E-mailing college coaches

JoeA1010

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At the risk of being redundant, I imagine some people are new to this, so here are some tips:

1. Include all details in every single e-mail and not in an attachment.

2. When writing before a tournament, the necessary details include the name of the tournament and city, your team name (EXACT team name), pool play schedule with name of park and field numbers, opponents, grad year, position(s), jersey number. You could also include coach information and uniform colors, but the things in the first sentence need to be in the body of every single e-mail. Attachments are a hassle and sometimes don't work properly. Do not change the font or background color, as these often don't show up on a phone and we might need to refer to our phones when we're outside during a tournament.

3. Get the college coach's name and school right.

4. Understand the level of the college you are writing to and whether they can contact you back. NCAA Div. III and NAIA can contact you. NCAA Div. II can do so beginning June 15 after the sophomore year. NCAA Div. I is one I would need to look up to be certain, but I want to say they can't write back or call until the player starts her junior year in high school. Someone please correct me if that's wrong.

One minor note about profiles. I have no idea why girls list the camps they have attended. If you have attended a school's camp, that coaching staff already knows. If you haven't and you send your profile to us and you have been to 15 other camps, including several in the same league, what do you think we are thinking?
 

okiedad1961

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And make sure there's no classified national security secrets included from a email you mistakenly got from Hillary.All good info Joe ,when your reading hundreds of emails,there's got to be some frustration w content.
 

JoeA1010

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Classified national security secrets are fine. Their disclosure no longer carries a penalty.

Main things girls leave out are (1) jersey number; (2) grad year; (3) field numbers and/or game times.
 

WWolff

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At the risk of being redundant, I imagine some people are new to this, so here are some tips:

1. Include all details in every single e-mail and not in an attachment.

2. When writing before a tournament, the necessary details include the name of the tournament and city, your team name (EXACT team name), pool play schedule with name of park and field numbers, opponents, grad year, position(s), jersey number. You could also include coach information and uniform colors, but the things in the first sentence need to be in the body of every single e-mail. Attachments are a hassle and sometimes don't work properly. Do not change the font or background color, as these often don't show up on a phone and we might need to refer to our phones when we're outside during a tournament.

3. Get the college coach's name and school right.

4. Understand the level of the college you are writing to and whether they can contact you back. NCAA Div. III and NAIA can contact you. NCAA Div. II can do so beginning June 15 after the sophomore year. NCAA Div. I is one I would need to look up to be certain, but I want to say they can't write back or call until the player starts her junior year in high school. Someone please correct me if that's wrong.

One minor note about profiles. I have no idea why girls list the camps they have attended. If you have attended a school's camp, that coaching staff already knows. If you haven't and you send your profile to us and you have been to 15 other camps, including several in the same league, what do you think we are thinking?

I know the spelling of your last name gives some people fits ;)
 

wannaplaysb

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So she does this every week. But my kid has a hard time believing that they know she had an era of .603 and no bbs on the weekend without any read notice. I just keep telling her to do it again. For all of them. And pray it goes through! Any tips??
 
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JoeA1010

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So she does this every week. But my kid has a hard time believing that they know she had an era of .603 and no bbs on the weekend with out any read notice. I just keep telling her to do it again. For all of them. And pray it goes threw! Any tips??

The e-mails are likely going through and being read. One tip is to keep it short. If we open an e-mail that we see goes on forever, we're scanning for the details we need and these aren't likely to include statistics from the previous tournament. Another tip is to include each coach from a program on the e-mails. You never know which ones are in charge of recruiting, so you might as well e-mail them all. Finally, start with the necessary details I mentioned in the original post and finish with stats or whatever else. This way, coaches can decide on their own whether to read the entire e-mail or just note the upcoming pool play schedule.
 

lewam3

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The e-mails are likely going through and being read. One tip is to keep it short. If we open an e-mail that we see goes on forever, we're scanning for the details we need and these aren't likely to include statistics from the previous tournament. Another tip is to include each coach from a program on the e-mails. You never know which ones are in charge of recruiting, so you might as well e-mail them all. Finally, start with the necessary details I mentioned in the original post and finish with stats or whatever else. This way, coaches can decide on their own whether to read the entire e-mail or just note the upcoming pool play schedule.

