Tag: contacting coaches

College Q&A Recruiting Teammates & Coaches

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What should I NOT ask when talking to a college coach about recruiting?

Off the top of my head the questions you shouldn’t ask are about the obvious things, i.e. the stuff you can (and should) find out on your own about the team and the school. Asking questions like “how many people are on the team”, “who do you race”, “does the school offer XYZ major”, etc. just indicates laziness on your part.

Related: Hey, I’m a senior in high school. I’m a coxswain and my coach said that I should email coaches to let them know that I’m interested in joining the team, do you have any advice as to what I should do/say in the emails?

Also, don’t ask them how much money they can offer you. There’s definitely a time and place for questions like that but right when you’re starting to talk to coaches can come off as presumptuous at best and a huge turn-off at worst. I probably wouldn’t ask it at all until I knew I’d been accepted at the university and that rowing for this specific team was a lock. What boat you’ll be in, how often you’ll race, etc. also isn’t a good one to ask – you’re a freshman so regardless of your high school accolades, don’t automatically assume that you’ll be placed in a boat higher than the freshman 8+.

Related: Hi! I’m a junior in HS and I have a few colleges I’m interested in and I’m thinking of emailing the coaches. As a coxswain, what should I say? I also don’t have an SAT score yet so I’m not sure what to do. Can I just ask them what the requirement would be for SAT/GPA? Am I even allowed to email coaches yet?

Basically, use your common sense. If a question doesn’t seem appropriate to you, don’t ask it. If you’re not sure, run through them with your coach and get their feedback/advice.

College Q&A Recruiting Teammates & Coaches

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Let’s say I want to be recruited onto a D1 college team. I just emailed the coaches, how long should I expect to wait until I get a response back? Will they email everyone back the first time or only the ones they’re interested in?

When I was emailing coaches I think I heard back from the schools I was planning to visit within a few days but all within two weeks max. I don’t know if that’s because they were interested in me too or if it was because I’d mentioned I was going to be on campus and would like to meet with them or what. Everyone’s experience is different and it really depends on the coaches you email but I’d say give it at least two weeks. Just be aware of when during the season you’re emailing them. If they’re preparing for a big race (like HOCR, Sprints, conference championships, etc.), traveling, on a training trip, etc. then the response time may be a little longer.

Related: Hey, I’m a senior in high school. I’m a coxswain and my coach said that I should email coaches to let them know that I’m interested in joining the team, do you have any advice as to what I should do/say in the emails?

One thing you can/should do that would probably get you a faster response is if you filled out the recruiting forms that are on the school’s athlete website (usually on the team page). They’re just gonna ask you to fill it out anyways so doing it before you email them just saves time and shows the coaches that you’ve done your homework and looked into the process, the team, etc. before reaching out.

College Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

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Hi! I’m a junior in HS and I have a few colleges I’m interested in and I’m thinking of emailing the coaches. As a coxswain, what should I say? I also don’t have an SAT score yet so I’m not sure what to do. Can I just ask them what the requirement would be for SAT/GPA? Am I even allowed to email coaches yet?

Check out the “contacting coaches” tag – there’s lots of info in there about how to reach out to coaches, what to say, etc.

There are rules and such surrounding communication between coaches and prospective student-athletes but they pertain more to when the coach can contact YOU, not the other way around. Getting in touch with them now as a junior is fine (they can reply to your emails and stuff) but they can’t reach out to you directly until after July 1st of your senior year.

Related: Hey, I’m a senior in high school. I’m a coxswain and my coach said that I should email coaches to let them know that I’m interested in joining the team, do you have any advice as to what I should do/say in the emails?

Not having your SAT scores yet shouldn’t be a big deal, especially since you’re a junior. Assuming you’ve already taken the test or are scheduled to take it sometime in the next few months, you can include that information in your email – something along the lines of “I recently took the SAT in December 2012 and am currently awaiting the scores. When they arrive, I will forward them on to you.” Simple and sweet. Not only does it tell them that you’re on top of this stuff but it also gives you the opportunity for follow-up communication in a month or two. In my opinion, I think the follow-up is more important than the initial contact. Anyone can make the initial contact but only the really interested people follow up.

I wouldn’t ask the coach what the SAT/GPA requirements are simply because you can find that stuff out on your own by looking at the admissions website. You can ask them in comparison to the admission standards where do the athletes usually fall but the basic parameters are all laid out pretty clearly online.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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It’s summer holidays where I am, I have this problem and I was wondering if you could give me some advice. So my coaches for my squad are all ex-rowing students of my school and they are between 19-20 year old, who can be a bit intimidating. So my problem is about completing exercises/not stopping for a break etc. which one of coaches have helped me with earlier on in the season. As a coach would you think It would be better to ask her via email or Facebook before it gets worse or becomes a habit OR should I not bother her on holidays and just ask someone (like you) and explain in as much detail as possible even if they don’t know me personally. Secondly as a coach would you be willing to help someone via email during your holiday? Would I be better off asking the head coach even if they can be very very scary at times?

