Parents How involved is your gym/coach in the college process?

[LeoSwaplady]

Newbie here

How involved is your gym/owners/coaches involved in the college process for their gymnasts?

My DD is an 11 year old L 7/8. Finished her L6 season with over 38's in 6 out of her 7 meets and a Regional title on beam

I know it's early to think about college but it is her dream and we want to be prepared when the time comes. We came to our current gym a few years ago because most their L10's get college scholarships or walk-on offers. Right now 5 of our L10's have college commitments to D1 (and 1 D2) schools.

Being here now a few years I have heard rumors that it has been the parents that do ALL the work (well obviously beside our gymnasts hard work, lol) They do the videos, set up You Tube channels, set up Bios on external website, send e-mail and videos to college coaches, etc. Since I have been here a few colleges have come to our gym to watch the L9's and 10's train by invitation from our owners.

If you have a high level gymnast or even a college gymnast what has been your experience?

Thanks!

 

[kitkat]

I can tell you my experience as Alex recently got a full ride scholarship. At the time Alex was a L10 gymnast but had been hurt during the 2015 competition season.

We started her process before Grade 8. We had set up a youtube account as well as a Facebook page which was strictly for her gymnastics. Plus most of our family live so far from us that it was a good way to keep in touch.

Every time she had something new or a meet we would update it on both channels.

Her coach would send me videos and advised which ones I could post publicly.

We started the emailing schools in May 2016 and she landed her scholarship in Oct 2016. She was entering Grade 9.
We started calls in June 2016 and visits in September 2016.

Our coach was involved - somewhat. He gave content, he spoke to the head coaches/assistant coaches of the schools (as they can't speak to you, its complicated) He arranged our visits to the universities and the ones to our gym. We did the personalized emails, Facebook, youtube, business card, etc. I am an extremely organized person so I kept spreadsheets all sorts of information.

I would say though, after my initial email to the schools, Alex really took over. She made the calls to the schools, she would send the emails. She did a really good job.

We also went to a NCAA seminar where they talked about "getting ready" and the spokesperson said her were right on track.

Hope that helps...

 

[wandrewsjr]

If college coaches are coming to your gym to watch your team girls, your club coach is doing a great job. Getting a gymnast on a college coaches radar is one of the hardest parts.

 

[tomtnt]

congratulations to your daughter. when you say she landed her scholarship, you mean a verbal commitment as it would be too early to sign an NLI. Did the verbal commit come with stipulations regarding skill development and maintainence or provisions regarding potential injuries or academic performances?

Once she made her verbal commit, did she inform the other colleges that she had made a decision and did those other colleges continue to pursue her or leave the door open?

Do you think she/your family would have been able to make this decision if you were not allowed to do an "unofficial" campus visit arranged by the school during her freshman year? (Trying to figure out if the new NCAA rule would make a difference in this process.)

Thanks for the insights

I can tell you my experience as Alex recently got a full ride scholarship. At the time Alex was a L10 gymnast but had been hurt during the 2015 competition season.

We started her process before Grade 8. We had set up a youtube account as well as a Facebook page which was strictly for her gymnastics. Plus most of our family live so far from us that it was a good way to keep in touch.

Every time she had something new or a meet we would update it on both channels.

Her coach would send me videos and advised which ones I could post publicly.

We started the emailing schools in May 2016 and she landed her scholarship in Oct 2016. She was entering Grade 9.
We started calls in June 2016 and visits in September 2016.

Our coach was involved - somewhat. He gave content, he spoke to the head coaches/assistant coaches of the schools (as they can't speak to you, its complicated) He arranged our visits to the universities and the ones to our gym. We did the personalized emails, Facebook, youtube, business card, etc. I am an extremely organized person so I kept spreadsheets all sorts of information.

I would say though, after my initial email to the schools, Alex really took over. She made the calls to the schools, she would send the emails. She did a really good job.

We also went to a NCAA seminar where they talked about "getting ready" and the spokesperson said her were right on track.

Hope that helps...

