emails from college coaches

Unless you were referring to height and weight, a 2020 throwing mid 80s isn't really a late bloomer. Mid 80s velocity is probably in the middle 50% of 2020s that will end up playing D1 baseball. Obviously there are other 2020s throwing 90+ but those are the top flight P5 talent most likely committed already, some of who will never make it to campus (draft). I wouldn't give up on D1 yet. Getting P5 looks with an 84 mph fast might be hard to come by but he's a 2020 and if he can get it up to 86/87/88 with another good pitch there will be plenty of mid majors and some P5 interest. 

In regards to the question. Yes, these are mostly generic emails sent to any Johnny looking to attend the school. Cold calling via email has mostly become dead with the expansion of travel programs and their pull at certain schools. Travel coaches are now calling/texting college coaches and saying "Hey I have a 2020 RHP you might be interested in. He's throwing at ABC on XYZ come check him out." It saves the college the time of sifting through hundreds of emails and they have a reputable source to verify talent. I don't know what his summer team situation is but I would look into getting him on a team that has sent kids to some of your sons target schools. It does not have to be a top tier travel team either. An in state team that has sent some guys to schools in the past would work well. I'm sure most travel coaches would be interested in a sophomore throwing mid 80s. If they can develop him into a pitcher throwing 90 with a D1 commitment that is BIG promotion for their program. 

I've gotten basically zero response to the perhaps 60 recruiting questionnaires that I have filled out on behalf of my son to D1, D2, and D3 schools over the past 6 months...it appears to be a waste of time in my case...the ones that have made an offer, called or emailed were all from a showcase appearance...PBR has been the one that has generated those responses. 

CatcherDadNY posted:

I've gotten basically zero response to the perhaps 60 recruiting questionnaires that I have filled out on behalf of my son to D1, D2, and D3 schools over the past 6 months...it appears to be a waste of time in my case...the ones that have made an offer, called or emailed were all from a showcase appearance...PBR has been the one that has generated those responses. 

The 1st letter of your response is a red flag to me.  "I".  It should have been "He".

The questionnaires are outdated and pretty useless for the most part. If a coach wants you they will reach out. It's usually easier with a travel coach as the middle man, but schools are not going through every questionnaire looking for players. It's 2018, they have to see you play or have somebody vouch for you. Emails and surveys get you nowhere given the changes in recruiting. Out of all the committed players we know, not a single one of them filled out a questionnaire or came into contact with a coach via email. Coaches liked what they saw and reached out to the player afterwards. 

That's what I meant.

russinfortworth posted:

CatcherDadNY posted:

I've gotten basically zero response to the perhaps 60 recruiting questionnaires that I have filled out on behalf of my son to D1, D2, and D3 schools over the past 6 months...it appears to be a waste of time in my case...the ones that have made an offer, called or emailed were all from a showcase appearance...PBR has been the one that has generated those responses. 

The 1st letter of your response is a red flag to me.  "I".  It should have been "He".

Why "should" it have been he?  This drives me crazy.  There are MANY parents who help their kids through this process and why should they not?  Many reasons to do so. In our case as an example my son leaves school and works on homework until baseball practice which ends after 9, then starts prep for finals that are staring next week.  

But he has tournaments in front of coaches this weekend...he simply does not have the time to manage this right now.  So, we help because he is our son and he needs the help.

For other kids, they may just not do as thorough of a job as a parent.  Maybe they are just not mature enough...does that mean they should potentially miss out on a great life opportunity because of it.  Who wins if they do?  I think the site can do with a little less judgement.  Many ways to reach the same place...

CatcherDadNY posted:

That's what I meant.

Well, respectfully disagreeing with No, Don't call bunt...

CDNY, I suspect there is still something that can be taken from Russ' comment. I am tying this with the other thread you are in.  You mentioned that you are filling out the questionnaires on his behalf.  Why?  Your son should be taking the lead on these things.  Yes, support him, provide advice, guidance and direction.  Yes, find good resources like HSBBW.  But he needs to be doing the leg work, filling the questionnaires, researching schools, etc.  If he wants to play at the next level and find the best possible match, he needs to have more skin in the game beyond just going out and playing.  He needs to take the lions share of responsibility for the efforts that go into the process.  Yeah, yeah, I know... they have really busy schedules, maybe school, work, lessons, training, games, social, etc., and they are just teens.  But this is a great opportunity for them to learn about what it takes to make something meaningful happen, to be the driver in the big decisions that will affect your life, to make your life happen, not let your life happen.  Taking ownership of this process will go a long way in preparing them for the much more difficult road of when they actually start juggling the workload of a college student athlete when they get there and will have them far more invested in it.  JMO.

