Tag: contacting coaches

College Recruiting: Contacting coaches, pt. 1

By readyallrow September 29, 2015

Previously: Intro || The recruiting timeline + what to consider || What do coaches look at?

Getting in touch with coaches isn’t that complicated but here are four tips from the coaches themselves to help keep your conversations running smoothly.

Don’t email coaches after 4pm on Friday or before 12pm on Monday.

Coaches get a ridiculous number of emails each day (ever wonder what they do all day when they’re not on the water?) so try to avoid contributing to their overflowing inbox immediately before and after the weekend.

Specify time zones when organizing phone calls

Not everybody lives on the East Coast so make sure you know what the corresponding hours are if you’re setting up a time to talk to a coach on the West Coast. Don’t make the mistake of saying “I’ll call you at 11am” but not specifying 11am EST (your time) or PST (their time). Same goes for post-July 1st phone calls when the coaches are allowed to call you – when in doubt, confirm the time zones so you can be sure you’re available (or in some cases, awake).

Don’t ask coaches questions that you can Google the answer to.

We were joking about this the other day because a recruit sent an email asking what time MIT offers campus tours and I wanted to reply with this (and only that). Questions about the team, the school, etc. that you can easily figure out the answer to on your own should not be posed to the coach(es) in an email. Ain’t nobody got time to deal with that.

Put some effort into your emails

Don’t assume they can’t tell when you’re just copy + pasting the same email and sending it off to multiple coaches. Personalize the emails, address the coaches by name, and ask pertinent questions about the program and school. Yea, writing a handful of subtly different emails can take a bit of time but if that hour or so of work seems too daunting for you then you might want to reconsider this whole recruiting (and college) thing.

Next week: What do coaches want to see in an email?

Image via // @morganrhellen

College Recruiting Teammates & Coaches

College Recruiting: What do coaches look at?

By readyallrow September 22, 2015

Previously: Intro || The recruiting timeline + what to consider

The short list includes 2k time, academic suitability, physiology, experience, coaches recommendations, and finances.

The best way to get noticed obviously is to pull a really good 2k because as Coach Lindberg said, it’s the most objective analysis in our sport and how performances are normalized. In line with your 2k in terms of importance are your academics since those two things together quantify a lot of what the coaches need to know about you. The better prepared you are for college, meaning you’re taking challenging classes, scoring well on your AP tests, ACTs, and SATs, have a competitive GPA, etc., the more options you’ll have when it comes to determining which schools you might be a good fit for. Physiology is simple – height and weight. Regardless of whether you’re a lightweight, heavyweight, or coxswain, you really need to put this out there when you’re communicating with coaches … and you need to be honest about it.

Experience is something that can go either way. Obviously the more (competitive) experience you have the better (four weeks of learn-to-row over the summer in 7th and 8th grade doesn’t count) but coaches might still give you a look if you haven’t been rowing or coxing for long. I know of two high school seniors going on official visits right now at Ivies and other top 10 programs who just started rowing last year and I met a coxswain this summer who is at an Ivy now after having only coxed for a year beforehand. You shouldn’t assume that this will happen to everyone though because the precursor to this is having good enough grades and 2k scores that would warrant a coach giving someone who is relatively inexperienced a look. The majority of recruits are going to be people that have been rowing/coxing for awhile but if you’ve got the grades/times and have only been doing it for a short period of time, by all means reach out to the coaches and start a conversation.

Coaches recommendations are another big thing that college coaches look at, especially if you’re a coxswain. If your team consistently sends kids off to college programs then it’s reasonable to assume that your coaches have established relationships with the coaches of those teams and it’s safe to assume that they’ll be asked about you at some point. Sometimes this happens without your knowledge too which is (partly) why some recruiting questionnaires have you list your coach’s contact info. Other times coaches might ask you directly to have your coach get in touch with them, either by phone or email. The goal here, if it’s not obvious, is to learn about you as an athlete from someone who’s spent time working with you, to see how coachable you are (this is HUGE), and learn about what you bring to the team, both in terms of culture and overall contributions.

