Chapter 2: Recruitment

What recruitment means and what role does the prospective student athlete play in the process?

Recruiting happens when a college employee or representative invites a high school student-athlete to play sports for their college. Recruiting can occur in many ways, such as face-to-face contact, phone calls or text messaging, through mailed or emailed material or through social media.

Recruiting terms

A contact happens any time a college coach says more than hello during a face-to-face meeting with a college-bound student-athlete or his or her parents off the college’s campus.

An evaluation happens when a college coach observes a student-athlete practicing or competing.

A verbal commitment happens when a college-bound student-athlete verbally agrees to play sports for a college before he or she signs or is eligible to sign a National Letter of Intent. The commitment is not binding on the student-athlete or the school and can be made at any time.

When a student-athlete officially commits to attend a Division I or II college, he or she signs a National Letter of Intent, agreeing to attend that school for one academic year.

Division III institutions are permitted to use a standard, NCAA provided, non-binding celebratory signing form. A college-bound student-athlete is permitted to sign the celebratory signing form at any point, including high school signing events, after the student-athlete has been accepted to the institution. Institutions should keep in mind, however, that they are not permitted to publicize a student-athlete’s commitment to the institution until the student-athlete has submitted a financial deposit.

A prospective student athlete can ask for support of several people when looking to be recruited to play sports at the collegiate level (parent; club coach; high school coach; AD). It is important to note that the process itself needs be driven by the athlete. You need to start the process; make a list of college you are interested in; reach out to and follow up with college coaches and of course make sure you keep up your graders. There are people around you that can help/assist you, but you need to take ownership of the experience. College coaches want to hear from you, not from your parents. You must pick a school you want to attend, not your parents.

Chapter 3: D1, D2, D3 + Associations