This is another one of those things I have seen play out far too many times.  I am not at all saying don't help your son with the recruiting process.  He will need a lot of support and guidance.  But if he isn't driving it, this is usually a pretty good indicator of things to come.

The issue is that coaches want to "get to know" the kid....not the parent.  A coach can tell in 2 seconds if info he is receiving is from the parent of the player.  If it's the parent, I can almost guarantee you it's going to be a huge red flag from a coach's perspective.  You can help...but making suggestions, timeline, etc, but any and all correspondence should be from him.   Sorry, don't mean to try to start an argument, but you'll get the exact same response from every parent here who has ever been thru the recruiting process.  

Buckeye 2015 posted:

The issue is that coaches want to "get to know" the kid....not the parent.  A coach can tell in 2 seconds if info he is receiving is from the parent of the player.  If it's the parent, I can almost guarantee you it's going to be a huge red flag from a coach's perspective.  You can help...but making suggestions, timeline, etc, but any and all correspondence should be from him.   Sorry, don't mean to try to start an argument, but you'll get the exact same response from every parent here who has ever been thru the recruiting process.  

Yeah, i hear you.  But honestly, I don't care what the coaches want.  Really, no one should.  I agree the language should be the kids or you create it with them and guide them if they need it.  

This is a giant terrible game recruiting, as nearly everyone on here will admit.  The coaches job is to look out for himself and his program.  They offer kids and then take it away as soon as something better comes along.  They make promises they don't keep.  They offer way more kids than they need. They bring kids onto campus telling them one thing and then they do another.  

This unfortunately is business and a shady one at that.  I don't like the game at all, but we are forced to play it.  Very few teenagers are equipped to manage it successfully without someone experienced and more savvy to help.  I guess for a lucky few they are so talented they can drive whatever they want, but for everyone else they will probably be better off with parental assistance.  Someone who cares about the outcome as much as the kid.  

If you take a step back and look at it... you have a coach with a full staff and many years of experience on one side and a kid with zero on the other.  Wanting kids with a thousand things happening in their changing lives to manage this as well as the coach and his staff is lunacy.  

I do it because I'm retired and have the time to do so...the questionnaires are fairly generic and cookie cutter...it's not like I'm writing an essay and pretending he wrote it..the ones I send out come from my son's email and are schools that he has selected as ones that he is interested in...I see no harm in that...I doubt you could tell who filled it out...it's just entering a bunch of data into boxes and hitting submit..he does his part by getting good grades, showcasing and playing well and being a terrific son...plenty of responsibility that he is handling well..I've never spoken to or corresponded with a coach...he has handled all phone calls and emails from them on his own...I'm delighted that he has held his own in dealing with adults in these matters.

Good discussion that I'm following closely as it's hitting pretty close to home at this point in my son's process. I'm seeing really good points on all sides here but, as captain obvious, I'll add that every kid is different and, when it comes down to it, there is a place where generalization about how something should be dealt with stops and the folks closest to the situation have to make the best decisions they can. Parents typically know their kids best. I know in our situation I've had to take a more active role in my son's process lately than some folks advise on these boards. There are many reasons for this but, in my experience, a big part is due to my 2019 not being a "stud" or "very-near-stud." I suspect our work is exponentially tougher than the studs, especially given that his targets are far away for the most part and we are located in a smaller city/region. My son's situation is such that days and weeks likely matter right now so I find myself getting info from him verbally that is needed for communications and logistical decisions to move forward at the pace required, so as to not miss out on a potential opportunity. Could I push him harder to do it all? Maybe, but we already push him in so many ways that sometimes I want to feel like the short amount of dialog that we get with him, as a typical 17 year old, isn't always harping about one thing or another. I also recognize what his maturity level is and that it varies across emotional, physical, and intellectual facets. In other words, I don't think that, because the system is structured the way that it is, he should miss out on something he may develop into in a matter of months, when weeks count. I agree with NO! BUNT! that this whole process is somewhat of a game, and is largely structured in favor of those doing the recruiting. If it wasn't, we wouldn't see an entire industry making big bucks off well-intentioned parents who are unsure of how to play it.

