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Posts Tagged ‘Athletic’

Determining where, at what divisional and conference level, you can earn a sports scholarship will save you a lot of time and make your recruiting efforts more focused and successful. When beginning your recruiting it is important to examine your skills, accomplishments and level of play with an open mind. Everyone wants to play college athletics at the highest level they can. But is that really the best approach to take when searching for a college athletic scholarship?

The best place to start is at college athletic team websites. Each athletic program lists its roster of players and a bio of each player. The bio will contain a list of accomplishments in high school as well as height/weight and hometown. Look at colleges in different divisions, ie DI, DII and difference conferences in each division. There is a huger difference between Big-12 schools and MAC schools.

Colleges now have also posted the incoming freshman recruited class. Where do you fit in?

Do your accomplishments to date match some of the incoming freshman class? Are you of similar height and weight? Are there players from your area on the team? Do the players seem to be only from one geographic area in the country? Some coaches only take players from surrounding states, while others have no problem recruiting nationally.

By doing this while making your initial recruiting assessment you can have a much more successful recruiting season. Have a targeted approach to recruiting. Do not just contact schools with out knowing if you have a realistic chance of earning  a scholarship.

This approach does not measure the amount of effort put into your recruiting. We have seen athletes who are not as skilled, beat out more accomplished players by having heart and determination during the recruiting process.  If you have your heart set on playing at a level that may be out of your reach, go for it, but also recruit yourself to colleges that match your athletic profile more closely.

If you are trying to make it to college and play the sport you love, you may have heard that your athletic GPA does not really matter if you are good enough to play. If someone told you that, they were misleading you. Your grade point average does matter before you get recruited, while you are being recruited, and while you are playing in college.

How Your Athletic GPA Matters

Before You Get Recruited – Before you get recruited, you are essentially putting yourself in a position to start being recruited. If you want to play in college, you must make sure you have the grades to make it happen. If a coach begins to show interest in you, only to find out you are a D student, your chances of playing in college just went out the window.

While You Are Being Recruited – As you probably already know, coaches recruit multiple players for the same roster spot.

They watch these players for a year or so and monitor their progress both on the field and in the classroom. Since several players are being recruited for the same spot, you are essentially in competition with each other. If all the players are pretty equal in talent, it may just come down to the athletic GPA. The player with the higher one, will most likely get the scholarship.

While You Are Playing In College – Once you make it to the college level, you must stay qualified and eligible to play. If you grades fall below the required athletic GPA level, you become ineligible. You could essentially throw away years of hard work and dreams simply because you did not stay qualified to play. What a shame that would be.

To make all the mothers happy, I must say also that your GPA is critical because you are there to get an education and a degree. You are there to play sports as your second priority! That’s why they are called student-athletes and not athlete-students!

If you are trying to make it from high school to college, you need to take care of your athletic GPA in high school and begin marketing and promoting yourself to college coaches. You can do this by simply contacting coaches and letting them know you are interested in playing for them in college. If you have the necessary talent and skills, they will be glad to hear from you.

The competition for earning and being awarded a college athletic scholarship is getting harder every year. There is a correct path to take to get one no matter the sport you play. These 5 mistakes are the biggest that I have seen every season.

1. You don’t have the grades.

I’m sure we have all heard of the talented athlete who should have gotten a scholarship, but was left sitting home in the fall because they could not get into school. In addition to having to pass the NCAA Clearinghouse, athletes must also meet the minimum requirements to get into the college where they are being recruited.

2. High School athletes who only want to play NCAA Division I.

Part of being awarded with a roster spot in college is being able to take a true measure of your talent and put your ego aside. If you are good enough to play DI, then by all means, go for it.

But if you are not, you may have a hard time getting an offer and should look at DII schools or smaller conference DI.

3. Starting the recruiting process too late.

As the scene becomes more competitive each year, parents and students are starting earlier in their high school athletic career to get a jump on the other students. Do not wait until your high school career is over to think about playing in college. If you are a sophomore or junior, the time to start is now.

4. Getting hurt during the season.

I realize that if you get hurt it is not your fault. But you can’t use the injury as an excuse not to get an offer. There is a right and wrong way to treat injuries that occur during your career.

5. Not knowing what coaches are looking for.

You have been working most of your life at your sport.

Don’t waste years of training by not knowing what coaches want in a recruit.