The Space Between Qualifiers

(Originally posted 3/15/2022)

The time between tournaments can be really difficult. Many athletes will take the time to focus on training, school and other things in their life, including rest a little bit. All that is good for sure! Especially if you had a great tournament and were able to get in front of a lot of college coaches or maybe get that elusive bid to Nationals. Take a break. It can be really good for you. You just can't take too long of a break...especially if you have another tournament coming up sooner than later.

Many athletes miss out on opportunities to get in touch with college coaches leading up to their next tournament. Get on the phone with them, send them updated film...so that the next time they are able to watch you play live, they already like you and now it's just a matter of watching you play live to potentially "seal the deal" on your recruiting. This is one of the things that I think is very possible when it comes to the recruiting process. A coach finds a player, likes their film, gets on the phone with them and has great conversations over the course of a few weeks. Finally, that coach is able to watch them play live and everything goes great while they are watching.

Good fit for the school - sending specific emails that detail why she is interested in that university...CHECK!

Great fit for the program - talking on the phone with the staff goes great. The athletes obviously fits with what they are looking for both physically and personality wise...CHECK!

Watched Live...CHECK!

Maybe you're still working on specific dates for a visit to campus, but a TON of the leg work is done BEFORE the coach comes and watches you play live. This doesn't happen in every situation of course, but it certainly can be how it works for your process if you take advantage of certain situations.

Maybe you don't have another BIG tournament for a few weeks. You should remember that other athletes do. College coaches are out watching someone play almost every single weekend. It's why you can't really go more than a week without contact schools. Even a quick, "HI! This is my view of the ocean this week while I'm on Spring Break!" is perfectly acceptable. Especially for those athletes in the thick of recruiting (Juniors and Seniors) a break is great, just don't go silent for too long.

Control what you can control, right? For freshmen and sophomores you can only do so much. There is plenty you can do, but it doesn't necessarily have the same impact because of the rules and restrictions that college coaches have. But as we get closer to June 15th, that starts to change.

Are you taking steps in your recruiting so that when a coach is able to watch you play LIVE it puts you closer to the end of your process rather than the beginning?

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