Great perspectives and I'm staying tuned!

Buckeye 2015 posted:

The issue is that coaches want to "get to know" the kid....not the parent.  A coach can tell in 2 seconds if info he is receiving is from the parent of the player.  If it's the parent, I can almost guarantee you it's going to be a huge red flag from a coach's perspective.  You can help...but making suggestions, timeline, etc, but any and all correspondence should be from him.   Sorry, don't mean to try to start an argument, but you'll get the exact same response from every parent here who has ever been thru the recruiting process.  

I agree with Buckeye on correspondence, and anyway the real correspondence is via text, and I can't imagine how a parent could even be involved in that. But just to draw a distinction here, the recruiting questionnaires aren't really correspondence -- it's just data (name, height, weight, school, etc.) and I don't see how a coach could possibly tell who filled out a recruiting questionnaire. 

Chico,

My son sent out literally hundreds of emails (cast VERY wide net) knowing that most would not be read, would result in generic camp invites etc. but also figured it doesn't take long to do and if it generated any interest, it was well worth it.  He took the lead on all his recruiting and I just provided guidance based on what I gleaned from this site.  I described to him that the emails are "touch points" and each opportunity to have another touch point with a coach/school was a way for the coaches to remember him or recognize that if nothing else he was persistent.  He also made it a point to personalize each email as much as possible (congrats on beating Big State U last week or I saw that you added a new pitching coach or congrats on winning conference coach of the year etc...).  In my opinion, making them more personal indicates interest in the school and the coach sees that your son at least took time to look at web site and do some research.  Coaches get hundreds (if not more) emails weekly so what makes one stand out from the others... 

Of course, email along wont cut it but utilizing some of the inexpensive "recruiting sites" like field level or be recruited etc allows your son to send links to videos, updates, schedules etc and is another touch point with that coach and school.  I would highly recommend the email route as an inexpensive way for your son to get his videos and measurable's out to schools he may be interested in.  And as it has been said over and over, it is a really small world and a coach may have a buddy that is looking for a player like your son and will pass that info on. 

No! Don't Call Bunt! posted:

russinfortworth posted:

CatcherDadNY posted:

I've gotten basically zero response to the perhaps 60 recruiting questionnaires that I have filled out on behalf of my son to D1, D2, and D3 schools over the past 6 months...it appears to be a waste of time in my case...the ones that have made an offer, called or emailed were all from a showcase appearance...PBR has been the one that has generated those responses. 

The 1st letter of your response is a red flag to me.  "I".  It should have been "He".

Why "should" it have been he?  This drives me crazy.  There are MANY parents who help their kids through this process and why should they not?  Many reasons to do so. In our case as an example my son leaves school and works on homework until baseball practice which ends after 9, then starts prep for finals that are staring next week.  

But he has tournaments in front of coaches this weekend...he simply does not have the time to manage this right now.  So, we help because he is our son and he needs the help.

For other kids, they may just not do as thorough of a job as a parent.  Maybe they are just not mature enough...does that mean they should potentially miss out on a great life opportunity because of it.  Who wins if they do?  I think the site can do with a little less judgement.  Many ways to reach the same place...

If you think your player doesn't have the time to fill out questionnaires/contact coaches in high school, how in the world do you think he has time to be a student-athlete in college?  Just sayin'  

I know of an instance where a parent was doing all this for their player.  The parent inadvertently sent an email to the wrong coach;:  sent the Dear Coach XXXX to a rival school.  The player got no more looks from either school.  It all worked out for the player in the end, but is a shame that it was the parent that did this to the child.  

Personally, son sent about 12 introductory emails (like a resume) to coaches and then updated throughout the summer for schedules, times, fields, etc.  He would just pull up the prior email, put the new info at the top, and send.  No looking up emails for the second time and the old information was below the new content.   There is a sample letter/email on this site to use (there is more info on this site than just the message boards).  I am positive that son's travel coach had dealings with coaches in son's recruitment, but reaching out to the coaches shows interest in the school.  It is free, and it can't hurt.  Son never heard a reply.  Just kept sending them.

The only time son was asked to fill out a questionnaire was after an invited unofficial visit to one school.