 

[MeetDirector]

I believe the club coach is essential to the recruiting process (regardless of specific sport). Just like a high school coach would be in a high school sport, the club coaches are critical to conveying to a college coach those things about an athlete that only a coach can relate. I think the first step is making sure the club coach is aware of the athlete's desire/intent and can best position themselves to assist the athlete. There are times in the process where the college is prohibited from contacting the athlete; the club coach can fill the communication void.

Another person that the athlete needs on their side is a high school college guidance counselor knowledgeable of the NCAA process. You have to have someone that can assist on the academic side as well as the athletic side.

 

[LeoSwaplady]

Thanks for all the responses so far

My concern us we have a big club. This coming season we will probably have over 20 9/10 athletes (or more). I just don't want her to get overlooked so I want to make sure we do everything on out end when the time comes.

 

[kitkat]

Your question - "Did the verbal commit come with stipulations regarding skill development and maintainence or provisions regarding potential injuries or academic performances?"
YES - More skills development, grades had to hit NCAA requirements

Your question - "did she inform the other colleges that she had made a decision and did those other colleges continue to pursue her or leave the door open?"
We agreed with the HC that she would no longer pursue other universities - so that if they came to us we would advise that she has already commitment. Complete trust factor on their part as well as ours. Its also on her youtube, Facebook, etc. She was so excited to tell her friends and family.
She is still getting emails from universities we picked to come to their summer camps.

Your question - "Do you think she/your family would have been able to make this decision if you were not allowed to do an "unofficial" campus visit arranged by the school during her freshman year? "
No I don't think we could have. While gymnast is how she received her scholarship. The HC and I both agreed that they has to love the school and what it has to offer to be there. Before we started selecting schools we had already ruled out universities that did not have a vast selection of courses and majors. She does not know what she wants to take yet so we wanted to make sure she had lots of choice.
All the schools that were pursuing her wanted you to come down for a visit. And I think its a must. One of the schools that she liked on the internet, etc - once we went there we decided that it was just too big and now something that would fit within her personality.

congratulations to your daughter. when you say she landed her scholarship, you mean a verbal commitment as it would be too early to sign an NLI. Did the verbal commit come with stipulations regarding skill development and maintainence or provisions regarding potential injuries or academic performances?

Once she made her verbal commit, did she inform the other colleges that she had made a decision and did those other colleges continue to pursue her or leave the door open?

Do you think she/your family would have been able to make this decision if you were not allowed to do an "unofficial" campus visit arranged by the school during her freshman year? (Trying to figure out if the new NCAA rule would make a difference in this process.)

Thanks for the insights

 

[kitkat]

Her HC was completely supportive and on board with helping her in this process. I agree he did a great job.
I have heard its a nightmare if you don't have a supportive coach.
We are lucky - she has a fantastic one.

If college coaches are coming to your gym to watch your team girls, your club coach is doing a great job. Getting a gymnast on a college coaches radar is one of the hardest parts.

 

[Gigi]

I can tell you my experience as Alex recently got a full ride scholarship. At the time Alex was a L10 gymnast but had been hurt during the 2015 competition season.

We started her process before Grade 8. We had set up a youtube account as well as a Facebook page which was strictly for her gymnastics. Plus most of our family live so far from us that it was a good way to keep in touch.

Every time she had something new or a meet we would update it on both channels.

Her coach would send me videos and advised which ones I could post publicly.

We started the emailing schools in May 2016 and she landed her scholarship in Oct 2016. She was entering Grade 9.
We started calls in June 2016 and visits in September 2016.

Our coach was involved - somewhat. He gave content, he spoke to the head coaches/assistant coaches of the schools (as they can't speak to you, its complicated) He arranged our visits to the universities and the ones to our gym. We did the personalized emails, Facebook, youtube, business card, etc. I am an extremely organized person so I kept spreadsheets all sorts of information.

I would say though, after my initial email to the schools, Alex really took over. She made the calls to the schools, she would send the emails. She did a really good job.

