Month: September 2013

College Coxing Q&A Recruiting Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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So I’ve noticed that most recruiting questionnaires ask for your coach’s phone/email. What do college coaches who are talking to your high school coach ask about? I’m not nervous about it cause my coach and I have always had a good relationship, I was just curious.

If you’re a rower: erg scores, boatings, attitude, personality, personal qualities, work ethic, grades, coachability, etc.

If you’re a coxswain: everything I said about rowers (minus erg scores) plus leadership ability, practice management, communication skills, possibly audio, etc.

Basically they’re trying to figure out if you’re a good fit based on your overall attitude, level of commitment, and desire to push yourself. The biggest thing for them is finding people who are ready and willing to go to that next level and really throw themselves into a team environment and doing what is necessary for the good of the team. Having a good work ethic and the ability to be coached is crucial, as is being someone who will put the team and university in the best possible light. All of that stuff they assume your coach knows, so they’ll typically ask them for input and use that as part of their decision as to whether or not to move forward with you.

College Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

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If you didn’t know too much about a school but they sent you a generic “email us back, we saw your recruitment profile (even though mine is super ambiguous)” type email, what would you suggest doing? I’m really scared to respond.

There’s literally no reason to be scared to respond, let alone really scared.

Does the school have the major you want to pursue? Is it a school you’re interested in? Is it in a good location that you wouldn’t mind living in for the next four years? Does their team look like one you would be interested in being a part of? Do some research on them first and if you can say, with reasonable confidence, yes to all those questions after learning more about the school and rowing program, I’d send them a quick email. You don’t have to say much or be super detailed, just say something along the lines of “I received an email from (whoever it came from) after they’d viewed my recruitment profile and I wanted to follow up by seeing if you could tell me more about the team.” Finish it off by saying something like you’re looking forward to hearing more about the team, say thank you, sign it, and send it.

If you’re not interested in the school or that particular program, you don’t have to respond. I remember getting a thing from a school that I wasn’t really interested in because of the location and I didn’t know how to respond and essentially say “yea … no” in a polite way so I think I ended up saying I appreciated them reaching out but the university didn’t have the major I was planning on pursuing (which to my credit they didn’t) so it wasn’t currently one I was considering. They replied, said no problem, good luck, and that was that. But like I said though, don’t feel obligated to reply if it’s not a school you’re interested in. They’re not going to care. It’s better to establish that ahead of time instead of going through the whole process and then finally saying a few months down the road “yea, I’m not interested”. That just wastes everyone’s time, yours included.

You might want to update your profile or add in some more details. Coaches do look at them and the more info you give them, the better of an idea they can get as to whether or not you might be a good fit for their program.