2019Dad posted:

Buckeye 2015 posted:

The issue is that coaches want to "get to know" the kid....not the parent.  A coach can tell in 2 seconds if info he is receiving is from the parent of the player.  If it's the parent, I can almost guarantee you it's going to be a huge red flag from a coach's perspective.  You can help...but making suggestions, timeline, etc, but any and all correspondence should be from him.   Sorry, don't mean to try to start an argument, but you'll get the exact same response from every parent here who has ever been thru the recruiting process.  

I agree with Buckeye on correspondence, and anyway the real correspondence is via text, and I can't imagine how a parent could even be involved in that. But just to draw a distinction here, the recruiting questionnaires aren't really correspondence -- it's just data (name, height, weight, school, etc.) and I don't see how a coach could possibly tell who filled out a recruiting questionnaire. 

I agree, obviously text communication is between the kid and the coach. Different parents help in different ways, I will tell you what we do.  I research schools for him and then we discuss them.  Which offers what he wants academically, campus wise, etc. 

My son is a 2020 and his travel team pays for an NCSA account.  His team is playing this summer at weekend showcases on college campuses.  In addition to the host school each weekend he will be seen by coaches or representatives from another 10 schools or so across the 3 games they play that weekend.  On his behalf I use his account to introduce himself to the representatives of the schools he is interested in give his schedule and his cell number.  If an opportunity is created we coordinate together on it and then he handles communication if it is direct in nature.  

I am sure many approaches, that is ours. 

keewart posted:

The only time son was asked to fill out a questionnaire was after an invited unofficial visit to one school.

Perfect example of how situations differ. I've lost track of the number of introductory emails my son has sent (guessing 30+) but he's been asked at least six times to fill out recruiting questionnaires after an email to a coach. I'm not sure about all levels but I know from experience that a couple of D3 schools he's heard from use these heavily to create their list of players to follow, by class. In cases where he's gotten responses, the common theme seems to be "it all comes down to seeing you play." I may write a book when all this is done!

First, apologies to OP, Chico, for the thread diversion.  To answer your original question, I think you are very much on the right track with your assessment.  Attending camps without your son having prior direct dialog specifically about him with the RC or HC at a school is not going to be fruitful.  He has plenty to offer the target level that you think he will end up at and has time as well.  He seems to have a good target group of schools.  Keep the video updated to reflect the improvements in measurables and otherwise.  Target camps and events where the right audiences are present and proper dialog has occurred prior.

To expand on the discussion regarding how much a parent should help...

I agree with Tequila that each situation is different and parents know their kids best.  I agree with No Bunt that the recruiting game has it's nasty side and heavily favors the experienced coaches.  But, again, I'm not talking about letting them fly blind.  I'm talking about the more important opportunity for your sons to take big steps toward becoming young men and taking the responsibility of leading out in the recruiting efforts and college selection process.  Please stop with the "too busy" crap.  Yes, they are very busy.  But come on.  I have coached HS baseball for several years.  Our program has a disproportionately high number of players that have gone on to play in college.  There have been plenty of first hand examples that I have witnessed and often been a part of.  As I said before, most of these young men are quite busy with school, instruction, games, travel, some work, etc.  But almost all still find PLENTY of time for video games late into the night, just hanging out and plenty of other social activities.  There is a distinct pattern.  For parents navigating how much to help or steer the ship for their son's recruiting process, there is a large area that exists between doing way too much of the work for them and not helping them much at all.  Most who come here for guidance care enough that the latter is not an issue.  But many go through the same struggles with regard to the former.  

There has been a distinct pattern with those coming through our HS program as well as those I have been around in travel/showcase circles.  When a parent exhibits taking too much of the lead for the player or doesn't provide any help or guidance at all, the result is almost always that the player's college playing experience is very short or nonexistent as compared to their playing ability.  BTW, this is often reflected in many other aspects of their career and life pursuits as well.  Hmmmm.

