Tag: NCSA

NCSA: How to get recruited for women’s college field hockey

A prospective college field hockey player should first learn how to effectively manage their recruiting process. NCSA is here to help.

Lindsay is a former NCAA DI college field hockey athlete and coach at both NCAA DI and DIII programs. Lindsay is just one of many former college and professional athletes and coaches who are part of the Next College Student Athlete team. NCSA’s history of digital innovation and long-standing relationship with the college coaching community has made it the largest and most successful collegiate athletic recruiting network in the country. 

If you want to join the roughly 6,200 NCAA college field hockey athletes, you’ll need to first learn how to effectively manage your recruiting process. This includes understanding how and when to update your recruiting profile, research prospective schools, schedule unofficial and official college visits, determine NCAA eligibility and meet all application deadlines.

While parents, guidance counselors and high school and club coaches make great resources, NCSA experts are also here to help you navigate the recruiting process with our complete guide to college field hockey recruiting.

NCAA Field Hockey Recruiting Rules and Calendar

A 2017 NCAA study on the college recruiting experience revealed that 70% of Division I field hockey players reported their first contact with a college coach happened before their junior year of high school. With field hockey being just one of a handful of sports that revealed a trend of early recruiting, the NCAA updated the recruiting rules and guidelines to slow down the process and create a more equal and positive recruiting experience for student-athletes. College coaches are prohibited from contacting recruits until after June 15 of the athlete’s sophomore year.

View a comprehensive list of the NCAA recruiting rules across each division level in our guide to the NCAA field hockey recruiting rules and calendar.

Field Hockey Recruiting Guidelines

What are college coaches looking for in field hockey recruits? While college coaches expect all recruits to possess some level of field hockey IQ, versatility and athleticism, they also have position-specific expectations across the five field hockey positions. For example, Division I college coaches look for goalies that are unfazed in high pressure situations, make consistent saves and have excellent hand-eye coordination.

In our field hockey recruiting guidelines, we outline the experience level and skillset that college coaches look for in goalies, defenders, midfielders, sweepers and forwards at each division level.

The Recruiting Process

The college recruiting process doesn’t start when college coaches can begin contacting recruits. Instead, you and your family should kickstart the recruiting process during your freshman year with the following steps:

  • Research field hockey programs: There are 281 college field hockey programs scattered across the Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic, Southeastern and Midwest regions, with four programs in California. Start the recruiting process by identifying which of these programs best fit your academic, athletic, financial and social needs.
  • Build a recruiting profile: To get discovered by college coaches across the country, you’ll need to build a strong recruiting profile with relevant stats and a recruiting video that coaches can reference when creating their list of prospective recruits. Create your free NCSA recruiting profile here,
  • Create a recruiting video: As a result of the new NCAA rules, your recruiting video is likely the first time a college coach will see you compete. It’s important that your recruiting video highlights your versatility, field hockey IQ and athleticism, as well as the position-specific skills outlined in NCSA’s field hockey recruiting guidelines. Learn how to create and share your video.
  • Attend field hockey camps: Whether you’re attending a clinic, camp or showcase, these events can positively impact your college recruiting process by increasing your access and exposure to college coaches. Find a field hockey camp near you.
  • Contact college coaches: While you won’t hear from college coaches that are interested in recruiting you until after June 15 of your sophomore year, you can still reach out to coaches at your prospective schools to introduce yourself and express interest in the program. Learn how to write an introductory email.

Read more: How to Get Recruited for Women’s College Field Hockey.

Scholarship Opportunities

When awarding athletic scholarships, college coaches tend to prioritize positions that prevent scoring and put points on the board. So, if you want a field hockey scholarship, you’ll have to prove to college coaches that you can directly impact scoring opportunities.

As an NCAA equivalency sport, fully funded Division I and Division II college field hockey teams are allotted 12 and 6.3 full-ride equivalent scholarships, respectively. Unfortunately, not all programs are fully funded, leaving some college coaches with even smaller scholarship budgets. To make the most of this budget, coaches will award partial scholarships, rather than full rides. Student-athletes who receive a partial athletic scholarship are able to combine alternative forms of financial aid to cover costs.

Read more: The Ultimate Guide to College Field Hockey Scholarships.

