As you can imagine, college coaches have very busy schedules. Some of a coach’s regular duties include running practices, traveling, planning trips, ordering team gear and recruiting. It is almost like running a business for these coaches and as you can see they have a lot on their plate. On top of that, they get contacted by a lot of potential recruits on a daily basis. It is also not uncommon for coaches to recruit several players at the same time, as they know that not every player that they recruit will end up signing with their team. So very often coaches will be speaking to dozens of potential athletes at the same time, which means that you need to stand out from your competition in order to receive an offer from your dream school. So how do you do that?
First of all, like always in life, you need to be polite and come across as a likable person. This is a very underrated factor in the recruiting process, but since college athletics is a team sport, coaches do not want athletes who could potentially create issues within the team. So try to portray yourself in the best possible manner and always as polite as possible when you speak to coaches.
Secondly, try to show interest and enthusiasm! This is also very important as most of the time coaches will recruit players of basically the same athletic level and they will end up picking the one who shows them the most interest in the program and university. So do your research about the school before you speak to the coach and then show him or her that you really want to play for their team!
Clean up your social media! This is also very important as a lot of coaches will use social media to find out more about you and your character. Don’t post any pictures of you partying, drinking alcohol, smoking or doing anything else that athletes should not do. This sounds pretty self explanatory but numerous athletes still make this mistake, which can cost them some of their best options as well as a lot of money!
Lastly, make sure you take care of your academics. As mentioned above, coaches typically recruit athletes of the same level, so the best way to stand out is simply by having better academics than your closest competitor. That includes taking your tests early and showing coaches that you care about your studies as well and not just about your sport!
There are other factors that can make you stand out as well, but in general you should always treat the recruiting process like a job interview. The coaches are the ones in the driver’s seat and they are the ones who make the scholarship offers. So you want to make yourself look as good as possible to them. And if you make sure to follow these simple rules, we promise that this will go a long way in your quest for your dream scholarship!