Tracking Your Recruiting Journey
Navigating the college recruiting scene can be an exciting, anxiety-inducing, and overwhelming process regardless of whether you are a freshman in high school or a soon-to-be senior! Creating a system to track your communication with coaches, admissions applications, scholarship applications, eligibility requirements, etc. can help relieve some of the stress and ultimately help you find the perfect fit.
Examples of communications and items to document include:
- Coaches you have sent an introduction email and resume to as well as which coaches have responded and when.
- After each phone call, write down what was discussed during your talk with the coach and include the answers that the coach provided to your questions or other info they may have shared during your chat. These notes may help you once you take an official/unofficial visit to campus and can remind you to ask more about it with student-athletes on the team or other support staff.
- Create a schedule to send emails, texts, and phone calls to coaches. Depending on what year you are in school will determine what is allowed. An example of a good communication goal for a freshman or sophomore who is starting the process is to send a quarterly email update to the coaches on your list.
- Track which coaches have started following you on social media.
- Document when you complete any applications for admissions and potential academic scholarships and also include deadlines.
- Team roster sizes, spots available for your graduation year, and stroke average of top 3 players on each team.
- Create a pros and cons list for each school. Include a value system such as 1 for poor - 5 for excellent to help create clearer picture of each program's fit for you.
- Include a section with the team's schedule for the year with dates and locations to determine if you are able to attend and to also remind you to send some kind of communication to a coach wishing them good luck or congratulating them on a great finish!
There's no wrong way when it comes to creating a tracking system that works for you. Everyone will be different in how they structure it and what they value most! Two useful options are:
- Go Digital - create an Excel workbook with individual sheets to track each program you contact. Having an electronic document will make it easy to make updates, additions, and to share with others who may be helping you along the way.
- Be Old School - use file folders for each program you are communicating with and include any brochures, hard copies of emails, checklists, printed pros/cons list, etc. On the outside of the folder add notes from any phone conversations you have with a coach and the dates. Store the files in a bin to keep them in one central location that way when you receive a call from a coach you can easily grab the team’s file and easily reference notes from your previous conversations. Paper files also make it easy to take on official/unofficial visits when you are meeting a coach or support staff in person and you want to follow up on key points or questions you may have for them rather than carrying a laptop everywhere you go while on campus.
