WAG Best recruiting advice

[Flicfliclay]

For those of you that have been through the recruiting process, what is your best recruiting advice? My daughter will be of recruiting age next year. She has already been emailing/ sending video's as well as posting to her Instagram account. We follow Jill Hicks as well. We are thinking* of hiring their service for further help closer to time. She has had a few colleges that consistently send mail both to our home and gym, as well as DM her info about the school. ( Would you assume they have a high interest in her?) Thanks so much for your time and info!

 

[gym_dad32608]

Honestly, at this stage you are doing the major things that you should be doing. Perhaps the most important thing (dont tell your daughter, she's probably stressed already) is to have a healthy and productive season. Sending the programs you are interested in emails and indirectly interacting with interested coaches/programs on social media. I think the services like JH help in getting you (your daughter) organized. Meaning, thinking about what you are looking for in a college, what type of questions you want to ask colleges, what you value in a team and school, etc. These types of exercises can be invaluable in helping you focus your efforts. Depending upon how much of a realist you are, they can also help in setting realistic target schools that align with the gymnastic skills of your daughter (again, nothing that you can't do on your own depending upon other life demands). Yes, DMs and mail are one level of interest beyond casual. The next level up would be if they are coming to her gym to specifically watch her practice.

She should also try and have a conversation with her coach about programs she is interested in or the ones that have been mailing her. Many of these club coaches text with these college coaches almost daily and frequently send training videos to the college coaches in real time. This way her coach can start the 3rd party conversation between your daughter and the college without violating any rules. The college coaches can also give her coach a better sense of where she might stand on their recruiting list.

I would be interested if others have additional suggestions, exciting time! Oh and review that recruiting thread!

 

[Flicfliclay]

Honestly, at this stage you are doing the major things that you should be doing. Perhaps the most important thing (dont tell your daughter, she's probably stressed already) is to have a healthy and productive season. Sending the programs you are interested in emails and indirectly interacting with interested coaches/programs on social media. I think the services like JH help in getting you (your daughter) organized. Meaning, thinking about what you are looking for in a college, what type of questions you want to ask colleges, what you value in a team and school, etc. These types of exercises can be invaluable in helping you focus your efforts. Depending upon how much of a realist you are, they can also help in setting realistic target schools that align with the gymnastic skills of your daughter (again, nothing that you can't do on your own depending upon other life demands). Yes, DMs and mail are one level of interest beyond casual. The next level up would be if they are coming to her gym to specifically watch her practice.

She should also try and have a conversation with her coach about programs she is interested in or the ones that have been mailing her. Many of these club coaches text with these college coaches almost daily and frequently send training videos to the college coaches in real time. This way her coach can start the 3rd party conversation between your daughter and the college without violating any rules. The college coaches can also give her coach a better sense of where she might stand on their recruiting list.

I would be interested if others have additional suggestions, exciting time! Oh and review that recruiting thread!

This is great advice! I really appreciate the time you took to reply. I definitely read the college recruiting thread, and yes it has been helpful. You are right about the stress, I knew it was coming, but I always felt like she had so much more time... yet here we are! Thanks again!

 

[bookworm]

My biggest caveat in recruiting is to take whatever a college coach says with a hefty grain of salt ...trust your gut and make NO apologies for protecting your kid. And be thankful for the transfer portal that's more accessible than before so if you do walk into an unbeknownst to you and her nightmare, there is an out.

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but the NCAA is a very cruel world...

 

[MaineDad]

I would highly recommend focusing on social media and keeping the video updates coming over the next year. For us we found that the coaches that were consistently liking my daughter’s posts as the season went on were the ones that ended up reaching out on June 15. Also we made a point of including posts about her life outside of the gym as well. A lot of girls seem to make separate accounts for recruiting and only post gym stuff. We took a different approach. We mixed in posts that showed the type of person she is and family/personal life stuff. She has one account that shows the whole picture of who she is. We heard more than a few comments from coaches about how the interest wasn’t just about her gymnastics but they had a good feeling for the type of person she was and how she might fit in with the team. I like to think they were learning some of this from showing her personality on IG and not just the gymnastics side.

