How To Get Recruited

Patrick Carver is back with the second installment of his series on the College Recruiting process. The article is based upon his experiences over the past two years and offers specific recommendations on when to begin, the steps that are important and what to avoid. Patrick is a 2005 graduate of Parkview HS and will be attending Emory University in Atlanta this fall where he will play D3 soccer. The first installment can be found here and here:

Now that you have a list of possible schools here comes the real work…getting them to want you as a player at their school. The recruiting process is not set in stone. In other words, there is not one uniform way to go about contacting and dealing with colleges. In the world of recruiting, there are a few guidelines that can help you gain the attention of the universities you want. The most important guiding principle of being recruited is setting yourself apart from the other students athletes who are attempting to get the same spot.

Choosing a time to begin contacting colleges is largely a personal choice. I have heard some coaches say that they would rather not hear from prospective students until the start of their junior year of high school. Other coaches will tell you that the earlier the student contacts them the better. Some of this is personal preference with the rest being decided by a complex set of recruiting rules made by the intercollegiate organizations that govern the various levels of college athletics. For instance, Division 1 coaches can only have real conversations with a prospective student after July 1st after their junior year, while NAIA coaches can start recruiting students once they begin High School if they choose to do so. It is important to be prepared but equally important to not become a pest and turn off the coaches you are trying to entice. It would be a shame to have your years of hard work ruined because a coach rightly or wrongly is convinced that you are an overbearing kid. It is okay to send material during or right after your sophomore year but is largely pointless in my opinion. Most of the time you will hear nothing back. If you are lucky, you will get a nice note back that says call us back in a year or two. I started sending material out a bit on the late side towards the end of my junior year. By no means was this too late for results but I would suggest starting to send material out before your junior year. I made the mistake of trying to coordinate my efforts during the season, which was a very busy time for me. This will give you ample time to figure out when and where you can coordinate meeting with coaches from the schools you want to attend. It will also give the coaches time to find out information about you while giving them every opportunity possible to see you play. It is not a life or death situation if you fail to start sending material until after your club season but it is not recommended. Exclusive schools have their recruiting class locked up before student athletes start their senior year much of the time. These schools will make exceptions and this timetable is not the norm for a lot of schools but it is still better to be safe rather than sorry. Prepare yourself as early as possible because you don’t want to be caught late and then subsequently overlooked.

Looking for a college is much like looking for a job. One key part of landing a good job is being able to impress the boss with an impressive resume. Like a job, it is hard for a boss to really get a feel for someone’s performance until they step into the job and see for themselves.

A good resume is a way to get your foot in the door and make the coach excited about the prospects of seeing you play in person or on tape. A resume should have all your accomplishments, interests, and achievements outlined on paper. The resume is a chance for you to have complete control over one part of the recruiting process. Write the resume yourself. There are numerous services that will do this for you but this is a big turnoff to coaches. Remember, it is a good thing to seek help and advice when making your resume to avoid errors but it should still reflect you. I could go into detailed account of everything to put on the resume but it would just be easier to show you. An example resume will accompany this article.

The cover letter is just as important as the resume in my opinion. For many coaches I have talked to, the cover letter decides what stack your material goes into. The cover letter should grab the attention of the coach and get them excited about opening your file. Cover letters should tell the coach why you are interested in the school (strong academics, history) not just the soccer program. Coaches want student athletes who are strong on the field and in the classroom; it won’t get you very far if you spend all your time talking about the soccer team but clearly know nothing about the school. Make sure the name of the coach and institution is spelled correctly. I recall a conversation I had with Coach Jon Leamy, the men’s soccer coach at MSU and he told me that he would routinely get profiles from players with his name spelled wrong. Those profiles went into a separate pile, and it wasn’t the good one. Have a parent, teacher, or someone else with good writing skills look over the cover letter to make sure you avoid any simple errors because it truly is the little things that make the biggest impact.

I recommend sending your profile through the regular mail as well as through email. Most coaches have moved to email as their primary form of communication, but there are still some coaches that like the old paper setup. Also, sending something on paper differentiates you from the countless other players who might just send an email. Either way, a follow-up call is a very good way to make sure the coach got your profile. This puts a voice to the profile and will demonstrate that you are interested in the school. This will also put you at the top of the list compared to other players who send an email and then do nothing else.

