1. Year of graduation
It is very important to let the college coaches know right away what year a recruit graduates from high school. When I was a Recruiting Coordinator I wasted a lot of time trying to find a prospect’s year of graduation. We make it easy for the coaches and save them time.
2. Best events and best times (showing progression is very important)
Coaches are looking for swimmers they can help develop and improve. Showing improvement is one of the best things we can do to sell a coach on a recruit. Improvement shows they are on a roll and will keep that momentum when they join their team.
If you were a coach and had a choice between two swimmers, one who is improving and one who is not, who would you choose?
Now, does that mean if a recruit hasn’t improved in awhile they can’t swim in college? Absolutely not! When we work with a swimmer who is in a slump we find out why and explain that to the coaches and get them to take a chance on the swimmer.
We provide the coaches with relay splits as well as standup times. We are sure to let the coaches know they are relay splits.
We don’t just send converted times. We let the coaches know the exact time to the tenth of a second and if it was yards, short course meter or long courses meters. We also send converted times and altitude adjusted times. Be careful in sending converted times. There are so many formulas out there that it is hard to determine which one is most accurate. Sometimes it is better to let the coaches convert.
3. Updating the coaches as you progress (keeping you in front of the coaches)
The most effective way to show progression is to keep the coaches updated.
We provide the coaches with updated best times shaved and tapered and unrested in-season swims. This keeps our swimmers in front of the coaches and makes it easy to see why they should recruit you. Once again, we are saving the coaches time.