“Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them.” -William Arthur Ward
It’s camp season. Hundreds of thousands of kids across the country are going to some type of camp, and a good percentage of the high schoolers out there are going to camps hosted by college coaches on their respective campuses.
Before you pay money to register and travel to a camp, it is important that you understand why college coaches create these camps for you to attend:
- Income: Most college coaches do not make a lot of money, and most college programs do not have sufficient budgets. The primary reason coaches and schools run summer sport camps is to increase their revenue, so they can pay their coaches more, increase travel and equipment budgets, and pay for facility maintenace and upgrades.
- Marketing: The best way to market a college sports team is by putting young athletes and their parents in front of smart, passionate, expert coaches. If a college coach impresses you while you are at camp, the odds of you applying to that school your senior year of high school goes up dramatically. The more people who are spreading the word of the quality of coaching, facilities and experience they had at a camp, the more people who have a positive outlook about that college/university as a whole.
- Recruiting: Believe it or not, recruiting is the third item on the priority list of objectives for running camps for a college coach or Athletics department. If a college coach has 100 kids at their camps during the summer, it is rare if more than 5 of those kids are recruitable. Although college coaches love to get recruits out of their camps, the odds of finding a kid who can actually be a difference maker for your program is very rare.
Knowing this valuable information, how do you make the most of a camp invite?
- Get Feedback Before Enrolling: Lots of college coaches will invite you and hundreds of other kids to their camps. That doesn’t mean they want to recruit you. It doesn’t even mean they have ever seen you compete. If you get an email or text to attend a camp, ALWAYS respond with a request for them to look at your film before you agree to attend. “Are you good enough to play for them?” “Do they see you as having the ability to play at their level and be a difference-maker in their program.” If a coach wants you to spend $200 to come to their camp, they can take 3 minutes to let you know if you are a recruitable athlete for them. Do you really want to attend a camp as a recruit if you know the coach is not going to recruit you?
- Introduce Yourself: If you do like what you hear and decide to go to the camp, make sure you go up to the Head Coach and their Assistants immediately on the first day and introduce yourself. Thank the coaches for the invitation and ask them if they wouldn’t mind watching you throughout the camp and providing feedback, evaluation and advice before you leave. You’ve made a great first impression on that coach immediately, and they won’t be able to help themselves but watch you and wonder how you’re doing the rest of the camp. You are now top of mind!
- Send a Personal Thank You After the Camp: Send a hand-written note or personal email to all the coaches you talked to after the camp. Thank them for their time, direction and advice. Ask them if they are interested in recruiting you, and if yes, would they mind setting up a video call with you and your parents in the next week. You want you and your parents to have time to prepare questions for that coach and get “real” answers to how you fit in their program and what you need to be doing moving forward to potentially receive an offer.
Camp invites are great, but if the coaches don’t know who you are, they may not be worth your time. Have a strategy before, during and after the camp that all lead to you accomplishing 1 of 3 outcomes: (1) a true evaluation on your ability and reality as a recruit; (2) a “yes, we would like to recruit you; or a (3) “no, we are not interested in recruiting you. Whichever outcome you get, it is a victory for you.
You either know how they feel about you, that they actually want to recruit you, or you can cross them off your list and devote more time to other schools on your list. It is a win-win no matter which of the 3 results you get if you handle it correctly. Don’t waste your time and money if your objective for camps isn’t one of these 3 outcomes. Good luck! Make the most of your opportunities!
Enjoying these blogs? Want to schedule a free 30-minute coaching assessment with Coach Rogers? You can do so here: https://www.significantcoaching.net/
Interested in Coach Rogers’ Book on College Recruiting? You can find it here: https://bit.ly/Matt-Rogers-Significant-Recruiting-Amazon
