INITIAL CONTACTS WITH SCHOOLS

A.        LETTERS, EMAILS AND PROFILES

You have your list of colleges that you want to contact about recruitment.  What is next?  Once again, think of this as a job interview.  If you were applying for a job, you would send out a cover letter and a resume.  This is no different.  However, and this cannot be emphasized enough:  ALL COMMUNICATIONS ARE TO COME FROM THE PLAYER AND NOT THE PARENT.

1.                  Draft a resume. 

 In the college recruitment area, this is often called a player profile, but it is really a resume.  The profile should include basic information about the player.  This includes, name, high school, travel experience, academic information and contact information.  Be sure to include anything you would like to highlight, such as academic or athletic awards and any relevant statistics.  Be brief.  College coaches have told me that they do not want a profile that is a novel.  They do not want to have to hunt for the information, so make it reader friendly.  Include a picture in which your player’s face is clearly visible.  I am the webmaster for a travel team.  On the website are profiles that I have created for the players.  Feel free to check it out for ideas.  www.heartbreakerssoftball.com. I have also put the profile book on the handouts page of this website. Remember, neatness and spelling count. So be sure to proof read the profile.  Many of the players will play on teams that do team profiles with individual profile pages.  Feel free to use this as the player's profile.  Although travel coaches are important resources to help your player get recruited, it is ultimately the responsibility of each player to do her own marketing. So it is up to you to make sure that the team completes the profile pages by responding to requests for information and by checking the work of the person preparing the profile book on behalf of the team.  If no one is doing this for the team, feel free to volunteer.  Chances are the coach will appreciate your help--in fact, this was exactly how I got involved in assisting the girls get recruited in the first place. 

2.                  Draft a cover letter. 

Prepare a letter of introduction.  Remember that this is going to be your player’s initial contact with the coach.  Also remember that each coach is receiving hundreds of similar letters, so your player’s must seek to distinguish her from the others.  One of the best techniques I have seen was an opening line that used the player’s nickname in the letter.  This immediately breaks a barrier and creates a connection between the player and the coach.  The letter should tell a little something about the player, but not duplicate the contents of the profile.  It should also indicate that the player has researched the school and if at all possible say something to prove it.  For example, congratulate the coach on a successful season or mention specific players’ names.  Make sure that the comment is appropriate, i.e. do not congratulate a coach on a losing season, unless of course there had been a significant improvement over the previous season.  The idea is that the letter should show genuine interest in the school and the softball program and not be a generic form letter.  You are trying to grab the Coach’s attention before he or she has ever seen your player play.  It only makes sense that a Coach will be more interested in a player initially who shows significant interest in the school and program.  In fact, this holds true throughout the entire recruitment process. For sample cover letters please go to the handouts page.

One thing that a College Coach recently told me is something that I think should be passed on.  The coaches know that that with the use of computers and emails that there is a lot of copying and pasting from one letter to the next.  However, people must be careful that they are not simply copying entire letters.  This particular coach told me about instances where she received a letter directed to her that indicated interest in a different school within the same conference.  These are simple mistakes that can easily be avoided with a little care.

Tips: PROOF READ, PROOF READ, PROOF READ.

Remember this letter and all letters should be written at a high school level. Coaches know.

Recently, I was asked (and it is on the Q&A Page) whether it was better for a player to send a hand written letter, as opposed to a type written one.  This was my response;

Truthfully,  I have never heard  of that.  But it does make sense.  However, if I was going to send a handwritten note, I would make doubly sure that it was legible (no one can ready my handwriting) and there are no cross outs, etc.  That would be one time that I would say that neatness especially counts. 
 
One of the advantages of typing a letter on the computer is the ability to easily edit the letter quickly and easily.  If I was going to send a hand written letter I would do it on the computer first, edit it where I want to it to be and then transcribe it by hand.
 
I would say that no one I know has ever sent a hand written letter.  Assuming that the letter is well written and neat, I would say that it could not possibly hurt.  If nothing else, it would make you stand out in a crowd, it which always a good thing.

I open this up for discussion, if any of the other readers out there have an opinion, please email it me to and let me know your thoughts.

In response to my request above, I received an email from a parent who said that his daughter had great success handwriting the letters, and that she had received many responses of a more personal nature.  I can recommend this approach, with a caveat.  The more letters that are sent out, the harder it is going to be to get the player to handwrite each one.  You are going to have to decide if it is worth the battle.

 a.                   Sending the letter and profile. 

This should be done by email, followed with a hard copy.  Always address your letters to the coach and use the coach’s name in the letter.  Personalize it.  Go to the handouts page to download a spreadsheet that has the names, address, telephone number, and email addresses of virtually every college coach in the country.  It may not be 100% up to date as college coaches leave and get replaced, but it should be an excellent place to start.  I suggest that you check the school website to obtain the name of the coach to confirm that the contact information in the spreadsheet is correct.

If there has been a coaching change, or of there is missing information from the spreadsheet, you should be able to obtain the names and addresses of the coaches from the team websites. They may be in the staff directory which is usually on the main athletic website.   If not, they can usually be found in the faculty directory, which is on the main website for the school.   If you cannot find it elsewhere, call the athletic department and get the email address. There is almost always an easily accessible telephone number on the website.  If all else fails, email me at scf97@hotmail.com and I will have or can get the email address.

B.         COLLIGATE STARS

You should send the letter in the body of the email and send the profile as a document attachment.  If it is at all possible, set your email program to give you a return receipt when the email is opened by the coach.  There are services that can make this job easier.  The one I use and recommend can be located at www.collegiatestars.com.  This service provides multiple things that will make your search easier. 

For example:

1.                  The ability to direct emails to every softball coach in the country without looking up names and email addresses.  This alone will save you hundreds of hours of on line research.  This, by itself, is worth the price of the service.

2.                  The ability to post an on line profile and picture that is accessible to the coach you contact by a click of the mouse.

3.                  The ability to post a portion of your recruitment tape (to be discussed in further detail later) which is accessible to college coaches.

4.       Template letters that can be changed and saved as your own.

5.     THE ABILITY TO TRACK THE NUMBER OF TIMES YOUR PLAYER’S EMAIL AND PROFILE HAVE BEEN VIEWED BY A PARTICULAR SCHOOL OR COACH.  This is the single most helpful and important aspect of www.collegiatestars.com.  This will be discussed more below.

6.                  Personal advice if desired.

7.        Links to other services that may prove useful. I have found www.collegiatestars.com to be an invaluable tool.  For more information about the service either go to the website or contact Carl Hoffman at choffman@collegiatestars.com.