juniors

 

Junior year for a prospective student athlete is similar to what the pros like to call “moving day”. Saturday of a professional event is the day pros try to make their move up the leader board. They spend the first two days insuring they at least make the cut, and then it’s moving time on Saturday. Juniors need to take the same approach with their recruiting.

Register for the NCAA Eligibility Center and make sure you take your ACT and/or SAT as soon as possible, many coaches need to know your scores before they can recruit you or make an offer. If you don’t have your resume together at this stage you need to get it completed ASAP. Make sure your resume includes all of the necessary information that a coach needs to know, along with a good recruiting video.

Begin to research potential good fits. You can use www.collegegolf.com to search and read more about the golf programs. You can also visit the team and school websites. You can find the team rankings at www.golfstat.com and www.golfweek.com. Also www.collegeboard.com will give you lots of great insight into the school and what it offers for a student.

Then create a good intro email and create a list of realistic schools to contact. The more realistic you are at this stage the more responses you will get and better chance for scholarship money. Keep in mind, many of the top DI coaches have already finished their recruiting of juniors at this stage, or they have already identified their potential recruits.

Take as many visits as you can this winter to get in front of coaches and show them who you are as a player and person. Prepare well for the visits, ask lots of questions and maintain communication with the coaches. Don’t keep your list too narrow until you know for sure you have some good offers on the table. Being proactive is very important at this stage in order to not fall behind once spring time gets here.

As we near the end of 2015, it is a great time to set some goals for the upcoming year. Write down a few big outcome goals you have in mind, but remember the important part of setting goals is to develop a game plan and specific short term process goals that will help you stay on track and see your progress. Focus on time management and better practice habits. These are two areas that many junior golfers struggle with, so the sooner you can develop better habits the better chance you will have of reaching your potential.

While the winter time provides players the chance to take a little break make sure you don’t get too far behind. Don’t let the cold weather scare you away, make the most of your practice time when the weather is decent enough to be outside. There are some great indoor drills you can work on to keep your fundamentals in check. A hitting and chipping net, putting aids and a mat, foam golf balls, tempo swing trainers and many other aids can help you when the weather outside is too extreme for practice.

Also, the winter time is a great chance to get in the gym with a TPI certified trainer to work on your fitness. As long as you are with a certified coach, who knows what they are doing, it’s never too early to develop some agility, strength and conditioning that will help with your overall athletic ability as well as your golf game..

As a junior, you can’t take the mindset that you have plenty of time and you can’t just wait for things to happen. Understand that you must take ownership of the process and begin to make things happen in regards to college recruiting. Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and call coaches, don’t be afraid to hear some no’s and don’t be afraid to be a little persistent in order to capture a coach’s attention. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself when you are in competition but know that you need to continue working hard and stay focused on what you can control in order to achieve your dreams of playing collegiate golf.

If you would like assistance with building your resume, developing your game plan for 2016, or any of these other areas check out the RecruitPKB packages or contact Brandi directly to discuss her full time programs.