I have certainly struggled with my own kids with these issues as well.  Mine are all grown and out of the house now.  While in HS, one of my sons would consistently outwork everyone twice over when he was between the lines.  But, early on, when it came to handling the non-playing/non-competing aspects of the recruiting process, he was at times quite lazy and assumed things would just happen for him.  Like many good athletes, he was often told by others that he would "make it" and exceptions were often made for him due to his athletic endeavors.  Despite being frustrated with his lack of willingness to take charge of these things, my initial parental instinct combined with my proactive personality made me really want to take over the back end of the process for him... to assure his success (like so many here, I think).  It was quite a battle for a while, having to fight myself and having to let go and make the conscientious decision that he would have to take on much more responsibility and a much bigger role in that regard.  Deep down, I knew that if I didn't let him figure that out for himself, he would always end up assuming things would just happen for him.  I had to really step back and leave it up to him.  I made sure that he was well informed and that he knew he had all the resources he could possibly need, but he had to be the one deciding to tap into those resources and deciding to do the legwork necessary.  It was a very difficult transition with plenty of bumps.  It was also probably the best parenting decision I ever made with him.  Several years later, he has completed a successful college playing career and is now a college coach as well as probably the youngest HC in the Valley League.  I was very proud of his on-field accomplishments but am now far more proud of his off-field work ethic and initiative.  He is now tackling many of the very adult issues that come with the territory and he is facing them head on with confidence and conviction.  

CabbageDad, 

That was pretty much our approach back in the day. 

CatcherDadNY posted:

That's what I meant.

They have a key stroke detection device - parent or player

No! Don't Call Bunt! posted:

Buckeye 2015 posted:

The issue is that coaches want to "get to know" the kid....not the parent.  A coach can tell in 2 seconds if info he is receiving is from the parent of the player.  If it's the parent, I can almost guarantee you it's going to be a huge red flag from a coach's perspective.  You can help...but making suggestions, timeline, etc, but any and all correspondence should be from him.   Sorry, don't mean to try to start an argument, but you'll get the exact same response from every parent here who has ever been thru the recruiting process.  

Yeah, i hear you.  But honestly, I don't care what the coaches want.  Really, no one should. 

Isn't the whole point of the recruiting process convincing coaches that a your son is what they want — a player with great potential to play in college? To do that you'd better care what they want, and if you don't, none of the rest of it matters.

Our approach was son got emails about camps. I'd either look at the school online or my dad (a college professor with 40+ years of teaching under his belt) would say "good school, might be a fit" or "NO!"

If it looked like it had potential and was reasonably close and affordable, son would push that relationship harder — thanks for the camp invitation, I need to check with my parents on my schedule. In the meantime, here's my video. What do you think?

And then he'd start sending updates on his performances, first via email, and later, if he could get a cell phone number, via text.

He went to a lot of camps, I think six or eight in surrounding states. Some were talking to him before he went, some got interested after seeing him up close.

I asked him toward the end if it was too much and he said no, I've learned something about what I want or don't want from every school i've visited. We did not fill out recruiting questionnaires.

Think of the response to email though this way — the open rate on direct mail advertising is like less than 1%. if you send 50 emails and get three responses, you're beating that. There are lots of paths, you just have to decide what to try, and if it's not getting you what you want, try something else.

Iowamom23 posted:

Our approach was son got emails about camps. I'd either look at the school online or my dad (a college professor with 40+ years of teaching under his belt) would say "good school, might be a fit" or "NO!"

If it looked like it had potential and was reasonably close and affordable, son would push that relationship harder — thanks for the camp invitation, I need to check with my parents on my schedule. In the meantime, here's my video. What do you think?

And then he'd start sending updates on his performances, first via email, and later, if he could get a cell phone number, via text.

He went to a lot of camps, I think six or eight in surrounding states. Some were talking to him before he went, some got interested after seeing him up close.

I asked him toward the end if it was too much and he said no, I've learned something about what I want or don't want from every school i've visited. We did not fill out recruiting questionnaires.

Think of the response to email though this way — the open rate on direct mail advertising is like less than 1%. if you send 50 emails and get three responses, you're beating that. There are lots of paths, you just have to decide what to try, and if it's not getting you what you want, try something else.

 

This is good advice. My son's experience has been: the intro emails are, by and large, read by the coaches (though of course not always responded to). But just about every significant communication has been by text or phone call. And to use a similar stat regarding open rates, the open rate on texts is over 90%.

2019Dad posted:

 the open rate on texts is over 90%.

Thanks to all -- as usual, great to hear from others who have been through, or are going through the recruiting process.  

