College Recruiting Mistakes #3: Summer Camps
Last week I discussed Timmy’s freshman year and his first summer as a high school athlete. This week I will cover Timmy’s full sophomore year and part of his junior year. As I have mentioned in past lessons, Timmy is a good student and athlete who just happens to make silly mistakes during his recruiting process. We want you to SPOT THEM and CORRECT THEM.
Sophomore Year
It’s August again and Timmy is back in shoulder pads for the first time since spring football. Everyone can tell Timmy is excited; this moment is all Timmy spoke about even though he spent the entire summer chilling out and playing with friends. Timmy learned from his first year of football making the varsity squad and getting decent playing time. He has become diligent in keeping his personal statistics.
By the end of football season Timmy had earned a starting position with his team and was slowly becoming a fan and media favorite. This excited his parents, they thought the more Timmy was featured in the newspaper, the more coaches were going to notice him. As Timmy ventured into basketball season he felt disconnected with the sport subsequently affecting his playing ability and statistics. Unfortunately this continued throughout the season causing Timmy to ride the bench quite often.
Trying Something New
Timmy decided to give Track a try during the spring and forwent an opportunity with the varsity baseball team. He was happy with his decision until he pulled his hamstring running the 400 yard dash at a meet. This injury ended his track season and ended his opportunity to attend any combines, tournaments, or showcases during the spring and early summer.
As mid-summer approached Timmy was back to full health with football on his mind. He decided to join some of his teammates at a few football camps. Not knowing much about the camps other than which ones his teammates previously selected, Timmy went all in. Upon returning from the camps Timmy felt he was a better football player and was hoping his new “skills” would show this upcoming season. Timmy’s skills came through having a breakout junior campaign!
“Discovering” Timmy
Timmy was one of the best players on his team, he had the stats, and he started getting form letters from schools ranging in division; Timmy thought his time to be recruited had started… his dreams were coming true! He thought he might start to contact coaches after the season but for now since he was getting letters they were obviously interested in him.
Timmy’s Mistakes
I featured 7 mistakes in this week’s lesson. As with all of Timmy’s lessons, I ask that you recognize and correct the mistakes in the comment section of this blog.
Mistakes from College Recruiting Mistakes #2: The Recruiting Video
#1- “Still guessing at which classes to take he moved swiftly through winter basketball”
Correction- As highlighted in Lesson #2 mistake #4, Timmy should have devised a plan for classes by this point.
#2- “Learning slightly from his mistakes with JV football he has his parents start filming his games.”
Correction- Highlight films are an important aspect of recruiting and should be taken seriously, proper game film should always be kept.
#3- “His parents were very big supporters, going to every game and cheering loud for their boy.”
Correction- If professional video footage is not an option then a parent should either be filming or cheering , not both.
#4- “At the end of Timmy’s freshman year Joe and Rita thought it would be best for Timmy to spend his summer having fun with his friends from the neighborhood as he has done every summer for many years.”
Correction- While time off is important, athletes with dreams of playing college sports should spend their summer becoming better at their sport. For Timmy he should have been attending camps and hitting the weight room.
#5- “Timmy’s coaches had other plans for Timmy in hopes he might become a varsity athlete his sophomore year but Timmy delighted in the idea of taking a break from sports and enjoying a couple months off.”
Correction- You should never ignore the advice of your coach when he or she is trying to make you a better athlete.
Do you have questions you need answers to? Leave them in the comments below or ask us on Facebook or Twitter.
How can an athlete get the visibility of stateside athletes while living overseas?
Great question Carol. International student-athletes do have to work a little harder at recruiting since they are located where college coaches don’t usually go to scout. International athletes will need to rely more on video and highlight footage to help them make an impression with coaches. Also if possible attending showcases or camps where they now coaches will be is always a plus, this way coaches know they are dedicated to their recruitment by traveling to meet them.
In all international athletes will need to research colleges, create a sports resume, build relationships with college coaches and continue to create video to send to coaches. Have you checked out our blog section for international athletes? Here is the link: http://www.collegesportsscholarships.com/category/international-athletes
If you have any other questions please contact us. Good Luck.
Should a Junior played get a midseason highlight film(first 4-5 games) done? Or is it better to wait until the season is over and send a full season highlight film?
Hi James,
Great question. The more you are willing to take time to reach out to college coaches the better. Sending out highlight film more then once, is a good thing. This way coaches can see your improvement throughout the season. Your junior year is the best time to be reaching out to college coaches and showing your interest in their program.
If you have any more questions feel free to contact us- we are here to help.
When should military athletes start contacting college coaches
It varies for each program, but in general I would recommend you contact coaches start contacting coaches when you have one year of service left. Let us know if you have more questions.
My son has had great feedback and personal communication by coaches interested in his soccer abilities while attending college ID camps. Is it common for using other college coaches as references in you final college app.
I personally have never header of someone using other college coaches on their college application. Your best resource for help with the application at a particular school are the coaches there. I would ask them what type of references would be best for the application. I suppose if there are no other options (his teachers, current coaches, etc) then other college coaches might be okay. Good luck.