Rosterfy Blog

News and thoughts from the Rosterfy team

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What You Say On Social Media Matters - A LOT

An athletes social media presence plays a huge role in the recruitment process. Coaches want to know everything they possibly can about a player. They will read every tweet that you’ve ever tweeted, and every Facebook and Instagram post. Here are some of the countless examples:

They will create alias accounts to monitor behavior 

Rescind offers

Even create player contracts for social media

Stop recruiting for questionable accounts

And hire assistants to monitor players social accounts

Your high school will also take action for bad and questionable behavior. 

There are too many examples of terrible social media behavior. It’s something we still see every day from athletes.  When you create a social media account it becomes an extension of you, an extension that lasts forever. 

Social media has many great aspects and there are many great ways to use it, but be careful. There is a simple rule to follow though, if you’d be too embarrassed to read it in front of your parents, then don’t hit send! 

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Myths of College Recruiting

If I Am Good Enough, Coaches Will Find Me

This might be true if you are nationally recognized and rated by major outlets, but that's not the case for 90% of athletes.  If you want to play college sports, it's your job to reach out to coaches and be proactive. Coaches want to hear from you. They are so busy with other coaching tasks they can't possibly go out and find you because you are just "good enough". 

I'm a Freshman/Sophomore, I Don't Need To Worry About Being Recruited Yet. 

The best time to start is when you are this age! It helps to build and establish relationship with coaches early on. Let them know who you are, ask what you can improve upon, etc. Coaches like to see improvement, so if you can show measurable results year-by-year to multiple coaches, you will be setting yourself up for success. Things get stressful if wait until you are a Senior! 

My Coaches Are Responsible for Getting Me Recruited 

That would be nice if your coach could spend the hours it took for you to get noticed...and the other players on your team who want to play in college. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to be proactive and market yourself. Not your parents, not your coach, just you. Coach's serve as a reference and parents will be there to help, but it starts with you. 

Coaches Will Reach Out To Me First

Coaches can't reach out to everyone. They will reach out to players first, but that's not the case for every athlete and the majority of athletes. There is some hesitancy to email coaches because it can seem scary, but the worst a coach can do is not reply or give you some feedback. Reaching out to coaches first shows you have an interest in that program and that is something coaches like to know! 

The competition At Lower Levels Is Not Good

Most athletes aspire to play in Division 1, but that's not a reality for most. Spots are limited and sometimes players fall through the cracks. The competition at other levels is really good. And often times the players are D1 worthy, but for whatever reason like not having good grades, weren't able to secure a spot at that level. Either way, there are great programs at all levels of competition, cast a wide net and look into as many programs as possible to find your best fit. 

Grades Don't Matter If I'm Good Enough 

Plenty of players have missed the opportunity to play sports because they couldn't cut it in the classroom. One of the first things coaches want to know about a player is his/her grades. Succeed in the classroom! 

I Need To Pay A Lot Of Money To Play College Sports

There is nothing further from the truth than this. Paying thousands of dollars for “advice” and someone guaranteeing you a spot or scholarship is completely unnecessary. You are in control of your own success. Take the time to reach out and generate interest in your services and see where you stand in the minds of coaches, it’s free.     

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How To Effectively Email College Coaches

The idea of getting recruited to play college sports can seem daunting. Many athletes and parents have questions about how to get on a college team and how to get coaches to know who you exist. While there are many ways to contact a coach, email is one of the most effective methods. It is non-invasive and gives coaches time to process your message and craft a necessary response. Here is our 5-step guide to maximizing your emails to college coaches. 

PREP

Before you start sending off email to coaches you want to contact, it is important to do some research. You want to find out about the coach and the team so you can send a more effective, personal email. It will help to show you care and that it is not just about you. 

Take some time to find out more about the coach and the team. Search on Google and Twitter.

What are the coaches achievements? The teams? How long have they been there? Know the details! 

Figure out what you can bring to the team and how you might provide value. 

How many players on the roster already play your position? Have they already signed someone in your position?

EMAIL ADDRESS

This may seem trivial and unimportant, but you don’t want to send an email with an address that is not professional. Avoid addresses that are unreadable and that have many special characters. The best thing to do is have your first name, last name, or both in your email address. 

SUBJECT

The subject line is the first thing a coach will see. Avoid making it too long, and keep out words or phrases, such as, “Recruit Me”, “Best Player”, “Scholarships”, etc. 

Keep the subject direct and to the point. 