We also went to a NCAA seminar where they talked about "getting ready" and the spokesperson said her were right on track.

Hope that helps...

This is the most informative post on college recruiting! Thank you!
Just wondering how many years of L10 had your daughter already competed by that time (when she received the offer)?
Did the college coach specify which skills to develop and required timing (by the time she enters college)?
Big congratulations to you and your daughter!

 

[GymDad9.9]

I can tell you my experience as Alex recently got a full ride scholarship. At the time Alex was a L10 gymnast but had been hurt during the 2015 competition season.

We started her process before Grade 8. We had set up a youtube account as well as a Facebook page which was strictly for her gymnastics. Plus most of our family live so far from us that it was a good way to keep in touch.

Every time she had something new or a meet we would update it on both channels.

Her coach would send me videos and advised which ones I could post publicly.

We started the emailing schools in May 2016 and she landed her scholarship in Oct 2016. She was entering Grade 9.
We started calls in June 2016 and visits in September 2016.

Our coach was involved - somewhat. He gave content, he spoke to the head coaches/assistant coaches of the schools (as they can't speak to you, its complicated) He arranged our visits to the universities and the ones to our gym. We did the personalized emails, Facebook, youtube, business card, etc. I am an extremely organized person so I kept spreadsheets all sorts of information.

I would say though, after my initial email to the schools, Alex really took over. She made the calls to the schools, she would send the emails. She did a really good job.

We also went to a NCAA seminar where they talked about "getting ready" and the spokesperson said her were right on track.

Hope that helps...

I saw your Towson Tiger tag. My niece currently attends Towson. She'll graduate before your daughter enrolls. Congrats.

 

[bookworm]

With my oldest, zero help from club coach...his philosophy was " they know my gymnasts, it'll happen"...well it happened, but we ( my daughter and family) worked our butts off to make it so...

Youngest daughter...club coaches VERY involved (we had moved gyms) and it was a much less stressful process and she was committed a year before her sister was , and although she was a very good gymnast, she didn't have the results her sister did by then so I think the coach involvement was key here...and the fact that the recruiting timeline has moved down to middle schoolers so there's that...

 

[kitkat]

Glad I could help.

Alex at the time was training National Novice in CAD. Which is kind of like L9/L10. She had an extremely successful year for those two years in that level. Then she was injured for a year.
When she came back she tried for Junior in CAD. Which is kind of like L10+. She did not make the score. She was short by 0.2
So she competed L10 this year. So technically she has completed L10 - one year. So at the time of the offer she had only competed Bars once at L10.
But keeping in mind she was hurt and she has a ton of videos on her youtube with all the new skills she got while hurt. Mostly on bars due to knee injury.

I have a pretty good idea what skills are required for L10 and I think she currently has more on beam and bars then needed already. I think her floor hits L10 now and she just got her full on vault which I don't think is full SV for L10.
Although she didn't say specifically you need this skill and that skill... she wants her to continue with her already large variety of L10 skills and then some. We know she needs more on floor. Her weakest event.

Her current HC is training her to try for senior next year so she is continuing to learn a ton more skills. I am pretty sure that her university HC views her youtube. Plus Alex emails her with updates from time to time.

This is the most informative post on college recruiting! Thank you!
Just wondering how many years of L10 had your daughter already competed by that time (when she received the offer)?
Did the college coach specify which skills to develop and required timing (by the time she enters college)?
Big congratulations to you and your daughter!

 

[CrazyCatLady]

I can tell you my experience as Alex recently got a full ride scholarship. At the time Alex was a L10 gymnast but had been hurt during the 2015 competition season.

We started her process before Grade 8. We had set up a youtube account as well as a Facebook page which was strictly for her gymnastics. Plus most of our family live so far from us that it was a good way to keep in touch.

Every time she had something new or a meet we would update it on both channels.

Her coach would send me videos and advised which ones I could post publicly.

We started the emailing schools in May 2016 and she landed her scholarship in Oct 2016. She was entering Grade 9.
We started calls in June 2016 and visits in September 2016.

