Recruiting Roadblocks - Limited Exposure

At the beginning of almost every journey there are foreseeable roadblocks and/or bumps in the road. This is true for every athlete involved in the recruiting process. Some things are preventable or apply less in their situation. We we are proactive about these roadblocks we can limit their negative impact on our recruiting process.

Limited Exposure

This can certainly be a hindrance for athletes while they go through the recruiting process. In order to get recruited, you need to get seen by college coaches. If you aren't getting seen by college coaches you will need to do more or different things than other athletes. Let's talk through some of the things that we can and should do if our overall exposure is going to be limited.

There can be various reasons as to why you would have limited exposure. Depending on your definition of what "limited exposure" means you might not think that all of these apply, but here are just a few situations where we would need to ramp up our recruiting efforts at the start.

Not playing on a "top" team

Only traveling to one qualifier

Playing for a smaller club

Limited travel for college coaches

The first way we can get ahead of a "limited exposure" issue is by proactively reaching out to college coaches. The best way to get in front of college coaches is to put yourself in front of college coaches. Reach out to them directly with your film. Tell them to come watch you play. You can do this at any age group really. Freshman or senior. You're only limiting your exposure if you aren't reaching out to someone directly. Otherwise there isn't really a reason for you to have limited exposure when we have the opportunity and ability to place yourself directly in front of college coaches.

Let's say you aren't playing on a top team or maybe you are at a smaller club. We still have film. Film is what brings college coaches to your court. College coaches (mostly) don't care if you play for a smaller club or a 2nd team. They might ask the question as to why you aren't at a top team or a top club, or they might want to see you play against tougher competition, but the biggest question they are looking to answer is, "can she score points in my conference?" "Can she help us win matches?" That is the only question that matters. So yes, there might be certain coaches and programs that don't come to the American and National level courts at qualifiers. They don't necessarily need to. There are plenty of athletes for them to choose at the Open and USA courts. Are we limiting our exposure in this instance? Yes. But that doesn't mean we are limiting our exposure to the programs that are genuinely going to be recruiting us. Baylor might not come watch you, but maybe that just means that we aren't a great fit for that school. Can we focus our energy on the schools where we are going to be a good fit?

We have to get out of this mindset where we have the ability to play everywhere. We don't. Not every athlete can play at every level. Playing on a "top team" doesn't necessarily put us in a position to get recruited by top 25 schools.

What if you're limited in the amount of qualifiers you are attending? Or maybe we are limited in our exposure because we are going to qualifiers in Spokane and Pennsylvania and we want to play for schools in the south. This is actually a huge issue for many athletes. Smaller colleges don't have the resources to travel to qualifiers all over the country. They are going to attend local tournaments and the qualifiers that make the most sense to them regionally. Why? These schools are typically still recruiting local or regionally close athletes. They don't have the travel budgets to go far way very often if ever. They also don't need to. There are usually plenty of athletes to choose from locally. Look at most rosters and a majority of athletes are going to be from in-state or bordering states. If you are in a situation where you will have limited exposure to the college coaches you WANT to get in front of, then you are going to have to do more to PROVE to them HOW interested you are and PROVE to them that YOU can help them win matches in their conference.

It means you are going to have to attend a camp at that school. Or possibly even a showcase or college camp in that area. Make sure you're getting in front of the right coaches at these camps. Camps are necessary to the recruiting process almost 100% of the time. You can't go to every camp and your time and resources are limited. Choosing wisely is important!

Remember that not every school across the country is going to every qualifier. Getting in front of the right coaches is important. You might have to be strategic. You can't hope that the right coach from the right school is going to wander up to your court. This will take some planning, but that's okay. Remember that schools outside of the top 50 don't typically all have the budget to fly all across the country. That means most D2, D3 and NAIA schools and 100+ D1 schools aren't showing up at every qualifier. Your limited exposure is compounded by the fact that there are coaches just not showing up to your tournament sometimes.

Be consistent in your communication. Communicate specifically to coaches. Limit your general or mass emails. Attend local camps and showcases IF that will help your process.