The right way to communicate during the recruitment process

Being a college coach of any particular sport you must know how to effectively communicate with potential student-athletes. The student-athlete may be hindering on two different schools and proper communication techiques could help sway their decision. The use of the following techniques will drastically improve the way your program is looked upon by prospective student-athletes.

The first step to effective communication with student-athletes, is to make yourself available to them. With the advent of cell phones and e-mails, this ideal has become much easier than it used to be. Give out your personal phone number and not your office to give the impression that this particular student-athlete is your top priority. Having this impression will go a long way with the student-athlete's image of the program.

Another important idea to remember is that when parents come along with the student-athlete during visits many coaches tend to only talk with the parents instead of the student-athlete. This is definately the wrong way to go about handling this situation. You need to sell your school and program to the student first, then to the parent (the latter becomes much easier when the student is impressed). Having the student-athlete handle the majority of the conversation will help to epitomize the relationship between the coach and player.

Making the relationship between yourself and the student-athlete personal is ultimately the overall goal. All sports players want a good coach, but if you are a good coach that has a tremendous relationship with the players than your image is improved in the eyes of others. The image of how you are percieved will drastically improve your chances of getting future student-athletes to committ to your program.

Also if you are going to respond by e-mail, texting, or writing a letter there are still many ways to be personal. First of all, do not make your writing look like it is a standard letter sent to anyone who applies to your program. This gives off the wrong impression to the student-athlete because it lowers high expectancy of the student-athlete-coach relationship. By sending a letter like you are friends with the prospective player creates the image of a personal relationship which you are ultimately trying to achieve.

In summation, the key idea to this whole column is that if you -the coach- makes yourself available and create a personal relationship with the prospective student-athlete will drastically improve your chances of getting this player at your program.