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College Recruiting Mistakes #4: Contacting Coaches

common college recruiting mistakesPicking up from last week, Timmy is mid junior year and loving football . He knew it was his time to shine and he isn’t disappointing his coaches or the crowds that seem to continue to grow each week. What was frustrating Timmy and his family was the lack of college coach attention he was receiving. They figured that Timmy’s coaches would be on the phone daily marketing him to college coaches all over the country who would want Timmy to play for their school.

Realizing that Timmy’s coaches were dropping the ball Timmy’s family decided to start contacting coaches on their own. They spent hours scouring the internet compiling coaches contact information. Timmy’s mom did most of the work and then when finished she put together an email to send to these coaches. Her email said:

“Check out my son, he’s the greatest football player ever! www.Timmy’sYouTubeHighlightTape.com”

Timmy’s Mom copied every contact address she could find online into the email and sent it out. Both Timmy and his mom were very pleased with their work knowing that as soon as coaches watched that highlight reel they would fall in line for Timmy’s services.

Days then a couple weeks past and Timmy hadn’t received one response from anyone an email was sent to. With his mother’s help again they decided to give it another try sending out the same email to the same list of coaches…

Timmy’s Mistakes

This week Timmy committed 5 mistakes! Can you find and correct them in the comment section of this blog?

Mistakes from College Recruiting Mistakes: Summer Camps

#1 “This excited his parents, they thought the more Timmy was featured in the newspaper, the more coaches were going to notice him.”
Correction- College coaches don’t pay attention to which student-athletes are or are not in the newspaper for recruiting purposes. Furthermore, sending newspaper clips to college coaches does not help a student-athletes opportunities.

#2 “As Timmy ventured into basketball season he felt disconnected with the sport subsequently affecting his playing ability and statistics.”
Correction- College coaches pay attention to your participation in other sports, if you slack in playing another sport a coach could question your character and commitment further hurting your scholarship opportunities. Best advice is play hard or don’t play at all.

#3 “Timmy decided to give Track a try during the spring and forwent an opportunity with the varsity baseball team.”
Correction- While injuries can never be foreseen Timmy gave up a sport he had long played for a new adventure, admirable but risky.

#4 “This injury ended his track season and ended his opportunity to attend any combines, tournaments, or showcases during the spring and early summer.”
Correction- Since Timmy was hurt, likely from continuous participation in sports every season, he lost out on great opportunities to be evaluated by college coaches.

#5 “Not knowing much about the camps other than which ones his teammates previously selected, Timmy went all in.”
Correction- You should never enter into a camp blind. Make sure to do serious research into what the camp is going to offer you beyond an opportunity to learn some new skills. Reach out to the coaches, learn about the school, the city, etc.

#6 “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!”
Correction- Timmy, like many high school athletes, started receiving form letters which are to garner your interest in their school. THEY ARE NOT RECRUITING YOU. If Timmy had gotten a hand written letter then we would have a different story.

#7 “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.”
Correction- Timmy should have thought about contacting coaches before his junior summer not after his junior season. His junior year should have been filled with evaluations and now coaches don’t even know who Timmy is.

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Are you ready for the NEXT STEP!