High school athletes who want to play in college and find an athletic scholarship must take the extra step of submitting resumes to college coaches. It is your responsibility to get recruited and if you aren’t already talking with coaches you need to create a resume and contact them yourself. Use these tips to make your resume draw the attention of college coaches.
Here is our complete guide to Creating a College Recruiting Resume
Keep the Resume and E-mails to Coaches Simple
A simple resume is the best as college coaches don’t have time to look over a three- or four-page document for the information they care about most. Your resume should be no more than one page in length and should contain only a brief description of your athletic and academic achievements. Coaches won’t give you a scholarship based just on your resume but they will remove it from their recruiting class if it is not what they are looking for.
Don’t Tell College Coaches What They Already Know
This means don’t tell a coach why you are sending them your resume. Too many resumes start out with “I am contacting you because I want to play for your program and earn an athletic scholarship.” This is a waste of text, and a coach already knows you are contacting them about playing for them. Instead, say something like “I noticed you have five seniors graduating at my position next year and would like to learn more about your needs at that position.”
Use Only Relevant Recruiting Information
You might have a lot of accomplishments that you would like to share with your family and grandparents, but coaches are only interested in a summary of your accomplishments. Don’t send them a complete list of every game; instead, send them your season averages or season bests. For sports such as track and field, swimming, and gymnastics, it’s not important how you placed but what you scored or what your time was. With team sports, don’t talk about what place your team finished, leave it strictly about you. Moreover, don’t forget the most relevant information of all: your contact information and references.
Show You Are Going to be Academically Eligible
You are trying to become a college student-athlete. Every resume needs to include your GPA and your SAT or ACT score. If you are worried that your academics might not be good enough and coaches won’t respond if you include them, you are wrong. Coaches have to have that information. If you leave it off, they are going to assume it is because you are going to have eligibility issues. As a bonus, include the contact information of your school’s academic office.
Include Sports and Character References
You need at least two to three references on your resume. Don’t use family members or references from further back than freshman year. The ideal combination of references will be your high school or club coach, assistant coach, or personal trainer; and it is always good to include a reference from a teacher or school counselor.
Proofread, Proofread, Proofread
Before submitting your final resume to college coaches, make sure you have triple-checked every last detail. Are addresses correct? Are phone numbers or other contact information correct? Did you spell everything correctly? Read the resume several times yourself and then enlist the help of parents, friends, or teachers to double-check it again for you. Nothing will sink your chances with a coach faster than a resume with mistakes.
Include a Link to an Online Recruiting or Highlight Video
Every athlete, no matter what your sport is, can benefit from having a video online that coaches can view. If you are in a sport like football or basketball, you have to have a video. No coaches will take a serious look at your resume unless they can see footage of you. For other sports like track or swimming it can be a nice way to have something unique about your resume.
Arkansas Tech University Sports Recruiting
Are you having trouble putting together a resume? Would you like one of our recruiting experts to review your resume and give you some critical tips? You can leave your questions in the comments section below or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+!