8-Odds and ends
If you are still reading, thank you. I hope you have found something helpful. I love field hockey and love talking about it. I am always happy to share our experience if you have additional questions. I think being in the Midwest puts us a slight disadvantage so I believe in helping each other and hope that someone found something useful in these posts. Parents of older girls helped us out with advice and told us about their experiences so I like to pay it forward.
I do not claim to be an expert or have any insider knowledge. Besides our personal experiences and opinions, all the information in these posts can be found online or in books, often with more detail than what I gave. For us at least, we had no idea where to start or what to do and other parents guided us. Once I had a better idea of the process, I did a lot of reading, which is what much of what I wrote was based on. USA Today has a high school sports section that often has good recruiting articles in it. You just have to weed through the other articles. This is the link
The NCAA is also another great place for all the official information and rules.
Max Field Hockey and USAFH have great informative websites. Max Field Hockey alsohas an app called The Field Hockey Network, which has all sorts of field hockey news. You can choose which topics to follow.
In summary, I think being realistic and keeping an open mind are the most important ideas to remember. There is no point pursuing a school where your daughter may not have a chance to play (or even be admitted) or where she will be unhappy just because of the name of the school. There are numerous great options in every division.
High school coaches can help your daughter but often coaching is not their primary job. The club coach may be quite willing to help but she may have close to a hundred high school girlsat any time so it is not realistic that she can or will spend hours and hours contacting coaches for your daughter.It may be better to have your daughter’s coaches become more involved once she has narrowed down her list to a someserious possibilities. It is your daughter’s responsibility to do her research, write her emails, and post her videos. As parents, we can help but it is a good learning experience for your daughter to do as much as she can on her own. Calling coaches on the phone was a huge deal for our daughter. It seems that kids rarely actually talk on the phone anymore so she was very uncomfortable doing it but she got through it and it got easier (I think). We want to help as much as we can but there are limits. For example, don’t write her personal statement. I have read some on recruiting websites that really sound like they were written by the parents. You may be able to write a more polished statement than your daughter but then it isn’t a personal statement. The coaches want to hear from your daughter.
While it is never too early to start thinking about college, it should not be all-consuming. Besides practicing and improving, there’s not a lot your daughter can do untilcollege coaches begin recruiting for her year. Don’t compare your journey to anyone else’s. Everyone is at different stages and has different goals, needs, and abilities. This is supposed to be a fun and exciting time so enjoy it! Good luck!