OPENING LINE

Use your findings from your prep here. Say something about them - acknowledge a recent achievement, show appreciation, something about a recent game. 

Everyone enjoys something nice said about them.

BODY

Keep it short and to the point, 1-2 paragraphs maximum. If it’s too long a coach probably won’t read it all, which is why we have a character limit on Rosterfy. 

Tell them why you are interested in their school/program. 

Include a link to your highlights. Have a full game tape ready to send if they reply and want to see more. 

Let them know some intangible things you can bring to the team. 

Ask a quality question, such as, tips for improving a certain skill set, good camps to attend, etc. 

Attach your Rosterfy profile link so coaches can have a more in depth look at you. (This will make their job easier and save them time when they are trying to find social media accounts, and other relevant information about you, like your GPA)

Use proper punctuation and grammar and do not use slang! You wouldn’t believe how many people do not follow these basic things. It could automatically eliminate any chances you have. 

Not all coaches will reply the first time and that is okay, they are busy people who receive lots of email per day. Sometimes it takes a few attempts to stand out and be unique. Be willing to follow up and show coaches your progress. Remember, it’s a process. Building good relationships can take some time. 

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Alex Schneider Highlights: Sophomore PG from Auburn, CA

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Why We're Building Rosterfy

There’s a problem that exists for athletes who want to play college sports, the majority of them are never fully discovered or get the chance to be recruited by college coaches, let alone schools or coaches of their own choosing.  

We are building Rosterfy to create a platform that allows athletes to become more easily discovered and get feedback from the colleges and coaches they might want to play for. In technical terms, Rosterfy helps athletes effectively email-market themselves. A valuable skill in the world of post grad, job-seeking, and networking. 

Getting Discovered Is Hard

Recruiting itself is made to seem difficult. This is true if you haven’t been discovered. It’s a challenge to get in front of college coaches and get them to know who you are. Most athletes or their parents never know how to do that, or they think it will just happen if they are good enough. 

Personal Experience 

During my senior year of high school (07'-08') reality was beginning to set in — Where would I go to college? More importantly, where would I get the chance to play basketball on a college team? I haven’t been noticed or discovered by a lot of coaches, what do I do?! GAH. Arguments with parents ensue because of the uncertainty…

I knew I had the skill set and drive to make it happen. But figuring out the logistics was tough, especially being from a small town in Northern California. The thought of calling or emailing coaches was daunting to even think about, but I knew I had to try it if I had any chance. 

Where in the world do I find a coaches contact info? 

Soon I found out that you could go to a schools website and lookup coaches info under “staff directory” of the athletic site. This was a time consuming process and inefficient (lots of copy/paste and back and forth between sites and my email). It took a few hours between research and writing emails. 

With Rosterfy you can cut down that time by 75% 

What do I say to the coaches in my email? 

Honestly, I had no idea. I told coaches who I was and showed them my YouTube highlights and asked to send game film. 

To my surprise, I got a couple responses. The day after sending my initial emails I got a call from a head coach. It turns out that was enough to get the ball rolling and land a spot on a college team. The feeling of making that happen was incredible. 

If I had a tool like Rosterfy, I know I could have had a much greater reach to more college coaches. 

With Rosterfy, athletes and parents can track if their email was opened and if any of their links were clicked on, as well as, how many times they were clicked. 

Rosterfy helps athletes optimize their emails to college coaches in order to gain desired exposure.

Both Sides of The Table

I’ve been fortunate enough to see two different aspects of recruiting up close, 1) myself just trying to get discovered and 2) my brother two years later getting over 15 Division 1 offers to play basketball in college — two very different experiences.

Most kids who end up playing college sports aren’t like my brother. They’re more like me, wondering how in the world do I make this happen? And most athletes don’t get to play D1. There are so many colleges/universities with great athletic programs and good academics. High school athletes and their parents have a hard time knowing where to look and how to contact the coaches to make it happen. Most fall in the trap of thinking “coaches will find me, I know I can play, it will happen eventually”. 

Let me tell you from personal experience and the experience of others — it won’t. Coaches can’t care who you are if they don’t know you. You have to be your biggest advocate, you have to reach out. 

Player Profiles

Having been involved in both aspects of recruiting mentioned above, I learned how intricate coaches were in doing their research on players and gathering information about them, which is why we built player profiles so you can centralize that critical data and share it with coaches, friends, and family. 

Player Profile on rosterfy.com 

This is the profile of Christian Dethlefs on Rosterfy, one of our first users. He’s already received one full-ride offer and is getting more interest from coaches. 

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