Common mistakes prospective student-athletes and their families make during the recruiting process.

1. Failure to communicate. What students and families should be doing; Any communication from a college coach should be seen as important by the student and their family. I tell my clients to treat all coaches with courtesy and respect. The coaching world is small and coaches talk. When a student receives communication from a coach and program they may be interested in, I encourage them to respond quickly and enthusiastically. For example if a coach requests a student to complete a recruiting questionnaire or to send link to a video, do so within 48 hours of the request and then follow up with letting them know you completed the request and that you appreciate them contacting you.

2. Sending only highlight videos to coaches. What students and families should be doing; I tell my clients under no circumstances to send a coach only a highlight video. My advice is always to send two full contests and a highlight but never highlights alone. Coaches want to see the good and bad to get a complete picture of a prospects skills.

3. Underestimating coachability and character. What students and families should be doing; There is no substitute for work ethic, attitude, athletic ability and skill in a specific sport. However, I want to strongly emphasize that those attributes are only part of what college coaches are looking for. No coach will sacrifice an athlete being coachable and having great character when looking for students to add to their program. On top of this many parents can derail a student’s recruitment by acting entitled or being overly involved in the process. Remember while the coach is recruiting the entire family they ultimately want to develop a relationship with the student and get a feel for how they fit the institution as well as the team.

4. Inadequate research. What students and families should be doing; Most of the families I have worked with just don’t spend enough time researching colleges for the best fit. I tell my clients to look closely at fit beyond athletics.  At a minimum my clients and I research size, location, academics, roster mix and many other factors when we start creating the foundation for our recruiting, application and admission strategy. The most important question I ask my clients while researching potential colleges to attend is this. Will you be happy attending this college if you decided not to compete in your sport?

5. Not creating a wish list as the foundation of a PSA’s recruiting and application strategy. What students and families should be doing; PrepSearch clients have the benefit of our proprietary college list builder to easily create customized college wish lists. I suggest that everyone start with a list of 25-50 institutions early in their freshman year, conduct research and visits and adjust the list based on the recruitment they are getting. Depending on the sport and gender this list should be reduced to 10-15 institutions after the first year with the goal of getting the list down to 5-10 colleges. This list will continually be adjusted based on the student’s recruitment. The final wish list is where students and families will finalize an application strategy. Please check out the rest of mywebsite to learn more about PrepSearch and how I’ve helped over 1700 students attend college using sports since 2007.