 Top Ranked Women’s Field Hockey Colleges

To find the right college fit, you’ll want to begin your recruiting journey by evaluating what colleges offer academically, athletically, socially and financially. To help student-athletes through this process, NCSA develops annual Power Rankings that rank the top colleges and universities with field hockey programs based on factors, such as cost, size, location and academics. View a complete list of colleges offering field hockey

NCSA: How coaches can help their athletes get recruiting exposure at events

Colleges coaches are super busy. Here’s how you can help them maximize their time while recruiting your athlete.

Nelson Gord is a former collegiate and professional ballplayer, successful high school head coach and the founder of the largest travel baseball club in Illinois. Nelson is just one of many former college and professional athletes and coaches who are part of the Next College Student Athlete team. Their experience—along with NCSA’s history of digital innovation and long-standing relationship with the college coaching community—helped create NCSA Team Edition, the free recruiting platform for club and high school coaches and their teams.

Between preparing gameday strategy, running practices, traveling to games, planning budgets and scouting for recruits, college coaches do not have much free time. That’s why they do much of their recruiting at events where multiple teams will be present. They don’t have time to zig-zag across the country to check out individual recruits, but at large tournaments, showcases, combines and other events, they can potentially see dozens of prospects compete in one place.

This is why getting noticed at recruiting events is so important for your athletes. Fortunately, as a high school or club coach, you can help your athletes get more recruiting exposure by having them follow a few steps. Read up on what your athletes should do before, during and after a recruiting event to get noticed by college coaches. Just remember that every sport and event is different—though this guide should provide a solid template for what to do.

Athletes and parents: You can apply these tips directly, but also feel free to share them with your high school or club coach.

Before an event

It’s important to note that most college coaches go into a recruiting event with a list of athletes they are planning to watch out for. If your athletes want to make sure they are noticed, they have to prepare in advance.

  • Going in, your athletes should already have a target list of colleges that they hope to get noticed by and they should be sending their full event schedule to those college coaches. Once they receive their specific game times, they should share those too.
  • Events often provide a list of college coaches that will be in attendance or have previously attended. Your athletes should look at this list and contact any coaches from schools of interest.
  • Your athletes should reach out to college coaches before the event to get on their radar, sharing pertinent info and providing them with an updated recruiting video. This can help separate them from dozens of other potential recruits.
  • If college programs that will be in attendance have a recruiting questionnaire on their website, your athletes should fill that out.
  • For college coaches in attendance, your athletes should follow them on social media.

During the event

Not every recruiting event is the same. Tournaments, showcases, combines, clinics, camps, etc., can have different rules about communicating with college coaches. Keep that in mind.

  • At camps, it is usually fine for your athletes to introduce themselves to college coaches before the event. At a showcase or tournament, this usually isn’t the norm.
  • Depending on the event, there can be specific rules depending on division level and grad year for how college coaches can interact at these events. Sometimes no contact is allowed, while other times contact is allowed once your team is done playing for the day or the weekend, for example.
  • Typically, you should talk to college coaches in attendance at an event. If a college coach is interested in speaking with any of your athletes, they will tell you to have athletes talk to them after the game or have them follow up via email.
  • “When talking to a college coach that you do not have a prior relationship with, it is important to begin the conversation with introducing yourself, background, organizational mission and what sets your program apart from the thousands of other teams,” says Sami Baugh, Director of Recruitment at OC Batbusters Chicago.
  • Sami also adds that you can show your engagement by asking questions, like:
    • What are you looking for today, and how can I be of help?
    • What are the selling points of your college?
    • What majors attract students to your college?
    • What are the entrance requirements?
    • What type of student-athlete tends to succeed at your college?
    • How many scholarships does your program have and how many do you have left in each graduation year?
  • You can help college coaches by having a roster sheet with basic information available for them at the event. This can help college coaches have specific conversations with you about your athletes.
  • You can also use social media to post about athletes that have performed well at an event. Gavin Sullivan, Director of Midwest Prospect Academy (a travel basketball club) adds, “We will also post and retweet any social media from other sources regarding our players. We allow our players to retweet information about themselves from other sources and people. We feel that others’ promotion is better than self-promotion.”

