School is OUT for summer! Congratulations, you made it through another year and you are one step closer to college sports! But now that it is summer, how are you going to stay on the radar of your target schools? It’s not by ‘going on vacation’ There are lots of things you can be doing in the next couple months to set yourself up for a successful fall. Whether you are headed into your last year of high school and close to signing a letter of intent, or you are just starting out and looking to start building recruiting relationships here are a few steps you can take now to help you stay on track.
1. Review
Take some time to review how your recruiting journey has gone so far: Have you been putting IN the effort you need to get OUT the results you want?
What were your goals and have you reached any milestones? If not why? If so, what are your next milestones and how are you going to get there? Your goals should cover Academic stepping stones (high school course selection, GPA, SAT exams, University applications) Sport Training and Fitness (including skills development, teams you would like to make, showcases, camps or tournaments you plan to attend) And goals related to your recruiting plan (when you plan on contacting coaches, regular evaluations of where you stand, your target list and your profile).
What schools have you been in contact with? what kind of relationship do you have with the coach so far? Are there any questions you need answered in order to make a decision about pursuing that school more?
Remind yourself what your personal priorities are – and make sure the relationships you are building are with coaches, schools and teams that fit these priorities.
WHAT ARE PERSONAL PRIORITIES? If you haven’t taken time to identify what you need and want in a post secondary school and team then now is a great time to spend some time thinking about this. Use THIS worksheet to help you identify what criteria is important to you in order for you to be happy, comfortable and successful at your school both academically, athletically, and environmentally.
2. Re-Evaluate
Now that you’ve reviewed your priorities, take a few minutes to re-evaluate your list of target schools. Compare them each with your criteria for what you need and want in a post secondary institution. Compare the training schedules, coaching philosophies, venues, campus location, transportation, climate and other criteria at each of your target schools with your personal priorities. Perhaps this review will present some additional questions (a good excuse to get in contact with those coaches again!)
DON’T HAVE A TARGET LIST? You can find some guidelines on what it is, and how to go about making one on our website. It will take a lot of research at first to come up with your target list, use the links on our resource page to help sort through the options and identify a list of your top dream schools.
Those of you that have a target list – evaluate that list and make any necessary changes. Have you added any new ones? Have you eliminated some that will not work? Maybe you are able to re-order the list a bit? What are your top three schools and what kind of relationship do you have with those programs right now? What do you need to do this summer to develop a better relationship with those coaches?
3. Update and Plan
Write a plan for recruiting this summer; What training will you be doing this summer to increase your skill, ability and competitiveness? What teams will you be play for camps you will be attend or un-official visits do you plan to make? Which coaches will you be in touch with, what questions will you be asking?
Update your recruiting profile, academic and athletic experience and share this with your target coaches. Let them know what your summer plans are, how you will be spending your off time and what kind of training and competing you will be doing over the summer. Take some time to update your highlight video or add some additional skills video clips to your profile.
New to recruiting and want to start out on the right foot? Click here to get started with an online athlete profile today!