Anon Recruiting - June 15th coming fast! Any tips or scoops?

[Anonymous (7600)]

My dd is a 2026er so we are getting ready for June 15th and hopefully a busy fall. I plan on sharing our journey after the fact so I am going to document everything. But until then, I wonder if there are any other 2026ers out there and what they are planning or sharing any tips. I am always happy to hear from other 2026ers or others who have gone before about what they are going through or if they have any suggestions and insights. I have no idea if she is going to have a busy or quiet June 15 but I do know that at least one college has told her coach that they want to talk to her and another college sent a letter to list a time to ask them to call her, so there is that. Other than instagram hearts and generic DMs, and a lot of mail, we have no idea what to expect.

Right now we are putting together profiles of the main colleges that she is interested in, like the coaching staff, school mascot, where located, enrollment size, etc. I am having her put together her potential answers to basic questions:

• What is your favorite event?
• Do you want to be an all-arounder or specialist?
• What do you want to study?
• Why this college?

Plus questions to ask them:

• Do you have a scholarship spot for me?
• Where do you see me fitting in?
• What are your goals for the program?

Idk, any other suggestions? As I said, I hope to share everything we learn after. If there was some way to have a private group of only 2026ers I would be happy to share emails and info?

 

[txgymfan]

There are several old threads here from our veteran parents that have relevant information. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve read is to talk to alumni from the programs. The current athletes are often pressured to reveal only the most positive aspects of their team.

 

[Anonymous (17ec)]

So exciting! Best of luck to your daughter and you in this process, and thank you for sharing your experience with us!

 

[Anonymous (ebc3)]

My daughter is a 2026! As a mom i am over here dying inside because i want her to at least have some interest to show her she is on the path or in view of interest! She has received mail and also had a coach watch her at regionals... but that really means nothing until its something.. ya know?
I'm confused as to how the school could send your daughter actual communication in the mail ( asking for a time to call her) before the June 15 date occurs.
It is so hard not knowing anything up to this point!
We aren't sure what college to prepare for if any!
Its such a hard spot to be in, our kiddos work soooo hard and this day ( June 15 th ) has been really spotlighted in the last few years.. I certainly just keep telling my daughter that it is just another day and that even if she doesn't get contacted that day that it doesn't mean she won't get recruited. She tells me that it will be really hard to not receive even a tiny bit of interest.. So I will cross my fingers and pray that there is a happy outcome.
She has done all the right things leading up to this time.. sending emails, updating her instagram, etc.. so we shall see!

 

[Anonymous (cc03)]

Have you listed to the Jill Hicks podcasts? There are a few that are short and sweet and specific to June 15th calls, including a couple with NCAA gymnasts who went through the process. Those might help.

You should also try mock calls and zooms to practice looking at the right part of the camera/screen, managing body language and posture, and practicing handling questions. Start with parents and then ask family friends to do a few mock calls, too. My friend is a D1 coach and is sometimes appalled by how informally girls handle these calls or how unprepared they are. This is a chance to stand out and show the coaches that you’re an asset outside of the gym, not a liability.

 

[Anonymous (7600)]

My daughter is a 2026! As a mom i am over here dying inside because i want her to at least have some interest to show her she is on the path or in view of interest! She has received mail and also had a coach watch her at regionals... but that really means nothing until its something.. ya know?
I'm confused as to how the school could send your daughter actual communication in the mail ( asking for a time to call her) before the June 15 date occurs.
It is so hard not knowing anything up to this point!
We aren't sure what college to prepare for if any!
Its such a hard spot to be in, our kiddos work soooo hard and this day ( June 15 th ) has been really spotlighted in the last few years.. I certainly just keep telling my daughter that it is just another day and that even if she doesn't get contacted that day that it doesn't mean she won't get recruited. She tells me that it will be really hard to not receive even a tiny bit of interest.. So I will cross my fingers and pray that there is a happy outcome.
She has done all the right things leading up to this time.. sending emails, updating her instagram, etc.. so we shall see!

Praying with you! We had a couple of older girls that had a quiet June 15th but still did well enough with scholarships to top programs. It sometimes takes a couple days/weeks for programs to get oriented I think. In regards to the letter, it was like an affidavit-type letter for her to fill out so technically she was the one asking for a call. It was something like "I, (fill in name) request X program to call me at this time"

 

[Anonymous (ebc3)]

Praying with you! We had a couple of older girls that had a quiet June 15th but still did well enough with scholarships to top programs. It sometimes takes a couple days/weeks for programs to get oriented I think. In regards to the letter, it was like an affidavit-type letter for her to fill out so technically she was the one asking for a call. It was something like "I, (fill in name) request X program to call me at this ti

May the odds be in our daughters favor! ha ha! It doesn't help the fact that my daughter moved gyms not too long ago.. so we aren't sure if that will affect anything or not. The girls at her gym told her that many of them took calls all day long last year... which didn't help things out AT ALL especially not knowing if she will get a single call at all. She got some mail, but not a ton. If that says anything, then she may not get any interest off the bat. She also mentioned some girls have been receiving an Abundant amount of mail in the last few days.. again she could have gotten some at her old gym, but we shall never know. I do know that many girls get offers and calls later, but it will still be a sting. I am just journaling my feelings here which are the truth. I just want the day to come so we can get it over with! ha ha!

