Many times, we are asked how our platform helps club staffers and student-athletes work together.
The Cliff’s notes: Student-athletes and club staffers utilize their own set of tools, working in conjunction to optimize their time and maximize their outreach.
Here is how the ideal meeting between families and clubs looks.
1. Pre Meeting
What Needs to Be Done
The research component of the recruiting process is of paramount importance. It ensures that you don’t waste your time or a college coach’s time. Without a list of schools with which to begin from, the process can derail before it gets out of the station.
Before meeting with a club staffer, it’s imperative to have a list of about 25-30 schools that you think would be a good fit academically and athletically. While sports are important, it’s imperative to remember this is your college search!
What Can Go Wrong
Doing nothing prior to your meeting. Expecting said meeting to produce a list, and ignoring the components of the college search outside of athletics. Getting overwhelmed and not knowing where to get the information you need. Keeping a manual list. Wasting time.
How It’s Done on Our Platform
Using the Search tool, you can find the schools that are the right fit for you. Filtering criteria like region and academic selectivity help to narrow the list, and school pages contain robust data with everything you need to know – average SAT scores, acceptance rates and more.
If the school peaks your interest, you “Favorite” the school on the platform. All of your favorites are then organized, and you can easily manage and keep track of all your target schools.
Streamlined, organized and easy!
2. Meeting
What Needs to be Done
An essential component of the recruiting process is eliciting feedback from coaches to ensure you are targeting the right schools. Constructive dialogue will help narrow your target list down and help paint a realistic portrait.
What Can Go Wrong
Too reliant on the meeting. Taking notes but losing them. Not knowing exactly what a club coach is suggesting. Not having a realistic idea of your skill set. Not having a tangible way to see how the club coach will follow up and help as the process moves forward.
How It’s Done on Our Platform
Since the student-athlete has already built their target list with the “Favorites” feature, this meeting is off and running really before it even starts. Club coaches can sit with the family, and go through the Favorites list school-by-school.
If they think it is the right fit, the coach can “Tag” that school for the student-athlete. If one may not be the right fit, they can remove it from the list, and tag a different school that would be better.
The family and the club leave this meeting with a clear road map and target list of schools. From the research pre-meeting, the family knows the school has the intangibles for them – things like academics and location. Now, with this input, the athletic component is taken care of.
The result is a rock-solid, target list of schools, with everyone on the same page.
3. Post Meeting
What Needs to Be Done
Now that a target list of schools is built and ready, student-athletes need to contact college coaches, providing them with everything they need to evaluate them as a prospect like a highlight reel and academic information.
Club staffers need to advocate for student-athletes, using their contacts to let a coach know about a player that would be a good fit for the program.
What Can Go Wrong
Lost emails. Forgetting attachments. Not letting a club coach know you’re contacting a school. No way to see which coaches are showing a real interest. A list of things too long to include here, but summarized as such: Doing long division with pen and paper when you have a calculator next you.
How It’s Done on Our Platform
Student-athletes have a profile that they can update with all of their information, including highlight reels and academic transcripts. The profile link contains everything the college coach needs in one click.
Right from the platform, players can send the coach a note with confidence, already having assurances these schools are the right fit. They can CC their club coach to keep them informed. Once that is done, a coach can advocate on the player’s behalf to the college coach, again, right from the platform.
All of this information is kept organized, and is tracked – meaning you can see which coaches are viewing your information, further assisting you by helping focus on the schools that are showing mutual interest.
The recruiting process can be chaotic, stressful and student-athletes can easily get lost in the cracks.
But as you can see, it doesn’t have to be that way!