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What’s allowed on June 15. The Real Important Part. Get Your Expectations In Line. Tips For Players & Parents.

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Welcome to Part-II of our two-part series on the June 15th call date. In today’s post, I’ll discuss what’s allowed to happen on June 15, The REAL important part of June 15, and how parents and players can approach this all important date.

What’s Allowed On June 15?

Players and their parents can be contacted in a variety of ways that we mentioned above. Two-way communication can now happen between coaches and recruits and family members. Now, all those monthly email updates you sent during your grade 10 year that went unresponded to… coaches can actually reply now!

June 15th also allows D-I Coaches the chance make verbal offers to recruits. In doing so, recruits have the chance to ‘verbally commit’ back to their program. Recruits can accept these verbal offers, hopefully after some consideration of course. Coaches make offers in a variety of ways. Some offers can come with a decision deadline date, some offers could have a bit more flexibility on when a decision needs to be made. Some offers come with athletic scholarship money attached, some don’t. Coaches aren’t the admissions office, so every verbal offer is contingent upon the student being accepted into school and getting academically certified through the NCAA Eligibility process. Lots more to ‘Offers” which I will cover down the road, but I think you get the gist.

The big thing June 15th doesn’t allow for, which is somewhat odd in my opinion, is face-to-face contact between D-I coaches and players or family members. That can’t happen until August 1st. So until then, coaches can communicate with recruits via electronic communication or with phone calls and watch them play live an in-person. But having a face-to-face interaction ON or OFF campus and having a recruiting discussion between June 15 and July 31 is not permitted.

It’s important to note, not all players who get called on June 15, get offers on that initial phone call. Getting an offer from any school D-I/D-III is a BIG DEAL and there is much to consider when those offers get made. Getting an offer on June 15th happens for a small percentage of players, and for a whole host of different reasons. It’s not always just ‘the best of the best’ that get them.

Here is the REAL important part of all this whole post.

The anguish sometimes caused by NOT getting ANY type of communication on June 15 is real and it hurts, but it’s all part of the process. And – everyone’s process if different.

That’s why setting healthy reasonable expectations and getting your mindset in a good frame around June 15th, is SO important as this date approaches.

Getting Your Head Right

If you’re a competitive player and have goals of one day playing D-I college hockey, then June 15 becomes a bit of a ‘marker’ as I’ll call it.

Get some form of communication on June 15, and you can use that interaction as proof that you got on some school’s radar based on how you’re played.

We’re still some 50-ish days before June 15th arrives, but June 15 is probably on the mind of a lot of players and parents. Which can bring on serious levels of anxiety around ones mental health. And I’m not just talking about the players, either.

Many players are thinking… What if I don’t get a call? Is my dream of playing D-I college hockey over?

Just as many parents are thinking… What if my daughter doesn’t get a call… AND I get asked from our hockey parent-friends if she got any? What do I tell them? Am I going to have to lie and save some face???

Thinking about all of this isn’t bad thing. In fact, it might help. What’s the saying? Not planning for something, is a plan to fail? So, here some tips to help get your mind in a good place.

Tips For Parents & Players

Parents

In short… try to communicate with your daughter. Silence creates a void and sometimes that void is filled with negative thoughts.

• Don’t be afraid to ask how she’s feeling about June 15. Is it even important to her? Is it more important to you? Are you more worried about how she’ll take it if doesn’t call? The only way to know, is to ask. At least you’ll know where it stacks up on her priority list.
• If you sense your daughter is super nervous, reassure her that her college hockey dreams are not over! Time is on her side no matter if she gets a call or not. Plenty of time to improve and engage with coaches when the time comes.
• If you think calls may come, talk with your daughter about how she feels taking with coaches on the phone. Is she prepared? Offer to go through some mock-calls with you as the the coach may help.
• Figure out a plan to ask her what role she wants YOU to play in her process… super active and communicative with coaches, in the background and silent? Used as a sounding board? Whatever the case, good to ask her and talk it through so there aren’t any missed expectations. She’ll most likely thank you for it later.
• Lastly… be prepared for the unexpected or at least how to answer some unexpected questions – like getting an offer on the first call. Take stock of your financial situation in terms of how you’ll be paying for college. Do those financial aid calculators too! Talk about it with your spouse and daughter.

Players

Wondering if you’ll get a call on June 15? It’s hard to know, right? Here are some things you can do to ‘tell’ if perhaps a call is in your future and some things you can to prepare.

• Ask your coaches if any college coaches are asking about you.
• Did you get any online questionnaires to fill out? Check your email – especially your spam folders to make sure you didn’t miss any questionnaire emails from schools to fill out.
• If you expect some calls, make a trip before June 15 to campus on your own to visit and get a sense of the area.
• Does the school/hockey program offer a camp before June 15 – if so – you may want to sign-up and attend to get a see what the staff is like.
• Come up with 4-6 questions you’d like to ask a coach while on the phone.

In Summary…

June 15 is the beginning of a special time between coaches, recruits, and their families. You now know what the rules are, what June 15 really means and some tips for dealing with this exciting time.

Communication is important. Parents, talk to your daughters. Players, talk to your parents. Ask questions of each other, set expectations, and at the very least you’ll be on the same page together.

Remember, not having communication with schools on June 15 is most certainly not the end of your D-I dreams. It just means you have a bit more work to do. And it’s up to you – PLAYERS – to figure out what that work is and how to achieve success.

They call it a process for a reason because there are steps along the way to take. Some, just have more steps to take than others.

Until Next Time Everyone… Be Well and Take Care,

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NCAA Coaching Changes… Keep up with all the coaching changes across D-I and D-III HERE.

Recruiting Events/League Online Directory… Find all the recruiting events on WCH.org right HERE. Want to add your event? Click HERE to fill out our WCH.org event form.

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