19-20 year olds are never as intimidating as they seem, trust me. They’re goofballs that technically fall under the label of “adult”. That’s about it. If your coach has a fairly open-door communication policy or you have a good relationship with her, I don’t see why it’d be a big deal to send her a short email. I think it only becomes annoying and a problem if you’re messaging her on an overly-regular basis for no reason. If you just have a simple question, especially about something that she already knows about, I don’t think she’ll mind.

As a coach, I wouldn’t mind emailing with a kid over break if it was just a one-off thing, otherwise I’d say wait until we were back and can talk in person. If you know your coach is traveling or out of the country, that’d probably be the only time when they’re actually unwillingly to help. If you don’t hear from your coach after you email her, you can try emailing your head coach. Or, to save time, you can CC your head coach on the email to your other coach, that way they get it too. Don’t be intimidated by your coaches – they’re there to help you out, not to make you feel scared to talk to them. A coach whose athletes are afraid to interact with him/her is not a very good coach.

College Coxing Q&A Recruiting

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Hey, I’m a senior in high school. I’m a coxswain and my coach said that I should email coaches to let them know that I’m interested in joining the team, do you have any advice as to what I should do/say in the emails?

You should email as many coaches as you can (aka “cast a wide net”) but make sure when you do you at least have a legitimate interest in the school. Don’t go somewhere that has a great rowing team but is subpar in the major you’re interested in. When you email the coach, include a “rowing resume” indicating your year in school, where you go, who you cox for, the major races you’ve been to/won, notable accomplishments in rowing (coxed the 2nd varsity 8+ as a freshman, had an undefeated season leading into state championships, etc.), and your height and weight. It’s also good to include any Honors/AP courses you’re taking, GPA, and SAT/Subject tests/ACT scores so that the coach can get an idea of the kind of student you are.

Other tips…

Go to the athletic sites of the schools you’re interested in and see if they have recruiting forms on there. If they do, which 99% of them will, fill them out  so you can be added to their database. This is likely going to be the first thing coaches ask or tell you to do so just pre-empt that step by doing it before you reach out to them.

Have recordings of yourself readily available to include in your email. Have practice recordings of you coxing all kinds of drills, steady state, as well as a few different recordings of your races. Make sure they’re trimmed down too – no recording should be more than 7-10 minutes in length (and even that is pushing it).

Just like you’ll ask your teachers at school to write you letters of recommendation, ask your coaches to do the same. Inform them of your intentions to cox in college and ask them if they would be willing to write you a letter of recommendation and/or be a reference for you. If you have a good relationship with your coach, this shouldn’t be a problem. The college coaches will likely ask for your coach’s contact info anyways (as will the recruiting questionnaires) so at the very least you should give them a heads up and let them know that X coach from Y school might get in touch with them.

Explore the university. Start thinking about majors, start looking into the different programs the university offers, etc., that way when the coach asks you what attracted you to the school (besides the rowing program) you can say “Oh, well I’m really interested in pursuing _____ as a major and I know that _____ has one of the top programs in the country. I saw that they recently ____…” and then elaborate on what you’ve found out through your research. Indicating an interest not just in the program, but the university as well will go a long ways towards helping you get a foot in the door. Do your research.

Ask about practice schedules, race schedules, etc. and how they are work around classes. If you go on an official/unofficial visit (also discussed here), talk to the rowers and ask them how practice fits into their class schedule. Get as much information about this as you can.

Be aware that the likelihood you’ll get a scholarship as a coxswain is slim, especially the first year. Although it is possible in the future, the coaches try to save all their initial slots for getting rowers. Don’t be discouraged by this. If you’re looking at any Ivy League schools, they don’t give out any athletic scholarships to anyone. It’s a conference rule, so just be aware of that. There are only a handful of men’s programs that have scholarships to offer thanks to alumni endowments so as a coxswain, if you’re hoping to get some sort of financial assistance, women’s rowing is the way to go. That’s not to say that it’s a definite thing because like I said, the available money tends to get prioritized towards rowers first, but just that there are more opportunities available to earn one compared to if you were coxing men.

Another thing to remember is that women’s rowing is an NCAA sport while men’s rowing is not. Because of Title IX universities are required to have an equal number of men’s and women’s sports (men’s basketball, women’s basketball, etc.) Women’s rowing is the “equivalent” of men’s football according to the NCAA in order to balance out the numbers (since they both tend to be large teams) which means as a girl, you can cox for men OR women, but men can only cox for men.

Last thing – keep your parents involved in the recruiting process. Even if they don’t know anything about crew, keep them updated, ask for their advice, etc. My dad helped me a lot when I was going through the process and was an invaluable asset to me because he thought of questions that I never would have thought of. Good luck!