After the event

The work isn’t done once an event is over, no matter how well an athlete performed. Your athletes need to maintain communication with college coaches in order to stand out.

  • Remind your athletes to follow up with college coaches and let them know how they performed at the event.
  • In follow-up communication, athletes should also ask specific questions about the college, team, coaches’ needs and next steps that they can take.
  • Sami Baugh of OC Batbusters recommends that athletes shouldn’t be afraid to ask bold questions, like “After evaluating me at this past event, do you think I would be a good fit for your program?”
  • You should gather information about all college coaches you spoke with and athletes you discussed. Let each athlete know who they should follow up with.
  • You can send a follow-up email to any college coaches you spoke with—particularly when dealing with underclassmen—to get better feedback on if a college is interested or not. You can ask what information a college coach might need, any other questions they have and how to keep in touch with them for future events and updates.
  • “If a college coach is unresponsive or does not give direct feedback regarding interest level when asked, and division rules allow for communication, chances are that the athlete will not be recruited to that school,” adds Sami Baugh. At this point, you can provide families with a status update so they can update their target list.
  • You can also gather videos and photos and promote athletes on social media after the event. Gavin Sullivan of Midwest Prospect Academy adds, “We will also sometimes create highlight packages for players and teams and promote them on our social media accounts as well.”

The proper event preparation can offer a tremendous recruiting boost for your athletes, but it is also a time-consuming process. That’s why NCSA developed Team Edition to help coaches like you connect with college programs, manage your athletes and save time. Do you need help with more event exposure? Have any topics which you’d like to see covered in this column? Reach out to us directly at teamedition@ncsasports.com and we’ll let you know how we can help.

NCSA: How to get recruited for men’s track and field

A high school boys track and field athlete interested in competing at the next level should check out this guide from NCSA.

USA TODAY High School Sports has a weekly column on the college recruiting process. Here, you’ll find practical tips and real-world advice on becoming a better recruit to maximize your opportunities and play at the college level. Jason Smith is a former NCAA DIII athlete and college coach at all three division levels. Jason is just one of many former college and professional athletes, college coaches and parents who are part of the Next College Student Athlete team. Their knowledge, experience and dedication, along with NCSA’s history of digital innovation and long-standing relationship with the college coaching community, have made NCSA the largest and most successful athletic recruiting network in the country.

With so much training in the sport, men’s track and field recruiting can feel like it’s all about getting the best possible PR. But the truth is that potential recruits will have to do more than just perform on the track or field to earn a difficult-to-secure roster spot on a college team. Athletes and families need to be mindful of the recruiting calendar and rules and always stay proactive about communicating with college coaches. To provide insight on the college recruiting process, we here at NCSA put together the Men’s College Track and Field Recruiting Guide, which potential track and field recruits should read and reference. In this article, you’ll find some key takeaways from the guide.

Recruiting rules and calendar

Like in many college sports, college coaches at the NCAA Division I and Division II levels cannot contact potential recruits until June 15 after their sophomore year of high school. But college coaches at the Division III, NAIA and NJCAA (junior college) levels don’t have the same restrictions—they’re allowed to reach out to recruits who show interest at any point in time. Prior to the important June 15 date, Division I and Division II programs start the recruiting process by watching results, searching prospect databases and sending non-recruiting materials, such as questionnaires, camp information or non-athletic information. Read more about the recruiting rules and calendar.

Recruiting guidelines

Men’s track and field differs from most college sports in that the recruiting guidelines are quite varied and there is no “typical” recruiting process. That’s because track and field has shot putters, hurdlers, long-distance runners and a variety of different athletes with different competition PRs. Regardless of when or where you start, or which events you compete in, all potential recruits should be proactive and take charge of their own recruiting because college coaches can’t find all the recruits they need on their own.

According to a 2017 NCAA study, 43% of surveyed athletes reported that their first contact with a college coach occurred during their junior year of high school, followed closely by 39% during senior year. When recruiting, college coaches look for valid and accurate data from Fully Automatic Times (FAT), training history and accessible information. Read more about men’s track and field recruiting guidelines and specific times and distances.