Not surprising that different parents get involved (or not) to different degrees in their sons' attempts to play in college.  Every kid is different--as is every parent.  My son has ADHD and one of his primary challenges finding the motivation to begin tasks.  But he knows this about himself and has to learn to deal with it.  So I do a good bit of reminding (nagging), but I won't send emails for him.  Like most 16 year-old boys, he's a bit of a knucklehead sometimes.  But much less so than he was a year ago, and next year I expect him to be farther along the road to adulthood (he said with fingers crossed).

A question for 2019Dad and others:  I assume your sons texted coaches only after a coach invited that (and shared his number)?  Sending one's personal mobile number to a recruit seems like a clear expression of interest and I'd urge my son to act on that for sure.  But that hasn't happened yet.

My 2017 got three D1 offers.  One came from a reference through his travel program.  But two originated from emails I sent directly to the head coaches of the schools.  All I did was get their attention.  I manage email marketing for my company and had a good idea how I could send something and get him noticed, so I did.  To me that's called taking advantage of something to the benefit of my son.  But if I had listened to some of the folks on here, I would have never done it and he would have never had those options.  The point is there's no one single way to do this.  And anyone coming in tearing down ideas just because they didn't do it or it had a different approach that worked for their kids is being disingenuous, in my opinion.

This site is a temendous source of information.  But I'd rather hear people's opinions without the judgmental slant often provided.

Having said all of that, after the one email I sent to those two schools, it was all on him.  I do believe the player needs to have the relationship with the coaches, not the parent.

Chico Escuela posted:

A question for 2019Dad and others:  I assume your sons texted coaches only after a coach invited that (and shared his number)?  Sending one's personal mobile number to a recruit seems like a clear expression of interest and I'd urge my son to act on that for sure.  But that hasn't happened yet.

I'll chime in here Chico. My 2019 has received phone numbers from a few coaches so far offering for him to contact them in that way (in addition to email) if he has further questions. I think this has mostly been because his introductory email says something along the lines of learning more about their school and program, etc. Outside of the potentially more personal aspect of contacting by phone, he has not felt a need to exercise this option as these schools are far away and email is as effective as anything until they can actually see him play. One of the things we've found with him wanting to go quite a distance away from where we live is that the back and forth dialog sort of stalls, after initial questions are answered, until a time when he can inform them of plans that will include a camp or showcase that they will be attending. This has happened a few times and they have been very cordial and appreciative that he let them know of his schedule updates and encouraged him to continue to keep them informed of anything added or changed on his schedule. I still don't think this means too much since all they've seen is some video and his profile in some cases, but it might keep him on their minds/lists. As we get closer to the events, my son will email them again so that they can hopefully be looking for him and he can meet for a few words when the time comes.

Buckeye 2015 posted:

The issue is that coaches want to "get to know" the kid....not the parent.  A coach can tell in 2 seconds if info he is receiving is from the parent of the player.  If it's the parent, I can almost guarantee you it's going to be a huge red flag from a coach's perspective.  You can help...but making suggestions, timeline, etc, but any and all correspondence should be from him.   Sorry, don't mean to try to start an argument, but you'll get the exact same response from every parent here who has ever been thru the recruiting process.  

They aren’t getting to know them from a stats email. If/when they want to get to know them, they initiate a phone call.

Chico Escuela posted:

2019Dad posted:

 the open rate on texts is over 90%.

Thanks to all -- as usual, great to hear from others who have been through, or are going through the recruiting process.  

Not surprising that different parents get involved (or not) to different degrees in their sons' attempts to play in college.  Every kid is different--as is every parent.  My son has ADHD and one of his primary challenges finding the motivation to begin tasks.  But he knows this about himself and has to learn to deal with it.  So I do a good bit of reminding (nagging), but I won't send emails for him.  Like most 16 year-old boys, he's a bit of a knucklehead sometimes.  But much less so than he was a year ago, and next year I expect him to be farther along the road to adulthood (he said with fingers crossed).

A question for 2019Dad and others:  I assume your sons texted coaches only after a coach invited that (and shared his number)?  Sending one's personal mobile number to a recruit seems like a clear expression of interest and I'd urge my son to act on that for sure.  But that hasn't happened yet.

Yes, before Sept. 1st of junior year, the coaches would sometimes reply to emails and their cell phone number would be in the reply. Then he would call and/or text -- note, he wasn't too quick on the uptake -- it took awhile (and some advice from this site) before he realized that the coach's cell phone number in the reply email meant "call me." 

Usually they call a club coach or hs coach and say have him call me.