Ryan Sparks, a former Ivy rowing recruiter with 10 years of college counseling experience in the sport, teams up with Katie Lane, a former coxswain and Penn recruiter, and David Feinburg, owner of Sygyzy Global Education, one of NYC's finest college counseling firms to provide a comprehensive primer to college, recruiting, and rowing - featuring insight at the end on Covid's impact on recruiting.General:What’s the difference between Division 1, 2 and 3?When can I start talking to coaches?When do I need to start prepping for standardized testing?What courses should I be taking as a sophomore, junior, senior, etc.?How do I know if schools have scholarships?Branding:What does a potential coach need to know about you in order to understand you? (Values, Goals, Experiences, Strengths, Challenges).What type of athlete and/or coxswain are you? (Think personality traits, work ethic, motivation)?How can you shape your brand? (Language, organization, etc.)Know your elevator pitch! (what makes you stand out against any other recruit)What can I be doing now to improve my skills as a rower or coxswain?Communication:How do you start communicating with a coach?How do you set up a call?What do you need to be prepared to answer?What should you do to prepare ahead of time?What information do you need in an email?How will you know if you’re being recruited?Our (Ryan, Dave, Katie) best practices for phone calls.Should I reach out to the head coach or assistant coach or both?Admissions Expectations:General academic guidelines for different tiers of schools (ivy vs. state school; private vs. public school, etc.)How do schools rank recruits? What academic measure do they use? (Bands, Groups, AI, etc.)What materials do I need to give the coach for a pre-read?Is it better to go ED, EA or RD?What can we expect to change due to Covid?Admissions standards - moving away from standardized testing.Some rowing programs to get cut.Recruiting opportunities may get cut because of budget cutsFall seasons may be compromised.
