I sent some advice similar to this a few months back, but the importance and relevance can make such a difference in your recruiting that I wanted to send it again. I can’t stress enough the importance of telling coaches your schedules, whether it is club or high school, when and where you are playing. But specifically, if your team is going to play a game or a tournament out of town, look and see what colleges are there that might be good fits and specifically send an email to the coaching staff about the game or tournament with your schedule, and let them know you would love for them to come watch if it works in their schedule. Trust me as a former college coach, if a prospect came to my area to play and I knew, I would be sure to make every effort to go watch.
TIP – Now that college season is going on too, take a look at the team’s schedule and if the team is out of town the dates you are playing, be sure to mention this to the coach as it shows that you are paying attention! If the team is at home and timing works out, try to go watch and tell the coach that you are planning to attend. At a minimum, you have a specific communication with a coach that might move you up their list of prospects.
Recently, a prospect that I work with had a high school game that three different college coaches attended to specifically watch her play. All three coaches came away from that game very interested in the prospect and have now started to recruit them, and to think, some people think that college coaches don’t recruit at high school games.
How did this happen? The prospect and I told the coaches that they were going to be in their area playing a game on a specific date and time and invited the college coaching staff to come and watch.
A lot of prospects will do this for tournaments and showcases and maybe at the start of a season, but reaching out to coaches a week or so before you are in the area of a particular college to let them know can pay big dividends. I suggest reaching out every time your club or high school team has a road game to the colleges in that area. I realize not all the colleges are places you might rate as a place you want to attend, but I also think the more schools that recruit you, the more the recruiting process can snowball, and all of a sudden you have more and more colleges that want you on their team.