College Recruiting in Real Time with Ellie
By: Ellie Friedlander, Lead Intern
Hey Lead Fam, it’s Ellie! I am currently a junior in high school and as part of a new blog series, I am going to be sharing where I am in my journey to be recruited to swim in college. I’ve learned a lot from Lead’s recruiting webinars and breakout sessions at the Lead Summit, which have really helped me get started and know what my next steps are.
Last year I attended a Lead Insiders webinar with Ali Miller and Mandy Lau. At that point, I knew I wanted to swim in college, and I knew recruiting was starting for the class of 2027 very soon. They helped lay out a research plan that helped me zero in on what type of college I was looking for and how to try to identify colleges that I think I would fit at. It all stemmed from what type of major you might want to pursue and making sure the university has it.
The plan asked questions like:
What does your ideal campus life look like?
How big do you want the school to be?
How seriously do you want to swim in college?
Answering those questions is not an easy task, and there are a lot of colleges out there that fit at least part of my criteria. The webinar also gave several other steps like filling out recruiting questionnaires, emailing coaches even if you’re unsure about a school, and not being afraid to look in places where you might not expect to find something because you really never know what could be the best fit for you. I cast a very broad net when searching for the right college because I knew that what I feel like might be best for me, might not actually be.
This helped me get a great start. I emailed coaches over the summer to get my name out there, and after my LCM (long course meters) championship meet, I emailed them all again. In August, I had my first calls with coaches, which was very exciting and a little bit nerve-racking. I compiled a list of questions to ask the coaches but I wasn’t sure what a recruiting call looked like. My first call was with a school that was a little bit lower on my list, which made it a perfect first call because I could feel out what a call looked like without any pressure. Then later when I had calls with coaches who I was really excited to hear from, I felt super prepared. One thing I did after all of my initial calls was write down the things each coach said that were really important to me, and how I felt about my conversation with them. Talking with multiple coaches, I didn’t want to get training plans confused in a later call or forget something about the school that I would need to ask about again.
When I was at the 2021 Lead Summit, I attended a breakout with Mandy where I learned even more about the recruiting process. One of the biggest things I got from Mandy was to keep emails short, coaches are getting tons of emails and don’t have time to read several paragraphs for every athlete they hear from. Or if you really want to make your email several paragraphs, highlight what is important for the coach to know, things like your GPA and your times. Before this, I had sent coaches lengthy emails because I thought that was what I was supposed to do. I also learned a lot from the coach’s perspective. Mandy gave insight on how many emails coaches get and that not getting a response doesn’t mean they aren’t interested. They are very busy and have a lot of emails, if you keep reaching out, you will get a response.
In the fall, I took two unofficial visits to schools that I could drive to which was really exciting to get to meet coaches and see campuses and facilities in person. Getting to talk with coaches in person gave me a better feel for how those teams operated and the more information I could get about a school, the easier it will be to make my decision when the time comes. One of my unofficial visits was an open house for high school students where I reached out to the coach to meet up during the time I was there. Being able to meet the coach, see the athletic and academic facilities, and meet students from the school really helped give me a full view of the university. I also went to watch a midseason invitational. Going to college meets was something I heard from former college athletes to see what the team looked like in action. I was really excited to see one of my top schools compete and meet the coach in person. This was a great experience and it was the first college meet I had watched in person to see what the team looked like and how they raced.
Throughout the first half of my season, I had emailed coaches occasionally when I had a time I was really excited about. I sent out another email after my midseason meet to just about every coach who I had previously reached out to or had some new interest in. Even though I ended that meet disappointed with the majority of my times, I picked out some of the other aspects of my racing that I could tell them about. This is something that Lead taught me to really pay attention to. I told them about how I executed my race strategy and how I kept my pre-race anxieties at a minimum.
At this point in my recruiting process, I am still always looking for new schools with different opportunities for me. There are so many options out there, I don’t think I’ll be done looking until I’m committed. I am trying to keep in contact with coaches who are at the top of my list on a pretty monthly basis. I am focusing on my training so I’ll have some exciting times to share with coaches after my championship meets in March. I have also scheduled my first official visit in April which I cannot wait to take. Lead has been so helpful in my recruiting process and I am looking forward to the next edition of the series to share where I will be standing in a couple of months!