Welcome to College Swimming Guide – your all-inclusive guide to navigating the college recruiting process for swimmers. I will help you through the process of researching colleges and their swim programs, including sample emails to contact coaches, figuring out how your child fits into the team and where you can contribute, scheduling official and/or unofficial visits, and evaluating and accepting an offer.

As a “Swim Mom” for over 10 years, I have heard parents and swimmers comment on their confusion over the process for years. I did not fully understand it until my son was in high school and we began our own recruiting journey. Now that he is a senior and has made a decision about where to swim in college, I created this guide to help other parents and swimmers navigate the journey more smoothly.

The process is both exciting and intimidating and our experience was like a roller coaster of information and emotions. Through regular information feeds with timelines of action items, I will guide you through it. There will be opportunities to interact with other parents and swimmers through our Facebook Private Group and regularly scheduled live webinars to answer your questions. (See full list here.) The program is open to parents of sophomores, when the process begins, through seniors for one price – I want you to make the most of it and to understand the process earlier instead of later.

I will give you tips on what to consider when selecting a college, explore the differences in Division I, II and III swimming, and clarify NCAA rules. Beginning in Sophomore Year, you and your swimmer will begin to understand the recruiting process as well as to develop a direction for your research. You will also have access to spreadsheets detailing the times that scored points in all of the Conference Championship Meets so you can see where your swimmer fits in.

In the College Swimming Guide, I will tell you what you need to know when you need to know it. Ready to dive in?