We know many programs utilize recruiting tactics beyond just directly contacting PSAs. These methods are especially present when a recruit is not, by NCAA rule, available for direct communication. This article is the Best Practice for effectively organizing and recruiting PSA's before the Summer of their Junior year in High School through ARMS.
EARLY RECRUITING FROM THE PSA PROFILE
Early recruiting is NCAA compliant based off of communication with Key Contacts within the PSA's community, whether than be mentors, HS Coaches, Club Coaches, etc.
Each Recruit in ARMS has a Relationships Widget on their profile below their name. This is where all of their Related Contact's information is stored.
These relationships can be put into a profile in multiple ways.
Recruiting questionnaires: If the PSA fills out the "Club Coach" "HS Coach" "Mother/Father" questions, that information will populate here.
High School Affiliation: If the PSA is assigned to a school we have in our HS Database in ARMS and you have information on their Coaches, Admin, etc. this information will populate here
Manually Add: "Add New Relationship" button on the image below and fill in the corresponding contacts information.
When you click into a PSA's Relationships widget, you will see who they have as their relationships . For more information on Relationships, click the hyperlink above!
What is vital about the PSA's Related Contacts is making sure the "Key Contacts" are marked for each recruit. Click the hyperlink to learn more on Key Contacts. This is usually the decision maker or people the coaching staff want to communicate with the most in the recruiting process.
For Early Recruiting in ARMS, "Key Contact" will be who we want to communicate with in place of the PSA. It is extremely important to make sure that the Key Contact is either a HS Coach or Club Team Coach and not a family member. For the example above, the HS Coach is the key contact.
Once designated, you will want to communicate with the Key Contact of the PSA you are trying to reach.
PSA PROFILE : EMAIL
You can create an email to any Related Contact directly from the PSA's profile. Click into the Email action bar on the PSA's profile to start. Check out this article on Emailing Related Contacts to help you form emails to a Key Contact instead of to the PSA. Remember that for Early Recruiting you will want to Email just the KEY CONTACT, not family members or PSA.
Once this email is sent, it will be seen on both the PSA's profile and Related Contact's profile under the "Recent Activities" feed as an email communication. The PSA will not get flagged for it as a violation.
PSA Profile View:
Related Contact Profile View:
PSA Profile : Logging Calls
Logging a Call on a recruits profile will flag a violation unless you check the "Compliance Exception" box on the Log Phone Call screen. We advise not using this method for Early Recruiting in ARMS.
Phone Calls wont map across profiles, so if you log it on the PSA's profile it will not appear on the Related Contact's profile.
In logging a call for Early Recruiting, we advise going to the Key Contacts Profile you are contacting and start the process there.
RECRUITING FROM A KEY CONTACT'S PROFILE
When you click into a PSA's Related Contact profile you will see that the Related Contact's profile has a similar set-up to the recruit profile. Here you can log calls you've had with the Related Contact, create emails to send to the Related Contact, and see the recruits, HS, and Club Teams they are associated with.
From the Related Contact's profile, email communication will be tracked differently. If you log a call/create an email through the Related Contact's profile, it will only stay on the related contacts profile and will not associate to any recruits.
In this situation we advise using the Comment feature under "Recent Activities" on the PSA's profile. First log the call/create the email on the Key Contact's profile. Once saved, navigate back to the PSA's profile and Comment about the call/email on the "Recent Activities" feed. Now you have two records of the recruiting activity regarding the PSA and no compliance flags or violations on ARMS. This will be visible on the Recruiting Dashboard and PSA's profile for all coaches on staff to see.
EARLY RECRUITING FROM THE RECRUIT MANAGEMENT SCREEN
If you have multiple PSAs Key Contacts who you want to email to all at once, you can use the same features though the Recruits tab as well. These Early Recruiting features can be chosen from the Recruit Management screen to mass email their related contacts. Again, reference the Emailing Related Contacts to help with the process. Also, remember that for Early Recruiting you will want to Email just the KEY CONTACT, the PSA or their family members.