Recruitment

Well, we're about 2 months in and the prime recruiting period here is just about over.

No more afternoon practices in the sun or pick-up games on the lawn... We've moved to a morning practice schedule to take advantage of the sun we do have, we're looking at 4 tournaments in a row, and there just wasn't that much visibility on campus to begin with.

What's a D-III Ultimate team to do when all the kids who think they're athletes aren't gonna get cut from these small varsity teams? Lacrosse, football, baseball, ice hockey, rugby, track, cross country, and tennis pull the majority of the athletes at our school of 7500 or so. We had a freshman class of close to 1000 and we have 3 freshmen who came to play! How can a program survive with that? How can you build depth on your team and win games at the same time if you only have a strong core of 10-12 players? These are all questions I haven't found the answer to in the 2 years I've been here at CUA. What can I do to increase our roster number?

We've thought of info sessions, putting up fliers, advertising on the University announcements page, we practiced on one of the main lawns for the first month of school, carry discs around, play disc golf at night, and we still cannot seem to pull a strong freshmen class. I'm not gonna lie, I've even cold-called (well cold-emailed) some athletes from the varsity rosters who looked like they would be free in the Spring (Senior football players...etc.) and emailed a coach for a roster of his cut players.. Basketball and soccer do make cuts, but I'm not totally sure about the other sports. The Lacrosse team had like 75 guys on it last time I saw them practicing.

Anyway, the frustration will continue into the Spring if we keep showing up to tournaments with 12-15 guys. I want this team to have a future, our results have been strong in Sectionals and D-III Nats, and I wish the campus could see that and want to be a part of it.