Our coach was involved - somewhat. He gave content, he spoke to the head coaches/assistant coaches of the schools (as they can't speak to you, its complicated) He arranged our visits to the universities and the ones to our gym. We did the personalized emails, Facebook, youtube, business card, etc. I am an extremely organized person so I kept spreadsheets all sorts of information.

I would say though, after my initial email to the schools, Alex really took over. She made the calls to the schools, she would send the emails. She did a really good job.

We also went to a NCAA seminar where they talked about "getting ready" and the spokesperson said her were right on track.

Hope that helps...

KitKat, this is very helpful. I am curious...what exactly did you say when you emailed schools and to whom did you send the emails? Did you set up meetings with anyone at the schools you visited (is that even allowed now) or did you just tour on your own to get a feel for the school in general?

 

[kitkat]

I attached a letter to each email. The email was personalized to the school. School accomplishments, HC highlights, years of service, whatever I could find. Lots of research - but personalized to the school and coach.
The letter had who she was, when she was graduating, highlights from the year she competed. Who her coaches are. Skills she competed and is working on. Her youtube and Facebook pages. And her current HC information.

I also made a business card (size of a post card) with pics of Alex and her year of graduating on the front. And her accomplishments, HC, our names, etc. on the back. I actually mailed those as a followup to our first email. I thought maybe cause they looked nice they wouldn't throw them out. Not sure if that worked or not.

I kept a spreadsheet which included - the school ranking, website of the school, HC email, Asst HC email, length of distance from our home, if they had a football team and how many freshman were graduating in Alex's year. I kept track of every time I contacted the school and what it was we were emailing.
We had a travel limit acceptable to us. We wanted to make sure there was a football team. I was told that football brings in all the money but the funds have to be shared amongst the other sports (no idea if that is true).

Once we narrowed down the schools - I emailed a friend (on this board) and she made recommendations and deletions to some of our choices.

Once the school showed interest in her, we then requested an unofficial visit. We managed to schedule two in the same city without actually speaking to the HC. Remember they can't talk to you. That was difficult. Both schools knew that we were visiting each others school.

The schools we went to were school guided tours run by the university. My understanding is they all do them. The athletics part was done by the HC and they were all amazing.

You have to be prepared to do a lot of research, be organized, keep current, role playing with your gymnast as the schools want to talk to them not you...and patience.

**when I say "I" - it was Alex other then the first email. I did all the paperwork. She did all the research, emailing, calling. Very proud of her considering she is pretty shy and was only going into G9.

Hope this helps.... I'm sure there are many different ways of doing this... this worked for us, it may or may not work for you....

KitKat, this is very helpful. I am curious...what exactly did you say when you emailed schools and to whom did you send the emails? Did you set up meetings with anyone at the schools you visited (is that even allowed now) or did you just tour on your own to get a feel for the school in general?

 

[Mish]

@kitkat , I saw your daughter's FB site address in your info and had to check it out based on all of the info in this thread. Sorry for stalking but she is an amazing gymnast! Good luck to her!!

 

[txgymfan]

Thanks KitKat for sharing your recruiting story.

 

[LeoSwaplady]

Such great info KitKat, thank you!

 

[Gigi]

I attached a letter to each email. The email was personalized to the school. School accomplishments, HC highlights, years of service, whatever I could find. Lots of research - but personalized to the school and coach.
The letter had who she was, when she was graduating, highlights from the year she competed. Who her coaches are. Skills she competed and is working on. Her youtube and Facebook pages. And her current HC information.

I also made a business card (size of a post card) with pics of Alex and her year of graduating on the front. And her accomplishments, HC, our names, etc. on the back. I actually mailed those as a followup to our first email. I thought maybe cause they looked nice they wouldn't throw them out. Not sure if that worked or not.

I kept a spreadsheet which included - the school ranking, website of the school, HC email, Asst HC email, length of distance from our home, if they had a football team and how many freshman were graduating in Alex's year. I kept track of every time I contacted the school and what it was we were emailing.
We had a travel limit acceptable to us. We wanted to make sure there was a football team. I was told that football brings in all the money but the funds have to be shared amongst the other sports (no idea if that is true).

