i am interested in walking onto a good team. my prs are a bit on the slow side but i am not that developed and i think i have potential and can make the team. i sent the coach an email about walking on 6 weeks ago but got no reply. i assumed the coach was busy because this team is good and sent a lot of runners to nationals. still no reply, should i email again? what should i say?
Do what she says:
Call him and leave a message if he doesn't pick up.
I was in the same situation last year. Will you be visiting the college anytime soon? If you are, you could try to see the coach in his/her office when you visit. If you can't do that, try calling. It is nerve wracking, but it shows initiative and makes the coach acknowledge you. If none of this works, send an email every week or two. Be persistent but not annoying.
You've got to change your handle. "potential walkon" looks, at a glance, entirely too much like "precisely watson". What coach would respond to some kid's mom who trolls LRC?
Get a physical.
Show up before practice time and ask if you can join in the next day's practice.
That's basically what I did. My school was a top DI school in it's day and had a World Champion 1500m runner.
listen to toro but first train your ass of this summer so you are closer to your potential. Good luck.
e-mails are too easily ignored. you've gotta call and leave messages and call again if they're not returned. the other guy had it right when he said you need to visit the office if it's local enough, and take care of your training, physical, etc so there's basically no excuse to not take you.
I'd find out what the coach is like before you make any decision to go to that school.
Maybe the coach is a jackass.
Call and talk to him or, better yet, visit and talk to him.
There are a lot of places you could go to school. Personally I went to a junior college first, which saved a ton of money and better prepared me for the Uni's later on. In the meantime you can compete and develop at them, likely better than you could in a first year at a Uni.
Tip him
Look up the team's roster. Find the team members on Facebook and add them. They will be able to lead you in the right direction.
Exactly how slow are you?
If you are not sub-16:30 you need to understand that the coach can't really take you. I assume this is a large state school as you say they sent many to NCAAs. At such a school with 30,000+ kids there are hundreds who did xc in HS and might have PRs in the 16:40-18:00 for 5k. The coach just can't let everyone on. Also you will have a difficult time getting attention even if you are the practicing.
Bottom line- coach has bigger fish to fry and doesn't want to spend the time.
I know a girl who was asked to walk on (at a pretty big d1 contender from year to year) by the coach after being seen train for a marathon on the track
hh wrote:
I know a girl who was asked to walk on (at a pretty big d1 contender from year to year) by the coach after being seen train for a marathon on the track
That likely had more to do with Title IX quotas than talent recruitment.
coaches are generally lazy as hell especially when it comes to email. a call would be better
toro wrote:
Get a physical.
Show up before practice time and ask if you can join in the next day's practice.
That's basically what I did. My school was a top DI school in it's day and had a World Champion 1500m runner.
Most major schools run their own physicals right at the start of the season. You want to have it worked out before you get to campus. Pick up the phone and talk to someone.
potential walkon wrote:
i am interested in walking onto a good team. my prs are a bit on the slow side but i am not that developed and i think i have potential and can make the team. i sent the coach an email about walking on 6 weeks ago but got no reply. i assumed the coach was busy because this team is good and sent a lot of runners to nationals. still no reply, should i email again? what should i say?
Walk the f*** on
well i know the way the walk on system works is a time trial is held on a course and you have to try to get under the time to walk on to the team. the school is a 7 hour drive, but i go there for orientation soon. is it possible to meet with the coach then? by slow side, im not that slow but this is a really good d1 school so ill have to work hard this summer.
Make sure you have everything into the NCAA Clearinghouse.
i do