From email to texts, calls and visits

How a conversation with a coach usually grows: email first, then the channel they prefer, then calls and meeting in person.

Every coach has a favorite way to talk, but most recruiting conversations follow the same path. Here’s how to move along it without skipping a step.

Start with email

Email is always allowed, whatever your grad year, and it leaves a record you can both look back on. Make your first contact an email: How to write an intro email coaches actually read shows you how.

Ask which channel they prefer

Once a coach replies, ask them how they’d like to stay in touch: “Is email best, or would a text or a call be easier?” Coaches appreciate it, and you’ll get answers faster in the channel they actually check.

Texting a coach

• Keep it short: one point per message.
• Skip the emojis and slang. Write it the way you’d write an email, just shorter.
• In your first text to a coach, sign off with your name, grad year and position, since they may not have your number saved yet. After that, skip it: signing every text gets repetitive fast.

Setting up a call

• Calls are usually scheduled. Offer two or three times that work for you, and send a calendar invite once you agree on one.
• Have a couple of questions ready about the program, and your schedule to hand.
• Pick up on time, somewhere quiet.

Meeting in person

Nothing beats meeting a coach face to face, at a showcase, a camp or on a campus visit. If a coach you’re talking to will be at an event you’re playing in, tell them beforehand and plan to say hello. Before a campus visit, read how to prepare for a visit.