One of FieldLevel’s core values is that success in recruiting means a great college experience. There are a lot of factors to consider when thinking about colleges, but ultimately, you want your athletes to find the right mutual fit in whatever program they choose.

This article will help you work with your athletes and their families to get on the same page about recruiting and maximize the effectiveness of your recruiting strategy. 

Recruiting is a team sport — it requires inputs and decisions from athletes, coaches, and families. As a coach, you play a critical role in the recruiting process for your athletes. Part of the process requires you to understand the needs and desires of your athlete, as well as the realities of their family situation. The first step on this journey is to have a recruiting alignment meeting.

Introduction to Recruiting Alignment Meetings 

What? 

A recruiting process checkpoint designed to get you, your athlete, and their family on the same page about the approach to the recruiting process. 

Why? 

Arms you with the information needed to promote your athlete to the right places.  

Ensures: 

1. Coaches, athletes, and families align on needs, desires, and goals for the recruiting process
2. Everyone knows their role in the process
3. Promotions are targeted to the right college coaches to save time for everyone involved

Who?

1. Ask all of your athletes if they want to play at the next level –Give everyone the chance to consider if this is their goal.
2. Follow up individually – you may also want to follow up with athletes who you believe can play at the next level but might not believe in themselves.
3. Encourage athletes to speak with their family about their goals using the Recruitment Alignment Meeting (Athlete and Families Worksheet).

Recruiting Alignment Meeting Agenda 

During the recruiting alignment meeting with your athlete and their family, there are nine items that we feel are important to discuss. You can find high level questions about each item below and you can download our Recruiting Alignment Meeting (Coaches Worksheet) to guide you through the meeting. 

• Competition Level – more about the levels
• What level do you want to play in college?
• Do you think this level is the best fit for you?
• Position
• What is the best positional fit for you in college?
• Is this different from what you play now?
• Scheme
• How do you play your position?
• How do you see this method of play fitting into a college team?
• Academic Standing
• What is your GPA?
• What are your standardized test scores?
• Geography
• Where do you want to go to college, geographically?
• Do you, as a parent, feel comfortable sending your child there?
• Potential Majors
• What do you want to major in?
• Do you have a general field of study you might want to pursue?
• Other Interests
• Are there any extracurricular interests that you have or might want to pursue in college?
• Will any of these take away time from playing your sport?
• Finances
• About how much are you willing to spend on the expenses associated with playing in college?
• Do you expect to receive scholarships or financial aid?
• Current Recruiting Efforts
• Do you have a recruiting plan?
• Are you using any resources to help guide you through the recruiting process?
• Have you been in contact with any college coaches?

Next Steps

Once your recruiting alignment meetings have taken place, there are a few things you should do. First, have your athletes explore different schools with consideration for their needs and desires. By the end of this process, they should have a list of 10-25 target schools that interest them. Once you have their target schools, you can take your next steps. 

Connect 

Now that you have the list of 10-25 target schools, see what connections you have and what connections you can make on their behalf. This should be considerably easier for you to do now that you and your athletes are on the same page. 

Promote

Once you have those connections, promote your athletes to places that match up with what they want at the next level. Make sure that you have written recent evaluations for your athletes and discuss your athletes’ goals with college coaches. Try to find a few programs that would be a good mutual fit between your athletes and college coaches. 

Communicate  

Most importantly, keep having discussions with your athletes about their goals and what might be realistic for their futures. Circumstances change and it is important that you continue to communicate about what they want and where they might best fit in at the next level. 

FieldLevel Meeting Worksheets: 

Recruiting Alignment Meeting Worksheet- Coaches

Recruiting Alignment Meeting Worksheet- Athletes & Parents

HAVE QUESTIONS? 

The FieldLevel team is here to help and support you. If there’s anything we can do, please contact us in one of the following ways: 

     Website: www.fieldlevel.com     

     Phone: 888-908-7124 

     Email: support@fieldlevel.com 

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