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Forest Hills Field Hockey / Grand Rapids, MI

College Recruiting

Want to play in college?

The NFHCA publishes the annual NFHCA Guide to Recruiting & Collegiate Coaches Directory.  This publication is a must have for the prospective student-athlete who wishes to play field hockey in college.  Topics featured in the Guide include:

  • The Top 10 Dos & Don'ts of the Recruiting Process
  • A Timeline for the Prospective Student-Athlete
  • Questions to Ask the College Coach
  • Glossary of Key Recruiting Terms
  • Contact information for all Division I, II and III Field Hockey Coaches in the U.S.
  • And much, much more.....

You can purchase a copy today by mailing a check in the amount of $15 made payable to NFHCA to:

NFHCA
Attn: Guide to Recruiting 
P O Box 13289
Chandler AZ 85248

Questions should be directed to the NFHCA Office at [email protected].

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Here is a basic rundown of some things you can do to start the process. It's important that if you have any interest, start working on these items early. You can always talk to Coach Shaner if you have questions.

1.  Write a field hockey resume. Include:   

PERSONAL INFO

  • Year of HS graduation (critical). 
  • An email address where you and/or your parents can be contacted.  Many people create a separate email address for recruiting purposes.
  • Address, Date of Birth, phone number.  Do NOT include a Social Security Number.  It isn't necessary until very late in the process and opens you up to identity fraud issues. 
  • A photo showing your face

ACADEMIC

  • Name of School
  • GPA
  • Class Rank
  • PSAT/SAT or ACT scores.  For PSAT/SAT give the individual scores, not a total
  • Academic awards or honors
  • Academic Interest ("undecided" is perfectly acceptable)

FIELD HOCKEY

  • HS Coach’s name, email address, and phone number
  • Club:  Name of club, coach(es) name, email address, phone number.  If you have played for more than one club or team, may want to list them all
  • Your position (especially important if you are a GK)
  • Hockey awards/honors (all conference, all state, team mvp, most improved, captain, etc.)
  • Stats if you have them.  Most important are HS competition goals/assists if you are a forward or attacking mid and GK goals against average and save percentage
  • US participation.  Include all USFHA Futures participation (site, level, NFC, JOs, Olympic Development Select, etc.)
  • Names of camps/clinics you have attended, tournaments you have played in and any team awards won

OTHER

  • Other interests (community service, religious service, academic groups, hobbies)
  • Other sport participation and awards/honors
  • Letters of recommendation from teachers/coaches are optional
  • Newspaper clippings are optional - quality, not quantity is a good rule.

2.     Make a video.  USE A TRIPOD :)   The best videos include skills demonstration sections and game clips (not entire games) where the player is CLEARLY identified.   Important to explain which season each clip is from if they are from more than one season.  It is not necessary to hire a company to put the video together as long as your player is easily identifiable in play. 

Distribute the video.  You may use a DVD or post the video online. Sites used are YouTube, your own website, recruiting service website.  If you send a DVD be sure that your name, email address, HS and grad year are on the DVD and case. 

3.   Contact the programs you think you may have an interest in.  Make personal contacts, don't send mass emails.  Also be sure to be careful if you are copy/pasting, double-check you have the school's and coach's name correct! 

Send an email to the head coach and attach your resume (try to make the attachments a reasonable size).

Complete the institution's online prospect form - every institution will have this link on their athletic home page or sport page.

To see the final rankings of all of the NCAA programs visit http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-fieldh/ncaa-w-fieldh-body.html.   The "rankings" are a poll of all of the head coaches in the division and is an opinion poll.  "RPI" is a ranking based on a mathematical formula which includes your win/loss, win/loss of your opponents, strength of schedule and other categories.

Send a video to the ones you are most interested in.  If money is an issue then you can let them know you have a video and will send upon request. 

4. Miscellaneous Tips

ALWAYS mention your graduation year in communications.  Coaches are only allowed to contact players once they reach a certain point in high school; if they don't know that you're a junior/senior/etc., they may just not contact you rather than risk violating a rule. 

PARENTS- Most coaches don't mind getting an email or two from a parent but they would often prefer to hear directly from the player.  This doesn't mean you shouldn't monitor communication between coaches and your daughter but even if you help write the reply, it should come from the player.  Many players contact college coaches through a parent's email address.  A good practice is to create a new GMail or Yahoo or other email account that both the athlete and parent can access.

It is never too late.  We took a player in March of her senior year and she started for us and made 1st team all conference as a sophomore. 

If you are interested in a particular school, attend a camp or clinic they are offering or try to attend a summer camp where the coaches will be working.

5. Recruiting rules are different for each NCAA Division and are different depending on what grade you are in school.  The NCAA publishes a guide for college bound athletes athttp://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?ContentID=263.  Most of it is complicated and relates to academic standards but the recruiting section in the back includes an easy to read chart that is helpful.

Use your high school counseling resources - most of them are familiar with the rules and process and can help answer any questions.

6. Events designed specifically for recruitment

These events/camps are primarily round robin play with some or no teaching portion.  College coaches are invited to attend these events and will receive a player information guide.

Showcase Field Hockey:  www.showcasefieldhockey.com

Focus Field Hockey:  www.focusfieldhockey.com

College Connection:  www.WhiteMountainSports.com  This one is a multiple day "camp" that also provides videotaping services

Player Info Guides are sold to college coaches for all USA Field Hockey events, including Festival, Disney Showcase, Regional Rumble, some regional futures tournaments, National Futures Championships, NIT’s.

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