Our gym has coaches visiting regularly for recruiting and watching the girls practice. We heard from just about all the coaches that we spoke with that they are watching how the girls interact with each other in the gym and how they are handling falls and a bad practice day etc. Being a great teammate is critical since college gymnastics is all about team as we know. That’s what makes it so special. They are watching everything between rotations and assignments so make sure they have good attitudes even if they are having a tough practice or a bad day. And if the coaches aren’t coming to your gym all of this still applies to meet day and camps etc. They are watching!

It was a wild and crazy stressful year but so worth it in the end. We found the perfect fit for both sides.

 

[bookworm]

And I would highly recommend avoiding any team/school/program that Tom Farden is even remotely associated with...his abusive behavior is nothing new and been mumbled about for years ..as far back as 2010 when he was an assistant at Arkansas , part of his recruiting shtick was to "track your healthy diet and make sure you're in competitive shape".... to athletes who he was recruiting that had just won at JOs...

And add that to his yelling/screaming/belittling , what a lovely 4 years ! There are some of his athletes that "like" this but seriously, with what came out in the Washington Post article today that according to his lawyer, he "is not changing his highly successful coaching techniques" and he will "be suing Kara Eaker and Kim Tessen for their statements about him" so the take home here is : he's abusive , isn't going to change and if you dare to speak up about it , you (not your University) will be sued by the coach. This guy should be radioactive to ANY (college/club/informal gathering) gymnastics team.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

Isn't going to change and if you dare to speak up about it , you (not your University) will be sued by the coach. This guy should be radioactive to ANY (college/club/informal gathering) gymnastics team.

Yes and the review that could/would only confirm two of the multiple 'isolated' incidents happening. The throwing of stuff across the gym (and at athletes) certainly would be grounds for serious HR action in most work places.

 

[cmg]

Just read the Washington Post article. It is so very sad that so many female gymnasts have to go through the emotional wreckage to be a scholarship athlete. I think the issues are still rampant in club gymnastics which then sets the stage for gymnasts to accept bad behavior at the college level. Club coaches need to do better, but colleges should be completely responsible for their coaches' behavior. The fact that the Univ. of U dismissed two gymnasts' allegations for abuse is pathetic. Is the only way for an investigation to hold water is that every gymnast has to confirm the allegations? That is just ridiculous. It is stories like these that make me wish that maybe if I had put my daughter in another sport so very long ago, she would not have had some of the difficult experiences that she had to go through to reach her dream.

 

[twinmomma]

Find a school that your child likes INDPENDENT of gymnastics. "broken leg test" as in if they break their leg at practice and aren't competing - are they still somewhere they want to be? If not, no amount of money is worth it.

 

[Flicfliclay]

My biggest caveat in recruiting is to take whatever a college coach says with a hefty grain of salt ...trust your gut and make NO apologies for protecting your kid. And be thankful for the transfer portal that's more accessible than before so if you do walk into an unbeknownst to you and her nightmare, there is an out.

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but the NCAA is a very cruel world...

You are so right! We know if a few gymnasts that transferred out of schools that they absolutely thought were right and boy were they wrong. I appreciate this reminder! I do understand that it can be a cruel world!

 

[Flicfliclay]

I would highly recommend focusing on social media and keeping the video updates coming over the next year. For us we found that the coaches that were consistently liking my daughter’s posts as the season went on were the ones that ended up reaching out on June 15. Also we made a point of including posts about her life outside of the gym as well. A lot of girls seem to make separate accounts for recruiting and only post gym stuff. We took a different approach. We mixed in posts that showed the type of person she is and family/personal life stuff. She has one account that shows the whole picture of who she is. We heard more than a few comments from coaches about how the interest wasn’t just about her gymnastics but they had a good feeling for the type of person she was and how she might fit in with the team. I like to think they were learning some of this from showing her personality on IG and not just the gymnastics side.