Related: Letters of recommendation

The last thing is finances. Don’t jump the gun on this and start freaking out thinking that a coach isn’t going to look at you if your family doesn’t make X number of dollars a year. That’s not it. It goes back to the suitability thing – if a school is completely out of reach for you financially unless you get a sizable scholarship your suitability just went down a lot. (It’s also probably going to make the coach question your intentions.) Talk it over with your family so you know what’s within your budget and how much you’d need in student loans, grants, etc. to cover any additional costs like housing, food, books, etc., that way when the subject comes up you’re not putting the coaches in an awkward “all or nothing” situation.

Another topic that came up at both Sparks and NRC was 3rd party recruiting sites (i.e. BeRecruited) and whether or not coaches actually looked at them. Graham Willoughby, an assistant coach with the men’s team at Brown, said that he’ll get emails 3-4 times a day indicating that someone’s been identified as being interested in the school/team but it’s not his primary source of information. A lot of coaches agreed on that point too that they’re not going to ignore it but they’d prefer to learn about a kid by them taking the initiative to go to the team’s website and filling out the questionnaire (which you can do anytime as a sophomore, junior, or senior). This is the best and most direct way of starting a conversation with the programs you’re interested in (in addition to actually emailing the coaches, obviously).

Wendy Wilbur (Texas) made another point that all the coaches agreed on in that you are much more likely to get a response when you reach out to individual coaches vs. just creating an account online and waiting for the offers to roll in. You want to avoid having someone else (i.e. parents, a recruiting site, etc.) be what represents you to college coaches and instead reach out directly to let them know that you’ve researched the school, like these particular aspects of it, and are interested in learning more.

Next week: The basics of contacting coaches

College High School Recruiting Rowing

College Recruiting: The Recruiting Timeline + What to Consider

By readyallrow September 15, 2015

Previously: Intro

One of the questions that comes up a lot has to do with the general timeline of the whole recruiting process and when you should be doing what. If you’re trying to slide into a coaches inbox as a freshman or sophomore … chill. I’ll touch on contacting coaches when you’re not an upperclassman in a later post but for the purposes of today’s I’m just going to focus on what you should be doing your junior and senior year.

Junior Fall

The first thing you should do is figure out your list of schools. This is really the only thing you can actively do before your junior year rolls around but once school starts as a junior, that’s when you really want to start solidifying it. This is in no way your final list though since it’s just going to be the schools that you’re interested in learning more about. The number of schools will vary but 7-10 is usually a good number to start out with. (I think I initially had seven or eight on my list that I eventually whittled down to three by the time I applied to schools.)

I don’t remember which coach said this but as you’re making your list, don’t just throw shit at a wall and hope it sticks. You should have three general categories for the schools you’re interested in – “locked in” (aka your safety school – if you can spell your own name right, you’ll get in), “baseline” (you’re a good candidate for this school and have a realistic shot of being admitted), and “reach” (the Harvard to your Elle Woods – you’d love to go here but it’s gonna take a lot of work on your end to get you up to par with the rest of the applicants). Once you’ve got this laid out, you can fill out the recruiting forms on the athletic department’s website and send a quick email to the coaches introducing yourself (which we’ll get into more later).

Junior Winter/Spring

Now that you’ve had a couple of months to learn about the universities, their academic programs, and their crew teams you can start getting serious in your talks with the coaches. Throughout the winter you should be continuing to send them updates on your progress while at the same time beginning to narrow down your list of schools to your top 3-5. This is the time to be seriously thinking about which school/program is going to give you the experience you want. By mid to late spring you should know who falls under that umbrella and be letting the coaches who aren’t know that you’re no longer interested in that school.

Senior Summer

As Marcus said, “don’t push for an official, just ask for a visit”. Officials are offered by the coaches, not requested by the students, which is why the “pushing” can be a real turn off. Since the summer tends to be a little more relaxed you don’t necessarily need to do this right away either, especially if you’re busy doing other things like dev camp, JNT, prepping for Club Nats, etc. Don’t wait until the week before school starts though to sort this out because the two week period before classes begin can be and usually are pretty hectic.

Senior Fall

If you weren’t in contact much with coaches over the summer this is when you should be, to quote Marcus again, “re-solidifying your relationship with the coaches” and setting up your visits if you were offered any. Based on what I’ve seen/heard/experienced this tends to happen in early to mid September and then later in the month and throughout October, that’s when you actually go on them. If you weren’t offered an official, you should still utilize this time to go on unofficial visits so you can learn about the schools and meet with the coaches.