Getting your foot in the door is only half of the battle. Coaches will not want you just because you have gotten all-district twice and you were Thespian society secretary. College coaches need to either see you play or have an associate see you play and give an evaluation. Either way, exposure is a big part of whether or not you get recruited.

There are some good ways to make sure you get the opportunities to be seen that the other players won’t take advantage of. Most college soccer programs have very limited budgets. Needless to say, they don’t work like Division 1 Basketball coaches that can jet in to see a prospect any time they want. If you are close in proximity, a coach will come and see you play but usually it is your responsibility to go where the coaches are. Most college recruiting occurs at showcases so it is important that you make sure you attend the tournaments where your prospective college will be. Start planning early and talk to your coach about what tournaments and showcases your team will be attending. I had a feeling that my Springfield Soccer Club team would not be going to the tournaments I needed to go to after my Junior high school season, so I tried out for Metro FC, a team in Edwardsville, Illinois. Metro FC was probably only marginally better than my team at home but they offered me the opportunity to go to showcases that I normally would not have been able to go to. As a result, I was able to go to the Sun Bowl in Tampa, Florida, as well as the Dallas Texans Showcases. These two showcases exposed me to an entirely different set of coaches whom I normally would not had contact with. After the showcase in Dallas I received attention from the University of New Mexico which would go on to have a stellar season and be ranked number one for numerous weeks going into the NCAA tournament. If your team is not going to the places that will help you be in contact with the coaches you need to talk to, then it would be wise to investigate guest playing options or even a switch to another team that will meet your needs. Usually coaches are willing to help you find a guest playing opportunity if the two teams aren’t going to the same showcase. Go where the coaches are because it won’t be as beneficial for you to go to a showcase in Kansas City if you are trying to go to UCLA. Another great opportunity to be seen is at ODP events. The more you are out there the better your chances are to be seen by college coaches.

I have mixed feelings about ODP but it will always be a great place to get exposed to great colleges. I attended an ODP regional camp before my junior year and it had the best showing of high profile schools of any showcase I attended. If you can get into ODP it will definitely help you, but remember it is not essential to find a good college, it is merely another tool. Another great way to get exposure is to go to camps, specifically the camp of the school that you are interested in. If your prospective school doesn’t have a camp, then find a camp that your coach will be attending so he or she can get a look at you. Camps are good because they offer coaches a full week to evaluate and get a feel for what type of player and person you are, something that a tournament can’t offer. Any way to get exposure is a good thing and should be utilized to its full potential.

As I have said before, the world of soccer is smaller than you think. It is relatively easy to find a link between yourself and a coach. The best way to find a college is to network yourself to as many people as possible. The more people that you have working for you means the better chances you will have landing a spot at a college. College coaches are not usually the best people to ask because they have a vested interest in turning you away from other schools and onto their own. Find a trusted club coach that will help you and make calls on your behalf. I received help from my club coach at Metro FC but the person that made the largest impact for me was Jeremy Alumbaugh, the director of coaching at Springfield Sports Club. In the beginning Jeremy was helping me while he was working for the Chicago Magic. He is responsible for helping me find the schools that would be my top picks as well as calling the coaches on my behalf and getting them interested in me, and I owe him a great debt of gratitude for that. In fact, Jeremy wasn’t familiar with the coaching staff at Emory on a personal level but still called them on my behalf and got them interested in me as a prospect. I used all the resources that I had available to find a school that would fit me. It is important for you to make contact with your club coaches, school coaches, and camp coaches. Anyone that can get your foot in the door is someone you should try and work with. However, it doesn’t do much good to have a coach with little credibility call and over exaggerate your abilities because it won’t do anything more than turn the coach off.

Recruiting is not a rigid process with one set way to do things. By preparing and utilizing all possible opportunities, you will be in better shape than the vast majority of players out there. Good luck.

Springfield Soccer will post the example resume later this week. Feel free to use the Comment link below to offer Patrick feedback on the articles.