When a coach asks “What should I know about you?” or “Tell me what me about yourself.”, what should you say? I was asked this question and completely froze because I had no idea how to respond. Please help! I want to be prepared next time.

Ugh, this question. I’ve frozen too when I’ve been asked this and in that nanosecond before I start bullshitting my way through answering it I question why such a simple question has to be so annoyingly difficult. It gets easier though once you’ve actually thought about it and have it in your head what you want to say.

Some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten on how to answer this question came from a coach that I was riding along with one day during Harvard’s summer camp. She said that you should always aim to keep your answer around two minutes long, give or take, because anything less typically isn’t enough and anything more is too much. Since you’re talking to a college coach they’re going to care about two main things – academics and rowing – so those should be the two things you focus on. Ideally you should sit down and think about your accomplishments and essentially put together an outline or a script of how you want to answer this question.

From there you can practice it (with a friend, sibling, parent, your friendly neighborhood blogger, etc.) and get feedback on how it sounds. Obviously you don’t want it to sound rehearsed or like you’re reading from a script so practicing it in a conversational tone with the standard ebbs and flows is important. Actually speaking the words is important too because what you read and say in your head rarely ever comes out the same when you say it out loud.

Here’s an example (this isn’t based on anything/anyone in particular, it’s just what I came up with on the spot):

“I’ve been a member of the _____ team for the last three years and this past year was elected captain, which was the first time in ___ years that a junior was nominated for that position. This spring I rowed 6-seat in the lightweight 8+ that won the Southwest Regionals and placed 2nd in the A final at Youth Nationals. Those were the highest finishes our light 8+ has had at those regattas in ___ years so it was exciting to be a part of that. I also competed at CRASH-Bs in February and finished with a time of ____ which put me in the top 10 for the junior women’s lightweight category. At school I’ll be taking four AP classes this fall in addition to acting as vice-president of the ____ club, which I also helped form last year. My goal is to major in _____, which is one of the reasons why I’m taking AP _____ and _____. I really liked what I read about the program when I was researching schools, particularly about the ___________, so that’s one of the main reasons why I chose to apply here. I was also really impressed with how well the team did at Eastern Sprints and NCAAs this year and how the freshman crews have consistently been in the mix for medals the last couple of years. I’d really like to be able to say that I helped my team win an Eastern Sprints or NCAA title as a freshman so it’s definitely a goal to get a seat in the 1F by the time spring rolls around. I definitely think I’m capable of that too, especially given how much work I’ve put in over the years to get to where I’m at now.”

The key is to highlight your accomplishments and goals while staying concise and to the point. Try to avoid straying into “this is my life story” because that kinda just shows that you haven’t really thought about the question or prepared an answer for it. The only time I’ve mentioned something “biographical” is if it’s something that the two of us have in common, usually in the form of something relating to my hometown or where I went to school. I always try to do a bit of research on the coach(es) before I talk to them and, for example, if I see that they went to Marietta College or coached there at some point then I’ll mention that that’s where I’m originally from and that I rowed out of the boathouse beside MC’s. It’s a great icebreaker and an easy way to transition into whatever I was planning to say.

I was looking at the NCAA rules for recruiting and I was confused by one of them and was hoping you could explain it to me. I am a rising senior so it is now acceptable for the coaches to call me, but I was reading the rules and it said that they could only call you once a week. I had a coach call me but I didn’t have my phone so he left a message. Does that count as the one call for the week? (BTW I tried calling back but he didn’t answer so I left a message.)

So I spent awhile Googling this and, unsurprisingly, found very little useful information. I even went through the NCAA D1 manual (a 432 page convoluted monstrosity…) and couldn’t find anything. The one thing I did find though is from an article posted on AthleticScholarships.net back in 2013 about phone call violations reported to the NCAA by Iowa State. Here’s the full article if you want to read it but the part most relevant to your situation says “calls where you do not reach a recruit, which could be a voicemail or someone else picking up the phone, do not count against the numerical limits on phone calls”. Also “The NCAA requires that voicemails, failures to reach the recruit, and dropped calls be supported with “contemporaneous documentation.” That means that in the moment or shortly thereafter, the coach must record why the call should not count.

The thing you’ve gotta realize about the NCAA is that they’ve got coaches on very, very short leashes. I’m pretty sure if they could hand out three year post-season bans simply for not sending them a Christmas card, they would. So while leaving a voicemail might not count against the “one call per week” limit, some coaches might not want to risk it and would instead just wait until the following week to call you again. This is usually why they schedule a specific day/time to talk with you so you can be sure to have your phone nearby. If I understand the rules correctly though, since he couldn’t reach you the first time he called and you called back and left a voicemail, technically he can return that call within the same week since the original call he made doesn’t count. (…hopefully that makes sense.)

My suggestion would be to ask him the next time you talk for clarification on all of this just so that you know what’s permissible and what isn’t. Before coaches can contact prospective student-athletes they’re required by the NCAA to take a recruiting certification exam that tests their knowledge on all the rules, so assuming that he’s done that he would definitely be able to fill you in on how things work. Knowing the rules, even though they don’t necessarily apply to you, could also come in handy should something come up in the future.

