Looking for tips on recruiting for college soccer so you can stand out? Are you a club or high school player looking to play college soccer? Start em
Looking for tips on recruiting for college soccer so you can stand out? Are you a club or high school player looking to play college soccer? Start emailing college coaches. This can be a difficult task, but don’t worry; in this blog post, we will give you eight best practices on how to email college coaches so you can stand out from other recruits competing for scholarships and get a response. Let’s get started!
Eight Best Practices when Emailing College Soccer Coaches
Emailing college coaches is a very important part of the recruiting process. If you follow these eight steps with many programs, you’ll be well on your way to earning a college soccer scholarship.
- Research the program
- Find the right contact information
- Write a subject line that stands out
- Personalize your message
- Include your athletic and academic achievements
- Share video highlights and your online profile
- Be professional
- Follow up
Research the Program
Before you email a coach recruiting for college soccer, you need to first discover if the school is a good fit for you. You can watch their games online and visit campus to watch a game in person to get a real feel for the program’s culture and environment. Taking the time to do research beforehand will help you target schools you would be happy to attend without playing soccer.
Even if you don’t care about the academic opportunities a college offers, there are still soccer-related questions you should answer before deciding on which schools to target. And if soccer isn’t as important to you, you will undoubtedly want to ensure the school meets your academic, social, and career needs.
Below are a few academic and soccer-related questions to consider before contacting college coaches. There are certainly more questions you may want to answer, but the below are great to get things going. Remember, you should be genuinely interested in a school’s athletic and academic aspects before emailing a college coach.
Questions to answer when researching a college soccer program
- Academic research questions
- Does it offer the major I want to study?
- Is it in a desirable location?
- Does it have the social life I’m looking for?
- Is it too large or small?
- Soccer program questions
- What is their style of play? Does it fit mine?
- What is the coaching style, and does it work well for me?
- Do freshmen normally play? Do I care if I play as a freshman?
- How often are players transferring in and out?
If you want some help learning more about college programs quickly, you can utilize ProductiveRecruit’s college search tool to find colleges that meet your preferences. Filter through college soccer colleges by gpa, test scores, major, location, enrollment size, graduation rate, and more.
Find the Correct Contact Information
Before you can start emailing college coaches, you need to find their email addresses. Remember that you should contact every assistant coach in addition to the head coach. In many cases, assistant coaches act as the lead recruiting coordinator, so emailing all the coaches is a safe bet (at least for your initial email).
How do you find college coach contact information? There are two good options.
- Via the college’s athletic department website
- Via a recruiting-specific tool
How to find college soccer coach information on the college’s website
To do this, perform a google search for the program you’re looking for and their athletic website should be one of the first results. For example, if I search for “Syracuse men’s soccer coaches” on google, this is the first result.
I would then click the first result and be taken to the page listing their coaching staff. From there, you can click the individual card for each college coach on their staff to view more information and (usually) their email address and phone number.
How to find coach contact information quickly with ProductiveRecruit
Searching for coaches via google search can be time-consuming. You can quickly find coach contact information with ProductiveRecruit. With a ProductiveRecruit account, you can search for any college soccer program and find any college coach’s email, phone number, and Twitter handles in seconds.
For example, I would search for “Syracuse” and then click “more info” on the college card.
I would then be taken to the below page, where I can view the contact information for each member of the coaching staff, along with their Twitter handles, and more information about the program (such as the recruiting questionnaire).
Write a Subject Line that Stands Out
Subject lines are often overlooked when crafting an email to college coaches. You need a quality subject line to stand out in a coach’s inbox.
Some information to consider including in your subject line
- Grad Year
- Club Team Name
- Position(s)
- Height
- GPA
- ACT or SAT Scores
College coaches will be more likely to open emails with interesting subject lines because they can get dozens (if not hundreds) of emails per day. You can even consider using emojis to catch a coach’s attention and increase your open rates.
Here are some examples of good subject lines for emailing college coaches:
⚽ 6’0 Forward | Class of 2023 | 3.7 GPA | Detroit, MI
2022 6’2 Center Back | San Diego Surf | 3.7 GPA | 28 ACT | Business Major
6’5″ GK | 220 LBS | 20 ECNL Shutouts | Class of 2024 | 31 ACT ⚽
Now that you’ve written a great subject line, it’s time to personalize your email.
Personalize your Email to College Coaches
College coaches receive dozens (if not hundreds) of emails a day. In most cases, they will immediately delete any email that is a template you have copied and pasted to multiple coaches.
How do I personalize an email to a college soccer coach?
It’s simple. Research the program and coach and include a few-sentence compliment on something they’ve accomplished that stands out to you. Emailing coaches is time-consuming, and college coaches will note your work ethic if you take the time to research before you contact them.
Don’t be lazy! Read summaries of recent matches, scroll through their social profiles, watch a video interview on YouTube, visit campus, or read their bio on the athletic website. You will find something interesting in one of these places.
Then summarize this in a sentence or two.
For example: “Coach Johnson, I am very impressed by your conference tournament championship. I watched the final match online and loved the team’s tenacity to come back from 2-1 down. I want to be part of a program like that.”
Seems super simple right? But you’d be surprised by the number of players who skip this or send mass emails to coaches without personalization. It’s lazy. As a future student-athlete, the last thing you can be lazy.
The research will also teach you more about the college and the program (see step 1). Maybe you will realize it’s not a good fit and save everyone time.
Show coaches why you’re interested
After adding personalization, write a sentence (or two) on why you’re interested in their program.
For example, if you want to study business and this school has an excellent business school, tell them that. Or, if you love that the athletic department has a great strength and conditioning program, say that.
You don’t even have to mention things related to playing soccer. You are a student-athlete, after all.
