The College Page: College Guide

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Playing Water Polo In College

The following is the first in a series of articles that are geared towards helping young athletes with the process of playing water polo at the college level. Various articles will discuss the recruiting process, how to find schools that provide water polo, working to get college scholarships, the benefit of playing Varsity or Club water polo, and many other topics pertaining to Collegiate Water Polo.

A Practical Guide To The Recruiting Process

Developed by the Illinois Water Polo Committee

What serious high school athlete doesn’t dream of playing at the college of their choice? What parent doesn’t get excited thinking their athlete might play for a college, earn scholarship money, and the prestige of playing with an outstanding group of athletes. For some athletes, the dream will become real. For some, it will be a disappointing process as reality sets in. That reality is that there is a limited amount of sports scholarships and college coaches are very picky on where they spend their money.

Illinois water polo athletes face some special challenges. As a newer, developing sport on Illinois’ high school scene, players may not have the depth of experience that a player has in California, where water polo is king. Illinois players may also lack ‘exposure’, despite being gifted athletes, and many college coaches are unaware of the Illinois athletes' abilities. Also there is also a limited number of collegiate Division I, II, and III water polo programs in the nation and many of these programs are located in areas other than the Midwest, so knowledge of Illinois players and abilities is not easy to come by.

So the most important question that an Illinois water polo athlete can ask themselves is “How badly do I want to play water polo in college?” If the desire and the willingness to go the extra distance is there, playing at the collegiate level can happen.

Illinois Water Polo will publish a series of articles over the next several months providing guidance to athletes and their parents on how to approach the recruiting process in water polo. The articles will provide a framework for starting the process, which is not unlike job hunting. Feel free to use these tips as a starting point and be creative – let your approach reflect the kind of athlete that you are.

Success in this process can be measured in many different ways. For some athletes, they may wish to play on a top team. For others, they may have their hearts set on a particular school, which happens to also have a water polo program. Still, others are looking for a program where they can have an immediate impact while still achieving their academic goals. The most important thing is to keep an open mind to the process and to the schools. You may be surprised where you end up!

WHEN DO I GET STARTED?

Most athletes will begin the process of contacting colleges in their junior year. You can make some contact as soon as your sophomore year, if you initiate contact either by phone or via email. Go to the www.ncaaclearinghouse.net web site for specifics on contact rules, which are very important. Coaches will not be able to contact you until the summer between your junior and senior year (see website for specific dates) unless you contact them first. Also, all NCAA athletes and recruiting prospects must register with the NCAA Clearinghouse. There will be more on this in later articles.

Many collegiate websites have a recruiting questionnaire that you can fill out online. Make use of those, because the coaches then can mail you information on the program and the school. This gets you on their radar screen.

Do not wait until the second semester of your senior year to contact programs. Just like any other organization, athletic programs plan well in advance and try to establish their recruiting classes as soon as possible. If you wait that long, the incoming freshman class for the fall may already be solidified and your chances of getting a spot are diminished.

HOW DO I FIGURE OUT WHAT COLLEGES HAVE WATER POLO PROGRAMS?

The first step is to go to several websites which will have a master listing of all programs. All of these websites can provide you will these listings and other valuable information regarding water polo programs:

www.NCAA.org (look in Fall sports for Men’s programs and Spring sports for Women’s program listings
www.usawaterpolo.com
www.illpolo.com

From these all encompassing lists, develop your own list of schools as your starting point:

ALL the schools with water polo programs where you might possibly be interested in attending. (for now, don’t narrow your selections)
Identify majors and/or interests you would like to take in college.
Review programs, school reputation etc. using other resources such as the Princeton Review
Make your own list of what schools may be a good fit academically and athletically. Your first contacts will be with this broader list of schools.
Visit the schools’ websites and take a virtual tour of the campus.
Call and/or email the school requesting written information on the school and possibly the program.

WHAT INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT TO COACHES AND HOW CAN I GET IT TO THE COACH?

Just like a job interview, the coach wants to find out as much as he can about you and your abilities so that he or she can assess whether you might be a good fit for their program. The best way to do this is to develop a sports resume. Make up a personal profile of your scholastic and athletic accomplishments. List everything you can think of now. Later on you can consolidate and remove information. This should include:

List your own attributes as a student. Don’t kid yourself - unless you’re an unbelievable athlete, coaches are more comfortable recruiting athletes who have decent grades. Don’t let grades slide!!! Include:
Grade point
Test scores (ACT & SAT)
Non-athletic school activities and awards . Examples: National Honor Society, clubs, volunteer activities, church activities etc.
List your athletic attributes/accomplishments: Include:
Personal statistics – primarily height, birth date, year in school, and year you will graduate.
Position you play and a summary of your stats from each year of high school.
Descriptions of your personal water polo awards or honors and your team’s record
Summary of your swimming speed (times in Sectionals, State etc which document what your speed is in different events)
Attributes of a second or third sport that might be an asset in water polo. For example, if you play quarterback for your high school football team, throwing speed and accuracy might be of interest to a water polo coach.
List any upper level teams you have participated in. Examples: Midwest Zone team
List important tournaments you have participated in. Example: Junior Olympics, National Team tryouts
List water polo camps you have attended. References from camp coaches can be important also.
List References. Include references such as your high school coach, club coach, zone coaches, camp coaches, other athletic coaches, and character references such as teachers, administrators, or counselors. You must ask for their permission first, however, most people are very happy to be a reference.

The next step is to take the information you have gathered about yourself and make your sports resume. Think of ways to present your information in a concise clear manner. Keep a sports resume to one or two pages at most. Make sure you are highlighting the important information. If you have some room, include a picture of yourself. It puts your name with a face!

Once you have sent out your resume, you will need to either update and resend your resume as the year and/or important events occur or send emails or update letters on what is new in your scholastic or athletic life. This gives you an excuse to contact coaches periodically with new information so that they can contact you back.

Other tips:

Look at college sites of schools you are interested in. See what the coaches put in bios on their current players. This tells you who is on the team and what the coach thought was interesting about each of his or her players.
Develop cover letters as individualized as possible to send with your resume. This shows the coach that you are specifically interested in his or her program.

HOW DO I GET COLLEGE COACHES ATTENTION?

Most water polo programs do not have big recruiting budgets. Coaches generally cannot fly to water polo high school games to watch an athlete, especially games in Illinois. There are other ways to get the attention of a coach, however.

As discussed above, send out your sports resume to programs you are interested in.
Attend national level tournaments such as Junior Olympics and/or Zone team tournaments. For example, the Midwest Zone team travels to championship tournaments. You will need to contact a coach to tell them you will be at a certain event and to your best ability tell them when you are playing.
Attend water polo camps run out by universities you might be interested in. If you perform well at these camps, the coaches may become interested in recruiting you or willing to be a reference for you with other schools.
Make up a highlight tape of your better performances. Even California kids put these tapes together.
If you’re on vacation in the area, or if you are planning to visit schools in a particular region, call or email the coach and ask if you can introduce yourself to him or her. These types of trips are not official visits (more on official visits later) because you, the athlete, and your parents are paying to travel to the area. This also helps you take a good look at the school and it’s location. Most importantly, the coach now has a face to go with a name.

Look for more articles to help you with the recruiting process in the near future!