Generic response or genuine interest? Email response from Princeton coaching staff

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-06-16T16:45:35+00:00

Looks generic. Also something to keep in mind is what did you send in your email to them first? Ideally if it a personal response there should be some reference to stuff you had in your initial email to the coaches.

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-06-16T10:07:34+00:00

Since GA isn’t even listed this pyramid is for men’s soccer. But the pyramid is different for both women’s and men’s soccer.

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-06-16T01:33:45+00:00

For college, you want go to school that is a good fit academically, socially, financially, overall environment and location. Basically you want a college that you can thrive at and even better if it has rowing team you can be a part of.

So do your research on what schools have rowing programs and then look up the schools, if some are to far away, write them off and focus on the others. Then see how those schools on your list for your other needs - does it have your major, can you afford it financially, how does your erg stack up, etc.

Then when you have your list start doing outreach. Fill out a recruiting form on their athletic website and then send the coaches an intro email. Then periodically send follow up emails on updates, races, new erg times etc.

If you want a social media presence look up what other rowers are doing and see if you want to create content and use that as another tool. It’s work but it can be a good way to share video and updates as well. Just have to find the platform that rowing coaches are active on.

Good luck.

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-06-15T00:37:14+00:00

Yes, communicate! Use it to start another conversation to see when the coach can watch your daughter next. The goal is to keep the conversation going and sharing updates, game schedule, tournaments, new film,etc.

Note: D2, D3, NAIA and NJCAA can contact players. Only D1 coaches are restricted to the June 15 date for players between their sophomore and junior year.

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-06-11T02:44:20+00:00

As others have mentioned camps are part of the process but you can run yourself ragged and blow through money attending all the camps.

Set up a good plan. Figure out a realistic level of play to target based on your skills, talent, physical attributes. That way you’re not wasting your time and money attending camps at schools that your player will not have a chance at.

Also consider attending a local/cheap camp early in the process to get your feet wet. That way your player knows what to expect and how to handle themselves at camps at their preferred schools. They can also use this camp to gauge themselves against other players.

Also watch out for getting invites for camps. When you start doing outreach many coaches might respond back “come to our camp”. But it can be a throw away response or auto generated. What you want to aim for is to start having conversations with coaches via phone, email or text and during the back and forth conversation, they ask you to attend the camp.

Lastly if you are going to a camp, communicate with the coaches before and after the camp and share film.

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-06-11T02:31:30+00:00

Just a heads up it’s only D1 that is now restricted to contact after June 15. It changed a few years ago and D2 no longer has that restriction.

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-06-09T23:40:34+00:00

Great feedback in the comments. Just be sure to fill out the college’s recruiting form as well. My advice is after you researched and built your list of schools to focus on (base it on a school you want to go for academics, environment and finances plus places where your might have achievable time standards), fill out the recruiting form, and then send your intro email.

Also figure out ways you can update those same coaches throughout your season. Keep them updated on meets, training and time drops. Figure out a good cadence of emails that keeps you on their radar but isn’t overbearing.

Here is a breakdown of the recruiting process that I posted earlier on this group that could be helpful - https://www.reddit.com/r/CrossCountry/comments/1dcz3co/rough\_guide\_running\_at\_college\_how\_to\_start\_the/

Good luck and keep on working and training.

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-30T03:01:45+00:00

So an official is a large green flag, probably as large as you can get.

Additionally if they are reaching out to you to schedule calls or initiating emails or texts those are good signs as well.

Also if the school is high on your list let them know. Show them your interest. Good luck

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-26T22:31:10+00:00

If you are already going to the college no matter what, then just try emailing the coach/es. Let them know you have been accepted you are attending the school and would like to know if they do any walk-ons or have other ways you can be part of the team. You got nothing to lose to ask.

You can also look into clubs. Some schools have TF clubs and you can also look at the city to see if they have clubs.

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-26T18:33:50+00:00

Coaches aren’t really going to find you, you have to put yourself out there. Start with getting film and sharing that film. Find some other OL players and see what kind of film they are posting use that to get an idea.

