4 Must-Have’s in a Cover Letter to a College Coach
Every College Coach is Now Recruiting Online in One Form or Another
One of the best ways to introduce yourself to coaches and initiate the recruiting process is with a well-written email containing your cover letter and athletic and academic resume. Here are some tips for writing a quality cover letter for coaches.
Be Concise – Coaches Don’t Have Enough Hours in the Day
If you send them a full page cover letter talking about your entire athletic, academic and community accomplishments they won’t read it or look at anything else you send them. The entire cover letter should be two to three paragraphs and no more than half a page.
Cover the Big Three: Who You Are, Athletics, and Academics
Coaches need to know your name and graduation year immediately so they know whether or not they should respond to your e-mail right away. Follow that information with a quick introduction of your measurables (height, weight, and position), along with your academic information. List your GPA, and if you have taken the SAT or ACT, include that information as well. You will want to also include your single best athletic honor and academic honor. Don’t list more than one each; save that for your resume.
Triple-check Spelling and Grammar
Coaches make quick opinions about athletes based on your writing, poor spelling shows laziness and a lack of attention to detail. Don’t think that because you used spell-check on the computer, it is correct. Take your cover letter and resume to your English teacher and have them quickly look it over.
Make it Personal – As More and More Athletes Contact Coaches Through E-mail, You Need to Stand Out
Coaches don’t respond to a generic letter unless you are an amazing athlete. If you take the time to write a personalized message to coaches, they will take time to respond to you. Go beyond just changing the name of the university in the email; include a couple of sentences about their university and their programs’ most recent results.
Here is a complete guide to writing your college recruiting resume and cover letter!
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