HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL COLLEGE -ATHLETE RECRUIT

Many high school student athletes with the ability and the desire to play at the college level are never recruited by the college coaches.  Why?  Because the coaches and their recruiters don't know that they exist.

To be successful in being an athlete recruit gaining to seek admissions into the college of your choice, students have to willing to be pro-active in the college recruiting experience and process.  They first need to ask themselves two questions in an honest way.  "Do I have the ATHLETE ABILITY to play in college sports? "and "Do I have the DESIRE to play my sport for more than 4 years?"  If you determine you do you need to move on to the following steps.

The next question you need to ask yourself is " Will I be attending college and playing sports for  scholarship funds?"  This is important question because while Division I and Division II schools offer scholarships, Division III schools do not, and Division III school have the greatest number of College Athletic Organizations.   There is also NAIA, which has a few more College Athletic Organizations than Division II schools.

Examples of Colleges in Each Division are as follows:

Division I                                                                                 

• UCLA                                                                              
• Stanford                                                                                 
• U of Washington                                                      
• Penn State                                                                                          
• Harvard U.                                                                                             

Division II                                                    

• UCSD 
• Chico State  
• Seattle University 
• Merrimack 
• Queens 

Division III  

• UC Santa Cruz    
• Chapman  
• Menlo College  
• NYU  
• Vassar    

NAIA

• Westmont
• Biola  
• Dominican
• Bluefield
• Spring Arbor

There is a maximum number of scholarships that are available to athletes by the NACC, so it is important to start early and be on top of your admissions process, and only the Division I and Division II schools will offer scholarships.  No atheletic scholarships are offered at Division III schools. Letters of intent to athletes start as early as the Junior year.  There is the first round of offers, and then the late offers.

Athletic Recruiting starts September 1st of an athlete's Junior Year in High School and College Coaches start to watch students play and may contact you.  But what if a coach does not contact you?  Does that mean you are out of a dream to play college sports?  NO.  It means you have to be pro-active and develop a strategy on how to get on a team, at the school you want to attend.  At Division III schools this process is not as critical, nor do you have to go through the NCAA process.

If you are looking to play sports in college,  you need to contact your school's college counselor, not your athletic Director or Coach, and let them know you are interested in playing sports in college.  These people are the people who are responsible for making sure your registration with the NACC is timely and proper... especially if you are looking at going to a  Division I or Division II school.  The NACC in turns reviews your background through the Clearinghouse, is an organization that performs academic evaluations for the NCAA which will evaluate your academic record, and they then determine if you are eligible to participate at a Division I or II school as a freshman student-athlete.

For more information on the NACC, contact the Clearinghouse Customer Service Reps at (877) 262-1492 for students in the U.S. or if you are an international student, call (319) 337-1556.  The NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse is located in Indianapolis, Indiana. (PO Box 7110, Indianapolis, In 46206)

If you need assistance with preparing a portfolio of yourself to introduce to schools to play sports,  we can assist you.  Feel free to contact us for a free 1/2 hour consultation to see how we can help you in your search.