Your club may not be neglecting one of the best and most effective methods of assisting student-athletes in the recruiting process: Actively monitoring progress and informing methods based on the results.
What do FitBit, Jawbone and other popular fitness tracking technologies have in common? They provide a fast, easy way to monitor the progress of a certain behavior, say the amount of steps you take in a day or your heart rate.
They are popular in part because they help a user identify where there are shortcomings in their health routine so they can adjust accordingly. Technology has allowed this process to be relatively simple, and when things are both simple and helpful, identifying where and making changes can be done more easily.
Mapping this onto the assistance a club is providing its student-athletes in the recruiting process is a very helpful exercise (yes, that’s an intentional pun based on the previous section).
Clubs enjoy touting the assistance they provide to families, often referencing a commitment list from prior years or highlighting the contacts they have with college coaches.
How, though, is the process being monitored? Too often, it is not.
[ecko_toggle style=”solid” state=”open” title=”Schedule a Demo”]By tracking activity on our platform, we are better able to recommend best practices to clubs, as you can see in the graph. The same process can be used by clubs in their recruiting assistance. Schedule a demo here to see how this can work for your club.[/ecko_toggle]
The most important reason this should be a red flag for clubs, though, is not just because of the obvious, positive correlations that progress monitoring can bring. These are backed by science, and there is no need to go into great detail other than to note the obvious: Tracking something makes it easier to see where a process fails, be that in business, exercise or any other process.
The real value in monitoring student-athletes in the recruiting process is because it can serve to inform clubs on which of their tactics are most effective, and help to eliminate those that are not working. While every student-athlete’s process is different, having a template of best practices your club can use will greatly enhance your ability to provide timely, effective assistance for your families.
Here are a few examples of things a club can do to monitor recruiting activities:
1. Provide assignments (with hard deadlines) for families to identify a target list of schools.
2. Be included on any messages a family is sending to college coaches.
3. Have a schedule of meetings to discuss progress at important points in the cycle, say, after a big recruiting season.
While clubs may do one (or even all) of these things, it’s vital to track the results and ensure tangible action is being spurred off of that information.
The recruiting process should always be player-driven. Using this method, however, club staff can ensure they are in the front seat, able to guide where necessary.
