RECRUIT CONNECT
Learning Hub
Home

Recruiting · From scratch

How To Recruiting

A complete, beginner-friendly recruiting playbook for student-athletes. Built especially for first-generation and people who can't afford recruiting who don't have a club director or paid recruiting service walking them through it. Every section explains what to do, why it matters, the mistakes to avoid, and the templates to copy.

write a recruiting emailbuild a professional Gmail signaturemake a strong highlight videocontact coaches effectivelyfollow up correctlyfill out recruiting questionnairesrecruiting rules work (the basics)create a recruiting profilechoose realistic schoolsprepare transcripts and academic infoattend camps and showcasescommunicate professionally with coachesbuild a recruiting timelineimprove exposure

Why it matters

Your email is usually a coach's first impression of you. A clean, personal, specific email gets read — a generic copy/paste gets deleted in 3 seconds.

Step by step

  1. 01Use a clear subject line: position, grad year, name, school. (e.g. '2027 CB · John Smith · Highlight Film').
  2. 02Greet the coach by name (Coach Lastname). Spell it correctly.
  3. 03Sentence 1: who you are — grad year, position, club/HS team, location.
  4. 04Sentence 2-3: why THIS school — something specific about the program (style of play, conference, recent result, academics).
  5. 05Add the essentials: GPA, test scores, key stats, height/weight, jersey #.
  6. 06Drop a working highlight video link (YouTube/Hudl) above the fold.
  7. 07Close with a direct CTA: 'Could I get on your radar?' or 'Interested in your camp on X date.'
  8. 08Sign with full name, grad year, club, phone, email, video link.

Common mistakes

  • • Sending the same email to 50 coaches with no personalization.
  • • Burying the highlight link at the bottom or making it broken/private.
  • • Writing a 600-word essay. Coaches skim — keep it under 180 words.
  • • Using a Hotmail address from 5th grade — make a clean firstname.lastname@gmail account.

Tips

  • • Read it out loud before sending. If it sounds like a robot, rewrite it.
  • • CC a parent only when the coach has asked you to.
  • • Send Tuesday-Thursday morning. Avoid Friday 4pm and weekends.

Checklist

  • Subject has grad year + position + name
  • Coach's name spelled right
  • 1 specific thing about THEIR program
  • GPA + stats + height/weight included
  • Working highlight link near the top
  • Clear ask (CTA)
  • Signature with full contact info

First-contact template

Subject: 2027 CB · John Smith · Highlight Film

Coach Martinez,

My name is John Smith. I'm a 2027 center back from FC United (Dallas, TX), and I'm reaching out because I'm very interested in the soccer program at State. I love how your team plays out of the back and your run to the conference final last fall caught my attention.

Quick info:
- Position: CB (also play 6)
- Height/Weight: 6'1" / 175
- GPA: 3.85 unweighted, 1310 SAT
- Club: FC United ECNL
- HS: Lincoln HS, Dallas TX

Highlight video (3 min): https://hudl.com/v/abc123

I'd love to be on your radar. I'll be at the Texas ID Camp Oct 12 and would be glad to connect there or jump on a call any time.

Thanks for your time, Coach.

John Smith
2027 · CB · FC United ECNL
john.smith@gmail.com · 555-123-4567
https://hudl.com/v/abc123

This guide is free because of donors.

Recruit Connect exists to help student-athletes who can't afford recruiting who don't have a paid recruiting service. If this helped you — or you want to help the next kid — please consider donating.

Donate