Nervous about the recruiting process? Not sure where to start? When I meet with athletes that are just starting the process or maybe they are a freshmen in high school one of the biggest fears surrounds this idea of, "What if no one comes to watch me play?" College coaches watching you play live is one of the more important steps in the process. It's why I've been pushing so hard the last three years for athletes to get college coaches to come watch you play live. Don't WAIT for them to "find" you. So what I encourage these athletes to do is this: just hit send.
You've got your film. You've got your email all typed up. Just start sending it. Send 5; that's great! Send 25; that's even better. Whatever you are doing, just start doing it.
I had a group of 2021 athletes I was working with a few years ago. At Triple Crown that year, a parent on the team turned to one of the parent's I was working with on the team and said, "Isn't it great how many college coaches are here watching?!" The dad responded with, "That was Jason. He got the coaches to come watch our court." Now it is important to note that while there were a lot of college coaches there that day for that team and throughout the rest of that tournament, they were there to watch and evaluate specific athletes. What this parent didn't quite realize was that coaches were there, yes, but they potentially weren't there to watch their athlete. That's one of the hard parts when it comes to college recruiting. They might be at your court, but they might not be watching you. It's pretty simple for college coaches to pick out the tallest and most physical athletes in the gym. So if you don't stand out in that way, you need to figure out a way to nudge them to your court so they can be there to watch you specifically.
Just this weekend I was going through some emails and an email popped up that I hadn't responded to yet. In my response I asked if they were out recruiting this weekend. They said that they were. Then I quickly shot her an text message with a team that she should probably go check out if she hadn't already. About an hour later, she sent me a screen shot of her evals on her favorite players from that team. It's almost that simple.
College coaches can watch warm-ups too. Lots of college coaches will try and evaluate during warm-ups because it might be the only time they get to see you get that many reps. Coaches are quickly trying to evaluate your footwork, vertical, and overall power. Usually on Day 1 of a tournament, coaches will be trying to watch and evaluate as many athletes as they can, especially the younger ages. They may not stay for a long time and that's okay.
Just remember that coaches can find you by just wandering around aimlessly LOOKING for the best athletes. But that's not the best way to go about your recruiting process. If you are interested, then email them. Email them several times. Communicate your interest in their school. Give them a reason to come watch you!
Finally, remember that there are a lot of athletes out there that you are competing against. If Texas, Baylor, A&M, Tech and LSU don't come to watch you play, even after you email them, we might need to rethink your list a little bit.
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