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?

 

[Anonymous (04a9)]

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?

My daughter used Jill Hicks and I thought they were a big help. She had very difficult circumstances going into her senior year and we were at a small gym with no former college level athletes. She had a serious injury going into her junior year, the gym did not compete due to covid, and she was a first year L10. We focused on D3 schools since that was her best shot. She ended up taking a gap year (she really needed it not only for gymnastics but just life in general) and was able to get on a small D3 team and loves it now. I liked that I did not have to help her with her emails etc. because at the time she would not have listened to anything I had to say or suggest. For our situation, I thought Jill Hicks was totally worth the time, effort, and cost.

 

[MaineDad]

There's a lot of great recruiting information on here for sure. I would say that with the changes to roster sizes and other upcoming NIL changes, a lot of advice including the advice I could offer from our recruiting journey a few years ago might be a bit outdated with this new gymnastics landscape. I think this is a good thing for future recruits so I would say this is encouraging for you if you're concerned about start values and skills. My observation is schools are considering specialists more than they were a year ago because the roster sizes can accommodate this. I'm seeing a lot of late commitments after the roster changes so this just means more opportunities for you!

One piece of advice that I think is still relevant is get routines and videos out there on social media and YouTube to be consumed. Content content content. It helped us. Best of luck!

 

[Anonymous (2141)]

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?

Form > Skills for college coaches. There is a threshold of course, of a minimum skill, but from what I have seen college coaches value clean lines, good toe points, solid form over someone just chucking a skill. One other point to make, the recruiting process can sometimes be a long game type thing. Some girls are fortunate to be in that first group of highly sought after recruits with lots of options, Most are not, and have to wait till that first group is committed and still some have to wait even longer. The point is dont lose hope or get discouraged. Stick with it, be consistent, be positive till the end (of course be realistic always). While not the majority, there is not an insignificant number of girls that get opportunities late in the process. There are still some 2025s committing now!

As a 2028 recruit, you need to get started NOW. This is a critical season and you want to be on some coaches radar when you enter competition season so they may attend one of your competitions. Jill Hicks or some of the other services are helpful, especially if your club coach is not as seasoned or connected as others. They can help with the social media posting, the hard truths of what is a realistic college for you and just help you work through the process. Definitely get that posting going, and send email to coaches with links.