Related: Official vs. Unofficial Visits – If you’re unfamiliar with the differences between the two, check out this post.

Senior Spring

Pretty simple – decide where you’re gonna go. (If you applied early decision you’ll have already done this in December and if you applied early action you’ll have done this in either January or February.)

Now that you have a general idea of what the recruiting timeline looks like, I want to quickly touch on the things you should consider when looking at schools. There were three main points that were mentioned this summer that I think covers pretty much all the bases but if there’s something you think is important that isn’t listed here, feel free to leave it in the comments.

What do you want and where do you want to be?

Urban vs. rural, small vs. medium vs. large school, size of the rowing program (i.e. on the men’s side, do you want to be at smaller program like Stanford that typically puts out 2-3 eights or a bigger school like Wisco that fields 12…), culture of the team (i.e. partying vs. studying – if the team leans more heavily one way or the other, will that work for you?), etc.

Where do you see your ideal four years?

You have to pick a school that fits your needs. This entails the academics (not just what you choose to study but the rigorousness of the program too), the overall college environment, and the rowing program itself (ideally you’ll be on a team where you feel competitive and challenged).

Would I be happy here if I stopped rowing/coxing?

This is the bottom line and probably the most important question you’ll ask and be asked during this entire process.

At Northeast there was a handout that the kids got that included a “college evaluation grid” to help keep all this info organized so I threw that into a Google Sheet for you guys to use if you think it’d be helpful. You can find it linked below. My dad and I put together something similar when I was looking at schools and it was so helpful because all the information I had (or wanted to find out) about each school/team was in one place.

Related: College evaluation grid

In that Google Sheet there are two tabs – a blue one that has the grid in it and a green one that includes some more info on what early decision I and II, early action, and regular decision entails if you’re not sure of the nuances of each one. If you’re considering early decision I would definitely recommend doing your research since it is binding and can have some pretty unfortunate consequences if you violate the rules that are attached to it.

Next week: What do coaches look at?

Image via // @yalecrew

College Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow August 13, 2015

This was an email I got two weeks ago that I wanted to share because it’s a pretty good question and something I know I haven’t talked about on here. The school this coxswain attends as well as their coach’s name were mentioned in here so those have been [removed] for privacy.

I’m not sure if you remember me but my name is [removed] and I cox at [an Ivy League program]. I was fortunate enough to find a team to practice with this summer and a couple weeks ago, I went to a regatta with them. During my race, I made a recording that I want to send to my head coach to show that I have improved and that I really want to be on this team. That being said, the recording had some flaws that I felt were out of my control (cox box fell out of holder so I couldn’t get a rate last two minutes of the three minute race and we caught a crab and went into another team’s lane because only 3/4 were rowing so I was like “let me get out of their lane”).

In my email to [the head coach], I’m not sure how to approach this… I have a couple of different questions:

1- Should I send an email like, “Can you do me a favor and listen?” and see if he says yes first? Or should I just send the recording to him with my commentary?

2- Should I send my commentary at all? I know in one of your blog posts you said you like when people send commentary but part of me feels like some of the stuff I’m saying might come off as making excuses. For example, I said “One of the weak points was not calling out rate” but go on to explain why I didn’t do it. My intention in explaining these things is to make sure I get “new” feedback.

3- How long is too long for my own commentary? I have three paragraphs built into the email but I’m wondering if I should put it in a separate word document. Thoughts?

I know I’m probably overthinking it too much, and I’m wondering if, with all the problems, I should send the recording at all. I don’t think [the head coach] has ever seen/ heard me cox before so I feel like I need to give him some baseline to know where I’m at but at the same time I don’t want to make myself look bad.

If I were in a similar situation this is what I’d say:

“Hi [Coach]! I had the opportunity to race at [X regatta] a few weeks ago with [Y team] and was able to get a recording of myself coxing our [heat, semi, final, etc.]. I wanted to see if you could listen to it when you have some time available and possibly give me two or three pieces of feedback based on what you hear. I know I still have things to work on but I’d love to hear your thoughts so I can prioritize what I should focus on as we get closer to the start of the season. Thanks!”