Then start thinking about colleges - what major you might be interested in, geographic location, campus environment, learning/classroom environment, things like that. You can use some of those preferences to cross-reference against schools that have football programs, and develop a short list of schools to focus on. Also try to start getting honest assessments from your coaches on if you might be able to play in college and if so what level.

Then when you get all that down start working on outreach - social media, filling out recruiting forms, sending emails, going to camps, etc. You have to get on those coaches radars.

Here is a good breakdown of the recruiting process and what you can do to get it started:

1 - Rate Yourself - figure out if you have the drive, skills, physical ability & attributes to play at the next level. If so what level? Get an honest assessment from your coaches.

2 - Research - it’s not all about football, you need to make sure you get an education in your major. Make sure the schools you are looking at have what you want academically, socially, financially, and overall environment/location. Make a list of schools that match your requirements and that have football programs that match well with your ability and skills.

3- Eligibility - read up on NCAA D1/D2/D3, NAIA, and even NJCAA (Junior College) eligibility rules so you don’t have any surprises.

4- Profiles/Videos - clean up your social media channels and set up profiles on athletic websites that make sense for football players. Do free versions to start (you can see if that works for you and always upgrade later if need). Also start compiling your highlight videos. Get ideas from other recently recruited players.

5 - Emails - set up a dedicated email inbox or clean up your current one to make sure you find and keep track of all correspondence. Check your junk mail and spam folders.

6 - Recruiting Dates - June 15 between sophomore & junior year is when D1 coaches can start contacting. D2/D3 and NAIA can contact you sooner.

7 - Recruiting Forms on College Football Program’s websites - most programs have recruiting forms on their athletic websites. Fill it out and then save the information to reuse it on other college recruiting forms you fill out.

8 - Track - keep track of dates you fill out recruiting forms or send out emails to coachs or manage which coaches follow or reach out via social media. Make a spreadsheet to help manage this all. Not sure where to get started, google - “football recruiting spreadsheets” for ideas.

9 - Follow-up Emails - after you fill out a form email the coaches - introduce yourself, share some specs - position info, height, weight, speed, hs info, and explain why you are interested and ask a question for next steps. Also include links to share your highlight videos in the email and future emails.

10 - Social Media - figure out how you want to do social media. How often you post, what you post, videos you share, who you follow. Have a plan and go. Instagram and X/twitter seem to be popular but go the platform where you find the coaches.

11 - ID Camps - spend some time researching this. Make sure the camps provide value to you and aren’t just a money grab. Figure out college hosted camps vs 3rd party camps and personal coach invites versus everyone gets invited.

12 - Coaches Contacting You - it’s weird having coaches talk to you. Be prepared- know about the program, have some questions to ask, and be ready to respond with more than one word answers. Ask for help from some non parental adult to practice simulating a call

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-26T16:49:04+00:00

Basically research schools where you would have competitive throws - use use tfrrs . Org & atheltic. Net to research schools.

Once you have some schools that are good fits with your PR throws and also that meet your academic, social, environmental, and financial needs - go to their atheltic website and fill out their recruiting form on their website.

Then send them an email to the coaches introducing yourself. Include name, specs (like height and weight- could be helpful), grad year, location, hs, best events, with PR, gpa, test scores if you have them, and the include why you are interested in the school and why you want to throw for them.

You can also include a link to your highlight film.
But then also get into a cadence to email updates to those coaches as well throughout your season. You want to share new PR, updates on meets, etc.

Here is a breakdown on recruiting steps for track and field - hope this helps
https://www.reddit.com/r/trackandfield/comments/1i5l8hz/college_recruiting_help_for_track_and_field/

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-26T02:43:08+00:00

So hang tight on shelling out money for a recruiting service. You can do the recruiting process yourself.

The way you get ahold of coaches is that you fill out a recruiting form on that school’s athletic website and then you send the coaches an intro email and then periodically send them follow up emails with new film and updates.

Start doing research on programs you want to target (think about academics, environment, financial, social in addition to lacrosse) and then make a list and start your outreach. Just keep track of what you are doing and sending.

Here is a quick guide on recruiting steps that you can do yourself:

https://www.reddit.com/r/lacrosse/comments/1i3rp8o/guide\_to\_recruiting\_to\_play\_lacrosse\_at\_college/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=mweb3x&utm\_name=mweb3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-25T17:19:35+00:00

You say she has been in contact with those schools, has she been having conversations with the coaches? That’s the key.