Scholarships and financial aid

Athletes and families can potentially find athletic scholarships for men’s track and field at the NCAA Division I and Division II levels, as well as at the NAIA and junior college levels. At the Division III level, there are no athletic scholarships, but coaches can help recruits secure merit and need-based aid. Men’s track and field is an equivalency sport, meaning that coaches do not have to award full scholarships and can instead break them up among athletes on the roster. Fortunately, fully funded track and field teams do tend to have more scholarships per team than many other sports. There is a limit of 12.6 full scholarships per team at the Division I and Division II levels and up to 20 scholarships at the junior college level. Read more about men’s track and field scholarships.

Men’s track and field camps

It’s beneficial for potential recruits to get seen by college coaches firsthand. Though coaches do sometimes attend big meets to check out athletes, track and field camps provide a great opportunity for elite athletes to showcase their skills in a competitive environment, while gaining maximum exposure to college coaches. Track camps may not be essential for top recruits, but they are still a great way to work on improving skills, build a relationship with college coaches and check out college campuses. However, athletes and families should make sure camps fit their budget and are tailored to their current ability level. For example, freshmen may be outmatched at a Division I premier camp. Read more about camps and see a full list of men’s track and field camps.

Colleges with men’s track and field

There are roughly 1,160 men’s track and field college teams across all the major athletic divisions: NCAA Division I, Division I and Division III, as well as NAIA and junior colleges. Though that may seem like a lot, earning a roster spot on a college team is still difficult, with only around 4.8% of men’s track athletes earning a college roster spot. Additionally, recruits will want to find the college that offers them the best athletic, academic, financial and social fit so that they have the best chance of staying on the roster all four years and completing their college degree. Read more about men’s track and field colleges and see a full list of teams.

NCSA: How to get recruited for women’s college swimming

High school girls swimmers interested in competing at the next level should check out this breakdown from NCSA.

Jeff is a former college swimmer and coach at an NCAA DIII program. Jeff is just one of many former college and professional athletes and coaches who are part of the Next College Student Athlete team. NCSA’s history of digital innovation and long-standing relationship with the college coaching community has made it the largest and most successful collegiate athletic recruiting network in the country.

Which women’s college swimming program is right for you? With a total of 627 women’s swimming programs across the three NCAA divisions, the NAIA and the NJCAA and CCCAA, this isn’t an easy question to answer. It’s also just one of many questions you’ll find yourself asking during the college recruiting process.

While only you can decide what swimming program is right for you, NCSA can help you through the decision-making process with our guide to women’s college swimming recruiting.

NCAA Swimming Recruiting Rules and Calendar

The NCAA established a new set of recruiting rules for the 2019-2020 season that may change a decade-long trend of later recruiting in college swimming. Rather than waiting until senior year, college coaches believe that student-athletes will begin committing to programs as juniors, now that communication between coaches and athletes is permitted beginning June 15 after the athlete’s sophomore year. Earlier commitments mean that student-athletes and their families need to prepare for recruiting, as scholarship money will diminish earlier in the process.

Read more: 2019-2020 NCAA Women’s Swimming Recruiting Rules and Calendar

Swimming Recruiting Times

Do you have what it takes to swim for an NCAA women’s swimming program? NCSA’s team of swimming experts created a guide to college swimming recruiting times based on qualifying times for major swim meets and a strong understanding of college coaches’ expectations at each division levels. For example, most elite Division I women’s swimming recruits can swim the 100 Freestyle in 47.3 seconds, compared to swimmers at the Division II and Division III levels who clock in between 49.9 and 50.9 seconds.

Visit NCSA’s guide to college swimming recruiting times to see what division level you are best suited for based on your current swim times.