That’s LIT.ER.ALLY all I’d say. I personally like when coxswains send their commentary simply because I find it interesting/insightful and because I judge them on it, mainly on whether or not they’re self-aware enough to know what they did well and what they need to work on before I or someone else points it out to them. Coaches though (who have never coxed and more importantly have a limited amount of time available) tend to get turned off by that because that’s just another long string of words that they have to read in addition to all the other shit they’ve gotta do. When emailing coaches always keep it short and sweet unless they specifically ask for something more. If he emails you back and says “here’s what I thought, what did YOU think…” then you can email him two or three of your critiques. Again though, keep it short and to the point. I wouldn’t say more than two sentences per critique – one saying what you did and the other saying how you’ll tweak that action to be more effective or what you’ll do instead.

As far as feeling like you’re making excuses, that’s something I struggle with ALL the time, not just within rowing but in general too. The things I say/do are almost always very deliberate so I have to tread lightly when explaining myself in order to not come off as defensive or like I’m making an excuse. I still haven’t figured out the perfect way to do this but my advice for this situation would be to just make note of all the things you feel you need to work on, why you did them the way you did, and what changes you could make in the future in order to have a better outcome. That isn’t something that needs to be shared necessarily either. If your coach does ask “why did you do this” though then you can say “my goal was to have X happen but looking back I don’t think I executed it properly so next time I’m going to try Y and see if that works better”. This shows self-awareness in your actions without being defensive of how things played out.

College Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow January 24, 2015

I emailed the coach of a college I’m interested in about two weeks ago and she hasn’t emailed me back yet. I’m going to look at the school in a week and I’d like to meet up with her. Would it be worth sending her another email or should I just drop it?

Yea, it couldn’t hurt. It’s possible that if her team went on a winter training trip that that’s where they are now if classes haven’t started back yet or where they were when you initially emailed her two weeks ago. I’d send a quick email saying that you’re just following up on your previous email from [whatever the date was] and that you wanted to see if she’ll be around campus on [date(s) you’ll be there]. If you still haven’t heard back from her by the time you get to the school then you could always stop into the athletic department and ask them if she’s on campus. They can usually call her office or the boathouse to see if someone’s available to talk with you.

College Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow September 25, 2014

I went on an official visit about two weeks ago. I am very interested in this school but I am still looking at some other schools (that don’t have rowing). I want to keep up a relationship with this school but I’m not sure what to say in an email to them. Thanks!

Well first, I probably wouldn’t wait two weeks to email them after your official visit if you’re really interested in keeping a relationship with them. (I’m assuming you didn’t email them a day or two later but if you did … good!) That’s something that would stick out to me if I were the assistant coach doing all the recruiting stuff but I’m also anal about little details like that whereas most people aren’t. I still think it falls under “good manners” though to follow up on stuff like this a little sooner.

In your email I’d first say thanks for inviting you, you enjoyed being there/meeting the coaches/seeing the facilities/etc., one thing you enjoyed about attending practice, and one thing you enjoyed learning about the school itself. Reiterate that you’re very interested in this school and that it’s currently ranked #___ on your list of [however many schools you’ve applied to/are planning to apply to]. It’s OK if they’re not number one so be honest if they’re #2 or #3.

To wrap it up I’d mention when your first race is or when you know your next planned erg test is and let them know that you’ll update them with the results (the boat you were in, where you placed, what your erg time was, etc.) later that week. Thank them again for bringing you to campus and leave it at that. Keep the email brief and to the point while hitting most or all of those points. From there I would just keep them in the loop in terms of any major regatta or erg test results (one email per month would probably suffice).

College Coxing Q&A Recruiting Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow June 10, 2014

Hi! I’m finishing my junior year in high school and I know it’s quite late for me, but after my past spring season I’ve decided that I want to cox in college. I’m uncertain about a couple things in the process though. First off, I emailed the head coach for my top choice college, and he emailed back that he would share the email with his recruitment coordinator, his assistant coach, to answer all my questions. So when I email coaches from now on, should I just always email the assistant coach? For another college, they don’t have an assistant coach listed, but they have a novice coach. Should I email them over the head coach? And lastly, what are some good things for a coxswain to include in those emails?