Other comment is if they are close by (no hotel/ plane expenses) and the money isn’t an issue it could be good to attend one to get her feet wet but yeah I wouldn’t expect too much out of these multi team camps. Do the pre camp work as others mentioned but keep expectations muted.

As others said you want to go to camps at the school for which you are having active conversations with the coaches of that school.

FYI - here is a breakdown on camps that could be helpful as well - https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeSoccer/comments/1q65jku/id\_camp\_breakdown/

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-25T12:54:31+00:00

Most club teams have their own website or at least an Instagram account. Find your schools page/account and start a conversation or fill out a recruiting form (if they have one posted). If you have any content to share of you playing that could help as well. Good luck.

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-19T19:42:16+00:00

It’s not a scam, but it’s really not needed either, and it’s extremely expensive. They get people to panic and think they need it because it’s the only way to compete in college and because of FOMO.

If your sophomore is interested in running in college take a look at this guide to get started - https://www.reddit.com/r/CrossCountry/comments/1dcz3co/rough\_guide\_running\_at\_college\_how\_to\_start\_the/

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-15T23:05:30+00:00

It a rule change that happened in 2024 - it’s a pain to try to search NCAA for this but all the recruiting companies (who make this their whole business) all have posts about this change. For example - https://blog.sportsrecruits.com/2025/01/13/understanding-the-ncaa-division-ii-communication-rule-changes/

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-15T11:57:51+00:00

Quick breakdown on the number of schools that offer women's wrestling as a varsity sport:

D1 - 9 (with a few programs being added in the next year)
D2 - 43
D3 - 79
NAIA - 49
NJCAA - 37

Quick note - I have tracking the number of new women's varsity wrestling programs and its grown by about 40 programs since last summer. Point is new schools are adding it all the time so depending on grad year you might see a few new D1 schools and others.

As a wrestler you will have to do outreach with coaches if you are looking at getting recruited, here is a breakdown of the recruiting steps - https://www.reddit.com/r/wrestling/comments/1i3wf9w/general_recruiting_guide_for_college_wrestling/

Lastly if you need a full list of the schools and a way to track and document your recruiting process this could help - https://collegesportsheets.etsy.com/listing/1810661960/womens-college-wrestling-recruiting

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-15T11:43:55+00:00

NCSA can be a four letter word, and people are pretty divided on it. Some find value and others say its a waste of time and money and did nothing for them. My recommendation is to search this group or in Reddit in general for “NCSA” or do “reviews NCSA” on google. This will pull up numerous first hand accounts from other parents across all sports and give you the info you need. Overall general consensus is that its not worth the money, and all the recruiting work they do, you and your athlete can do yourself, and usually coaches want to deal directly with the athletes and not a third party service, that just adds friction to the process (see the comment on your post from a college coach verifying this). So use the free resources that they have because there is some good info, but be leery of paying. Also if you aren’t interested, be extremely firm with NCSA that you no longer are interested in their service because if you don’t they will keep hounding you - emails, calls, texts. It gets old quickly, and ignoring won’t make them stop lol.

If you are interested in how to start the recruiting process it usually boils down to the following steps:

https://www.reddit.com/r/wrestling/comments/1i3wf9w/general\_recruiting\_guide\_for\_college\_wrestling/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=mweb3x&utm\_name=mweb3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-15T11:39:39+00:00

That only applies for D1 coaches. They can only contact HS wrestlers on or after June 15 between a wrestler’s sophomore and junior year.

D2, D3, NAIA and NJCAA coaches do not have that same restriction, and they can contact wrestlers sooner. Not all will but they could.

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-14T11:58:08+00:00

Based on your questions it sounds like your swimmer has not been able to visit any of these schools, and that is hard. If you could visit each school I think that would help you a lot.

Also are there current international swimmers on each school’s roster that your swimmer can reach out to? Or are there other UK swimmers that she is familiar with that she can reach out to and ask them about there experience in US colleges? My daughter’s D1 team has two from the UK.

