is no different from preparation for a championship competition! Communication (both offering and receiving) is vital, and the working participants will build a mutually strong and respectful relationship in order to maximize communication as a tool to achieve desired results.
The bottom line is finding the right fit for our children as they embark on an important and meaningful process that will have great effect on their future careers and personal direction.
Tom Kovic was the Head Coach of Women’s Gymnastics at the University of Pennsylvania for 19 seasons. He is the current director of Victory Collegiate Consulting, where he provides individual advisement for families on college recruiting. He is the author of “Reaching for Excellence" An educational guide for college athletics recruiting. Tom can be reached at: kovic@victoryrecruiting.com
» left by Tom Kovic(14) Tom Kovic (2 years 124 days ago.)
Thank you for the kind comment. The college experience for our kids is so very important and the high school athletes and family's have many more hoops to jump through these days.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
tweet this!