The Recruiting Process

June 15 after your sophomore year may be when college coaches can begin contacting you, but your college recruiting process starts long before this date. Below is a list of steps all student-athletes and their families should take leading up to June 15:

  • Researching swimming programs: Women’s college swimming programs are offered at more than 550 four-year colleges and universities. Your first step in the recruiting process is to research these programs to build a list of prospective schools. Here is a comprehensive list of colleges with women’s swimming.
  • Build a recruiting profile: To increase your visibility and exposure to college coaches, create a strong recruiting profile that coaches can reference to evaluate your swim times and academic stats. Create a free NCSA recruiting profile.
  • Create a highlight video: College coaches aren’t there to evaluate your technique at swim practice and they won’t always be at competitions where you swim a best time. Luckily, you can capture your technique and performance at swim meets in a highlight video for college coaches to review. Learn how to make a highlight video.
  • Attend swim camps: Competitive swim camps are a great way for you to improve your reaction time off the block, stroke technique, transitions and race finish. When hosted by a college swim program, these camps also serve as an opportunity for you to explore campus and the facilities. Find a swim camp near you.
  • Contacting college coaches: You won’t hear from college coaches interested in recruiting you until after June 15 of your sophomore year, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t reach out to express interest in a college swimming program. This is your guide to writing a recruiting letter.

How to Get a Swimming Scholarship

Women’s college swimming is extremely competitive, so you’ll need to be proactive when pursuing an athletic scholarship. While the NCAA sets a limit on how many full-ride equivalent scholarships each team can award, not every college swimming program has a fully funded scholarship budget. Whether a college coach is awarding a full ride or partial scholarship funding, they prioritize student-athletes who have the potential to score the team the most points during dual meets and the end-of-season conference meet. Do your research and talk to college coaches to determine what scholarship opportunities are available at your prospective schools.

If you’re not ready for a four-year college just yet, the NJCAA and CCCAA institutions offer women’s swimming programs and scholarships. After two years, you can transfer to an NCAA or NAIA school and try for a scholarship package.

Read more: Women’s College Swimming Scholarships

 Top Ranked Women’s Swimming Colleges

Each year, NCSA releases Power Rankings that list the top NCAA and NAIA schools that offer women’s swimming. This report analyzes various factors that student-athletes and their families consider when selecting the right college fit, including cost, size, location and academics. View a fill list of colleges offering women’s swim teams

NCSA: How to get recruited for women’s rowing

NCSA gives tips, guidelines and camps ideas for help getting recruited to college for women’s rowing.

At the college level, women’s rowing offers great opportunities for student-athletes. Many rowing teams are located at top academic schools, and they also have some of the largest roster sizes in women’s college sports, with an average of 61 women per team at the NCAA Division 1 level and 31 women per team at the NCAA Division 2 and Division 3 levels. However, the experience of earning a roster spot differs greatly for recruited athletes who rowed in high school and walk-on athletes who are learning to row at the college level. To shed light on this experience, we here at NCSA compiled the Guide to Getting Recruited for Women’s Collegiate Rowing, which all potential college rowers should read and reference. Here are just some of the main takeaways from this recruiting guide.

Scholarships and financial aid

Athletic scholarships are available for women’s rowing at the college level, but competition for scholarships is stiff, and it’s important for athletes and families to be aware of other ways to help pay for college. For example, a large portion of women’s rowing teams are NCAA D3 or D1 Ivy League (Yale, Princeton, Penn, Harvard [Radcliffe], Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia, Brown) programs that do not offer athletic scholarships. However, these colleges do help with obtaining academic scholarships and other forms of financial aid, and rowing can help boost your chances of getting accepted into a prestigious school. With that said, athletic scholarships are available at the Division 1 and Division 2 levels, though the majority of athletes will receive only a partial scholarship. Read more about scholarships and financial aid for women’s college rowing.

Recruiting guidelines

For women’s rowing recruits, college coaches look for a few things in order of importance (give or take a spot):

  • 2k erg times
  • Academics
  • Technique
  • Physical attributes
  • High school or club experience

Simply put, 2k erg times are the first thing that college coaches look at. It’s what they use to gauge speed in recruits and is the best predictor available for athlete performance. However, strong grades and test scores are also very important because rowing teams must often deal with very high academic standards set by the school’s admissions office. Technique is tricky because while it is important, it is difficult for coaches to get a complete assessment of technique without seeing recruits row in person. If they do see a recruit at a prominent race or get to evaluate them enough at tryouts, it can be a great boost. College coaches are always on the lookout for tall recruits. Finally, rowers from an established high school or club team can work in conjunction with their high school or club coach to share a recommendation with college coaches. Read more about women’s rowing recruiting guidelines.

Recruiting tiers and 2k times for open weight rowers

Tier 1:

  • 2k in low 7:20s and under
  • 5’10”+
  • Top Division 1 teams.