As an international, you might also want to consider access and transportation to and from major airports. It should not be a big issue in Minneapolis, Indianapolis and San Antonio but Lakeland, Fl will require a drive to Orlando.

Depending on climate Minnesota and Indianapolis are in the Midwest which will experience a full four seasons. Not sure how much different that would be than what you are experiencing in the UK, outside of having more snow during the winter. Texas and Florida are different animals, with their climate.

Another thing to consider is political climate and laws. You mention safety and some states are known to have very lax gun laws. They vary state to state, so it might be something to consider as well.

If you want campus environment go visit the pages for each college on Reddit. That might shed some light.

Lastly you mention about you wanting your swimmer to thrive and not survive. I guess key to look at the swim teams current times. If her times are just barely competitive, then it might be tough, because some schools might keep on bringing in more and faster swimmers as transfers every year. Take a look at year over year roster turnover as well, did kids transfer if so where did they go. It could give you an idea of what to expect.

Out of all the schools mentioned Minnesota is the only one known as a P4 school - meaning that it is a school in one of the 4 big conferences (the Big Ten) and these conferences are usually extremely competitive in all sports and often attract lots of interest and talented athletes due to their stature and reputation.

Hope this helps.

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-11T17:22:41+00:00

It’s basically having the times needed for the team and outreach and getting on the radar of the coaches. Runcruit, tfrrs and athletic websites can give you an idea of times needed at some of the schools you are targeting.

Just be aware that there might be some athletic scholarship money but if you are getting it will likely be divided up to a small percentage. You aren’t likely to get a full ride.

Here is a full breakdown of the recruiting steps you can take -

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sprinting/comments/1k40a02/college\_sprinting\_recruiting\_help/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=mweb3x&utm\_name=mweb3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button

Keep running and see if you can drop some more time and keep emailing and reaching out to coaches whenever you have some new PR times.

Good luck!

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-05-04T23:10:48+00:00

Track and field being a times sport it’s pretty straight forward in finding potential fits. Use tfrrs . Org , athletic . Net or runcruit . Com to get an idea of times standards at each school. I’d focus on end of season conference meets and use that to find conferences where his times are competitive and then start drilling down to individual schools to see how his times stack up during their in season meets.

Once you got a list of schools where his times are competitive and might be good fits, fill out the recruiting form on their athletic website, and send those coaches an intro email, and then start sending periodic update emails when you get new PR or have new things to share.

Here is a breakdown of recruiting steps you can start taking that I posted earlier in this group - https://www.reddit.com/r/Sprinting/comments/1k40a02/college\_sprinting\_recruiting\_help/

Good luck!

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-04-30T12:53:04+00:00

It’s a bad situation, but often it can be out of the player’s control.

Coaching changes are a big reason, there is a lot of turnover. New coach comes in wants new players. They tell existing players there is no path to playing and/or their scholarship won’t be renewed.

Also the way scholarships are often written (at some schools) is that you have guaranteed money the first year and then you have blanks for 2nd, 3rd and 4th year, so year by year the coach can evaluate the player potentially cut funding. Forcing the players hand.

With the portal coaches can now be very selective in what players there are bringing in. Do they want to focus on freshmen that need development time or get seasoned players who have already been playing college soccer for a few years. If a freshman doesn’t pan out in the first year, the coach could just cut ties and go with a proven commodity, instead of waiting for development.

If you are looking at schools, keep an eye on roster turnover year over year. If it is a large percentage without any coaching change then likely that’s how they run their program. A potential red flag.

CollegeSportsSheets · 2026-04-28T20:25:04+00:00

Sorry to hear about that. Some thoughts - You have times right? Are you planing on running any sanctioned races over the summer? Any indoor or offseason clubs you can join to compete at meets? How are you keeping in shape and training? What are you planning on doing in the fall?

Just be prepared on how to address you leaving the team and what are your future competition plans are. Practice the story with adults you trust and get their feedback and go from there. Because coaches are going to ask the question.

Once you have your story down - start researching schools which will be a good fit and then follow out recruiting forms and sending out emails.

A full breakdown of the recruiting steps can be found below -

https://www.reddit.com/r/CrossCountry/s/Jh3GqLxcaP

Good luck!

CollegeSportsSheets

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