Joe, at your School, players better get their spelling right, dotting I's and crossing T's. Hillsdale's curriculum is definitely not for the weak of heart or
those with a sloppy pen!!
 

JoeA1010

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Joe, at your School, players better get their spelling right, dotting I's and crossing T's. Hillsdale's curriculum is definitely not for the weak of heart or
those with a sloppy pen!!

Indeed. I ignore common typos and a certain level of informality. But if I see pure sloppiness or very poor grammar or spelling, I know the girl is not likely to be a fit at Hillsdale.
 

Run26

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This forum is very lucky to have an elite D2 college coach posting on the site. Posts like this should be in a sticky or HOF location so parents and kids can read it for years to come.

Thanks, Joe.
 

Fairman

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You should include your contact information; email, cell phone and mailing address as matter of habit. Also include your coach's contact information just in case they can't contact you directly.

Make it easy for a coach to find you at a tournament. Include the level of play and bracket especially if your team is playing up.

Finally: Can anyone tell me why a team goes to a showcase or a tournament and does NOT have a team booklet to hand to a college coach? Yet most do not do this simple thing.
 

cobb_of_fury

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All good advice - Also remember to have them CC their travel coach - he or she can work as a conduit of communication for them so it's a good idea to keep them in the loop
 

JoeA1010

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You should include your contact information; email, cell phone and mailing address as matter of habit. Also include your coach's contact information just in case they can't contact you directly.

Make it easy for a coach to find you at a tournament. Include the level of play and bracket especially if your team is playing up.

Finally: Can anyone tell me why a team goes to a showcase or a tournament and does NOT have a team booklet to hand to a college coach? Yet most do not do this simple thing.

Thanks for the additions. I agree entirely with everything, especially that last sentence!

If I may, as a long-time travel coach and now a nine-year college coach, I have a tip for travel coaches or recruiting liaisons. Treat all college coaches equally.

If you are having a discussion with a D3 coach and I walk up to the field as a D2 coach and you immediately leave the D3 coach to come talk to me, I'm severely turned off. My assistant was at a tourney recently and a coach was talking to her when a Michigan State coach came upon the field. The travel coach stopped talking to my assistant mid-sentence and bolted for the MSU coach. We will stay at the field and watch because we are there for the player and not the coach, but it's a really, really bad look. Sometimes the higher level coach will be cognizant of the slight and will tell the travel coach to finish his conversation with the first coach, and sometimes they are just arrogant and couldn't care less or don't notice. When I see the latter, I make a mental note to never hire that person.

This can also happen to D1 coaches. I was sitting at a game at Compuware and arrived about 10 minutes before the game to watch pre-game. For a while I was the only person in the stands, wearing my Hillsdale Softball shirt, carrying my coaches bag, etc. In about the third inning, an Ohio D1 head coach came up and sat next to me. The head coach from the Michigan team I was watching came running out of the dugout to introduce himself to the D1 coach, give the coach the team profile and just talk about his team. Meanwhile, I'm sitting right next to the D1 coach and my shirt says Hillsdale Softball in big letters and I'm wearing a cap with an HC on it. He eventually looked at me and said hello. I just looked back at him. Anyway, after he left, the D1 coach told me that happens to them all the time when a Big Ten, SEC, etc., coach comes along.

Ok, I can already picture what's going to happen with certain travel coaches this weekend (Chris Bower comes to mind). Haha, very funny. I have a feeling I'm going to regret posting this.
 

cobb_of_fury

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The e-mails are likely going through and being read. One tip is to keep it short. If we open an e-mail that we see goes on forever, we're scanning for the details we need and these aren't likely to include statistics from the previous tournament. Another tip is to include each coach from a program on the e-mails. You never know which ones are in charge of recruiting, so you might as well e-mail them all. Finally, start with the necessary details I mentioned in the original post and finish with stats or whatever else. This way, coaches can decide on their own whether to read the entire e-mail or just note the upcoming pool play schedule.

