Athletic Scholarship Quest Starts Early

Q: I’m very curious as to what we should start doing to improve my son’s chances for an athletic scholarship, he is 13 years old and may or may not be heading to the division I level of play in football or basketball, he sure loves sports.

A: From my experience finding success in sports is a balancing act. I myself started playing softball at age 12. I played on several in-house teams and travel teams. By the end of high school I had a lot of exposure and took several recruiting trips before deciding to accept a scholarship to a division 1 school. After many years I looked back at my decisions and I realized I had made some bad choices. I recently faced a similar situation with my son and his basketball aspirations. It seemed like every year he had to decide between playing a lot on an alright team or mostly sitting the bench on the best team in the area. Hopefully I helped him to get it right. The best thing at 13 years old is to play to improve your skills, you do not improve a whole lot by sitting on the bench. It is true that to play on a team no one will see does not help, but who’s going to see you on the bench? There is always that power team everyone in the area knows, have your son work on his skills and strive to make that team. Whether your son makes that team or not, gets a scholarship or not, playing sports will build character, discipline, and promote a healthy lifestyle. Most importantly it gives you an opportunity to interact with him and enjoy a common interest. Feel free to send me any questions.

Athletics & Academics For College Fit

When narrowing down your college choices, one of the first questions you need to ask yourself is “will this college allow me to obtain my goals?”  Your academic and athletic abilities, and the goals you have for each, will lead you to schools that are a good fit. Collegeboard.com is a great resource for your initial research, there you can enter specific search criteria and weed through your options.  Further research on specific schools and their athletic programs will narrow down your list of potential schools. Let’s go through the process:

1. Assessment of your abilities- ask your coach or parent what schools they would recommend  for you
2. Basic Preferences- close to home? small college or large university? city or rural? potential area of study?
3. Academics- compare your GPA and SAT scores to schools on Collegeboard.com
4. Tuition- Do you qualify for other types of scholarships or financial aid? Are you willing to pay to attend certain schools?
5. Athletic program- will you play as a freshman or will you need to work your way into the line-up? does the coach’s philosophy match your style of play?

This should give you a good start on a list of potential schools. Now here’s where you push your recruiting to the next level. Your list should have no less than 30 schools on it. If you have less than 30 then you need to go back and add a few schools that seem a little more or less challenging academically or maybe a higher or lower skill level athletically, or some formula of both. After your list has been established then it’s time to start contacting coaches.

Recruiting Misconceptions

The first misconception that you may have of the recruiting process is that college coaches will come knocking at your door. College coaches are not visiting high schools across America looking for the next best athlete, they simply don’t have the time or the resources, there’s little time consuming things they do like trying to win games so they don’t lose their jobs. Lesson 1 is, do not assume that you are not good enough to play at the college level because coaches have not come beating down your door or because you are not the best kid on your team. Every year there are college coaches struggling to fill their rosters. This does not mean that it’s going to be easy or that you can play at the division 1 level, but a college scholarship is a wonderful thing.

Another misconception you may have  is that your high school coach will take care of your college recruiting. Unless your coach is known around the state for getting his kids to the next level, most likely it isn’t going to happen. Again, high school coaches do not have the time or capabilities to get scholarships for their athletes. Of course there may be some exceptions, but please understand that the recruiting responsibilities are yours and your parents. Lesson 2 is, college coaches like being contacted by student athletes, it is your responsibility with the help of your parents. That is how coaches know you are interested in their school and then they can evaluate you and decide if you are a good fit for their program. The sooner you start contacting them, the better.

About Me

Recently, I have been given the opportunity to assist in the development of a new recruiting website for high school and college athletes. Here’s a little about my background.

If you know anything about me, you know that I have always been involved in sports. I played on and received numerous awards for several different teams in high school, I received a scholarship for softball to the University of Minnesota, I participated in my sons sports endeavors and finally his college recruitment (and helped a few other athletes along the way) . Through my experiences it was obvious that high school and JUCO coaches do not have adequate means or time to sufficiently help their athletes attain scholarships. This responsibility falls primarily on the parents. I have found that recruiting websites were vital in all of my efforts, I used them to gather insight into the recruiting process, to research colleges and their athletic programs, and to contact coaches directly. I truly hope I can help you find your way through the recruiting maze.

To Your Success,

Cece

You can contact me on Twitter.com/4ce .