Emailing College Lacrosse Coaches

As I have mentioned in other articles, email outreach is one of the most important parts of the recruiting process. Well-crafted emails can give you a better chance at getting a reply from a coach. 

Writing a good email can be difficult, so here’s a quick guide showing you what you should include, as well as a template that you can mess around with. 

What to Include:

When you’re emailing a college coach, you want to include a few things:

1. A personalized greeting: Address a college coach with their name, and make sure you spell it right! I misspelled a coach’s name in an email, and let’s just say that I did not end up at that school. Personalizing your email is a great way to stand out. 
2. Name, position, high school, grad year, GPA: It is a good idea to quickly get the crucial information out of the way. If a coach is interested, he/she will want to know your basic info. If you do not have a good GPA, do not include it in the email. 
3. Link to short highlight reel: Everyone should have a short highlight reel that coaches can easily view. The easiest way to do this is by uploading the video to YouTube. 
4. Why you’re interested in the particular school: Why do you want to attend the school? Do they have an academic program that other schools do not offer? Coaches want to see why you would be a great fit for their program. “I want to win national championships” is not a good answer. 
5. Events that you’re attending: make sure to notify the coach of any tournament, showcase, or relevant prospect camp that you are attending. Many events will show you which colleges will be attendance, so take notes. 
6. Appropriate closing: close the email in a professional manner. Check for spelling, grammar, etc. You could also include your high school/club coach’s contact info. 

Email Don’ts:

• Super long emails: Coaches do not have time to read your perfectly crafted short novel; they have time for a quick email. Try to keep your emails short and to the point. 
• Weird fonts, colors, or images: This email should not be a work of art, it should be a quick resource for a coach who might be interested in you. Use common fonts and black text, no exceptions. 
• Misspelled schools or names: I cannot repeat this enough! DO NOT misspell the name of the school or name of the coach. This is the easiest way to make sure you will not recruited. 

General Template:

Use this template as you wish. I would try to make your email slightly more personalized, but this will give you a nice idea of where to start. 

—

Hi Coach (name),

I hope you are having a great summer. My name is (first + last name), and I am a (grad year) (position) from (city, state). I attend (high school) and play for the (club team name) during the fall and summer. Currently, I have a (GPA) and participate in student council at my high school. 

I am very interested in playing for (school), because (write 2-3 short sentences).

Here is my regular season highlight reel: (link). I was an all-state player scoring 40 goals and 30 assists. 

This summer, I will be attending (event), and I will be playing for the (club team) wearing (number). I hope you can make it to one of my games. 

Thank you very much for your time, 

Best,

Name

This is not a complete email, but hopefully it gives you an idea of how it should sound Good luck in the recruiting process!