Tier 2:

  • 2k in mid 7:20s to 7:30s
  • 5’9”+
  • Top Division 3 teams.

Tier 3:

  • 2k in 7:30s to 7:50
  • 5’8”+
  • Division 2 teams, middle Division 3 teams and lower Division 1 teams.

Tier 4:

  • 2k under 7:55
  • 5’7”+
  • Lower Division 3 teams and top club teams.

Read more about tiers and 2k times, including for lightweight rowers.

Women’s rowing camps

Attending the right rowing camp can be a tremendous benefit for athletes. There is something about the intensive process spanning multiple days that tends to get rowers to improve and find a new gear in their performance. However, before attending a camp, athletes and families should always consider their budget and realize that camp attendance does not necessarily lead to securing a roster spot or athletic scholarship money. Camps can help boost skills and learn-to-row camps can introduce potential walk-on athletes to the sport. Read more about women’s rowing camps and find a camp near you.

Women’s rowing walk-ons

Walk-ons make up a good portion of varsity women’s rowing rosters at all but the most accomplished teams. While there may be few walk-on spots available at elite programs, there are plenty of athletes without rowing experience who earn roster spots on strong varsity teams. Walk-ons need to exhibit raw athletic ability and learn quickly to show progress throughout tryouts. Read more about becoming a women’s rowing walk-on.

Colleges with women’s rowing

Women’s college rowing is an NCAA sanctioned sport and enjoys some of the largest roster sizes of any women’s sport, especially at the Division 1 level. However, lightweight women’s programs compete as part of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA), which is not part of the NCAA. With that said, there are currently around 156 varsity programs competing in college women’s rowing. Additionally, according to the cMax in-season rankings, there were more than 40 American College Rowing Association (ACRA) club teams competing during the 2018–19 season. Read more about women’s college rowing teams and see a full list.

National Signing Day: The Biggest NCAA Men’s Basketball Commitments

Here’s a look at who signed with some of the best Division I men’s basketball programs in the NCAA on National Signing Day.

Julian is a former NCAA DI basketball and tennis player. Julian is just one of many former college and professional athletes and coaches who are part of the Next College Student Athlete team. NCSA’s history of digital innovation and long-standing relationship with the college coaching community has made it the largest and most successful collegiate athletic recruiting network in the country.

The recruiting process is officially over for some of the top NCAA men’s basketball recruits. Yesterday, November 13, was National Signing Day for D1 basketball and all other sports besides football, kicking off the signing period for 2020-2021 enrollment. Athletes took to social media to announce and celebrate their college commitments. While the majority of this recruiting class made their school selection on the first day of the signing period, eight top 25 ranked basketball recruits are waiting to make their commitment.

Here’s a look at who signed with some of the best Division I men’s basketball programs in the NCAA on National Signing Day.

Duke

Duke welcomed six five-star athletes to The Brotherhood: wing Jalen Johnson (No. 4), guard Jeremy Roach (No. 22), DJ Steward (No. 25), forward Jaemyn Brakefield (No. 29), center Mark Williams (No. 30) and forward Henry Coleman (No. 41).

North Carolina

The Tar Heels successfully signed three top 25 recruits: center Day’Ron Sharpe (No. 18), center Walker Kessler (No. 20) and point guard Caleb Love (No. 21).

Texas Tech

The Red Raiders locked down their first-ever five-star guard in Nimari Burnett, along with Micah Peavy and Chibuzo Agbo.

Oklahoma State

The recruiting class of 2020’s No. 1 composite ranked ball player, Cade Cunningham (point guard), and guard Rondel Walker officially signed with the Cowboys.

Kansas

Bryce Thompson will stay in the Midwest, playing for the Jayhawks as the team’s first five-star recruit since 2018.

Tennessee

The Volunteer’s class of 2020 will include five-stars players Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson, and a four-star player Corey Walker Jr.

NCSA: Five social media lessons for coaches

Any coach who’s looking to brush up their social media skills should look at these tips and tricks from NCSA.

