E-mailing college coaches

JoeA1010

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A frequent poster here asked if I would post again with some advice on e-mailing college coaches about girls' upcoming tournaments

First, if a girl is interested in a school, she needs to e-mail that school every time she is playing in a tournament. Most girls are hit and miss, which is a big mistake. Include all of the following in every single e-mail (whether for a tournament schedule or not)... Name, grad year, position(s), travel team, high school and contact information.

As far as a pool play schedule, this is about what it should look like:

"My name is ____ and I play for the (16-U or 18-U or even 14-U) (EXACT team name as it is listed on the tournament schedule). I am a (grad year) grad from (town and state). I play (positions). My jersey number is (number). My head coach's name is (name).

Our schedule for this weekend is...

(Date)
9:00 a.m. - vs. (opponent), (field number), at (name of park or school or whatever).
1:00 p.m. - vs. etc, etc
5:00 p.m. - vs. same as above
(Date)
11:00 a.m. - vs. same as above
1:00 p.m. - vs. ....

Beekman (or Berliner or whatever) Park is located at (address).

Bracket play begins Saturday afternoon."

Many girls fail to include their jersey number, field number (this is usually left out, making it extremely difficult on college coaches, as we do not want to sort through the official schedule 50 different times to try to find every girl who writes to us), exact team name, grad year, and even what tournament they are playing in.

When girls fail to include any of this information, they risk college coaches not bothering to put them on their list to watch. Picture a college coach on Wednesday or Thursday putting together their list of girls to watch for the weekend. When any items are missing from the girls' e-mails, the coach has to decide whether to start clicking around online to find that information or to just skip the girl. Every time a girl fails to include field numbers, we can skip her or we can start trying to figure it out. If a girl fails to include her jersey number and her team does not have profiles on the fence at the field, I have no idea who I'm watching and I'm highly likely to move on. I could go on and on, but the point is to include all information and make it easy for college coaches to get you on their schedule and to find you.
 

lewam3

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Joe,
When a prospect addresses a coach in her email with " Dear Coach " as opposed to "Dear Coach Abraham" does that have a negative effect? When DD was in this process last year she spent a lot of time copying, pasting new emails so she could change the heading to personalize the salutation. If she had one email with the heading "Dear Coach"
it could have been done much faster and probably sent to a lot more coaches. She never took a chance on that and always sent out a personalized email heading. It may sound petty, but just like players who can tell the difference between an email that is personalized v. a blast generic email, do coaches ever feel the same way?
 
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Great information; and agree with personalizing the email to the Coach. Make sure to include your position and graduation year along with your name in the subject line on your emails.
 

JoeA1010

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lewam, Yes, a girl definitely wants to personalize the e-mail to that coach. If I get an e-mail that says Dear Coach and doesn't say a word about why she is interested in my school, that e-mail likely gets ignored. A big thing in the last year is this line... "I am very interested in your school..." Some recruiting company must be giving that advice. What horrible advice. The girl might actually fill in the school name (often in a different font). And then there is no explanation as to why the girl is interested in the school. Or a girl might say "I have spent a lot of time researching your school's website." So many girls use this line that we know it's based on some bad advice from some company.

Write only to schools in which you have at least a little bit of interest. Take the time to figure out why you are interested in that school. And then specify that interest with a personal e-mail to the coach.
 

SoCal_Dad

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Great info Joe.

How about including the HC's phone# with their name? At least for pitchers, since I know some colleges like to check on and/or coordinate pitching rotations.

What are your thoughts on sending out the list of events early in the season? Does it affect which events you choose to attend? Does a list provide some insight about the calibre of ball they're playing?
 

Maxx

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Include link to your video in every single email. If a coach has never seen you play before, why would they go to watch you without at least a video?
 

wannaplaysb

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So... if a coach asks for next summer's schedule cuz she is only a 2019 grad pitcher, should she send her fall schedule when she is playing in showcases up? She has a couple schools that watched her at nationals? We have good stats from last year and that include batters faced and era against top 10 14u teams in the state. is it too early for us to share?
 
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So... if a coach asks for next summer's schedule cuz she is only a 2019 grad pitcher, should she send her fall schedule when she is playing in showcases up? She has a couple schools that watched her at nationals? We have good stats from last year and that include batters faced and era against top 10 14u teams in the state. is it too early for us to share?

I have had Coaches tell me they don't want stats; they prefer videos. As harsh as it may sound, stats are not always accurate.
 

WWolff

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So... if a coach asks for next summer's schedule cuz she is only a 2019 grad pitcher, should she send her fall schedule when she is playing in showcases up? She has a couple schools that watched her at nationals? We have good stats from last year and that include batters faced and era against top 10 14u teams in the state. is it too early for us to share?

