How to Utilize X to Get Recruited for Your Sport

A number of student-athletes have asked about X (Twitter) usage, which is a growing platform for recruiting (in many ways even moreso than Instagram and TikTok these days). We’ve pulled together some tips for you (and your students/children) to consider as you utilize that platform moving forward… follow these and you’ll optimize the connections with coaches and programs on the platform!

1) Much like student-athletes should be sending introductory emails (and prospective student-athlete recruiting questionnaires) to coaches of teams you’re interested in, be sure to follow and connect with the coaches (head coaches, assistant coaches, recruiting coordinators, etc) of those same programs on X. Go even a step further by following the admissions account that the school has.

2) Set your X profile much like you’d do with a HUDL account. Have your town, school/team, class year, GPA and position(s) listed. You can also include a link to any highlights (be in on HUDL, YouTube, other).

3) Tweet and post about your achievements (and goals!) on the field, your achievements (and goals!) off of it.

4) Tweet your highlights, clips that coaches/organizations/camps post, etc. Then as you begin communicating more and more with college coaches — much like a snowball effect — you can begin tagging them on these clips. Do not do that right out of the gate, or until you’ve built a relationship of sorts… otherwise it looks like you’re spamming them (and no one is a fan of that).

5) Reply to coaches/recruiters on their tweets with positive feedback (“Great game, coach!” “Good luck this season!” “Awesome to see the way your players do THIS, I’ve been taught the same!”)

6) Announce as you’re heading to showcases, camps, clinics, tournaments. If possible, tag the organization in your content.

7) Send direct messages to coaches. **I will always prefer email first. So, send along an introductory email. Then (1) if they reply to that email, you can have informal-conversations and check-ins on the DMs; (2) if they haven’t responded to your intro email, go ahead and send that same exact messaging (copy and paste!) as a direct message via Twitter(X).

8) Post proudly, post positively, post regularly. And, while it should go without saying: post nothing silly, nothing inappropriate (even ‘liking’ something inappropriate will populate on a coaches feed!).

Student-athletes can utilize X to drive attention, supplement your connections and elevate your communication with coaches. Even though it’s gone through some changes, it’s still very much a viable place to connect with coaches and recruiting coordinators!

Questions? Have your student-athlete send me an email: chad@leonardandrew.com

#collegesports #studentathletes #LACFamily