 

[Anonymous (f59f)]

My daughter is a 2026, but I don't expect she will hear from any schools on June 15th. She's not quite recruitable yet imo, but I think she has a lot of potential. I'm hoping that next season will be a breakout one for her and maybe that will generate some interest. She's done some emailing and posting, but also hasn't been that aggressive in marketing herself, so I don't think she's really expecting any contact yet, but I do feel bad for her. There are 4 other 2026's at her gym and I think 3 of them will be contacted by multiple schools. I'm sure that will be hard to hear about. But her club had 9 seniors this year and they all eventually found their place, so I think it will work out for her in the end.

 

[Anonymous (7600)]

Maybe another hopeful indicator is that we have had about 6 colleges schedule visits to come to the gym to watch practice after June 15th. So that has to mean something?

 

[Anonymous (947d)]

Maybe another hopeful indicator is that we have had about 6 colleges schedule visits to come to the gym to watch practice after June 15th. So that has to mean something?

I am just curious, Are you at a big gym with a lot of potential recruits? Does the gyms request the coaches come visit or do the college coaches call the gyms and ask? We have had coaches come and watch practices in the past but definitely not 6 in one summer, most gymnast at our gym have found a good college fit, though it took some into their junior and even senior year to find it. We currently have a young lvl 10 team with no 24-26 grads but I have been paying attention recently to the process and noticed some of the gyms with big level 10 teams have had multiple coaches visit already.

 

[Anonymous (7600)]

I am just curious, Are you at a big gym with a lot of potential recruits? Does the gyms request the coaches come visit or do the college coaches call the gyms and ask? We have had coaches come and watch practices in the past but definitely not 6 in one summer, most gymnast at our gym have found a good college fit, though it took some into their junior and even senior year to find it. We currently have a young lvl 10 team with no 24-26 grads but I have been paying attention recently to the process and noticed some of the gyms with big level 10 teams have had multiple coaches visit already.

I would classify our gym is a larger gym. There are definitely much larger gyms. We had approximately 13 L10s depending upon injuries last year. Next year it will probably push close to 20. We currently have 3 2026s

 

[Anonymous (e114)]

My daughter is a 2026. This year is her first year lvl 10. And she made it to national. Her score is not up to 37. She did get a mail letter , asking her to fill out the questionnaire. She also got several college team followers on Instagram . We just feel we are not so ready for the recruiting process since she just a first year lvl 10. It is difficult to tell where she is at until the next season . We did send out some up reaching schools .

 

[Anonymous (7600)]

I think one thing I have seen the last couple of years is that it is certainly better and desirable to get calls on June 15th. But, we have seen plenty of girls successfully land in either their dream school or the best spot for them, even if they do not have multiple years of l10 under their belt come June 15th. It's just on a different recruiting window. Continue to engage in programs. Now more than ever, because they can actually respond and give you feedback. Continue talking with your coach about their contacts and opinions on good landing spots. One good thing about NIL is there are more opportunities to attend programs even without a traditional scholarship.

 

[Anonymous (7600)]

Ok, good problems, but a couple of observations and feedback from yesterday:

• You think you're ready, but you're not. Be prepared to commit to a visit date, have your calendar handy, and even then, there will be conflicts. But the some of the schools were pretty firm on these are the days we can offer you.
• Dont over-extend yourself. The calls themselves were pretty low key, nothing crazy as far as questions or anything like that, really just a get to know you, here's a little about the school, our program, etc. The challenging part is being engaging and cheerful for all the calls when they tend to be back to back with little time between. I took a hands off approach and my daughter scheduled 12 calls yesterday (if I knew she was doing this I would have intervened), needless to say she was brain dead by the evening.
• Some schools had the whole coaching staff, some only had one coach on the call.
• It kinda weird/exciting to see coaches numbers pop up on daughters phone.
• Some schools did not directly offer scholarships, but did directly say they had a scholarship spot for her. Other schools didn't even mention scholarships and still some just said we have X number of scholarships available.
• They all offered official visit dates, as mentioned above, and that has been the most stressful part of trying to get those on the schedule.
• A few have also asked to schedule in-home visits. More calendar issues.
• They all seem to be scheduling follow-up calls next week to include the parents so will see how it goes.

More to come as the process continues! Hope everyone is enjoying the process and are having positive experiences!

