Anon Question about college recruiting

[Anonymous (e665)]

Our daughter is just beginning her sophomore year, and we’re really enjoying watching friends and teammates go through the recruiting process, especially as things are starting to pick up for the Class of 2027. That said, we’re also trying to better understand how the process works, as some aspects have been a bit confusing.

We’ve heard that for Division I recruiting, it’s especially important to have 10.0 start values on vault and bars. However, we’ve noticed that one 2027 gymnast who averaged between 34-35 AA is already receiving a lot of emails and requests to schedule calls. She has a unique skill on beam, but other events are not at a 10.0 SV. Meanwhile, we know of three rising seniors in 2026 class who all qualified for Nationals and are solid athletes, but they haven’t committed yet and are feeling nervous since they don’t have many calls lined up.

Is it essential to begin reaching out to coaches well before the official contact date, especially for gymnasts who aren’t considered elite? We’re genuinely trying to understand how the process works and how to help support our daughter when the time comes.

 

[Anonymous (5771)]

I don’t have general advice, but can share the specific information I’ve heard about unrecruited 2026s which is that they’re caught in a tough spot. Coaches are still figuring out how their schools are handling roster limits & scholarships and the portal and coaching changes have prolonged the usual spring musical chairs. I think some great 2026s will not get the opportunities they deserve but that it will bring more clarity for 2027s and 2028s who aren’t June 15th material.

 

[Anonymous (2141)]

There are several threads regarding college recruiting that are excellent reads. Just use the search function and search "recruiting".
One recent favorite https://chalkbucket.com/threads/recruiting-june-15th-coming-fast-any-tips-or-scoops.70701/
Another good one to give you a sense of where you might stand on recruit scale: https://chalkbucket.com/threads/is-my-athlete-going-to-be-recruited-c-o-2027-quiz.72235/post-646891

There are many different factors involved in getting recruited. You cant just point to "having 10 SV on event" as the single criteria. Of course it helps. Some baseline things that I believe will help:

• Your club coach. So so so important. Ideally your club coach is established and has good relationships with college coaches. They serve two purposes, one to give you honest feedback on where you might realistically slot in college and schools (assuming they are established, connected, etc.) and two, they serve as the facilitator and advocate for gymnast before colleges can even contact recruit.
• Social media presence, mainly via instagram, of gym and competition results. This is how colleges will see you. Its an easy central place to highlight your skills.

My opinion on reaching out to coaches is mixed. I dont think it is that effective (my opinion). It certainly cant hurt and if you are, now is the time to start doing that. I am a huge advocate for using your club coach. At our gym, the coach is starting to pull aside the 2028s to ask them what colleges they are interested in and to establish baseline if that is realistic are not. They then reach out to the colleges and notify them that they have a recruit who is interested and then the college coach checks out their instagram, schedules a visit if merited and the process starts.

 

[Anonymous (e665)]

Thanks for the threads. Those are very helpful.

We were just questioning if the 2026s waited too long to aggressively reach out to coaches. They have pretty advanced skills whereas the 2027 does not but is fairly clean. The other thought we had was that maybe coaches cast a wide net or maybe see potential initially but it is not necessarily meaningful. The 2027 does have a very strong social media presence, so we wondered if maybe my daughter should start posting regularly and DMing the videos.

We are a pretty small gym in a more rural area. We do have girls who have gone to college including D1 programs, but we don't have college coaches coming out to our gym to watch like we are seeing on instagram. What about using Jill Hicks? I hear good things. Would it be too soon for 2028?