Help Me Get Recruited!
"Coach, I want to play on a college team. How do I make that happen?"
As high school and club coaches, we love seeing players looking to move on to the next level of play.
In this series, we are going to cover a step-by-step plan to make that happen.
1. How to find schools that fit you (Academically and Water Polo)
2. Make a great first impression on coaches
3. Produce a video that showcases your skills
"Coach, I want to play on a college team. How do I make that happen?"
The first thing we need to find is what school/program fits you best.
An athlete must have a list of schools that match their goals and capabilities in both academics and athletics. We're going to cover the advice we give our athletes to approach this daunting task.
Studies should always come first and you must pick a school where you can grow and succeed as a student and as an athlete. It should have options that match your areas of interest. Players often overlook the most important requirement for being a student-athlete: They must be a student at the school!
Your high school GPA and test scores will be a key factor in your admittance, but the hard work is not done yet! Throughout college, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum GPA to be eligible to train and compete.
Start with a list of all of the schools that have water polo. Trim your longer list down to schools that fit your academic level first, then your Water Polo level. Always have a few reach schools, and a few that might be a bit more comfortable on paper.
Different programs will have their own expectations and requirements for a player. Generally, the most competitive teams are the most demanding. During the season, a player can generally expect to train and compete five or six days out of the week. During the off season, training can vary from 2 hours/day for 4 days/week to 20 hours a week depending on the time of the year.
As we move along the spectrum, we can expect that the offseason requirements will be less demanding. Some teams will only have required training during the competition season, while others will expect their athletes to weight lift or some other level of training. When you are joining a team, you are making a commitment to contribute. It is important that you understand your role and responsibilities.
With that in mind, let's take the list of academic matches and only keep schools that match the role and responsibility you can handle. These are all of the schools that could be a good fit for you. From here, you need to consider the lifestyle at the school. Whether you're at a junior college in the desert or a university on the coast, you will be spending a lot of time around campus.
Some questions you can ask yourself to narrow it down, and remember, there is no right or wrong answer, just a personal answer:
- Can I afford the tuition and the cost of living in the area?
- If I'm not playing I’m not happy, or I want to find out how good I can be, be on the best team, and die trying to make it?
- What size school do I want?
- Do I want to be close to home?
- How excited am I to be a student there?
- Will I be ok with the weather?
- Quality of living
- School social life
These general guidelines will help you find schools to focus your effort on.
Some of this information will be a simple search away. Other information will require you to ask around.
Give yourself plenty of time to find schools you're interested in. Once you're ready, we'll cover how to make a great first impression.
"Coach, I have a list of schools I’m interested in. How should I contact their coaches?"
The simples way to talk to a coach is to send an email. The problem is that college coaches receive a lot of emails and it is hard to sift through all of them. Help them out by giving them the most relevant information directly in the subject line.
Making your subject line pop out amongst the crowd of others, so the coach feels the need to read your email!
Once a coach has opened your email, they’re looking for the following information:
Name
Year in school or graduation year
Position
Club and High School teams
Swim times
Height
Weight
Dominant hand
GPA
Test scores
Why you’re interested in the program
Athletic resume
A link to your recruitment video
The caliber of the program will determine the criteria necessary to earn a spot on the team. By starting with your basic information, it makes it very easy for the coach to begin to determine where you rank amongst your future teammates and recruiting class.
What should I include on my CV or Resume?
Name
Your contact information
Graduation year
GPA and Test Scores
School and school address
Home address
Date of birth
Phone number
NCAA ID number
Swim times
Picture of you playing
Club team
Coaches contact information (name, phone, and email)
Degree of interest
Awards received
You might have noticed that there is a lot of overlap between your email and this resume. This may be confusing but consider the purposes of the email and the resume. The email’s purpose is an introduction to the program. It says why you’re interested and why you’d be a good fit. The resume represents the facts. This will be what is passed around as a representation of you and your abilities.
Because these programs receive so much communication from athletes, it may take some time to get a response. Be polite but persistent.
I’ve seen a lot of players who aren’t from California or even “big name” schools and programs get discouraged because they think that someone else is getting more looks from coaches. Here’s the deal, everyone feels that way. It doesn’t matter if you are from the Northeast, Midwest, California or Hawaii, there have been many successful college water polo players from all different backgrounds like Matt Farmer (Illinois), Ben Stevenson (Nevada), Mike Rosenthal (Florida), or Brandon Brooks (Hawaii), Ashleigh Johnson (Florida), Elsie Windes (Oregon). Each of these players needed to introduce themselves to a coach and standout.
There is a huge number of student-athletes compared to the number of coaches and recruiters. You must work to communicate with these coaches. You’ve spent the time in the classroom and the pool, it’s time to continue that dedication when you represent yourself.
"Coach, what should I put in my highlight video?”
College coaches need to see your skills before they can offer you a spot on their team. The best way to do this is to provide a link to your highlight video through youtube.
A great video showcases your best attributes as a player and demonstrates your well-rounded game.
For field players, you should show how you can execute in the different phases of the game:
Offensive
Shooting (perimeter and center)
Driving
Exclusions Earned
Power Play Possessions
Transition
Defensive
Center
Zone/Help
Field Blocking
Perimeter
Power Play
Transition
Simple Skills (can be simple videos of you demonstrating a drill)
Shooting accuracy and velocity
Passing accuracy
Lateral movement
Defensive positioning
Leg Strength (emptying a jug, vertical leap, medicine ball)
Example drills:
Goalies:
Blocking
Perimeter
Center
Lobs
Counter Attack
Penalty
Passing
Counter Attack
Outlets
Positioning
Front Court
6/5
Mobility
Slides
Steps
Rotation
Example Drills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxjYYEm9ckA&t=19s
Strength
Lunging
Jugs
Medicine ball
Vertical Leap
Example Drills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khgzZ8Abg7g&t=60s
How do I make the video easy for the coach to view?
First, take your game and drill clips and edit them into a video. Here is a list of some of the top free video editing software that we’ve used:
DaVinci Resolve (Windows/Mac/Linux)
Lightworks (Windows/Mac OS X/Linux)
VSDC (Windows)
Hitfilm Express (Windows/Mac)
Shortcut (Windows/Mac/Linux)
Apple iMovie (Mac).
If you do not have any game film or highlights, ask the coaches or your teammates’ parents. A lot of coaches will use film to assess their team’s performance. Your teammates might already be compiling their video. For skill demonstration, ask a parent, friend, teammate, or coach to video you at practice executing several skills.
Using the software of your choice, start editing:
At the beginning of the video, use a title page to state which cap color and which cap number you are wearing.
Use titles to describe what the coach should be looking for. For example “Goals” or “Exclusions” or “5/6 defense.”
You can also circle yourself in the video to show the viewer where to look
Once you have a video that you’re proud of, create a youtube account and upload the video! If you’re already in contact with coaches, share the link with them.
At the end of this process, you should have emails out to teams you’re interested in and a great showcase of your talents. Recruiting is a stressful time for players but keep working at it and you will find your team.
Good luck and we’ll see you on a pool deck soon!
The Team at CB Water Polo