Deciding where to go to college can be stressful. However, it can also be very rewarding. If your child wants to go to school to play field hockey, you might worry about whether they can get in, where they might go, or if you can afford to send them. However, there are several steps you can take to help eliminate these concerns and make the field hockey recruitment process go much easier.
What College Recruiters Are Looking For
Across the board, recruiters are looking for well-rounded field hockey players who are masters at ball control and passing. College programs want players with “Field Hockey IQ” – the ability to think on your feet in a heated game. Sports camp helps you gain more experience playing competitive field hockey and gives you the tools for making quick decisions under high-pressure play.
Field Hockey Goalie: Goals are protected in NCAA field hockey programs by those who are steely under pressure, with quick decision-making skills. To stand out amongst the competition, you need to improve your agility, athleticism, and hand-eye coordination, and learn how to clear the ball with a good, strong kick. College recruiters are looking for field hockey goalies who are natural leaders, in the cage and on the field.
Field Hockey Defender: One-on-one defense skills, shot prevention, and outletting skills are going to be the keys to attracting the attention of college coaches and recruiters. If you show room for improvement, camp experience, and an All-State, All-American, or All-Region win under your belt, you’ll improve your chances of finding a place on a college-level team.
Field Hockey Midfielder: If you want to be a college-level midfield player, you need to have excellent stamina, good elimination skills, and a talent for creating scoring opportunities on the field. Tier 3 recruiters may not necessarily look for you to be the best in all these skills, but if you attend field hockey camp, participate in travel teams, and play for an All-Region or All-Conference high school team, you have a chance at playing for a college team.
Field Hockey Sweeper: Competing for a spot at a tier 1 school will require that you have excellent technical skills, along with intercepting deftness and versatility. You will need to learn how to be a reliable ball-clearing player with good defensive coverage and effective 1-on-1 moves to fend off attackers. You’ll also need to learn how to cover the goalkeeper well and actively communicate with your defensive teammates during play.
10 Tips on Field Hockey Recruitment
There are a lot of things you can do to help make this process easier, but here are ten that you should make sure to follow.
- Start early. If you wait until your child is a senior to start this process, it may be too late. You should start thinking about this very early. Even before it is time to start thinking about any individual college, the wheels must be in motion. Once your kid gets to high school, the antes up. You now have to start thinking about schools. The NCAA has created a sample field hockey recruitment timeline. It starts with freshmen, so that should tell you how important planning is to this process.
- Create a video. Have a video that you can send to recruiters. It should showcase your child and the skills that sets her apart from the rest. It should not be a game that you taped. Make it more professional than that. Compile clips of games with practices, drills, and showcases thrown in as well. Make sure it shows off all of your child’s impressive talents.
- Play on travel/club teams. Playing on a high school team is rarely enough anymore. If you want your child to have the best chance of going to a good school, they need to be playing year-round, and they need to play on travel and club teams. Big tournaments often have a lot of recruiters, and even without them, just having a big, well-known team on your side looks impressive.
- Go to showcases. There are many field hockey showcases your child can attend to get themselves in front of recruiters. This is where other elite field hockey players and college coaches will be. While a highlight video might show off your talented skill set, prospective schools want to see you play in person, especially if there are athletic scholarships on the line.
- Create a resume. Create a well-written resume to send to recruiters along with the video. It should talk about field hockey experience, but it should also mention all of the other ways your child is a well-rounded individual. Schools need their athletes to do well in school to be able to play.
- Make your graduation year known up front. Recruiters have rules about when they can contact a potential recruit. In order to help facilitate this process, make it easy for recruiters to find out your child’s graduation year. The easier it is for them to find this information, the easier it is to recruit.
- Use connections. All those years at field hockey camp and playing on various teams will hopefully pay off here. Your child probably has a lot of sources for information, introductions, and references. Do not be afraid to use them. It might get you in front of someone who can really help.
- Practice, practice, practice. The best way to get into a school to play field hockey is to be great at field hockey. Nothing else matters if you can’t give the school talent. Make sure your child keeps practicing and working on their skills. If a recruiter does show up to check them out, then they want to be playing their best game.
- Research, research, research. Hopefully, when it comes down to picking a school, your child has a lot of choices. When you are recruiting schools to recruit you, make sure you do your homework. What schools have the best field hockey teams? What division do you expect to get into? How far away do you want to go? How much can you afford? These are the questions you need to ask yourself before sending off videos and resumes.
- Contact schools separately. When you send out inquires and resumes, do not send a mass email. Make it feel a little bit personal. Even if you create one email and send it to multiple people, do not put it in one email. Also, take the time to get the coach’s name and put in the correct school name in the inquiry.
Now that you have done everything you can do, all that is left to do is wait. If you did all the practice and made all the teams that should get you noticed, then you should not have anything to worry about. Good luck!
Ready to take your field hockey game to the next level this summer? Find a Revolution Field Hockey Camp near you and register today!
