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 Questions and Answers |
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Friday, August 15
Why doesn't your site include timetables for when things should be done?
Tuesday, August 19
How do you think the economy will affect recruiting?
Friday, August 22
Do kids have to play high school ball to get noticed by college coaches?
Friday, August 22
What is a "verbal" commitment?
Friday, August 29
What should be worn to meetings with the coach?
Sunday, August 31
Is it better to send a handwritten letter to coaches?
Monday, October 20
What should my daughter do after a showcase?
Q. My daughter has written letters to colleges and has sent game times for this past weekend. Those coaches did show up. I have two questions about what to do after the showcase:
1. Is it a good idea to follow up with an E-Mail saying something
Like, "Thanks for showing up etc...?
2. It is a good idea to follow up with these colleges with your
Game stats?
A. By all means it is a good idea to email the coaches after the showcases. You should thank them for coming and perhaps give a little bit about the weekend. I would generally say what your daughter did, but without being heavy on the stats. Remember the coach did see her play and got a sense for what she can do. Raw stats without seeing the competition my not mean anything to the coach and can give the impression that the player is stat obsessive. I suggest highlighting what the team did (assuming that it did well) and how she contributed to a team effort. Point out anything in particular that may be above the ordinary. For example if she had a great game against a pitcher already committed to college, the coach then has a measuring stick to judge her performance.
Thursday, October 23
Questions and Comments about emails
Q. My daughter is a sophomore in college and this week she sent out a number of e-mails (about 40) to coaches introducing herself, letting them know she would be playing in the Rising Stars tournament, and attaching a copy of her fall schedule and player profile.
First question:
Was it a mistake to make her first contact via e-mail? Her intent was to follow up with a letter (some handwritten) and her profile.
Second question(s):
Are we too early? If no, how often should she contact coaches? Since she's an underclassman, they can't contact her but at what point does it become annoying? It seems like we wouldn't want to contact just for the sake of contacting - and, realistically, there isn't much to contact them about until next spring? I guess what I'm asking is what types of things would a coach want to know?
Third question:
She has around 50 schools that would meet her initial, very broad criteria. From there, she will spend some time doing more research to see if she can narrow it down to more like 20 or so schools that would be her focus schools. Does this make sense? She has some ideas about majors but I hesitate to weight that too much because it's subject to change and I wouldn't want a college coach to rule her out prematurely because his/her school doesn't offer that major - does that make sense?
We were at a showcase tournament in FL this past weekend. Here were a couple of things I noticed that I thought I would share with you - if you think it's meaninful, feel free to share with others:
- In reading through the profile booklet that was provided to the college coaches, I saw many players who had parents' e-mails listed instead of players - that seems like a mistake to me. Wouldn't a coach feel more comfortable contacting a player using their personal e-mail vs. filtering it through the parents' e-mail?
- Another observation was when players used their own e-mail address, some of them were questionable e-mails (hotchick24@yahoo.com for instance - there were a number of other examples). Wouldn't it make mores sense to use an address that might be more descriptive like JaneDoe2010@yahoo or JaneDoe2B@yahoo.com? Just a thought.
- I saw an intended major as "doctor" - I'm thinking that's pre-med? Also players listing pre-med with very low SAT scores - not positive but that doesn't seem realistic. There were other examples of things that, as an adult looking at the profiles, didn't seem to make sense or add-up.
I know those might be very small things (and quite possibly overly critical) but I'm getting the feel that your daughter's presentation and 'marketing' of herself is important and shouldn't be underestimated? What are your thoughts on this?
A. You are definitely on the right path, but don't over question yourself. You did not start too early, you do not need to narrow your search yet (teenagers can change their minds but if you drop off a coach's list you will not get back on most likely). Email is fine, but you can follow up with a hard copy (which gets expensive) and handwritten letters are excellent but very time consuming (If you are going to do hand written letters then I would think you should narrow the list because, if nothing else, it will be easier to get your daughter to do.
As for the email addresses, that is a tough question, but a good one and I don't know that there is a right answer. I am reluctant to give out profile books with the girls' email addresses on them because it is too easy for anyone to pick up one and in the abundance of caution I think it is better to put the parent's email addresses in books that are accessible by the general public. BUT emails initiated from the player should be from her own email address. You do make a good point about the email addresses being "improper" and I have updated the "tools" page accordingly.
I am of two minds with regard to the intended majors, the first is that I think that a player should be undecided for as long as possible to leave as many doors open as possible (since kids do change their minds about intended majors) and not eliminate too many schools too soon. On the other hand, players and coaches both should not waste time when the school does not have what the kid wants to study. That has to be a decision left to the player as how they want to handle it. Some of the rest is just about parents or players not being realistic about their educational opportunities and abilities, but I have seen students blossom in college, so I am certainly not going to tell anyone not to chase a dream.
I don't think you are way off base about any of your comments and I would say so if I did. Realistically speaking, this is no different than a job interview process. Appearances, all appearances count.
Wednesday, November 12
What an NLI?
NLI is short for National Letter of Intent. I have also seen it referred to as an LOI, which stands for Letter of Intent. It is the document signed by the player (or her parents if she is under 18). The letter of intent is a binding contract which obligates the player to play at a specific school. NLI's are only required if there is scholarship money offered and accepted by the player. Once the NLI is signed the player may only play for that school unless she receives a release from the school. The NLI is binding even if the player changes her mind and attends another school. While the first school cannot compel the player to attend, she can prevent the player from playing for another school. The above is only true for schools that are governed by the NCAA.
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