How To Get Recruited In 2020? Look Forward, Not Back

For high school athletes hoping to be recruited by college coaches, the pandemic has caused real disruption. And not just to the fun and reward of playing your sport in high school. The loss of normal practice time and the disruption of competitive opportunities have made it more challenging than ever to get on a college coach’s recruiting radar.

The paucity of competitive results has also made it more difficult for college coaches to evaluate who deserves a spot on their roster, who they want to recruit, who will be offered scholarships, or who they will help through the selective admissions processes at their institutions.

More than ever, college coaches are looking for students who fit the aspirations and culture of the teams they are building. With fewer results to go on, they’ll focus on the prospects who have made it clear they’ve done the research to know how they will contribute to that coach’s team. Most students begin their conversations with coaches by introducing themselves in the context of what they have achieved. But those results may be months, or even a year, in the past. 

To get noticed in 2020, it is better to plan ahead and share your athletic ambitions with college coaches right off the bat. Think ahead to your college athletic experience and ask yourself what you hope to get out of it and above all, what you hope to achieve as a college athlete. Do you want to be an NCAA champion or an All-American?  A contributor to a top Division I team? Are you hoping to walk on and prove your worth?  

After you’ve established your collegiate athletic goals, you also need to demonstrate to coaches how you’ve been using this unprecedented year to work on the skills and attributes that will help you reach those goals. Then, at that point, it is worth mentioning the highlights of your athletic resume. Coaches want to know that these goals you’ve stated have some basis in reality so reminding them what you’ve done in the past can give those goals credibility. But…start with your goals and ambitions and work back from there!

As you introduce yourself to college coaches, be sure to:

· Research their program’s history to get a feel for their ambitions.

· Be clear in stating measurable, realistic goals for your college athletic career. Even as you focus on what you hope to achieve, express how your aspirations will fit with what you know to be the ambitions of the program you want to be recruited by.

· Describe the efforts you are making this year during the pandemic to develop your skills and fitness so you’ll be well positioned to achieve those goals when you join their team.

· Give a background on your athletic achievements to date so the coaches can evaluate whether you have the foundation to keep improving to impact their team in the way you’ve described.

In short, begin your communication with college coaches by looking forward, not back. In a year where it is harder than ever to evaluate talent, show these coaches where you are headed and how you’ll be a part of the athletic program they are building.