How do you go about walking on a college team?

It's a good idea to wait for those times before contacting them. Usually the asst. coach will tell you about a formal tryout they have in the Fall.

Talk to the coach. And specify that you know you are probably not a scholarship guy but want to know what you need to do to walk on.

Most coaches will give you a general guideline and will not answer too many questions unless they really want you. Email always works best. You may need to send the same email once a week until you get the first response. That annoys the crap out of me as a coach, but it does work. I will eventually send something with the times of the worst people in the event just to give some kind of standard and then say something about how you will just have to keep working hard and see how the year turns out.

But unless you are good enough to be someone I really want, then I will not guarantee a walk on spot, but just say you can have a try out when you get to campus. But a college walk on try out is typically just a way for the coach to see how you are built and what your running form looks like. Most of what will be judged are your previous PRs.

#1) Email the coach

#2) Take a tour of campus and stop by the coaches offices and try and talk to them

#3) DO NOT just wait until you get to campus and expect their to be an open try out. Get a hold of the coaches as soon as you can.

Also, do not call the office phone number. A coach is not going to take the time to call you back unless you are really good. And if you do decide to call this is not a good message "Hi Coach, my name is John Doe and I just wanted to talk to you to find out more about your track and field program". If you do not say where you are from, your events, and your PRs, that message is going to be deleted immediately!

I would suggest running. It is faster than walking.

Just a reminder, Toledo does not have a mens track team. If that is important, I would look elsewhere.

walkon runner wrote:

I live in Ohio and am looking at four schools that I would want to go to even if I wasn't running and walking on. Xavier, Miami, Akron, and Toledo (In case it differes from school to school).

Any advice about walking on will be appreciated.

Fellow Ohioan here. For the love of god don't go to Toledo. There's nothing good about that city. I don't care what their program is like. Don't even think about it.

Miami is only for rich tools who think they're better than everyone else. Don't go there if you aren't one of those people.

I'd choose Xavier since Cincinnati is a cool city. Akron is meh

If you run the 800, why not Kent State?

Anyways heres what I did:

Decided which school I wanted to go to. Emailed the coach over the summer declaring my interest in just being given a chance to try out/walk on. Showed up to the first track practice in september, jumped in with the 800 guys, and killed myself in practice every day for the next three years (one a red shirt). Eventually I went from 1:58 down to 1:52 and actually really enjoyed my final two years actually being a meaningful part of the team.

Just show up to a practice one day and ask if you can run with the team? After the practice, ask if you can walk on. Done and done.

*Side note: Some teams do not allow walk-ons. I'm not sure why.

Per NCAA rules, you can't just show up and run with the team. There are NCAA rules regulation roster declarations.

Beau is fat wrote:

If you run the 800, why not Kent State?

Anyways heres what I did:

Decided which school I wanted to go to. Emailed the coach over the summer declaring my interest in just being given a chance to try out/walk on. Showed up to the first track practice in september, jumped in with the 800 guys, and killed myself in practice every day for the next three years (one a red shirt). Eventually I went from 1:58 down to 1:52 and actually really enjoyed my final two years actually being a meaningful part of the team.

I essentially did the same thing, except I walked onto the xc team first. I just emailed the coach expressing my interest and included my pr's and showed up to practice. If it's really important to have the chance to walk on I'd email the coaches before you commit to a college to make sure you'll be given an opportunity to prove yourself.

my god, a goober wrote:

I would suggest running. It is faster than walking.

Bwahahaha made me laugh. Thank you.

TAA2 wrote:

walkon runner wrote:

I live in Ohio and am looking at four schools that I would want to go to even if I wasn't running and walking on. Xavier, Miami, Akron, and Toledo (In case it differes from school to school).

Any advice about walking on will be appreciated.

Fellow Ohioan here. For the love of god don't go to Toledo. There's nothing good about that city. I don't care what their program is like. Don't even think about it.

Miami is only for rich tools who think they're better than everyone else. Don't go there if you aren't one of those people.

I'd choose Xavier since Cincinnati is a cool city. Akron is meh

Excuse you! No need to generalize about Miami. There are tons of down to earth people who are not obsessed with money.

NCAA rules compliance wrote:

Per NCAA rules, you can't just show up and run with the team. There are NCAA rules regulation roster declarations.

Oh, thank you for that. I guess send an email and ask to be officially and technically declared on the team roster and then (and only then) can you show up and run at the same time that other officially declared individuals are also allowed to run...technically.

I emailed the coach the fall of my senior year and he said my times weren't fast enough to be recruited but to keep him updated throughout the year. I chose the school for academic reasons but contacted him again when I showed up asking if there would be a try-out. I tried out on a 6k course with a few other freshmen and made the team.