 

[Anonymous (f59f)]

Ok, good problems, but a couple of observations and feedback from yesterday:

• You think you're ready, but you're not. Be prepared to commit to a visit date, have your calendar handy, and even then, there will be conflicts. But the some of the schools were pretty firm on these are the days we can offer you.
• Dont over-extend yourself. The calls themselves were pretty low key, nothing crazy as far as questions or anything like that, really just a get to know you, here's a little about the school, our program, etc. The challenging part is being engaging and cheerful for all the calls when they tend to be back to back with little time between. I took a hands off approach and my daughter scheduled 12 calls yesterday (if I knew she was doing this I would have intervened), needless to say she was brain dead by the evening.
• Some schools had the whole coaching staff, some only had one coach on the call.
• It kinda weird/exciting to see coaches numbers pop up on daughters phone.
• Some schools did not directly offer scholarships, but did directly say they had a scholarship spot for her. Other schools didn't even mention scholarships and still some just said we have X number of scholarships available.
• They all offered official visit dates, as mentioned above, and that has been the most stressful part of trying to get those on the schedule.
• A few have also asked to schedule in-home visits. More calendar issues.
• They all seem to be scheduling follow-up calls next week to include the parents so will see how it goes.

More to come as the process continues! Hope everyone is enjoying the process and are having positive experiences!

Congrats to your daughter! I'm not sure that is a typical experience.. obviously your daughter is talented and very much in demand. Good luck to her in finding her perfect school.

 

[Anonymous (947d)]

Congrats to your daughter! I'm not sure that is a typical experience.. obviously your daughter is talented and very much in demand. Good luck to her in finding her perfect school.

I would also love to hear from others about their process…like maybe 25s and 24s that were not the top recruits and didn’t have this kind response day one but still worked the recruiting process (and of course at the gym) and ended up with spots/scholarships to fantastic colleges that fit well!

 

[Anonymous (ebc3)]

I would also love to hear from others about their process…like maybe 25s and 24s that were not the top recruits and didn’t have this kind response day one but still worked the recruiting process (and of course at the gym) and ended up with spots/scholarships to fantastic colleges that fit well!

I think for the most part the majority of girls get recruited in the years after. My daughter had a call with a coach that is still backfilling 25' spots. While they are scouting for 26's they aren't rushing the process. Which i think is great. I just saw two 25's this week get spots on teams, 1 being a full ride.

 

[Anonymous (7600)]

Update on things:
I do want to first stress that I am sharing this information in the hopes of helping others on a similar journey and I encourage others to share their experience. The more we are informed the better we can manage and plan. I know we are fortunate that my DD 2026er is in the position she is in and is probably not typical for everyone. Still I think its helpful to know the extremes or any nuances of this recruiting experience. If it is not really helpful, then please let me know.

• The first call seemed like some weird high school dating thing "Hi, I like you, do you like me? Check yes or no" If yes, then lets schedule another call, if no, call me if your change your mind. Which leads to....
• The process is like fast and slow, and schools sort out surprisingly quick. They definitely move on quickly if they sense a lack of interest. SCHOOLS TALK TO EACH OTHER. Schools talk to club coaches. There is no doubt that they share information about recruits they are talking to. Another reason to be prepared before this whole process starts. But after that initial call its like a week till the next with maybe a text or two inbetween to say hi and check in
• (TLDR Version - $ for athletes if anything is going to increase but still working out how it will look like starting in 2025, with scholarship limits removed) Not everyone has talked about scholarship money, but it seems like if you are on scholarship you will receive approx. $1500-$2500/month while taking classes for spending money depending upon where the university is and if you are on or off campus housing. This is before any NIL money (NIL hasnt come up in any calls so far). HOWEVER this will be different for 2026ers (and probably 2025s too) due to the recent NCAA/Power 4 federal settlement last month! I have quickly done some research on this. What I have found
  • Still needs to be approved by federal judge before they start working on the implementation of it, but they say they plan to start in 2025 comp year
  • Removes scholarship limits for all sports subject only to any roster limitations for a sport. I know gymnastics has a travel roster limitation but idk if they have a roster limit. So in theory, if a program wants and they have money, they can have 20 scholarships, not the current 12 limit.
  • Universities agree to share 20% of the total program revenue with athletes. Right now with current Power 4 programs that is approximately $20 million/year
  • Given Title IX, it is expected that it will be equally split between mens and womens sports. So womens sports should have $10 million to pay athletes "salaries"
  • While the total amount will be equal, how its distributed within the team does not have to be equal. So lets say LSU gives Bryant a larger payment then the other athletes on the team.
  • This is outside of NIL, NIL will still exist and is another opportunity for additional $$ for student athletes.
• These calls are NOT about gymnastics, they are about getting to know the girls as individuals. I am sure some are better at it than others, but my daughter is horrible at talking about herself lol. It makes her uncomfortable, so if you have a similar daughter make sure they have some tidbits about life outside the gym, the family, friends, pets, etc. and feel comfortable about talking around those subjects.

Thats about it for now. Seems like the schools where she is taking officials will be talking to her weekly until Aug 1 where they will probably visit the gym and can talk face to face. I sure would love to hear from other 2026ers or 2025s about their experiences.

 

[Anonymous (4a0c)]

Thank you for the continued updates! This will be very helpful for others going through the recruiting process. I'm rooting for your daughter as she navigates all this!

 

[Anonymous (225f)]

As a parent of a level 10 2028 I’m loving all these updates. Any and all insight to help better prepare us is much appreciated. Good luck with the process!