LPJ Rowers: Being recruited for college rowing

 As an LPJ rower, you have an incredible opportunity to row as a Division 1, 2 or 3 athlete in college. For some, rowing may be the extra advantage you need for admittance into the school of your choice. For others, you may even receive an athletic scholarship.  For all of you, success requires that you take charge of the college recruiting process. Don’t wait for college coaches to email you – be proactive.

As we begin our 2010 Spring Season, juniors and even sophomores should take the following steps to ensure they are noticed and recruited by college coaches:

Register online – This helps increase your visibility with college coaches.  

The NCAA Eligibility Center – all potential college athletes must register here. You will receive an NCAA Clearinghouse ID number, which all college coaches ask for during the recruiting process: www.ncaaclearinghouse.org

 Be Recruited – this is a great site that many college coaches visit. Here you can post not only academic and athletic stats, but also photos: www.berecruited.com

Communicate with college coaches – College coaches can officially begin contacting you at the end of your junior year.  Keep track of all the emails you receive and respond via email in a timely manner. If you do not hear from a particular coach, you can take the first step and contact him or her - introduce yourself, the team, your rowing record, your academic record, and any other extracurricular activities.  Many coaches will ask for unofficial high school transcripts and ACT scores at this time, so have those materials ready to fax. Keep a running list of the coaches you are in contact with and make sure to keep the lines of communication open; for example, let coaches know when your erg scores improve, or when the team wins races. 

Coaches want to see that you are eager to row in college, and serious about meeting your goals.

 Schedule “officials” – Under NCAA guidelines you are allowed five official visits to schools. These visits typically take place during the fall of Senior year.  The college coaches will arrange to fly you to the school, and they will make arrangements for accommodations and in general supervise the visit. Go on all five visits, or as many as possible, as this is an excellent way to get acquainted with different schools and rowing programs.

 Communicate with LPJ Coaches – For each of the online registration sites, you will include Mike Wallin or Mike Tanner’s name, email address and phone number (which can be found on rowchicago.com under “contacts”). Therefore it’s important to tell your coach that you are registered online. As college coaches begin to email and call you, keep your LPJ coach apprised. LPJ coaches can be invaluable assets in the recruiting processes, particularly in letting college coaches know about your abilities and potential.

 The LPJ coaching staff and booster committee are here to help LPJ rowers with the recruiting process, so please reach out to us with any questions you might have. Also please keep us informed about your college rowing career by sending us updates and photos and joining LPJ’s alumni page on Facebook. We are all part of the LPJ family and your success is important to us.