Recruiting 101: Does Your Club Gymnastics Coach Help with Recruiting?

Recruiting 101: Does Your Club Gymnastics Coach Help with Recruiting?

Many gymnastics club coaches desire to help their athletes get recruited to college. Here are some tips on how to get the process started.

Dec 22, 2016 by Jill Hicks
Recruiting 101: Does Your Club Gymnastics Coach Help with Recruiting?
Is your club coach involved in the recruiting process, or is it up to you to make it happen?

Either way -- it's OK! Many gymnastics club coaches desire to help their athletes get recruited to college. In fact, there are some club coaches who do an amazing job at assisting their high school gymnasts as they walk through the process. Unfortunately, the bulk of my clients and families say they are on their own. So how do you begin your recruitment?

1. Start by talking with your club coach. Let them know you have desires to compete in college and you would like to partner with them to make it a smoother path.

2. Club coaches have very busy schedules, so try to make it easy on them. You can give them a list of schools you are interested in and keep them updated with your progress.

3. As you get serious about schools, give your club coach cell numbers of the college coach and ask if they will make phone calls on your behalf.

4. Talk to your club coach about days that you can video your training in the gym.

5. Work together on picking a college summer camp to attend that won't disrupt your training.

It is possible to go through the recruiting process without the assistance of your club coach. At some point in time the college coach will want to talk with your club coach, but much of the college recruiting work can be done by you and your parents.  

JH Consulting is an advising service for parents and gymnasts to help them through the gymnastics college recruiting process.  Jill has 20 years of college coaching experience.  She has advised gymnasts to Division 1, 2 and 3 schools and teams.  You can see her information by going to www.jhicksconsulting.com. She also offers a web course called Roadmap To Recruiting with 10 modules designed for the parent and gymnast to do together.