Last week, I met with Jay, one of the college counselors here at the Center for College Planning. We talked about where I need to start to with putting together all my information for playing women’s lacrosse when I go to college. I didn’t really know what I needed for coaches for the recruiting process as I am the first in my family to go to college. Jay got me started – and here is a list of things he recommends you put together if you want to play NCAA sports in college:

• Cover Letter
• Resume 
• Lacrosse Schedule (both high school and or any summer teams you may participate on)
• NCAA Eligibility Center - register
• List of schools you plan on sending your information to

Cover Letter: Just like when applying for a job, it is always good to have a cover letter to go along with your resume. Your resume can only tell someone so much, like your experience and what you can do; but the cover letter goes a little further and you can promote your experiences a bit more. Just write a brief paragraph about you, what you have accomplished as being a player for your team(s), why you’re so interested in that particular school, and why you think that you would be an asset to their team in the future.

Resume: A student-athlete resume is a bit different from your typical resume when applying for a job. It’s more personal and includes everything that college coaches would like to see in a quick snapshot. What might you put on the resume? Well, here are few highlights that I included on mine:
Picture - If it is possible, try and get a picture/action shot of you playing so that if coaches who come and watch you play will have an idea of what you look like.
Personal Information - address, phone number(s), e-mail addresses, height, weight, high school jersey number, and summer jersey number
Contact Information - list 3-4 people/ references that the college coaches could contact to get further information about you as a player and as a student. Examples of references could be your team’s coach, a guidance counselor, and other coaches for other sports you may play.
Academics - You want to include your GPA (what you have/out of what the scale is. Or if you don’t know just put N/A. But try and see your guidance counselor about it when you can.), SAT Scores (if you haven’t taken them and plan to, or have and you just haven’t gotten the results back you simply explain these are pending), graduation date, desired major, NCAA Eligibility Center (explain if you have registered yet) and a brief list of any academic honors you might have received and clubs that you participate in.
Statistics/Achievements - Starting with your freshman year through right now, you want to include and list your athletic achievements in your sport. Also include any accomplishments from any other teams or sports you may be involved with.  You also want to include your team’s website so that coaches can have access to your schedule and any other information.
Other experience: Set up just like you did for Statistics/Achievements, list list your accomplishments, any elite teams, or volunteer work you have done.

Your Team’s Schedule: Simply just attach your high school team’s schedule and if you play on a summer league, include that schedule as well.  If you can list appropriate tourneys and dates, list them as well.

NCAA Eligibility- Depending on what Division school you plan on applying for you may need to register with the eligibility center. If you plan on going D1 or D2 you will need to go online and register at www.ncaaclearinghouse.net.  If you plan to play sports at a D3 school, you don't have to worry about doing that.

List of Schools: Before you start doing anything you have to have an idea of what schools you want to apply for. You can go to www.ncaa.org and get a list of schools by division and they will include the school name, the conference their in, and where they are located. Always remember that finding the "right fit" doesn't simply mean finding the best athletic team to play on. The schools should also compliment your academic and social interest as well.

Meeting with Jay here at the Center for College Planning helped me a ton.  I got a lot done within two meetings, and I should be sending my stuff out soon. Good luck to all you student athletes in the direction you choose!

Still Practicing,

Lauryn