College Outreach
Student-Athlete College Outreach Program
This program’s primary goal is to help our student-athletes achieve their goal of playing at the collegiate level. For many of our athletes, playing college sports is a life-long dream. They put in countless hours of training and competing to achieve their goal. While we cannot guarantee an athlete a spot on a college roster, here are some of services that our program will provide to student-athletes and their families:
- Narrowing down colleges/universities based on geography, size, location, and other factors
- Providing guidance on how and when to communicate with college coaches
- Providing resources for better understanding the recruiting process
- Registering with the NCAA Clearinghouse (DI and DII athletes)
- Creating athlete profiles to send to college coaches
- Helping find programs that are realistic fits for students’ abilities and accomplishments
Students interested in enrolling in or have questions about this program should contact Program Director Shaun Gehres.
Why should I join the program?
If you really want to play at the collegiate level, you have to put in the work and get your name out there. Unfortunately, many athletes wait for colleges to come to them, but you need to be proactive. Only elite, top 1% high school athletes have college coaches knocking on their doors, but for most high school athletes, that is not the case. Colleges want student-athletes who take the initiative to contact them; they don’t have the resources to reach out to all high school athletes. Taking the first step tells the college coaches you are interested in their program and serious about playing at the next level.
What if I am already a member of an online recruiting database like NCSA?
Keep your membership, and participate in this program as well. Connecting with college coaches from as many angles as possible is the best way to get on their recruiting radar.
How is this program unique?
Albuquerque Academy’s vision for this program is to increase the exposure of our students-athletes to colleges that are a good fit for all parties involved. At most high schools, individual coaches oversee their student-athlete recruiting, our goal is to provide this service for all student-athletes with a dedicated program within the school. With that in mind, our head coaches of each sport will still be involved in various capacities throughout the process. Our hope is to showcase Albuquerque Academy student-athletes even more in the state, region, and nation.
What are the requirements to participate in the program?
Currently we are only taking athletes who have competed at the varsity level and played in at least half of your team’s contests. Head coach recommendations are also considered for athletes who may not meet these requirements.
How much does it cost to participate in the program?
This service is free to Academy students.
Timeline and Tasks for SACO participants
Freshman Year
- Begin imagining you are a student-athlete in college with managing your time in the classroom, socially, and on the playing field.
- Stay the path. If you want to play in college, how you behave now matters, so make good choices. This includes making good choices on social media.
- Communicate with your parents that you are interested in possibly playing in college. Ask them to help keep you on track.
- Some of you may choose to create free profiles or sign up for a membership on databases that are sport-specific or on bigger ones like NCSA. They can help get you information and stay connected, but you still have to do the work; they are not the reason why you will or will not be recruited.
- Communicate with the director of the Student-Athlete College Outreach Program at Albuquerque Academy that you have interest in playing in college. Let the director guide you through the process and be a point person for answering your questions, but remember that it is not the director’s job to get you recruited.
- Have conversations with your coaches and listen to their feedback. Most of your coaches have been coaching for a long time, so take their feedback with grace and use it the right way.
- Begin compiling a list of schools that might be good fits for you as a student-athlete. Think about geography, size of the student body, rural or urban, religious, single-gender, and, most importantly, the competition level of the team; can you really play at that level versus want to play at that level. You have to be realistic with your abilities and development.
- You can start putting highlight films or clips together, but don’t think college coaches won’t care too much about what you did your freshman year; they want to see progression.
- Have a discussion with the director and your parents about using social media handles for recruiting purposes.
Sophomore Year
- Figure out when you can take the PSAT with the help of your College Guidance department. Get it on your calendar.
- Make sure your grades are matching up with the kinds of schools you want to attend and adjust your target list of schools accordingly.
- Continue speaking with your coaches about your progress and make sure you are lining up your schools accordingly. Don’t think too highly or lightly of yourself; be realistic.
