My daughter who Is a rising senior has decided on a D3 school she would like to attend. Good academics for her, good school, and a tennis team she could play on. We went on a visit her junior year and during the visit the coach told her if she wanted to be on the team she could. That was done about a year ago. We have only spoken with the coach one other time during this year which my daughter initiated. I do feel the coach was busy with the season and recruiting 2021. Academically she is strong and has been invited by the University to apply Instant Decision. The question I have is how to go about actually verbally committing to the play tennis at the school. She has a fairly extensive background in tennis but in the last year due to COVID, medical issue, and not playing in many tournaments her stats have dropped considerably. UTR dropped over 1 1/2 points (mainly due to “other” players dropping) and went from a 2 star to 1 star TRN. She’s still a very good tennis player and had a great year in HS tennis (non of which was put in UTR). I have no idea if the coach has looked at her stats or not. At the time of her visit, I’m pretty sure he considered her a top recruit, her stats were better than most of his team. But it concerns me that he hasn’t really contacted her at all. Does she contact the coach and tell him she wants to play on the team? Does she bring up that he basically gave her an offer a year ago? Would a coach change his mind if he sees stats go way down without talking to the recruit? What advice or experience can someone give me? Thanks!
D3 recruit advice
- Thread starter TXTEN20
- Start date
My daughter will be a freshman at a d 3 school so we’ve just been through this process. Here’s my advice.
First she needs to get back in touch with the coach ASAP - these people are busy and he very well could think she’s not interested anymore.
Also another campus visit wouldn’t hurt - she could meet the team, maybe sit in on a class and if possible stay overnight with a player (not sure if that’s allowed bc of covid, but worth asking about.).
The school will want to see her unofficial transcript and scores, if they don’t already have that information.
All of these things need to be discussed when she contacts the coach.
Regarding the committing part, pretty much all she does is say “I want to play for your team,” and the coach will say “ok!”
D3’s don’t have binding commitments like D1.
After she commits she just needs to make sure she finishes her senior year strong - keep her tennis skills up and finish academically strong (because the school will want a copy of the final transcript before she can enroll.)
Regarding her stats, don’t worry - UTR’s are sort of all over the place because lots of people have had sporadic play and if the coach has already expressed interest, it’s sort of a non issue anyway. That said, it is very important for her to keep improving as a player - get her some matchplay this summer if possible and fall (you said she plays hs tennis, so she’ll get lots of matches there. Maybe also get her into some of the usta Levels).
Good luck!
First she needs to get back in touch with the coach ASAP - these people are busy and he very well could think she’s not interested anymore.
Also another campus visit wouldn’t hurt - she could meet the team, maybe sit in on a class and if possible stay overnight with a player (not sure if that’s allowed bc of covid, but worth asking about.).
The school will want to see her unofficial transcript and scores, if they don’t already have that information.
All of these things need to be discussed when she contacts the coach.
Regarding the committing part, pretty much all she does is say “I want to play for your team,” and the coach will say “ok!”
D3’s don’t have binding commitments like D1.
After she commits she just needs to make sure she finishes her senior year strong - keep her tennis skills up and finish academically strong (because the school will want a copy of the final transcript before she can enroll.)
Regarding her stats, don’t worry - UTR’s are sort of all over the place because lots of people have had sporadic play and if the coach has already expressed interest, it’s sort of a non issue anyway. That said, it is very important for her to keep improving as a player - get her some matchplay this summer if possible and fall (you said she plays hs tennis, so she’ll get lots of matches there. Maybe also get her into some of the usta Levels).
Good luck!
I just replied to you but forgot to mention that she definitely needs to send him a video (have her find someone her level, play maybe a few games or short set and send it to the coach - and don’t edit it!). Also if she can go to some tournaments have her tell the coach which ones so maybe he can come and watch her in person.
LOBALOT
Legend
I agree with texrunner. My son will be playing D3 in the fall. The only items I will add is I am wondering if perhaps your daughter is a good fit for the school as our experience was the coaches were actively engaged and early on it was pretty easy to identify if they were interested in your child or not.
