The Recruiting Process

1. Identify the schools and programs that you are interested in. This will narrow down your options. Let’s say that you are interested in entering a degree program in Architecture at an Ontario university. Only four schools in Ontario have an Architecture program: Waterloo, Toronto, Ryerson and Carleton. Luckily, all four have women’s hockey programs.
2. Introduce yourself to the coaches at the schools you’ve targeted. You can easily find contact information for the coaches on each school’s athletic website. For example, if you search for “head coach University of Waterloo women’s hockey“, Coach Reagan’s name comes up at the top of the results. Some programs will want you to contact them by email with an introductory cover letter. Other programs will have an online questionnaire that they’ll want you to fill out. We’ll discuss more about how and when to introduce yourself and get noticed on another day.
3. From here the process will be mostly driven by the coaches. They may ask you to send them video. They might arrange to come and watch you play. This usually happens at showcase tournaments where they can see a lot of players from many teams in a short amount of time. They may schedule an online interview with you. They may invite you to attend one of their summer camps or come for a campus visit. This could include a tour of the campus and possibly a practice with the current team. The coaches are trying to determine if you are, (a) a good enough player who can contribute to their team on the ice and, (b) that you will be a good fit and a successful student at their school.
4. Hopefully, the coach may make you an offer to join their team. Obviously, these offers are conditional on you getting admitted to their school. They may ask you to sign a letter of intent or an AFA (Athletic Financial Award) which would outline any athletic scholarship money that you will receive.

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