As you can imagine, in our quest to help the high school student-athlete wade through the college recruiting process, we come across quite a few “personalities”…  Of course, I’m referring to the attitude and demeanor of the athletes themselves (and some parents).

One of the most important bits of advice that we give our athletes is to be polite when communicating with college coaches and recruiters.  Whether you are talking to them in person, on the phone or via an e-mail message, you have to be extremely respectful!

There seems to be a sense of “entitlement”, almost an uber-cockiness if you will, that exists within the high school athletic community.  What they need to understand is that it is a huge privilege to be considered for a collegiate athletic scholarship, not a right!  Showing respect to the college coaches, recruiters, high school coaches and councelors trying to assist with the process is a “must”.

I’ve seen messages accompanying profiles sent out to coaches for consideration and have seen “yo, check me out” and “I’m the best and that’s all there is to it”…….There are some a lot worse, if you can believe that, but there are also some well thought out communication.  Slang and poor grammar is not the way to impress a coach or recruiter!

Remember, whether you want to think about it or not, you are competing for a scholarship with thousands of other student-athletes, so take every advantage that you can to impress the coaches and stand out (in a positive way) from the others!    

YOU CANNOT DREAM YOURSELF INTO A CHARACTER; YOU MUST HAMMER AND FORGE YOURSELF ONE……    Henry David Thoreau

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