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October 13, 2009
And You Want To Swim In College?
This is a very busy time for college coaches. The college
recruiting season for the HS Class of 2010 is in full swing. Most
of the top recruits are already done with their five official
college recruiting trips. They are now weighing the pros and cons
of the colleges and their swim programs, while being called and
pressured by the head coaches of these colleges to commit. Many of
the top recruits have already verbally committed and a lot of the
available scholarship money has been promised to these recruits. To
complete the recruiting, the college coaches now go after the sub
top swimmers in the HS Class of 2010, to fill in the
“holes” in their program from graduating
seniors.
While most recruits commit before the end of the year, the
recruiting season lasts until the spring of 2010. However, in
November the college coaches are already starting to scout recruits
in the HS Class of 2011. They will visit HS State Championships ( TOP FINISHERS
WILL GET RECOGNIZED ) and the December US Open or Holiday Classic meets. They
will visit or check the results of Sr Mets, the Sectional meets and spring
Jr Nats. It is a never-ending cycle for them.
What this all means is that if you want to swim in college, you
should not wait until you are a senior in HS as the recruiting
season is 70% done by the time of the first big taper
meet.
College coaches do not care if you went to Zones as a 12 year old.
They care how you do and how you improve while in HS.
Your sophomore and junior years in HS are the most important two
years to make an impression on college coaches. As a sophomore, you
want to put yourself on the “radar screen”, not by
swimming all best times at the Ann Wycoff meet, but by doing really
well at the TYR Cup, Sr Mets, Zones, Sectionals, Jr Nats,
etc.
The junior year is even more important. By the end of you junior
year, your performances in the pool that short course season,
should have caught the eye of college coaches, and hopefully this
will result in being invited to recruiting trips in the fall of
your senior year.
It also does not hurt to
contact coaches of colleges you are interested in, while a sophomore or junior in
HS.
Fill in online recruiting forms and email coach how much you
improved at your last big mee
t.
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