So let me see if we have this correct
She should lead with My team (spelled out specifically) is playing at XX Tournament this coming week (With the full schedule typed out not attached) Then brief highlights of last week including stats?

My daughter has been doing this all summer season - Right now she loves the D3 coaches because they will write back personal notes and things like that (she had one give her a nice pitching critique) at this point it gives them an advantage since the only response we can get from D1 and D2 are invites to camps and general mailings about the program. I assume that's how D1 and D2 let you know your still on the list.

Again - Thanks Joe
 

JoeA1010

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This forum is very lucky to have an elite D2 college coach posting on the site. Posts like this should be in a sticky or HOF location so parents and kids can read it for years to come.

Thanks, Joe.

Thanks, I appreciate it, but I've been posting here since the time I started my own single travel team, so I might as well continue. I need to make sure I don't break NCAA rules and that I represent my school properly when I post, but otherwise, why not? I still credit this site and even JJ Huddle (does that still exist?) to playing a big role in my career. Without them, I probably never build a travel organization, and therefore never become a high school coach, never coach a high-level travel team, and thus never become a college coach.
 

JoeA1010

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So let me see if we have this correct
She should lead with My team (spelled out specifically) is playing at XX Tournament this coming week (With the full schedule typed out not attached) Then brief highlights of last week including stats?

My daughter has been doing this all summer season - Right now she loves the D3 coaches because they will write back personal notes and things like that (she had one give her a nice pitching critique) at this point it gives them an advantage since the only response we can get from D1 and D2 are invites to camps and general mailings about the program. I assume that's how D1 and D2 let you know your still on the list.

Again - Thanks Joe

I would go something like this...

Coach X:

My name is xxx xxxx and I play for the Cincy Doom-Gregory 16-U (make sure what you have here is how your team is listed on the tournament schedule!). I wear #10 and I am a 2018 grad. I play shortstop and outfield. (If there is really a #10 on this team, all references are coincidental!).

I remain very interested in Hillsdale College (insert school) because of its strong academics and nationally-ranked Biology program (have some specific reason regarding interest in the school). This weekend, I am playing at (Stingrays, Recruit Fest, etc.). All of my games are at Beekman Park, xxx Carmack Road., Columbus, OH.

Friday, July 8:
10:00 - vs. OC Batbusters - Haning
2:00 - vs. xxx

Saturday, July 9:
Etc, etc.

My head coach is xxx xxxx and can be reached at xxx or xxx.

I attend whatever high school, carry a x.x GPA and am scheduled to take the ACT/SAT in September, 2016.

I hope you will have a chance to watch me play this weekend.

Stats and other info go here.

Thank you,
Name
Cell number
Address
 

Run26

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I once had the pleasure of watching a Birmingham T-Bolts team play us at Scenic City. The team was clearly loaded with top notch talent and this drew a lot of coaches to our game. The recruiting coordinator for the Bolts handed every single coach at the game a team profile and answered any questions they had. There was clearly relationships built in previous games but he remained professional and on point.
My daughter was playing 3rd base and she dove for a ball and threw the runner out. You could hear the coordinator yell "Nice Play - 23"! The next thing I know he's bringing our coordinator over to meet some of the coaches and go through our roster. Nice guy and he clearly knew what he was doing. He taught our coach a few things and a couple of our girls got tagged (including mine :) ) from this game.
 

coachjwb

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Thanks, I appreciate it, but I've been posting here since the time I started my own single travel team, so I might as well continue. I need to make sure I don't break NCAA rules and that I represent my school properly when I post, but otherwise, why not? I still credit this site and even JJ Huddle (does that still exist?) to playing a big role in my career. Without them, I probably never build a travel organization, and therefore never become a high school coach, never coach a high-level travel team, and thus never become a college coach.

And therefore, would have had more money! :)

In all seriousness though, great thread and posts, Joe, as well as many of the others here who have posted!
 

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