Once we narrowed down the schools - I emailed a friend (on this board) and she made recommendations and deletions to some of our choices.

Once the school showed interest in her, we then requested an unofficial visit. We managed to schedule two in the same city without actually speaking to the HC. Remember they can't talk to you. That was difficult. Both schools knew that we were visiting each others school.

The schools we went to were school guided tours run by the university. My understanding is they all do them. The athletics part was done by the HC and they were all amazing.

You have to be prepared to do a lot of research, be organized, keep current, role playing with your gymnast as the schools want to talk to them not you...and patience.

**when I say "I" - it was Alex other then the first email. I did all the paperwork. She did all the research, emailing, calling. Very proud of her considering she is pretty shy and was only going into G9.

Hope this helps.... I'm sure there are many different ways of doing this... this worked for us, it may or may not work for you....

Hi KitKat, I want to clarify when "you" sent the first email, were you sending it as your daughter, Alex, or as a parent (....my daughter is interested your school....)? I think it is still sent as your daughter, but want to clarify. Also, when you send these emails, how do you "close", i.e. do you say I hope to arrange an appointment, or please contact me, or I am attending camp and hope to have an appointment, I will be in touch (and then keep sending emails?), etc. or you leave it open without any "close"?
I really appreciate the great tips from you. Thanks so much! Have a great day.

 

[3rd_time_around]

The coach involvement really helps, but your gymnast is the key factor. She should be the one making calls, sending emails, etc. The college coaches cannot contact her, but she can contact them. She needs a YouTube channel dedicated just to her gymnastics videos,, and every time you or she updates the channel with a new video, she should email the link to the college coaches. A gymnast in our gym a few years ago picked up the phone and just started calling, and she had about 4 offers within the month. Once the first D1 offer came in, she got the attention of all the other D1 schools and got even more offers and basically had her pick of schools.

Its a long, tedious road to get noticed and get recruited, and there can be a lot of heartbreak on that road as well. As for having a bigger gym or bigger team, that is actually a plus if the team is successful and others are getting scholarships. As the others get offers, the gym name gets out there and becomes well-known among the college recruiters.

 

[kitkat]

Alex worked on the letter and email with me. She wrote the letter, she had another friend who went through the process. So she had some ideas of what she wanted to say. And it has to come from the athlete. There were just so many emails to send - I did the first batch of email - but they were all her words and it was from her. Again I was so impressed how involved she got.
We never got to the arranging appointment stage until several months after the process started. A couple of the Universities started following her on Instagram (which have since deleted her now that she didn't chose them). Some sent back strongly encouraging emails inviting her to camps. She also got a call from one University to come down to the camp. They can call you about camps but not about university. So we knew there was interest. So it was just the feel we got from the universities.
Again, she had narrowed down her list to a few that she really wanted to go to and we really ramped up the communication. One way of course as they can't come back to us. Alex would send new videos of skills every time she upgraded one.

Now she was really interested in 3 - we told 2 of them as they were fairly close together - that we would arrange a trip to come down to both and could they accommodate. They both said yes. All this reply communication was back to our coach. Again they can't talk to you. If they had said no we can't accommodate that sends a pretty strong message they are really not interested. And then we made it happen.

The universities we have dealt with have followed the rules about no communication or anything. We even had one come watch her train. She watched her but never spoke to her. Only the head coach. It was kind of strange. But those are the rules.

Hi KitKat, I want to clarify when "you" sent the first email, were you sending it as your daughter, Alex, or as a parent (....my daughter is interested your school....)? I think it is still sent as your daughter, but want to clarify. Also, when you send these emails, how do you "close", i.e. do you say I hope to arrange an appointment, or please contact me, or I am attending camp and hope to have an appointment, I will be in touch (and then keep sending emails?), etc. or you leave it open without any "close"?
I really appreciate the great tips from you. Thanks so much! Have a great day.