Episode: Athletic Recruiting with Purpose: How Families Can Take Control

Guest: Katie Andersen
Host: Chris Bell

Cold Open

Chris Bell:
Athletic recruiting is a sort of overlay on your college application process.

It does not replace the college search. It does not replace academics. And it definitely does not mean you get to stop thinking about the concept of fit.

It just means there’s another conversation happening alongside the regular admissions process:

Can I play my sport in college?
At what level?
For what kind of coach?
At what kind of school?

This can be exciting. It can also be confusing and emotional, especially if it feels like everyone else has a secret handbook.

The key is that you’re not just waiting to be discovered by a scout in the stands. You have emails to write.

Tonight, we’re talking about athletic recruiting with purpose — not fantasy, and not panic.

Because the goal is not just to find a place where you can play. The goal is to find a college where you can learn, grow, and belong, and maybe compete, too.

Tonight, Katie Andersen will talk to us about making all of that happen.

Let’s go.

Show Introduction

Announcer:
It’s The College Talk Show.

Tonight’s theme: Athletic Recruiting with Purpose, with special guest Katie Andersen.

And now, here’s your host, Chris Bell.

Guest Introduction

Chris Bell:
My guest tonight is Katie Andersen.

Katie is the founder of College Fit and Student Athlete Advisors, where she helps student-athletes and their families navigate the recruiting process with clarity and confidence.

She works closely with students to identify programs that fit both their athletic ambitions and their academic goals, and she’s known for helping families take control of what can otherwise feel like a very confusing process.

Katie, I’m really glad you’re here tonight. Thank you so much.

Katie Andersen:
Oh, my pleasure.

What Does Athletic Recruiting Actually Mean?

Chris Bell:
Let’s start simple. When we’re talking recruiting, what does that actually mean? What is a recruiting process?

Katie Andersen:
This term has a lot of confusing misunderstandings for families.

Really, it just means that the student-athlete, in my view, is taking control over the process of reaching out to college coaches to introduce themselves and to start the process of talking about possible opportunities to play a sport in college, at whatever level that means.

But it is very, very student-driven.

There are very few athletes in the world who get to be the blue-chip athletes, with coaches following them and contacting them without even having to reach out.

Chris Bell:
Good point.

Katie Andersen:
So it’s really important that students understand, and families understand, that going through this process is initiated by the student-athlete. They are going after what they want in that college experience and athletic experience.

Chris Bell:
I kind of like that students get a little control of this. They’re initiating it. So that’s cool.

Katie Andersen:
Well, I will say that there are a lot of things that are not in the control of the student-athlete in this process.

And so it is really, really important that families understand that there are some things student-athletes do have control over.

Division I, Division II, Division III, and Sport Differences

Chris Bell:
Now, there are all these different divisions and stuff — D1, D2, D3.

Are there differences in the recruiting process between them? And also, are there differences by sport — between, I don’t know, soccer and track or something?

Katie Andersen:
Absolutely, there are. There are many different ways to dissect this.

With the divisions themselves, I think it’s important that families do the homework to understand which schools are in which divisions.

It’s also very important that no one division is better than another division. There’s a lot of overlap competitively between the divisions. We often find that kids will be recruited by multiple schools in different divisions. So there’s no one silo.

There are differences in the amount of control that a coach has in the admissions process.

Division I and Division II schools are going to have more influence over the admissions process. They have a bit more influence in saying, “These are the kids I want to recruit.” And then, as long as that student-athlete is admissible, the coach has decision-making power over how to proceed with recruiting.

Chris Bell:
Right. Got it.

Katie Andersen:
Division III coaches are going to have a lot less influence. Not none — sometimes, in some schools and some sports, they will have a little bit of influence with their admissions department.

But oftentimes, I prepare families for the fact that if you’re really pursuing Division III institutions, those coaches might not have very much influence. They will get a pre-read. They will get to see if the student is academically admissible.

You should also be asking about what the financial package could potentially look like, because not all D3 schools have merit aid to give out. Coaches may have a little more or a little less influence over the admissions process.

Some schools — the Johns Hopkins, Caltechs, and MITs of the world — will say, “When you get into the school, then let me know, and I’ll be happy to talk to you.”

At any point, all students should be the best student they can be. They should be prepared to have the best grades with the amount of rigor that is appropriate for what they can handle.

Also, on the activities side, a lot of families will say, “Well, my kid spends so many hours on the field or so much time in the pool. How do we fit in all of these things?”

I say, if it ends up that your student-athlete is looking at Division III schools especially, you don’t want a blank activities list when you put in that application.

Let’s think ahead about how to put some things in there that are more in the control of the student-athlete in terms of their time.

They’re not going to volunteer or get a job or do extracurricular things with time they don’t have. But if they do activities that are within their control, with the time and energy they do have, then they can be prepared for any scenario.

Because the worst case — and I’ve seen it happen — is when kids put all the eggs in the athletics basket. They were stellar students, but they did nothing to prepare themselves for the well-roundedness of their application.