Our gym has coaches visiting regularly for recruiting and watching the girls practice. We heard from just about all the coaches that we spoke with that they are watching how the girls interact with each other in the gym and how they are handling falls and a bad practice day etc. Being a great teammate is critical since college gymnastics is all about team as we know. That’s what makes it so special. They are watching everything between rotations and assignments so make sure they have good attitudes even if they are having a tough practice or a bad day. And if the coaches aren’t coming to your gym all of this still applies to meet day and camps etc. They are watching!

It was a wild and crazy stressful year but so worth it in the end. We found the perfect fit for both sides.

Thank you for this, My daughter could do a better job of adding more about her on her recruiting account. Its tough because kids don't really use Instagram as much as they do Snapchat!
So happy your daughter found her fit! I can only hope that for mine!

 

[Flicfliclay]

Find a school that your child likes INDPENDENT of gymnastics. "broken leg test" as in if they break their leg at practice and aren't competing - are they still somewhere they want to be? If not, no amount of money is worth it.

YES! That has been our number 1 rule for the get go! Even so much so that she is prepared to even being on a team if the right fit doesn't come along. Sadly, but in the end gymnastics won't go on beyond her college years. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[JBS]

Here is another good thread...

Anon - College Recruiting experience, insights and opinions

Since my DD is starting this process, and since the information exchange seems pretty asymmetric with all the information tilted toward the programs I thought I would start this thread to see if others would want to compare notes, observations, experiences, and opinions. My DD is a freshman in...

chalkbucket.com

 

[josie55]

I feel like I'm still learning because (1) there is a lot to learn and (2) things keep changing! But I was really intrigued to hear an interview that Sydney Seabrooks gave on a podcast recently where she shared what she did. I found it interesting because while she is certainly a strong gymnast, she seemed to have A LOT of interest from colleges for not being elite or a crazy super standout L10. The part that was most interesting to me is that she said that she DM'd and texted coaches almost daily for the entire year leading up to June 15 of her sophomore year. That is kind of amazing! She says her coach gave her the cell numbers of the college coaches she was interested in. Perhaps I misheard or misunderstood, but I had not heard of this approach before (I'd hearing of posting and emailing, and texting AFTER a phone contact had been made.) Below is a link to the podcast. I have am so intrigued with this approach because on the one hand it clearly seems to have worked, and on the other hand one would have to be so self-assured to do this and I'm not sure many would be able to do it, especially if it's not considered "the norm."



Earlier in this thread people talked about colleges that showed interest prior to June 15 of sophomore year and how that related to what happened on June 15. While I saw some connection, I also saw some cases where it didn't line up. One school in particular stands out. This school sent my daughter multiple brochures in the mail in the year or two prior. A few weeks prior to 6/15 they sent her a letter in the mail saying something like "we are so excited for June 15 and to finally begin the recruiting process with you!" Not only did she not get a call on June 15, but when she replied to a (form) email that they sent her shortly after June 15 they replied telling her that she's not on their list of recruits. Kind of weird, right?! But what's even weirder is that they have continued sending her emails about every three days since June 15. I find it all so odd.

Here's another one that stood out. She got an email from a school that is a form email, but written to look like a personal email. One of the lines in the email said something like "I have enjoyed keeping up with your email updates that you have been sending." She has never emailed them. That email made me feel badly for the girls who were maybe given false hope. So just putting it out there that really, you never quite know what's going on, even sometimes AFTER the conversations start (though at least it's better once they start talking)!

But yes, there is correlation between "likes" on social media and calls for sure.

