In sitting down with athletes and families just starting out their recruiting journey, I hear this all the time:
“I’m afraid this will be a waste of my time! What if i go through this whole process, pay a lot of money, send emails, make phone calls, take visits, and spend all this time recruiting…and then NOT get offered a scholarship, or decide to go to a Canadian school?”
Let me tell you one really good reason why recruiting is NEVER a waste of time: The recruiting process cultivates valuable life experience that will benefit you in university and your future career!
- Championing yourself will develop self confidence: through completing your online profile you will come to realize, all the accomplishments you have achieved! Those words you use to describe yourself to coaches; leader, work ethic, commitment, tenacious, they are all true! Be proud of what you have accomplished, wherever your university choices take you, and whether you play sport or not those accomplishments will stay with you!
“The way to develop self confidence is by doing the things you fear”
photo: http://whispersdaily.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/self_confidence.jpg
- Develop relationships, meet and talk to people: Develop an ‘elevator pitch’ that describes why you want to play college sports, and why you think you would add value to a team. Get used to making small talk and learn how to build a solid relationship with someone that you don’t know very well. In recruiting it is important to make a relationship with the coach of your target schools, often this starts with introducing yourself, selling them on your value, and asking questions. Along the way you will also meet potential team mates at camps and on visits to the school, how you interact with these people will dictate how your collegiate experience pans out.
- Develop job interview skills: College athletes are have transferable skills that are very desirable in the work place. Through your recruiting process you will develop the ability to sell yourself, your strengths and your skill set. This is something that you will need in job interviews for the rest of your life.
Photo: http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/339030/5-ways-enjoy-stable-radio-signals-your-smartphones-tablets.jpg?w=720&h=572&l=50&t=50 - Learn to make difficult phone calls: Learning how to handle yourself on the telephone is a life long skill. I remember being in high school and needing to call college coaches. I would sit in front of the phone, rehearse what I was going to say and ‘half dial’ phone numbers multiple times. It is scary. ‘what do i say’, ‘what will they say’, ‘what if there is awkward silence’, ‘what if they don’t care/don’t know me/don’t get why i’m calling/don’t want me…..’ its so easy to talk yourself out of making that call. Heres a tip: Write down what you want to say, have some questions in mind and just make the call. In your professional career you will make many hard phone calls, start developing your telephone skills now!
- Staying motivated and committed: You have identified your goal – To play college sport. The recruiting process will force you to commit yourself to the job and follow through! Motivation can fluctuate but at the end of the day, reaching your goal will be a result of your own motivation and commitment to your goal.
- Time management and organization skills: It is difficult to be a student-athlete in college, it is also difficult to balance a full time job with other life responsibilities. During the recruiting process you will be balancing not only your high school course load, but also training for your sport. You will be forced develop great time management skills.
- Take criticism and deal with failure: Not every team will need you, not every coach will want you, there may not be scholarship for you. Being able to take criticism, make adjustments, and bounce back from disappointment is an important skill to learn early!
As a recruiting consultant, MY worst fear is having an athlete “settle” for a school or team based on scholarship or who is recruiting them most actively. I spoke with an athlete recently who is graduating this coming June, she has been talking with a few NCAA schools and is close to committing to one of them. When I asked if that was her top choice she said “not really….but I’ll take what I can get”
As I’ve said before, recruiting is a process, and it is not easy. Just because you have been sent letters from schools does not mean that you are being actively recruited, and it does not mean that you should sit back and continue to allow those schools to come to you. Take a hold of the steering wheel and take control of who and where you are being recruited to play, identify where YOU want to go to school and never, never settle!
The advice I’d like to pass on is this: Go through the process, do the recruiting work, and in the end be comfortable with your decision. Don’t feel forced into accepting a position with a school or team that is NOT on your list JUST BECAUSE you really want to head south of the border. I’ve seen far too many athletes return unhappy after a semester, or even a year or two because it didn’t turn out to be the right fit.
Your target list will adapt and change throughout the process. Your top school at the beginning of the process may end up being your top school at the end. But then again, schools that may not have made your initial top 10 may end up in your top three. Our process will help push and guide you through the recruiting process, and as long as you do the work, you should be able to make an informed decision in the end that will leave you much happier than “I’ll take what I can get”
A word on The Canadian Experience:
There are so many good Canadian options for athletes that are looking for a fantastic education, AND a quality college field hockey experience. In my opinion too many athletes see playing in the CIS as their “fall back option”. We get charmed by the idea of playing in the NCAA, the money, the professional feel of the program, the swag….however, I encourage you to find a balance in your target schools, and keep all your options open. Despite the possibility of a large scholarship in the United States, it MAY end up still being less expensive to study and play in Canada. If you want to travel away from home, check out some of the great schools in the East!