One Simple Step That Will Help You Get More Coach Views
You read about the importance of having an online presence to make it easier for college coaches to find you. So, you created your free online profile with NCSA. Now, you’re fielding emails and calls from NCSA about the need to update your profile and “get activated.” Wasn’t just creating the profile enough to start connecting with college coaches? Why do you need to take these extra steps?
Families who don’t get their profile activated actually hurt their athlete’s chances of getting discovered by college coaches online. In this article, we’ll walk you through the importance of activation, what it is and why it matters in your family’s recruiting process.
First, some background information on what it means to be ‘searchable’
Activation is all about increasing your searchability. Here’s what that means: If you go to Google and search for “cat videos,” you’ll get pages and pages of cat videos to watch. You’ll probably click on the first few results and keep going down the list until you find the one that you’re really looking for. In some cases, you might refine your search by typing in “funny cat videos” or “videos of orange cats.” This is pretty similar to how college coaches search for recruits online.
In order to be found by college coaches, your profile needs to be “searchable,” just like those cat videos that popped up in your search. The more searchable your profile, the higher up it will appear in that results list, making it much more likely that coaches will click on and view your information.
How does activation affect my searchability?
When you first create your profile, it’s actually not searchable yet. The NCAA has set certain minimum requirements that all profiles must meet in order to be searchable. While the requirements differ by sport, the main ones include: name, contact information, height, weight and GPA. Once you add in your personal information, your profile is technically searchable. Huzzah!
Activation is how you increase your searchability and move higher up on that list of results when a college coach searches for a recruit like you. This makes it much more likely that a coach will find your profile and view your information. To get activated, all you need to do is call NCSA and have a quick 5- to 10-minute conversation with a recruiting coordinator to set up your recruiting assessment.
During your recruiting assessment, you’ll talk to a recruiting specialist about:
- Your commitment to competing in college sports
- Your progress in the classroom and in your sport, going over both your goals and accomplishments
- Where you’re at in your recruiting process
- How to connect with coaches through your profile
- Your recruiting next steps
Once you’ve completed your recruiting assessment, your profile is activated!
Why do I need to call in to get activated?
To get recruited by college coaches, you need to be committed to competing in college sports, as well as demonstrate the right talent level on the field and in the classroom. Our recruiting coordinators make sure every family is ready to go through the process and be successful.
This way, college coaches in our network know that if a profile is activated, it means that athlete wants to compete in college sports and is taking the steps to achieve that goal. By making sure that activated athletes meet these requirements, college coaches trust our network and keep coming back to find recruits.
What if I’m too young to start the recruiting process?
Many families don’t activate their profile right away because they believe their student-athlete is too young to start the recruiting process. However, if you’ve decided that you’re committed to competing in college sports, you’ve already taken the first step in your recruiting journey! We recommend making strides in your recruiting once you’ve made that initial decision because it will help you get a competitive edge on the many other recruits vying for roster spots.
And remember: The first few steps in the recruiting process are about researching schools and figuring out what you’re looking for in a college experience. We provide the foundation and tools to streamline this research process. Getting your profile activated and learning more about the recruiting process are great ways to kick off a successful recruiting journey!
