question about recruiting emails

I think you should respond regardless. Although it may very well be a mass email, maybe only a handful reply and you could be one of those. You have nothing to lose by sending a reply.

However, instead of just hitting reply, I think it is best to get the Coach's email from the school website and send a reply that way, stating "Thank you for the invitation..." and add some personal info. That is what my kid has been doing and he has received a few replies back from coaches asking for his spring schedule. They may just be being nice, but at least they personally replied and have seen his name a few times.

As someone who uses Frontrush I can tell you that that email replies do come directly to the sender's Outlook box. Software like this does make it easy to send mass emails but there are also features for coaches that can make this system great for more personal note. We can check to see if a recruit has opened the email, if they have clicked on a link, etc. So, I would consider some of these notes to be personal even if sen through software.

Whatever you do, don't read them and then go back to your girlfriend or X box. Who knows, our son might actually be playing in our area if he had been more responsive.

Wow PopUp, that was brutally honest...
He's right though, respond to EVERYONE. Our service REQUIRES our student athletes to respond to ALL coach's inquiries. You just never know. In the end, it's about schools competing for YOU and YOU having choices. Not the other way around.

UpstateSportsMan.com/necp

DLOCK15,

As much effort as you are putting into your search, coaches are doing the same to find their recruits. I strongly suggested my oldest son respond to every email whether he was interested or not. I know this can be a lot of work.

This is a communication skill that you are learning to prepare you for a future career and job search. Coaches talk and coaches move around. You want them to remember you. In addition, employers talk and emplyers move around. Again, you want them to remember you. It is called "networking" and it will be something that is incredibly important in business or life. Do the right thing. Repsond to each and every note as opportunity to get your name in front of these coaches and further your search. You never know where they will be in 10 years or where you'll be in 10 years.

Best of luck!

It doesn't have to be a lonely quest. Your parents should recognize that you have never done something like this before. We showed our son how to lay out a chart, how to write a response and how to keep track of all he had done. We used a seperate gmail address that was for coaches contacting our son so Mom,Dad and son could keep track of baseball communication together, without having to sort through spam, friends, and nonsense. It takes a village so its ok to ask your parents for a little organizational help.

But, in the end, answering every single coach contact is vital to the process. In our son's case, he ended up playing for a school where he initially wanted to ignore the coaches contact.

When replying, in addition to a personal note, include your bio and a link your skills video (if you have one on-line). This is a great opportunity to establish a connection.

You're ahead of the game by taking the initiative to ask the question and accessing the wealth of information on this website. That's more than many of your peers are doing. Best of luck!

My son is a 2013 also, and is getting probably the same type of emails as you are. I wish my son had your inititiative, but he doesnt so we kind of laid out a plan together. All these schools that he gets emails from, he emails back, but he never replies to them. I told him it seemed lazy to do such, so he would look up their email address and send them a seperate email that stood out alone. He would thank them for their interest and if he couldnt make the camp, he would say why, or other information. He always included what high school and summer team he is playing for. My daughter started video taping him pitch, and made him a youtube page. Kinda her way to be involved. He includes the link at the bottom of every email he sends out. He has had coaches comment on the videos so I guess it helps and some are actually viewing them, as the count of views is increasing. But I told him to reply to EVERY coach that emails him. You never know.

Sounds like a great way to go about it, Mizzou!

The inflow of emails creates a good opportunity for your son to start looking into the various attributes of the schools that express interest. Not only will he learn about them; but, it'll also get him thinking about the elements of a college environment that are really important to him. It also ought to prompt some discussion with the rest of the family about what sorts of schools make the most sense.

Ultimately, the recruits who get the hardest looks from recruiters are those who not only qualify as players; but the ones who have put enough effort into the search that they're in a well-founded position to say that they think they fit the school's environment well, as well. Of course, another side benefit of this sort of approach is that it raises the odds that, once they enroll, they find themselves in an overall environment that's well-suited for them.

Given what you've told us about the rest of your process, it wouldn't surprise me if your son is already well on his way in this regard. I put it out there mainly for the benefit of those who may be earlier to the process.

Best of luck to him!

I would look up the coach's email address and respond to it just in case the emails do not go to his email address from the software.