These are great questions!

So, for your first question, I think a good thing to do is email whoever is listed as the recruiting coordinator/freshmen coach and then CC the head coach, that way both of them get it but it’s directed at the person who you’ll mainly be corresponding with. After the initial email where you introduce yourself and such you can probably just stick to emailing the assistant coach. You can always ask though – “should I CC [head coach] on the emails going forward” – and they’ll let you know what works best for them.

For your second question, yes, email the novice coach and do what I said up above. Some coaches aren’t listed as “assistants” and instead are just titled “freshmen coach” or “freshmen/novice coach” on the athletic department websites even though they are assistants to the head coach in the grand scheme of things.

Regarding emails, check out the post linked above. There are a couple other links in there that might help you out but in addition to that I’d recommend checking out the “recruiting” tag and reading some of the questions that other rowers and coxswains have asked. You might find an answer to a question you didn’t know you had yet.

How To Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

By readyallrow June 1, 2014

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!

Trust me, I completely understand how you feel. I hate talking on the phone. It just makes me so uncomfortable. I’m always afraid that I’m not going to hear or understand what the other person says and I’ll have to ask them repeat to themselves or something and I’ll end up sounding really stupid. Since the majority of my rowing-related phone calls are for interviews, most of the tips below will probably have some kind of tie-in to that. For the most part job interviews and recruiting phone calls are pretty similar; the only things that would likely be different is the wording of some of the questions you ask.

Determine how much privacy you need to feel comfortable before, during, and after your call and schedule accordingly so that privacy is maximized and distractions are minimized.

When I schedule a phone call, the most important thing for me is making sure it’s at a time when I’ll be the only person home. Not only does this minimize the likelihood of being interrupted or having the person I’m talking to hear someone yelling across the house to someone else, it also ensures that I won’t have anyone bugging me afterwards about who I was talking to, what we were talking about, how’d it go, etc. Few things piss me off more than other people thinking they’re entitled to details just because you’re in the same area as them or they overheard part of your conversation. (Spoiler alert, you’re not.) I’m uncomfortable enough talking on the phone, I don’t want to finish it and immediately have someone question me on everything that was discussed or critique the responses they heard me give.

The other reason why I like to be totally alone is so that I can guarantee myself absolute silence. It helps a lot with the whole “being nervous about not being able to hear what they’re saying” thing. One time last summer I had a phone interview with someone and they unexpectedly called two hours before we were supposed to talk. Something had come up and they wanted to know if talking now was a possibility. I didn’t feel like I could say no so I said sure, now’s totally fine. Except it wasn’t – I was standing in the middle of a crowded street in Brooklyn where both privacy and silence were nonexistent. I had to walk a couple blocks before I was finally somewhere semi-quiet (or as semi-quiet as Brooklyn can get in the middle of the afternoon) but because I was still straining to hear what he was saying, I spent the entire phone call distracted and nervous. When I hung up a police officer that was standing nearby actually asked me if everything was OK because I was so visibly uncomfortable. Talk about awkward…

Make a list of 2-3 questions, plus any follow ups you know you’ll have.

You know they’re gonna ask you if you have any questions at the end and you know they’re gonna expect you to have at least one or two so you might as well write them down ahead of time. This makes the segue from conversation to Q&A much smoother since having it all right in front of you allows you to just read it out loud instead of fumbling with the wording in your head or spending half the conversation trying to come up with something to ask (been there, done both).

Whenever we get to that point in the conversation and the other person asks if I have any questions I usually say something like “I do actually, I’ve got a list of three that I put together last night. Two of them are important ones regarding _______ and _______ and the third is just a general question about _______.” The first two questions are always the same and the third is something that is unique to the program I’m interviewing with. The reason the first two are always the same is because I want to have some way of comparing all the programs I talk with so I can narrow down whether they’d potentially be a good fit or not. The reason I tell them that I have a list of questions that I put together last night, this morning, or whenever is because it shows I put time, effort, and thought into preparing for the phone call. Preparation is key and in situations like this it’s a great way to communicate how serious you are about whatever it is you’re interviewing for (be it a job, recruiting slot, etc.).