If she is a D1 type pitcher you will defiantly want to. If they are a D1 school and not already actively recruiting 2019 players they will be looking at them this fall. We actually already have them identifying 2020 players.

If you are 14U and playing in the right organization, in the right tournaments there is no need to play up.

As far as stats? I tell are players not to include them especially high school because of the roller coaster of talent on teams. That being said we do not include travel ball either, because you can make up anything you want and there is really no way to prove it whether it is Travel ball or H.S.
 
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JoeA1010

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I would include everything that everyone above talks about. I like to see stats as well, even though I know they are unreliable. They aren't always unreliable, though, and if it's travel ball I have a pretty good idea of the competition. If it's high school and in Michigan or Ohio, I also know the general level of competition a girl has faced.

If a girl is putting a lot of information in the e-mail, put the less pertinent stuff like stats toward the bottom and be sure to break things up so it is readable. One huge paragraph is an immediate turn off for a reader.
 

Stretch

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Here's an example of what NOT to put in an email.......
I aspire to go to a college that provides me many educational opportunities and a strong softball program. After researching several schools, I believe INSERT SCHOOL HERE IS a perfect fit for me because of the academic opportunities it offers and its competitive softball program.

Sounds like something from QDS
 

manitoudan

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One thing I've found irritating is when texting a couple simple yes or no type Q and A's to a recruit they take 24-48 hours to respond . Are you uncommitted .. 2 days later .... YES ..... Are you playing anywhere this fall ... 2 days later YES ...... Whats your schedule ? 3 days later .... I'm not happy with that .
 

Stretch

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One thing I've found irritating is when texting a couple simple yes or no type Q and A's to a recruit they take 24-48 hours to respond . Are you uncommitted .. 2 days later .... YES ..... Are you playing anywhere this fall ... 2 days later YES ...... Whats your schedule ? 3 days later .... I'm not happy with that .

2-3 days is the average time to get a background check returned. ;)
 

Coach Doug

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The coaches I scout for all D1 teams. Like to see a personal touch short intro email. don't CC 50 coaches on same email it will not get opened. I tell kids to add a family photo.
You are going to be spending 4 years with this team they will become your family for life . Parents need to trust the coach you are sending you DD to. Do some research on which schools fit your needs academically. Your a STUDENT Athlete. Ask yourself if your are prepared. Much much more than just playing softball.
Send first email with a family photo just a short. name school team ect. the photo will grab there attention adds something other don't have and shows you have a real interest. the second email about 3-4 weeks later should include schedule and more about your self and you goals.

If you have any more questions or if I can help in anyway inbox me or email me
Good Luck
Doug

doug@643academy.com
 

mike_dyer

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Understand that the coach and the ORG that your kid plays for is only interested in her committing when it's convenient for them. IOW, sure it looks good when they can say your kid is committed. But, when KSU, tOSU, Miami, BGSU, etc are there watching your kid that's good for business.

They are not going to be in any hurry for those coaches to not show up on Saturday, and if it hurts your kid but puts money in their pocket that's ok by them.

If they can't offer up a nice glass of kool aid, point to the backstop and say "look who is over there" how else are they going to keep their meal tickets,,, errr, the parents of their other players happy????
 
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heater

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This is a great thread thanks for all of the information!
 

Coach Rick Smith

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I have instructed our players to do a lot of research on the school before emailing the coach. If you include specifics about the school and why you are interested the coach will see that you are not just mass emailing coaches; never CC other coaches from other schools; include your summer schedule in every email.
 

BigZ

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Great info and accurate. The only thing I would add is a lot of these coaches get emails from parents/kids that are not being realistic about their level of talent. Sending an email to Oklahoma just because you are hitting 700 isn't necessarily the right move and it is a potential huge waste of time for both parties. Talk to your coaches and figure out where the players talents are aligned (D1, D2, Juco etc.) before embarking on a lot of work. I would also include the players GPA every time. Two good players, but only 1 with good grades. Guess which one they want?
 

First2Third

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Which makes me wonder, would a coach ever say to a kid, "I appreciate your interest in our program and the fact that you send me your schedule every week, but my recommendation to you is that you focus your efforts elsewhere." Or anything like that. Will a school ever come out and say to a kid - "You are barking up the wrong tree."?
 

BigZ

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Which makes me wonder, would a coach ever say to a kid, "I appreciate your interest in our program and the fact that you send me your schedule every week, but my recommendation to you is that you focus your efforts elsewhere." Or anything like that. Will a school ever come out and say to a kid - "You are barking up the wrong tree."?

In a word No. They don't have the time. Way too many girls/parents sending them information, hence the importance for the player/coaches/parents to understand where the true opportunities lie and avoid chasing pipe dreams. When players are ignored it wears on them if it's consistent and in large doses. Pinpointing the right schools makes it fun for all concerned.
 

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