Then the end of junior year or beginning of senior year comes, and they literally have a blank activities list. And then they are applying to Division III schools, or even Division I schools, that would really like to see that they’ve been a good student.

Chris Bell:
Yep. Got it.

Building a Recruiting Profile and Reaching Out to Coaches

Chris Bell:
There’s this concept of an introductory email, or I’ve heard some people talk about a recruiting profile or all that kind of stuff.

How does a student make their best effort when they’re first reaching out to a coach?

Katie Andersen:
I think the first step is to actually do a personal inventory of who you are as a student.

Sit down. This is something most college counselors will ask you in a first initial discussion.

Athletically, you should be asking yourself all of those questions, plus dissecting your athletic experience.

Where do you play? Where do you live? Do you play for your high school? Are you playing junior varsity or varsity? Are you playing for a club team?

Understand what level you’re at. Many sports will have layers within them. There are teams playing at a national level, and within those teams, there’s a ranking. There’s a pecking order that comes with how well those teams do.

Really understanding that is important.

And what are your best qualities as an athlete? Are you tall? Are you short? Are you fast? What are the qualities that make you stand out on the field?

First step: write all that down. Put it all down on a piece of paper. Just get it out there for yourself.

What awards have you won? Has your team, high school, or club team won certain championships? Have you won personal awards? Have you done well at tournaments?

Whatever the sport is, really put that all down on paper.

Then, when it comes to writing that initial email, you’ve essentially got your profile or your athletic resume.

But you also have to understand who you are as a student.

If you plan on pursuing high-academic schools — schools with single-digit acceptance rates or very low acceptance rates, let’s say under 30 percent — you want to highlight who you are as a student.

Your GPA, your weighted and unweighted GPA, your test scores if you have them, how many AP classes or honors classes you’re taking.

I always tell kids who are looking for those high-academic opportunities: you have to promote that in that first email to coaches, because that’s exactly what they’re looking for. Many of those very high-academic schools can only recruit kids who fall in that category.

Chris Bell:
Got it.

Katie Andersen:
Putting all of that into an email that goes out to coaches as a first introduction is a solid way to give coaches the resume they’re looking for.

If you also put something out there on the internet or fill out a form online somewhere, that’s not a bad thing. But I really do encourage kids to reach out personally from their email account.

And parents: this is not your email account.

To be clear, this is the student-athlete doing the work to reach out directly to college coaches. The conversation goes back and forth.

Sometimes club coaches or high school coaches, depending on how much they want to be involved in the recruiting process, will ask to be copied on that information.

Chris Bell:
Got it.

What Makes a Good Introductory Email?

Chris Bell:
I’m catching myself thinking, okay, I’m a coach. How much do I want to read in that email?

Katie Andersen:
Right. To keep it simple: coaches scan.

Chris Bell:
Yeah.

Katie Andersen:
Coaches scan. So bullet points.

I am very much a bullet-point kind of approach person. I think writing short paragraphs, even bolding key information, is helpful.

Make sure your subject line has key information in it: your graduation class, what position you play, something that makes you stand out.

Again, if you’re high-academic, getting that GPA in there or your test score in there immediately tells a coach that you’re the kind of kid they should at least look at.

Most sports are going to have a video that you’ll want to include — a recruiting video. Your best plays, your best performance, are what you want to share in the first minute.

Be aware of the fact that you might be lucky if you get that one minute.

So make it your best minute.

Chris Bell:
I love it. That’s good.

It’s kind of funny to think of coaches as people with short attention spans.

Katie Andersen:
Oh, yeah.

Chris Bell:
So you have to—

Katie Andersen:
I was just having this conversation last night with some college coaches about how difficult it is to manage the email inbox inflow, respond to kids in a timely manner, and pick through everything.

They know what they’re looking for.

What Coach Responses Actually Mean

Chris Bell:
What’s the range of responses you can get from a coach?

Katie Andersen:
A lot of coaches will reply with, “Here’s our camp information, and here’s a recruit form.”

If you get that back, fill out the form. Say, “Thank you so much, Coach.” Then take inventory of whether that camp looks like an interesting opportunity for you.

To me, that’s sort of the non-response response.

Chris Bell:
I understand.

Katie Andersen:
That is a very easy way for a coach to show that they looked at your email very briefly, maybe looked at your video, and said, “Hey, thanks. Come to our camp.”

The response you’re really looking for is a coach saying, “Hey, I watched your video. Here’s what I saw that I really liked in your video. I think you could be an interesting prospect. I’d like to get on a phone call with you and have a conversation.”

If you get that response, then absolutely, in a timely manner — 24 to 48 hours — you should respond with two or three dates and times that you’re available and move that process forward.

A lot of high school students find this really intimidating. It’s not hard, but it feels intimidating.

It’s an interview process. It’s a skill. And guess what? You’re going to be doing it again when you go out in the real world and get a job.

Chris Bell:
Good point.

Katie Andersen:
This is the first kind of experience many kids have with that. Coaches know this. They’re used to talking to teenagers all day long.