 

[cmg]

I think the disconnect between the emails and reality is that recruiting is a full-time job that most coaches don't really have time to complete honestly and accurately. However, I find it completely disingenuous that a young gymnast would get letters saying they will get contacted and then never get any contact. I would be glad that my kid didn't get recruited from a coach that didn't put the effort into being accurate with their communication. This is like getting a job offer, and a company that misrepresented themselves would be off my list for sure. However, I understand how hard it is to get an actual spot on a team and how gymnasts might be hopeful with any contact. All you can do is try your best and hopefully land a spot at a college that is right for you. Hearing these stories though makes me wonder what college sports has become.

 

[GymnastMomX2]

As a parent of an 8th grade level 9 with college hopes, this thread is stressing me out.

 

[Flicfliclay]

I feel like I'm still learning because (1) there is a lot to learn and (2) things keep changing! But I was really intrigued to hear an interview that Sydney Seabrooks gave on a podcast recently where she shared what she did. I found it interesting because while she is certainly a strong gymnast, she seemed to have A LOT of interest from colleges for not being elite or a crazy super standout L10. The part that was most interesting to me is that she said that she DM'd and texted coaches almost daily for the entire year leading up to June 15 of her sophomore year. That is kind of amazing! She says her coach gave her the cell numbers of the college coaches she was interested in. Perhaps I misheard or misunderstood, but I had not heard of this approach before (I'd hearing of posting and emailing, and texting AFTER a phone contact had been made.) Below is a link to the podcast. I have am so intrigued with this approach because on the one hand it clearly seems to have worked, and on the other hand one would have to be so self-assured to do this and I'm not sure many would be able to do it, especially if it's not considered "the norm."



Earlier in this thread people talked about colleges that showed interest prior to June 15 of sophomore year and how that related to what happened on June 15. While I saw some connection, I also saw some cases where it didn't line up. One school in particular stands out. This school sent my daughter multiple brochures in the mail in the year or two prior. A few weeks prior to 6/15 they sent her a letter in the mail saying something like "we are so excited for June 15 and to finally begin the recruiting process with you!" Not only did she not get a call on June 15, but when she replied to a (form) email that they sent her shortly after June 15 they replied telling her that she's not on their list of recruits. Kind of weird, right?! But what's even weirder is that they have continued sending her emails about every three days since June 15. I find it all so odd.

Here's another one that stood out. She got an email from a school that is a form email, but written to look like a personal email. One of the lines in the email said something like "I have enjoyed keeping up with your email updates that you have been sending." She has never emailed them. That email made me feel badly for the girls who were maybe given false hope. So just putting it out there that really, you never quite know what's going on, even sometimes AFTER the conversations start (though at least it's better once they start talking)!

But yes, there is correlation between "likes" on social media and calls for sure.

Thank you so much for the time you took to write this out and reply. It's certainly the kind of information that i think needs to be talked about! It's such a tough road to navigate and to decode! I will have my daughter listen to the podcast as well as listen myself. I have heard texting coaches, but not to the extent of doing it daily! WOW!
I find the info about a school sending your daughter mail and then never even contacting her! I would love to know what school! ( you can dm me if you care to share ).
Did your daughter end up being recruited?

 

[Flicfliclay]

I think the disconnect between the emails and reality is that recruiting is a full-time job that most coaches don't really have time to complete honestly and accurately. However, I find it completely disingenuous that a young gymnast would get letters saying they will get contacted and then never get any contact. I would be glad that my kid didn't get recruited from a coach that didn't put the effort into being accurate with their communication. This is like getting a job offer, and a company that misrepresented themselves would be off my list for sure. However, I understand how hard it is to get an actual spot on a team and how gymnasts might be hopeful with any contact. All you can do is try your best and hopefully land a spot at a college that is right for you. Hearing these stories though makes me wonder what college sports has become.

I have to agree with you on this one! I want to think that coaches are fully involved in their recruiting process in some form. I am sure some are fully involved and others probably not so much.. because they get top notch recruits every year..

