How many people do you know at Monte Vista that are being recruited by colleges around the country? Many people believe it is an easy process to get recruited to play a college sport, but in reality, it is the complete opposite.

    The recruiting process involves months of dedication, hard work, and patience, as the athlete waits to hear from their dream school. In many sports, such as soccer, volleyball, and football, athletes attend tournaments and showcases, hoping to be scouted by the college of their choice. But that’s just the beginning.

    The athletes put together a resume filled with stats, accomplishments, and video clips. These resumes are distributed to colleges across the country, and if a coach or scout sees something promising, then the athlete is contacted.

   For football, players usually update their statistics on a website such as MaxPreps.com. Here at Monte Vista, Coach Bergman usually helps the players out by doing this job. In order to further showcase their skills, rather than just at their high school games, they sign up for ID camps for the colleges they are interested in. Highly nerve-wrecking, you train, and play against hundreds of other athletes competing for the same recognition of being the best at the camp. If you are lucky, the coach of the camp you attended will go out of their way to contact you and show their interest.

    When it comes to soccer the process is similar. There are many opportunities to be seen by college coaches at local games, travel games, showcases and even practices. It is also highly effective to go to a school’s ID camp in order to gain more exposure.

    For women’s volleyball, the recruiting process is slightly different. It can begin as early as middle school, and at that age players begin to send out resumes to potential coaches.

    What exactly constitutes a volleyball resume? Because volleyball requires a variety of different skills, resumes must include multiple stats that vary from digging, to setting, attacks, and blocking

    Once this resume is sent out to different coaches, it is important for the player to put highlights and game footage on the internet, because most college coaches are unable to see and evaluate the player in person.

    The current high school coach or club coach also plays an important role in the process. At Monte Vista, Varsity Coach JJ Utchen helps and guides her players through the confusing process, and ultimately helps them make the right decision.

    The key element to the recruitment process is to stay in touch with the college coaches. You first send out emails to a list of the colleges you are interested in to come out and watch you, or you could catch a coach’s eye and he can let your coach know he’s interested in you. It is important to follow up with an email or a phone call if a coach takes the time to watch you play.

    However, there are recruiting rules that make communication between players and coaches significantly more difficult. The coach cannot email or call you up until a certain date and can only speak to you through your coach or if you call him first. The responsibility of staying in contact with college coaches is entirely up to the player.

    Another thing that can improve communication is to visit the campus of the college you are interested in and set up a meeting with the coach. When meeting with the coach, it is beneficial to sell yourself and show who you are as well as ask questions about their program and recruitment details.

    If a coach says no after all of this, the player is forced to start over from scratch with a new school. But when the coach and player are mutually interested, the player then goes on an unofficial visit where the coach showcases the school to the student in order to convince them to commit.

    When a player commits, they first give a verbal commitment stating their plan to attend that school to play for a specific sport. Once the signing date comes, the player signs their letter of intent. They also attend an official visit to the school where they meet their fellow recruits and future teammates and experience the school first hand.

    By no means is this journey a short or easy one, but it is necessary to undergo in order to achieve the end goal of playing a high level sport in college.