And honestly, coaches do not ask for phone calls unless they’re genuinely interested in having that conversation.

So that’s really the response you’re looking for.

Chris Bell:
Yeah. And then is there a response that could just be no answer? Does that happen?

Katie Andersen:
Yes, absolutely. No answer happens all the time.

I tell kids that if you have emailed a coach two, three, four, five times and you’re getting nothing in response, that is information you can use to rethink your recruiting list.

Never say never. But it’s likely that you’re not hunting in the right place.

Chris Bell:
Yeah.

Katie Andersen:
Likely.

I will also say that while many kids who go through this process do get recruited, there are a whole boatload who don’t.

I really try to emphasize having respect for how difficult this process can be, and having a Plan B.

“I might want to play club sports in college” is a reasonable and fun way to be an active participant in college sports on the other side.

Preparing for a Coach Call

Chris Bell:
So we talked about the no answer. You might get a kind of form-letter answer. You might get this “let’s talk” kind of answer.

When it’s that good one — the “let’s talk” answer — coaches are going to ask some questions.

What are some questions a student might want to ask during that conversation?

Katie Andersen:
The student needs to do some research.

Chris Bell:
Ah, right.

Katie Andersen:
Do your homework.

Obviously, you’re going to plan this meeting. The coach isn’t just going to pick up the phone and call you right away. Usually, you have a planned call. You might have at least a few hours, if not a day or two, to plan this out.

Get on their website. Check out every part of their website. Check out their roster. Check out their schedule. Look at the coach bios. Look at the player bios.

Most schools will have statistics listed on their website. You should understand the kids who play your position and what grade they are — freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, graduate student.

Do some investigation on where they went to school and how many transfer students are on their roster.

By doing that homework, you’ll have more informed questions to ask a coach.

Be prepared for coaches to ask you, number one, “Why do you want to come to my school?”

Do your homework. What kind of majors do they offer? Does that fit what you’re looking for? Think about that answer in advance.

When it comes to questions you might ask the coach, try to be respectful of the fact that they’ve provided all this information for you on their website. Don’t ask them the really obvious questions.

Chris Bell:
Good point. Totally.

Katie Andersen:
Whenever you have that initial conversation, one of the questions you absolutely need to ask is:

“What is your recruiting timeline?”

So you’re having this conversation. Great. What does the rest of your recruiting process look like?

By asking about the recruiting timeline, you’re really asking a few questions:

When do you typically do pre-reads on student-athletes?
When do you typically make offers?
When do you typically bring kids back on official visits?
Are those actually paid official visits, or are they more like unofficial visits where I’m coming to campus?
When does that typically happen for you?

Maybe you’ve talked to three or five schools, and you can line up the answers and say, “Oh, they’re all kind of in the same time frame,” or, “Wow, these coaches have really started to delay their decision-making process.”

Understanding that helps so you don’t freak out when things don’t happen on your timeline. You understand what these coaches actually do.

How to Find Katie Andersen

Chris Bell:
I love it. This has been so good.

If someone wants to keep the conversation going with you, how would they find you?

Katie Andersen:
You mentioned I have two different groups. Student Athlete Advisors is one group, and College Fit is my personal business.

I think the best way to keep in touch is through Student Athlete Advisors. Our website is studentathleteadvisors.com.

Chris Bell:
Love it.

Well, thank you so much. I mean, a wealth of information. It’s really good. Thank you.

Katie Andersen:
You bet.

Chris Bell:
Stick around. We’ll be right back.

Sponsor Message

Announcer:
This episode is brought to you by Bell College Consulting. Visit bellcollegeconsulting.com to learn more.

Top Tips

Chris Bell:
That was awesome. Katie had such great ideas and practical suggestions on how to make the recruiting process manageable and successful.

Now, it’s time for a sort of summary of the points we covered today. I call it Top Tips.

Announcer:
Top Tips. Top Tips.

Chris Bell:
Kind of a summary, but we call it Top Tips.

Top Tips for Athletic Recruiting with Purpose.

Number six: Recruiting means the student-athlete takes control of the process of talking about playing a sport in college.

Number five: The first step is to do a personal inventory of sorts.

Who are you as a student? Where possible, you want to focus on your achievements, your grades, your interests.

Also, who are you as an athlete? Your physical traits, your stats, your position or events you’re in, any awards.

Number four: Then you write an email to the coach.

This is your first introduction. You use the inventory that you came up with before to highlight your strengths.

The format here is a personal email from your email account. You’re writing bullet points, short paragraphs. You’re giving key information. You’re including a link to your recruiting video if you have it.

Number three: The range of responses you’ll get includes:

One, no answer.

Two, “Here’s camp information and a recruiting form.”

Or three, an email back saying, “I want to have a phone call with you.”

Number two: A good question to ask is, “What is your recruiting timeline?”

And the number one tip for athletic recruiting with purpose is:

The recruiting process is student-driven.

You make the things happen.

Thank you again to Katie Andersen for her rich and action-oriented advice on going through the recruiting process with purpose.

 

Remember, college is awesome.