Contacting College Coaches can be scary for a 16 year-old athlete. Often times, parents and athletes don’t know how to start the communication.

The NCAA has very detailed, specific rules for communication between the College Coaches and prospective Student-Athletes to protect both the lives of the athletes and coaches. Different sports have different recruiting calendars that include:

• Contact Period: College coaches may have face-to-face contact with athletes and parents, actively recruit the athlete, and write/call athletes or their parents.
• Evaluation Period: Has the same rules as the Contact period; however, a college coach may not have face-to-face contact with the athlete/parent off a college campus.
• Quiet Period: College coaches may contact athlete/parents in-person, email, or phone; however, may not watch the athlete compete unless the competition is on their college campus.
• Dead Period: College coaches may not contact in-person, email, or phone with the athlete/parent. They also cannot watch the athlete compete or visit their high school.

Check out Your Sport’s NCAA Div I and Div II Recruiting Calendar

There are loopholes around some of these rules and that is how you see Freshman and Sophomore athletes verbally commit to compete at a college. None-the-less, all Freshman to Senior athletes should follow these 3 “must-do” methods of contact with college coaches.

1.Communication should start with an email introducing yourself, identifying the reason you are emailing them, your upcoming schedule, and the reason you should be recruited.
“How do I write an email to college coaches?”

2. Email communication should lead to a Phone Conversation with the coach to discuss the Athletics Program at the college, the lifestyle of a student-athlete, and their recruiting process. Athletes should have a list of questions to ask the coach and a notebook to jot down the answers.

“What do I say on the phone to college coaches?”(Coming Soon)

3. After email and phone conversations, athletes should plan on meeting the coach in person. How does this happen? Athletes can meet and speak with college coaches on college campuses and at camps.

“What should I expect in an in-person conversation with a College Coach?” (Coming Soon)

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