You could also call the compliance department (located within the athletic department, for those that didn’t know that…) and ask them for clarification since there’s not really anything explicitly stated online (at least not anywhere that is endorsed by the NCAA) what the protocol is here. Their sole job is to make sure the athletes (and coaches) understand the rules and comply with them so if there’s anyone besides the coach who would know the answer to your question, it’d be these guys.

I am very shy and talking to college coaches is super intimidating to me. I really want the chance to row in college and I don’t want my shyness to get in the way.

I don’t think it will. Not everybody is super outgoing or comfortable making conversation – there’s nothing wrong with that. As long as you’re not completely aloof when you meet/talk with them, there’s pretty much no way that being shy can work against you. I answered a similar question a couple weeks ago (linked below) about talking on the phone with coaches and I think a lot of what I said in that post would also apply to your situation, particularly the part about acting confident even if you don’t feel like it.

Related: Hey! This isn’t exactly about rowing but I was hoping you could help. So I have been emailing with a college coach a little bit and I am supposed to call him this week. The only thing is I get really nervous when I talk on the phone so I am really nervous about calling him. Do you have any advice about talking to college coaches on the phone? Thanks!

You already know that part of rowing in college entails meeting with coaches so there’s really no getting out of doing that. You essentially have to just take a deep breath, say “suck it up, this is part of the process”, and go in there ready to tell confidently tell them why you’d make a great addition to the team. Most coaches are pretty chill people too and very, very few of them are actually intimidating people.

I am going to be a senior and I have been looking at this one school that I could potentially row for. I have spoken with the coaches via email and I really love the school. The head coach seems to be interested in me but the thing is, I am not the tallest or strongest rower on my team and I am worried that I won’t be able to live up to the expectations of the college coach or college rowing in general.

Very rarely are people’s expectations as high as you think they are. Trust me…

Here’s the thing you’ve gotta understand about pretty much every rower competing at a high level right now, be it in college or on their country’s national team – very, very few of them were the tallest or strongest on their junior teams, let alone on the teams they’re on now. If coaches only took the tallest and strongest you’d have very few teams, very little competition, and very little to motivate you to get better. You can’t change your height so whatever – forget about that. You can improve your strength and fitness though so if that’s an area where you feel like you have some room to get better, start a lifting program, do some circuit training, etc.

This is going to sound horribly cliche but I’ve heard it straight from the mouths of too many coaches to think of it as anything but a cliche – character trumps height, strength, etc. any day of the week. Obviously there’s got to be a base level of ability in place, which you’ve clearly got, but you can make up for a lot of things simply by being a solid person. It’s all about work ethic and whether or not you’re willing to put the work in to improve upon the strengths you already have. A 5’9″ woman with a 7:35 2k who is constantly finding ways to get better, buys into the team’s philosophy and goals, and is willing to do the not-so-fun stuff with a consistently positive attitude is ultimately going to be a more valuable asset to the coach (and team) than a 6’1″ woman with a 7:22 2k who does just enough to be good but won’t put in that extra effort to do what’s necessary to be great.

Going back to the expectations thing, I would first find out what the expectations are before assuming you can’t, don’t, or won’t meet them. It’s as simple as saying something like “As an incoming freshman, what range of erg scores do you typically look for?”. From there you can compare your times to the range you’re given, determine what’s realistically possible for you to achieve by next August, and then put together a plan to make it happen. Doing that and keeping the coach(es) up to date with your progress (i.e. new PRs) goes a long way in showing what you’re capable of, how hard you go after something you want, and just the overall kind of person/athlete you are. I would also caution against assuming on your own what the expectations are or might be just based on what you see or read online. Yes it’s hard work and yes it’s time consuming but isn’t that true of most things that we find worth pursuing?

If you assume right now that you won’t be able to live up to the expectations, you’re right – you won’t. The expectations at most college programs are pretty high and that’s a good thing – you should want to be part of a team that has high standards and lofty goals like that but you sure as hell shouldn’t let that intimidate you. Do you honestly think that this coach would be talking to you in the first place if he/she didn’t think you had the capabilities to meet and exceed the expectations they have for the athletes they coach? Come on. They don’t have that kind of time to waste.

The upcoming year, or at least the fall semester, is probably going to be pretty stressful as you go through all the necessary preparations to get ready for college. Don’t make things even harder for yourself by worrying about stuff like this. It’s not worth it. Like I said, try to start doing some kind of lifting this summer to start working on your overall strength and the next time you talk with the coach ask them to name 3-4 of their basic expectations for incoming freshman in terms of erg scores, team contributions, etc. Graduating and going to college is essentially like leveling up in a game – what happens next really isn’t anything out of the ordinary, there just happens to be subtle differences in a couple areas that present new challenges that are usually small and easily achievable with the right about of dedication and persistence. I think you’ll find that rowing in college compared to your current program is the same way, as will be the expectations of your new coach(es).