 

[gym_dad32608]

Read the recruiting thread. Programs break their recruiting down into tiers, and like any organization with limited resources (time, money, people), they break their efforts down accordingly. It stinks on some level because all these girls are amazing and deserve the opportunity, but it is a cold hard fact of life. Like teens applying for a job at a popular business that has hundreds of applications, sometimes you don't get a call telling you, you didn't make the cut. If you are in Tier 1 (Scholarship target), they are going to invest a lot of time and attention, in Tier 2 (back-up to Tier 1/walk-on) they will still invest a decent amount but not to the degree of Tier 1, and Tier 3 (walk-on) they will show interest but perhaps not as thorough or intense more generic. Like trying to figure out if a love interest reciprocates the attention, there are clues in small actions, but until June 15th rolls around, you won't definitively know what tier you are until they can directly talk to you.

So we look for little clues, like mail, Instagram following and messages, and visiting practice. One other thing that I have found out is that coaches will follow parents' social media (Facebook, IG, etc) as another sign of interest. Still, while all these things are clues, and give a good idea that you might be in one of those tiers, one still won't know for certain till after June 15th, and even then sometimes those love connections just don't work out.

In regards to Sydney Seabrooks' approach, certainly unorthodox, in my opinion, it is something that could certainly backfire. I mean honestly, if you have ever done hiring, do you want to have your text/email incessantly bombarded by a potential candidate? I don't even think our coach would share those numbers with us if we asked! One thing for sure I agree with her, is that you do need to show programs your interest in them. Back to the suitor analogy, they do pick up if a recruit is really interested or just checking things out, I have heard recruits going on officials and being told by a program that they weren't in their first tier because they didn't think they were that interested in them, so if you do have some dream programs, make sure you let them know by liking back posts, consistent emails, etc. I just don't know if every day is the right level lol.

 

[Flicfliclay]

Read the recruiting thread. Programs break their recruiting down into tiers, and like any organization with limited resources (time, money, people), they break their efforts down accordingly. It stinks on some level because all these girls are amazing and deserve the opportunity, but it is a cold hard fact of life. Like teens applying for a job at a popular business that has hundreds of applications, sometimes you don't get a call telling you, you didn't make the cut. If you are in Tier 1 (Scholarship target), they are going to invest a lot of time and attention, in Tier 2 (back-up to Tier 1/walk-on) they will still invest a decent amount but not to the degree of Tier 1, and Tier 3 (walk-on) they will show interest but perhaps not as thorough or intense more generic. Like trying to figure out if a love interest reciprocates the attention, there are clues in small actions, but until June 15th rolls around, you won't definitively know what tier you are until they can directly talk to you.

So we look for little clues, like mail, Instagram following and messages, and visiting practice. One other thing that I have found out is that coaches will follow parents' social media (Facebook, IG, etc) as another sign of interest. Still, while all these things are clues, and give a good idea that you might be in one of those tiers, one still won't know for certain till after June 15th, and even then sometimes those love connections just don't work out.

In regards to Sydney Seabrooks' approach, certainly unorthodox, in my opinion, it is something that could certainly backfire. I mean honestly, if you have ever done hiring, do you want to have your text/email incessantly bombarded by a potential candidate? I don't even think our coach would share those numbers with us if we asked! One thing for sure I agree with her, is that you do need to show programs your interest in them. Back to the suitor analogy, they do pick up if a recruit is really interested or just checking things out, I have heard recruits going on officials and being told by a program that they weren't in their first tier because they didn't think they were that interested in them, so if you do have some dream programs, make sure you let them know by liking back posts, consistent emails, etc. I just don't know if every day is the right level lol.

Thank you, I have read through the threads .. all of them. I have been on Chalkbucket for at least 6 years and always take note of all the information. Its just now that information directly pertains to us! Which is nuts by the way! Where or where does the time go? I guess I am just looking for key ingredients and maybe just things that curb the anxiety over it all! And also, just bringing up a topix that seems to gain a lot of traction. Not so interested in the manaughtny of what trampoline to buy, leotard companies, and such.. ha ha!