College Recruiting Tips for Athletes

This is the time for a student-athlete to focus on being a varsity contributor in the student-athlete’s sport(s) and fully realizing and embracing a passion and love to play the sport(s) at the next level. It starts with the desire to play and get better.

Getting better means practicing and hitting the weight room as well as excelling in the classroom to create as many post-secondary opportunities as possible. Strongly consider joining a very good AAU/club or outside program that helps with entry into the top recruiting tournaments and showcases.

Committed ninth-grade student-athletes should also coordinate with their respective Penn Charter coach to meet and set expectations and establish a summer plan depending on the sport. It is important to note that college coaches can only talk to ninth-grade student-athletes about camps and clinics, and they can only have face-to-face conversations at a camp or clinic.

If a student-athlete wants to try for D1, this is a crucial year for achieving those aspirations. Those with D2 or D3 athletic considerations should also step up their game.

Student-athletes should make every effort to emerge as a top contributor in their sport(s). Prior to attendance at recruiting tournaments, showcases and all-star games, student-athletes should email participating college coaches information about themselves. Our Athletics Office can provide template emails that student-athletes can use. In these emails, student-athletes can include a profile about themselves and/or an athletics highlight reel.

Upper School or club coaches can help steer a student-athlete in the right direction toward the “best-fit” showcases and all-star games for which to try out. Attendance at a few specific college camps will help student-athletes get to know the coaches, observe other student-athletes in the sport, and get a feel for the various campuses.

The summer of sophomore year is very important as college coaches can begin to have verbal contact with student-athletes and formally “start” the recruiting process in junior year. Therefore, student-athletes serious about playing in college need to be sure to be seen and have contact with the student-athlete’s top schools heading into junior year.

Now is when student-athletes will begin to see which colleges have taken notice of their skills. 

Student-athletes will be able to determine where they are in the mix of their peer athletes and start to either narrow down a list of reciprocal interest or expand the list if interest isn’t coming from the intended schools.

No matter what, serious student-athletes need to keep working hard on their craft for the next time a coach may want to watch them play. Continue to email the coaches of intended college teams and turn to PC and/or club coaches for guidance on where to invest time and energy.

For those with more of an interest in a D2 or D3 program, the focus remains on getting better as these colleges will be evaluating athletes for their sports program the summer going into senior year.

Student-athletes interested in D2 and D3 are in the last stage of the process. Emails should continue to schools of interest, and representatives from these colleges can come to watch Upper School competitions. D1 is still a possibility for a late bloomer or athlete who made a big Varsity impact later in their career. Schools may have an open spot for this type of athlete. 

Every sport is different, so communication between a student-athlete and coach is a must throughout the process. This ensures a student’s interests are comprehensively understood and allows our professionals to guide the student in the right direction.