My Recruiting Tip of the Day is to learn to communicate. Communication is an important lesson to learn not just when it comes to recruiting, but this applies to your everyday life! Since this is the tip of the day, let’s talk about how this applies to college recruiting. As we are approaching summer, there are several camps that recruits are being invited to but you cannot attend them all. By communicating with the different college coaches to see where you stand on their recruiting list, you can make the right decision in choosing camps of programs where you are likely to get an offer. In this instance, communication will save you time and money.
I want to share what sparked this tip. Yesterday, I had a player in my office who was offered a walk on position at a top tier Division 1 program. This student athlete has received interest from several schools all over the United States. She is very talented, however the school offering her the walk on position is closer to home and she has a sibling that will be transferring to the same institution. While we were talking yesterday, I asked her “what are some of the reasons you want to go to this school?” One of the first reasons that came out of her mouth was how important it is to have her family at her games, and that her father in particular is always a great motivator. Although she is growing up, she wants to be able to look up into the stands and see her mother and father. Her mother was sitting at the table, and had absolutely no idea that she had felt this way. We were both touched and our eyes began to fill with tears. We held back our tears and allowed her to finish her thoughts. When I asked her mother if she was aware of this, she said she and her husband never knew how important it was that they attended her games. I am sharing this story with you because once this athlete was able to communicate the reasons she wanted to attend this school without a scholarship, it allowed her family to accept that sending her to this particular school meant more to her than just being by the beach at a big name school that was really “cool.”
This can be a challenging skill to learn, but it will be a skill that you will definitely need for the rest of your life!