Question: Contacting College Coaches Via Email? Does your book include e-mail addresses? Is it appropriate to e-mail coaches about your interest in their program?
Answer: Contacting College Coaches Via Email
My book includes email addresses where the coaches have sent them to me and indicated they wanted them included. While it's totally fine to email coaches about your interest, not all coaches treat email equally. Some read it regularly; some read it occasionally; some rarely read theirs. Some coaches use it to gather player information; many do not. And email addresses can easily change or be incorrect (even when posted on a college web page!)
Many college web pages have contact forms built into them so that a player can contact a coach about her interest in the school directly from the web page, but I still find that, in most cases, a written introductory packet is more personal, harder to lose, and more likely to get a response from more coaches. Be sure to include your video link. Letters (email or written) alone will usually only generate a form response that asks for a video, unless a coach is already in contact with you, has seen you play, etc. It's also always smart to follow up a snail mail letter with a phone call!
NOTE: These days, many coaches are quite literally inundated with emails. They might find 200-300 emails in their inbox before a big tournament. And frankly, lots of these videos get skimmed over and then dumped. Email is terrific once a coach has shown that he/she will respond in a timely manner. In the meantime, snail mail and phone calls may work more to your advantage!
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