If you had some questions but they were all answered throughout your conversation, don’t freak out and think you have to scramble to come up with something just for the sake of asking a question. Usually if this happens to me I’ll respond to “do you have any questions” with “I did have a couple but you actually answered both of them when you were talking about _______ and _______.” If you have any follow-ups that you thought of while you were talking, feel free to bring those up but don’t be afraid to say that they already answered your questions. The biggest no-no though is not having any questions, period. If they ask you if you have any questions and you say “nope … *crickets*” then it can/will give them the impression that you weren’t that interested to begin with or you weren’t paying attention to anything they were saying during the 10, 15, 20+ minutes you were on the phone. I used to think it was so dumb that you had to ask questions at the end of a phone call like this but it actually does make sense when you think about it. They’re trying to learn more about you, you’re trying to learn more about them … how else can you do that than by asking questions?

Oh, one more pro tip … write your questions on a sheet of computer paper or something similarly sized in black permanent marker. Don’t use a fine-tip marker on a notebook-sized piece of paper or write your stuff in pencil on a hot pink Post-it – use something you’ll be able to see from across the room if necessary. Make sure it’s legible too. There’s nothing more embarrassing than scribbling down a question and then not being able to read it when it comes time to actually ask it. The reason I write my questions on a large sheet of paper is so that while we’re talking I can make notations on what’s being said, either in response to the question(s) I asked or just in general.

Go to the bathroom.

Don’t laugh, I’m totally serious. Last summer I had a phone interview scheduled for pretty much immediately after we were supposed to get off the water at Penn AC. It was hot as hell that day and I’d drank a ton of water that morning so naturally, I had to pee really, really bad. I got off the launch and started walking up to the the boathouse when my phone rang. Pretty sure I wasn’t even a step off the dock yet. For about half a second I struggled with “do I let it go to voicemail (and seem unprofessional/unprepared), go pee, and call him back” or “do I answer it and potentially not be able to pee for another 20 minutes”. I answered it and spent at least 3/4 of the phone call mentally cursing the hot temperatures, 32oz Nalgenes, and the fact that this was the ONLY coach who actually called right at the time he said he would. You wanna know what being nervous does to you when you have to pee? It makes you have to pee even more. Longest 20 minutes of my life.

Moral of the story: if you’re the one being called, don’t schedule phone interviews that coincide immediately with the end of practice and don’t drink anything 30 minutes or so beforehand if you have a small bladder. If you’re the one making the call, go to the bathroom right before, even if you feel like you don’t have to go. Trust me, some day you’ll remember this advice and you’ll thank me for it.

Spend a minute or two before you make the call (or five-ish minutes if you’re the one being called) to get prepared.

I usually give myself an extra few minutes if I’m the one expecting the call because very rarely do people ever call when they say they will and you never know if they’re going to be a few minutes early or late. I have a routine that I like to go through to relax and get myself focused that’s actually kinda similar to what I do on race day. I stretch (all I do is stand up and reach my hands up towards the ceiling and then roll out my shoulders to shake off some of the tension), sit on my couch, go through the questions I have, take a couple deep breaths, and remind myself that it’s just a phone call … I’m not launching rockets or anything so there’s really no reason to be nervous.

Give off an air of confidence, even if you’re nervous.

Fake it ’til you make it, right? Speak clearly with good diction and appropriate volume, ask direct questions, and actually engage in conversation. Don’t give one word responses or let the person you’re talking to control the conversation. During one of my in-person interviews the coach I was meeting with commented on how he could tell I was a coxswain over the phone because of how I spoke (clearly, concisely, with confidence, etc.) and it made me laugh because I admitted to him how uncomfortable talking on the phone makes me. He said he never would have guessed which actually helped a lot with future interviews because I recalled him saying that and that alone made me feel more sure of myself and less nervous overall.

College Coxing Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

By readyallrow October 23, 2013

My coach talked to the coach of my top choice university and, even though they had coxswains go on official visits, they might not recruit one this year! He suggested I call them and try and convince them to take me. Any tips on how to go about this phone conversation without seeming pushy or pleading?