Nelson Gord is a former collegiate and professional ballplayer, successful high school head coach and the founder of the largest travel baseball club in Illinois. Nelson is just one of many former college and professional athletes and coaches who are part of the Next College Student Athlete team. Their experience, along with NCSA’s history of digital innovation and long-standing relationship with the college coaching community, helped create NCSA Team Edition, the free recruiting platform for club and high school coaches and their teams.

Social media can be a tremendous tool for growing the reach and influence of your team or organization, but it also must be utilized properly in order to really help. That’s why NCSA Team Edition (our recruiting platform built for high school and club coaches) recently hosted a social media education webinar that covered many tips and issues that coaches and athletes may not be familiar with. It is a highly recommended watch for any coach who’s looking to brush up their social media skills. In this article, you’ll find just a few of the takeaways from this webinar.

Athletes and parents: You can also apply much of this information to your own social media presence, especially the section about dos and don’ts. 

Click here to watch the full social media education webinar.

Celebrate achievements

When your team and athletes are doing well and others see that, it’s a great boost for your brand and reputation. That’s why when athletes have an impressive game, cap off a solid season, win an award, etc., you should share that achievement, whether it’s on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. This can also extend to academic achievements, college commitments, service projects and other related activities. Make sure to use hashtags and tag other teams in your region to help expand your reach.

Market your athletes

Outside of celebrating achievements, social media presents plenty of opportunities to market your athletes and help them get noticed throughout the college recruiting process. You can announce the arrival of new athletes when they join your team or create introduction or highlight videos that show off your athletes. If that seems a bit too time-intensive, keep an eye out for any tweets or posts that athletes and families share. You can share and retweet those to show support and also add content to your page.

Share alumni highlights

Few things make your team look better on social media than alumni getting recruited and playing for a college program. That’s why you should keep following your former athletes and sharing what they’re doing at the next level. This is especially effective when sharing posts about your alumni that have been posted by their college team or university accounts. To get the best possible reach, you’ll ideally want to follow every single college program in your sport—or at least the ones that recruit in your region.

Make sure your Twitter bio stands out

Twitter is the main social media platform used by college coaches and programs when it comes to communicating with potential recruits. To effectively stand out, you’ll want your team’s Twitter handle to actually be representative of your team. So, if your baseball team is the Washington Stars, you may want to name it @StarsBaseball. You’ll also want to make sure the bio is informative and includes any accolades that your team has recently won. Having a recognizable name and informative bio will help your account get more traction.

Educate athletes about dos and don’ts

As you already know, your athletes don’t always make the best decisions. When it comes to social media, once you post something online, it’s out there forever. Help educate them about proper social media usage with these tips:

Do:

  • Stay positive
  • Adopt a 24-hour rule (don’t post when emotions are running hot)
  • Consider what you’re liking and retweeting
  • Make your Instagram and Snapchat accounts private
  • Post highlight and skills clips
  • Announce your commitment

Don’t

  • Use bad language
  • Post anything you wouldn’t want your parents to see
  • Engage with fans of opposing schools or teams
  • Post anything negative about a school that is recruiting you
  • Post personal contact information

When you find success, keep going

Even top clubs still lean on social media after they’ve become household names. After the seminar, we asked some of our top NCSA Team Edition partner clubs about their approach to social media.

Coach Ryan Silver of West Coast Elite—the largest youth travel basketball organization on the West Coast—shared that “Social media is very important for highlighting our players’ accomplishments on and off the court. We believe that off-the-court accomplishments—community service, strong academic resume—are just as important as an athlete with a 40-inch vertical being recruited by the top college programs in the country. The foundation of our program is built around the 40-year plan: setting yourself up for life after basketball. Social media allows us to help each athlete who is a part of our program by highlighting their accomplishments.”

Vince Muscat, Club Director of Michigan Elite Volleyball Academy, shared that “Social media is an important way for us to communicate and market to our customers and their families. We use social media to help promote the individual athletes as well as the team’s accomplishments. We utilize social media to market upcoming programs, lessons, training, tournament schedules and to highlight our alumni as they continue their collegiate careers.”

When utilized correctly, social media can be a tremendous tool for you and your team. Do you need help expanding your social media reach? Have any topics which you’d like to see covered in this column? Reach out to NCSA Team Edition directly at teamedition@ncsasports.com and we’ll let you know how we can help.