Field Hockey Recruiting Tips

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.

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.

1. 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. If you want your child to go to school on an athletic scholarship, no matter the sport, then you should get them to start playing the sport early. All of their potential competitors will have been playing for years, and they might get a leg up if your child doesn’t.

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.

2. 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. This is probably a good place to get help from someone who knows how to do this correctly.

3. 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.

4. Go to showcases.

There are many field hockey showcases your child can attend to get themselves in front of recruiters. There are showcases in most areas where field hockey is big. It should not be hard to find a few around you. If you are really serious about getting your child into the best school, consider the Disney showcase.

5. Create a resume.

Create a well-written resume to send 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 in order to be able to play. If all they see is field hockey, they will have no basis to know whether the child can handle a full, college-level course load and keeping up a grueling field hockey schedule at the same time. So make sure the resume reflects all angles of their personality.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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. Even with everything else going on, remember to keep them practicing so that they stay sharp.

9. 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?
· What is the minimum amount of scholarship money you can take?

These are the questions you need to ask yourself before sending off videos and resumes. Do your research and have your child do theirs.

10. 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.

What to Do Now

Now that you have done everything you can do, all that is left to do is wait. This is often the hardest part, especially when you see your child so excited to find out if and where they are going to school. However, remember that patience is a virtue. You will find out soon enough. And 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. The only problem your family might have is deciding which offer to take. Good luck!