However, since you are emailing a college coach, it is in your best interest to relate why you’re interested in their program and the school.
Include Athletic and Academic Achievements
What academic information should be included
Before evaluating your soccer talents, a college coach wants to see that you meet the college’s academic requirements.
Share your current GPA, best test scores (if you’ve taken the SAT or ACT), and any other academic achievements you’ve earned. You should also attach your transcript if you have one.
You can easily share any of this information with a ProductiveRecruit profile to make it easier for a college coach to view your information.
Why are academics so crucial for becoming a college soccer player?
As a student-athlete, you must realize that excellent grades and test scores will help you earn scholarships. In soccer, most players do not get a full or partial scholarship.
At the division one level, only 9.9 are available for men’s soccer programs and 14 for women’s programs. That’s about 33% and 50% of the roster respectively.
If you can earn an academic scholarship, you are a better target for a coaching staff who only has a limited number of athletic scholarships available.
What athletic information should be included
Make sure to include the following information.
- Club team name and coach information
- The high school team and coach information (if you play high school soccer)
- Any other references you have and their contact information
- Your height and weight
- Are you right-footed or left-footed?
- Jersey number
- Your upcoming schedule
- Goals scored (if you’re an attacker or defender who is involved with set pieces)
- Assists (if you’re an attacker or wing back)
- Shutouts (if you’re a goalkeeper or defender)
Ask your club coach if there is any more information you should include to stand out to coaches recruiting for college. Some other relevant information could be minutes played or games started.
Just like your academic stats, you can easily share any of this information with a ProductiveRecruit profile to make it easier for a college coach to view your athletic info.
Share Highlight Video(s), and your Online Profile
Evaluating video is a tool college coaches leverage to make key decisions in the college recruiting process. Having a quality highlight video is a huge advantage.
Many soccer programs don’t have the budget to travel across the country and see every prospective student-athlete play in person. Due to low budgets, many colleges recruit student-athletes in their region. Not every college coach will be able to watch you in person, but any coach can watch your highlight video.
The pandemic moved us closer to a digital first world, making video a more important part of the recruiting process. Just because lockdowns are over doesn’t mean videos are less important. Videos are as important as ever and will continue to become a more solidified part of the process.
Where should I upload my soccer highlight video?
- YouTube
- Hudl
- Vimeo
- Instagram/Facebook
- TikTok
- Anywhere you can share it publicly
You can add as many highlight video(s) to your online ProductiveRecruit profile as you want.
Be Professional
When you email the head coach (or any assistant) coach, you need to be professional. Check for grammar using a free tool like Grammarly, and leave out any slang or terms you’d only use with your friends. Once you get to campus, you may find you can be informal with your coaching staff, but before you get to know them, it’s important to make a great first impression.
Follow Up, When Contacting Coaches Recruiting for College Soccer
Chances are you won’t get a response to your introductory email. This could be due to many reasons, but you shouldn’t assume anything. You can only control your actions, and a coach’s response is out of your control.
It is not annoying to follow up with a coach. It would be unfortunate if you never followed up with a coach you would have been an excellent fit for.
View the NCAA recruiting calendars for more info on that.
When to follow up with college coaches
After your introductory email to a college coach (recruiting for college soccer), wait at least a week to follow up with them. After you follow up, wait at least a month to email them again. While you want to be persistent, you must respect their time because they are swamped.
What should I share when I follow up with college coaches
In general, you should share new information that could help them further evaluate your fit or get to know you better.
- New highlight videos
- Updated GPA or test scores
- Updated schedule
- New club team or high school
- New position or statistics
The goal here is to get an athletic scholarship, so don’t take anything too personally. Anything that helps the coaching staff evaluate you is not a waste of their time. If you are not a good fit, they should let you know, and you can thank them and move on.
Example Email Template to a College Soccer Coach, Recruiting for College Soccer
Below is an email template you can use to start writing your introductory email to college coaches. This template will help you eliminate writer’s block so you can send high-quality emails more quickly. Please remember not to copy and paste email templates when you email college coaches. Also, remember to email both the head coach and the assistant coaches.
I’m pretending to write to a brand new coach in this example.
Example Email Subject Line > When Contacting a Coach Regarding Recruiting for College Soccer
⚽ 2024 Forward | 3.7 GPA | 28 ACT | ECNL | Business Major
Dear Coach Smith,
Congratulations on being hired as the newest assistant coach at Example University! I think it’s fantastic that you are now coaching at the same school you played for. I remember watching your 3-2 win over Notre Dame your senior season — what a game that was.
I am writing as I am very interested in becoming part of the Example Men’s Soccer Program. I am a hard-working and clinical forward and believe I would fit nicely into your 4-3-3 system. Additionally, I am very interested in enrolling in your prestigious business school.
I currently have a 3.7 GPa and a 28 ACT score. I will graduate in 2023 and have attached my transcript if that is helpful.
Here is my latest highlight video: {link to youtube}
You can find my references, view more highlights, and other key information on my online profile (you would link it here).
Please see my below email signature for my updated contact information and social media profiles.
Thank you in advance for your consideration, and I look forward to connecting with you soon.
Best,
Colin
–
Example Athlete
Example High School | Class of 2023
Example ECNL Club U18 Elite Team
Forward | 3.7 GPA | 1850 SAT
{link to online profile}
Twitter: @example_athlete
P: (123) 456-7890
Conclusion
If you’re an aspiring soccer student-athlete, emailing college coaches is key to achieving your goals. In this article, we’ve outlined a guide on how soccer players can email college coaches effectively.
Remember to be patient and follow up with coaches if they don’t respond. And most importantly, you need to stay organized. Use a tool like ProductiveRecruit to make the recruiting process a lot easier. Good luck on your journey to becoming a college soccer player!