Be sure to use the UTR app and the Power 6 tool they have to your advantage as it is a helpful tool. See if she truly would have a place on the team and if not use it to help identify schools that she would like to attend both academically and from a tennis perspective. If she doesn't fall within the top 6 players perhaps she is reaching a bit as there are some very strong D3 programs out there.
Be sure to use the UTR app and the Power 6 tool they have to your advantage as it is a helpful tool. See if she truly would have a place on the team and if not use it to help identify schools that she would like to attend both academically and from a tennis perspective. If she doesn't fall within the top 6 players perhaps she is reaching a bit as there are some very strong D3 programs out there.
Lobalot makes a good point about the coach’s interest, and the only way to know is for her to contact him again. She doesn’t need to wait until she has a video but she needs to tell him a video is incoming.
Lots of communication vs little communication usually comes down to a personality thing - some coaches feel like reaching out too much is nagging.
There was a coach my daughter communicated with who told her she was one of her top recruits but at the same time was very hands off regarding initiating contact etc. and there were other coaches who would regularly contact her until she finally told them no.
Lots of communication vs little communication usually comes down to a personality thing - some coaches feel like reaching out too much is nagging.
There was a coach my daughter communicated with who told her she was one of her top recruits but at the same time was very hands off regarding initiating contact etc. and there were other coaches who would regularly contact her until she finally told them no.
Thanks for the above advice. All very good advice and suggestions. She does fit into the Power 6 of the team. My main concern was the Coach not contacting her and her stats going down and how that may be looked at for recruiting purposes. She will be contacting the coach this week.
All of the above is good advice. She likely has a number of questions. One question I'd have your daughter ask is, does he have a formalized summer training program he gives to his players? If yes, would he email that to her? That way she will have a chance to get into shape for what ever he has instore for his team when the fall practices begin.
Last edited:
grnmtgrl
New User
Current D3 player. I agree with everything being said so far. Regarding communication, I had to take the initiative on reaching out to the coach (they do get busy), but my emails reminded them that I was interested and I got replies thanking me for doing so.
Personally, I was a strong student in high school and the schools I applied to weren't that competitive so I wasn't worried about being denied. I did EA for everything because I wanted to get that stuff out of the way early and was accepted at all the schools I applied to (again, the lowest acceptance rate I encountered was ~50%). I got my results in the winter so I had lots of time to decide where I wanted to go and could compare aid packages.
Overall, if she is in contact with the coach, even at academically competitive schools, and they want her on the team, they will advocate for her in admissions. If Early Action is an option, I would certainly do it. You'll also get results early and can compare financial packages, which could be a factor in her decision. If she is really set on one school and has the means to pay for it, she can do Early Decision if she would like.
Do you mean Early Action or Early Decision? EA just means she applies before the "early action" deadline set by the school, which is usually November 1. It is non-binding, but an earlier application shows more interest than someone who applies later, thus increasing the odds of acceptance. ED is **binding**, so if she is accepted, she HAS to go to that school (provided she is able to cover the costs). ED also increases the likelihood of acceptance because it shows full commitment, but again, it is binding.
Personally, I was a strong student in high school and the schools I applied to weren't that competitive so I wasn't worried about being denied. I did EA for everything because I wanted to get that stuff out of the way early and was accepted at all the schools I applied to (again, the lowest acceptance rate I encountered was ~50%). I got my results in the winter so I had lots of time to decide where I wanted to go and could compare aid packages.
Overall, if she is in contact with the coach, even at academically competitive schools, and they want her on the team, they will advocate for her in admissions. If Early Action is an option, I would certainly do it. You'll also get results early and can compare financial packages, which could be a factor in her decision. If she is really set on one school and has the means to pay for it, she can do Early Decision if she would like.
LOBALOT
Legend
My son applied early action to all the schools that offered it. There were some schools that only offered Early Decision and not applying Early Decision did eliminate him from some schools that he really wanted to attend and play tennis for as the coaches indicated if he applied for early decision they could do more help with an academic scholarship given his grades. Without that they couldn't really help and in his instance even with great grades the schools came back with offers that were financially prohibitive and thus we could not afford to attend even though he did get into the school.
Similar threads