I wish more coaches would recruit coxswains, I really do, but I also understand why they don’t. If you’ve already got good coxswains on your team and have enough for all your boats, it does seem redundant to waste a valuable recruiting spot (and $$$) on someone who isn’t contributing any horsepower to the boat. I don’t 100% agree with it but I get it. Having an abundance of coxswains is pointless if you don’t have any rowers for them to cox. Knowing that inevitably you’ll have a walk-on or two that you can turn into a coxswain if you need to also plays a part in it. Them deciding that they might not recruit a coxswain probably says more about their current needs as a program than it does about the quality of people who are trying to be recruited, if that makes sense. Keep that in mind.

I don’t think you should try to convince them to take you because that alone will sound desperate. There’s a big difference between “convincing” and “making a case”. You want to make a case for yourself while keeping in mind that there are a lot of things that go into recruiting an athlete that the athlete is typically unaware of (because they have nothing to do with them). I think you should give the recruiting coordinator/assistant coach a call and say that you’d heard through your coach that they might not be recruiting coxswains this year so you just wanted to call and reiterate your interest in the school/program, give them one or two reasons why you think you’d be a positive contribution to the team, and finish it up by asking if they do decide to forgo recruiting a coxswain and you do end up going to this school, what are the options for walking on to the team.

I don’t know what other coaches/programs are like but I know that I would probably give a bit more consideration to an athlete who asks what the options are for joining the team if they aren’t one of the “chosen ones” because it gives me the impression that they are really in it for the rowing and the team, not just the financial aid or being able to say “I was recruited”. Someone who decides “oh I’m not going to go here now if you’re not going to recruit me” strikes me as someone who isn’t a team player and also as someone who probably wasn’t that interested in the school to begin with. I’m not trying to discount being a recruited athlete because it is pretty great but it’s also overrated.

Anyways, back to the phone call. Keep it short, no longer than 10 minutes or so if you can manage it. Be concise, make your point, reiterate your interest in the school, and thank them again for inviting you on an official visit (if you went on one).

College Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

By readyallrow September 4, 2013

Can you go over NCAA recruiting rules? Like when they can call, email and talk to you, and how often, and whats the difference when you are a senior and a junior.

With written correspondence (letters, emails, brochures, etc.), D1 coaches can start sending you info after September 1st of your junior year. So, if you’re a junior right now, since it’s September 4th, you’re “eligible”, for lack of a better term, to start receiving stuff from coaches. For D2 programs I think it’s sometime early in June, maybe the second week of the month or so. You can send as many emails, etc. as you want throughout the time you’re in school but coaches can’t initiate them until after September 1st. They also aren’t allowed to talk to you about recruiting-specific stuff but they can answer general questions or direct you to people in the athletic or admissions department who can also help you out.

D1 coaches can start calling athletes on July 1st after you’ve finished your junior year, so during the summer before senior year begins. D2 is a little different in that they can start calling athletes on June 15th before the start of their junior year, which is an entire year earlier than D1. After those dates coaches can call you once a week for any length of time. You can only get one call per university, meaning if Callahan calls you from Washington on Wednesday, his assistant can’t call you on Friday. It’s one or the other but not both. You can call the coach as many times as you want throughout the time you’re in school though. If the coach answers you can talk for any length of time but unless it’s after July 1st or June 15th after/before your junior year, they can’t call you back if you’ve left a voicemail, so you’d have to just keep trying and calling them until you get them if you have a pressing question. If it’s after those dates and they haven’t used their one allotted phone call for the week, they can call you back.

The other big difference between junior year and senior year is that you can start going on official visits following the first day of school your senior year. Before that you can only go on unofficial visits.

Coaches can also observe you at practice up to seven times during the year. Contact also becomes a bit more limited as they aren’t allowed to contact you or your parents more than three times while you’re a senior. In D2 there are no limits. The contact referred to is in-person, face to face contact at your house, at practice, at a regatta, etc. If you meet up at a regatta, there are a lot of rules that go into effect. Basically the coach can’t contact or call you from the time the races start until they end and you’ve been released by your coach. They can talk to your parents or family at any time though. So, if you just finished racing and the coach was standing with your family and they see you coming off the water, your parents can say “good job!” but the coach can’t, otherwise that would be considered contact. It’s all a little confusing so it’s best to read and learn the rules so you know what is and isn’t permissible.