Posted on 19th Feb 2021 15:35:00

RECRUITING TIPS ON WHAT & HOW TO WRITE TO A COLLEGE COACH VIA EMAIL. THIS IS OFTEN OVERLOOKED BUT IS ESSENTIAL IN THE RECRUITING PROCESS.

A COMMON QUESTION THAT IS ASKED WHEN IT COMES TO RECRUITING IS, WHAT DO WE SAY WHEN CONTACTING A COACH. 

It is important to make a great first impression in collegiate athletic recruiting (perception is reality) and it is difficult to convey your personality, character and genuine interest through an email. You want to set yourself apart from the other hundreds of prospects so below are some tips to ascertain your email captures a coaches attention.

RECRUITING TIPS:

1) KEEP IT SHORT, CONCISE AND TO THE POINT 

College Coaches get hundreds of emails from players each year, so refrain from telling them your entire lacrosse history - you can certainly acknowledge a noteworthy award(s), but do not list every accomplishment that you garned - they can see this on your recruiting profile. (Our next Recruiting Tip will include which platform that we know is effective, used by almost every college and affordable) 

2) INCLUDE THE ESSENTIALS:
 

Keeping in mind that coaches receives hundreds if not thousand of emails, they need to know certain things about you - below are the essentials to include:

• Your Name: Surprisingly, too often players forget to include their name - do not make this mistake!
• Your Position: This way coaches can immediately determine if they have a need for that position or not.
• Your Club Team and Number: Be specific because your club program likely has 2-5 teams per age group. Also include your number so coaches will be able to find you easily on the field if they want to see you play in person.
• Your Graduation Year: This is extremely important due to the NCAA recruiting rules in which coaches are only allow to contact you after September 1st of your Junior year.

3) MAKE IT PERSONAL:

Coaches are smart so they know the difference if you (the prospect) writes an email or if your parent does.  They can also determine if it is a blast email that you are cut and copying & sending to multiple coaches.  So, take your time and write a personal email to each coach - this shows you are genuinely interested in their program so in return, they will spend more time reviewing your information. By making it personal, it will also get you thinking about why you really interested in their program and why you would attend their school. 

4) LINK VIDEO:

A highlight video is a great investment that should be attached to the email that you are sending out to the colleges as this is probably the most important aspect of an intruductory email.  Even if you sound intellectual in the email, without a coach seeing you play, they cannot make any serious evaluations or assessments until they have seen you play. 

5) THE TEMPLATE:
 

Seeing what you need to include in your email, below is a sample college recruiting email template of the tips above that were applied for your reference.  

Dear Coach_____,

My name is _______________ . I am a 2020 left handed attackmen, currently playing club for Elite Lacrosse Club, u15 Gold out of Syosset, NY.  I attend Chaminade High School and last season I was an All-American nominee.

I am beginning to explore my college options and am very interested attending and playing Lacrosse at Back of The Cage University. Back of the Cage University offers everything I am looking for in a college experience i.e. a university close to home, a world renowned business program, and a competitive lacrosse program with a winning tradition. Therefore, I want to introduce myself and give you some information about my athletic and academic backgrounds.

Please click on the link below to access all of my information including contact information, club & high school coaches contact information, lacrosse awards, travel schedule, lacrosse statistics, and academic information. You will also be able to watch my highlight video that I attached.

I hope you will have the opportunity to watch our team play this season. We will be participating in the June 9th NYLA Showcase and also in the Liberty National on July 7th-8th in which I will be wearing jersey number 11.  I believe I have the ability to be a part of your team, and contribute to its future success.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Your Name

Your Phone Number

Your Address

*With the above sample college recruiting email template, you are ready to reach out to a coach(es) - Best of Luck! 

EXTRA TIPS:

Being Proactive is great BUT do not get frustrated if you do not hear back from a college coach right away after contacting them. Contingent on your graduation year, there are restictions on who and when they can contact a prospect while they could also be focusing on an older recruiting class &/or a different positions and as prefaced earlier, they more than likely have an inbox that is filled with hundreds of other emails from prospects. Be patient and hopefully you left a lasting impression so they will watch you play at one of your future events!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

If you have any questions for me, I have played D1 lacrosse having gone through the recruiting process myself, spedt a  and have placed over 100 student-athletes in college since 2018.  You may do so by emailing us by clicking on this link: Submit Your Recruiting Inquiry by Clicking Here - We are excited to help you through this grueling process and be next. 

Contributed by TM on 12/3