- Keep working on that college list! You will add/remove schools constantly, but keep up with it. It doesn’t hurt to have a separate list of schools that you would attend even if you don’t play sports so the process is still productive for you.
- Continue collecting highlight videos/clips. Be sure to show all facets of your play, not just one thing over and over again.
- Begin filling out the recruiting questionnaires for the schools on your target list; most of these can be found on the athletic websites of the colleges or on the actual team page of the sport.
- Utilizing the help of the director of SACO, begin drafting personalized emails to coaches at your target schools. Be sure to include information that highlights the things college coaches in your sport are looking for in recruits.
- Utilize the summer as ways to attend target school camps or play in quality events that you can showcase your talents — don’t overdo it.
- Keep talking to your parents about financial options for playing in college. Most NCAA athletes do NOT receive athletic scholarships! Many earn other types of scholarships or financial assistance to offset the costs of school. It could surprise you!
- Continue doing the right things in school, online, and on the playing field.
- Clean up your social media (@thecoachoftheschool) and email to send to colleges on your list, especially the summer after your sophomore year.
Junior Year
- Determine when you will take the PSAT with the help of your College Guidance department. Get it on your calendar.
- Figure out when you can take the SAT and ACT with the help of your College Guidance department. Get it on your calendar.
- Make sure your grades are matching up with the kinds of schools you want to attend and adjust your target list of schools accordingly.
- Continue speaking with your high school coaches about your progress and make sure you are lining up your schools accordingly.
- Keep working on that college list, probably 20-25 schools at various levels. You will add/remove schools constantly, but keep up with it. At this point, it doesn’t hurt to have a separate list of schools that you would attend if you don’t play sports. Keep track of what schools are saying to you, or not, and adjust your list.
- Register with the NCAA Eligibility Center, especially for athletes looking at playing Division I or Division II sports. You will be able to sign up for a clearinghouse number through the NCSA.com website.
- Start making some unofficial visits to colleges that are on your list. Make it part of family trips or hit a few colleges on the same weekend if they are near each other. Keep a journal to write down your likes/dislikes of the visit.
- What things are important to you in a program? Begin generating questions that you would ask college coaches when you meet them or speak to them on the phone.
- What would I need to do to earn a scholarship to your program?
- How many players are you recruiting at my position?
- What would I need to do to be evaluated by your staff?
- Who do I talk to about financial aid?
- When would be a good time to visit your campus?
- Prepare yourself for questions a coach might ask you.
- “What are your strengths and weaknesses as a player?”
- “What sets you apart from other recruits/players?”
- “What other colleges are recruiting you?”
- “What type of scholarship are you looking for?”
- “What things are you looking for most in a college?”
- “Who is helping you with this decision?”
- Look at camp options for the schools on your target list. Sometimes they have invite-only camps during the school year, so be sure to get them on your calendar. Don’t overdo it with attending camps that won’t benefit you. Quantity doesn’t give you a better chance.
- Send follow-up emails to schools we haven’t heard from or want to check-in with.
- Continue doing the right things in school, online, and on the playing field.
- Solidify your portfolio and continue to update it and send it off to schools.
Senior Year
- Are your SAT and ACT score where they need to be? If not, schedule to retake them.
- Narrow down your list to 10-12 schools based on the relationships you are building with coaches, what you have learned about schools in your visits, and what financial situations the schools will put your family in.
- Stay connected with the college coaches that you are still targeting. Always send highlights and clips to show your progress. Never send the same film unless the coach asks for it.
- Speak with your high school coach about where you are in the process and determine how they can help. Maybe make a phone call or two.
- If your family is considering applying for financial assistance, have them do that early, so it helps you to know where you stand and where the schools you are looking at stand for the financial side of things. Speak to College Guidance about how to begin this process.
- Make sure to finish out your senior year strong. Sometimes coaches will wait to see how their recruits finish out the year. It might come down to you and one other person.
- Once you receive an offer or intend to walk-on at a school, there will be other things to begin working on, but… congratulations for putting in the work and finding a school that wants you!!!
