Category Archives: Recruiting 101

You Have To Do Things a Certain Way to Get Recruited For College

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To get recruited for college, high school student athletes must do things in a certain way.  In my opinion, the college recruiting process is only about getting the best players possible for that college program.

If you are an average or maybe slightly above average student athlete then you are going to have to do special things to gain the attention of college coaches. If you are blue chip superstar high school player you know you do not have to do anything special because your game will speak for itself.

All the other student athletes will have to do things in a certain way such as spend money to attend camps, tournaments, travel club-ball season, specialized workouts and purchasing expensive equipment all in an effort to get better and to gain the attention of college coaches.

When you really think about it, if there was a scientific survey done, you would find that less than 1% of all the student athletes in a particular state, maybe your home state, will actually receive an athletic scholarship.  The other 99% of student athletes will have to do things a certain way to gain the attention of college coaches or they may not get into a college program.

With only so few scholarships to give out at the college level for a particular sport, it is almost a certainty that a huge number of high school athletes will be totally shut out of the college recruiting process.

When it comes down to it, there is really not enough college programs out there to fill the needs of all the student athletes who are looking to get a scholarship or some kind of financial package from a college program.  The competition is incredibly challenging each and every year.  Parents, student athletes and, with the assistance of high school coaches, are trying to come up with creative ways to gain the attention of college programs.

I believe there is no real scientific approach to the college recruiting process; I believe what will help is student athletes being seen by college programs over a number of years.  If a student athlete can network with college coaches where the coaches can see them play their sport this could gain them a huge college recruiting advantage.

Sometimes common sense is more important than dollars and cents in the recruiting process.

I’ve heard stories about parents sending out hundreds of DVD’s at a huge expense. This type of expense may only make a slight difference in the college recruiting process.  I’ve heard stories of parents driving great distances to meet college coaches only to be disappointed by the lack of interest from those coaches.  I’ve heard stories about parents who have sent their kids to a different high school all in an effort to gain an edge in the recruiting process when it actually makes absolutely no difference what school they play at.  I’ve heard stories where parents have paid thousands of dollars to recruiting services with the hope of gaining a full athletic scholarship only to be disappointed by the lack of professionalism by that recruiting service.

I was a college recruiter for a long time and I’ve heard these stories from parents and the expenses they had in order to help their sons or daughters with the college recruiting process.  Because there is no exact formula on how to make the college recruiting process work for you, parents are doing a lot of things a certain way to get results.

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4 College Recruiting Tips to Think About

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The college recruiting process is not an exact science. Basically, the process works differently for each and every high school student athlete and their parents.  Every student athlete is different; from their size to their weight, athletic ability and academic standing.  With all of those factors, it’s clear that the process to get recruited for college will be challenging for student athletes and the parents who are assisting them.

Strategies are critical in making the recruiting process work for you. Coming up with a plan of action and sticking to that plan to completion sometimes is hard.  A lot of times when I write about ideas and recruiting tips for student athletes, I will also include parents because I believe it is a working partnership between parents and student athletes during the college recruiting process.

I thought I would come up with some ideas that could help jump-start the process for the parents. Some of these suggestions are not brand new but there always has to be a starting point in the college recruiting process.

1. Networking with college coaches: From the very beginning of the college recruiting process I believe this is most critical.  There has to be a starting point in the college recruiting process so why not come up with a strong list of college programs.  With your strong list of college coaches, a student athlete should also write a handwritten letter to each and every coach on their recruiting list of interest.  Most of the time, you will get a return letter of some sort from a college program; some may write you back and then some may not.  I believe writing a letter can be very effective because it is the personal touch from a student athlete to a college coach.  If a college program is interested in you and they write you back a handwritten letter, this is a strong starting point to begin the college recruiting process.

2.  Facebook can be an excellent place to network with college coaches: Many college programs have Facebook pages now, and that makes it easier to connect with college coaches. You can share information much faster then before. Millions of high school athletes are on Facebook and student athletes understand how the social networks works.  So it’s a no brainer for student athletes to easily network with college programs there.

3. Email still has value as a way to network with college coaches: Email, if used correctly, can be a very effective tool in passing information back and forth between student athletes, college programs and parents.  Be very careful how you use email because if you start out emailing college coaches, it may become extremely challenging to get through.  Many student athletes, high school coaches and parents are emailing college programs every day and if they don’t know who you are chances are your email may get lost in the sauce of all the other junk that comes in every day. Be smart when using email!

4.  Build a huge list of college programs: Many high school student athletes and parents sometimes are only interested in college programs that they have heard of and are in their home state.  I think you should expand the list of college programs to include all of the college programs in the surrounding states.  For example, if you live in Ohio then you want to look at college programs that are in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan, Kentucky and maybe Indiana.  This would give you a large selection of college programs to network with.

The reason for creating a large list of college programs is because every coach has different recruiting needs.  Every situation when it comes to recruiting is different; some college programs may respond to you quickly in terms of showing an interest in you and other college programs may be a little slow to respond.  By expanding your list of college programs, this will give you a larger pool of opportunities to pick from. If you have a small list of college programs could be leaving money on the table.

Final thoughts: I’ve said this a million times: the college recruiting process is like a jigsaw puzzle with a million pieces. It will take you a long time to put that puzzle together.  The college recruiting process is not easy and most of the time it does not make any sense. It’s important to remember to come up with strategies that can help you make the process of going from high school athlete to college athlete smoother.

If you are a blue-chip high school student athlete then the strategies will be of no use to you but most of the student athletes who are looking to play in college are not blue-chip superstar ball players so they will need as many strategies as possible to get recruited for college.

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3 key elements of not getting recruited for college

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Lack of understanding on how the college recruiting process works is a major reason why high school athletes and their parents screw up the college recruiting process.

Laziness on the part of parents is the number one reason why the process of going from high school athlete to college athlete does not always work out for them.

There are so many factors that totally ruin the college recruiting process for many high school athletes each and every year that I thought I would come up with 3 key elements on why student athletes will never get recruited or placed in college.

Parental Laziness I believe is a major reason why high school athletes end up not going to college or end up at lesser-known colleges that is beneath their athletic ability.  The college recruiting process is really about getting an all expense paid college education that will last that student athlete for the rest of their lives.

If getting an education is that important and critical to the future of a student athlete, then why do parents take a sometimes lackadaisical approach?

I believe the reason for the slow motion approach to college recruiting is because the process is confusing and some parents don’t want to take the time to find the information or resources that they need in order to get a better understanding recruiting and all that it encompasses.

The process of going from high school and college is like trying to put together a 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. You know that’s going to take a long time to complete.

The easiest thing for parents to do is to let a college recruiting service handle all the responsibilities.  The other alternative to not using a recruiting service would be to deal totally with the high school coach. Dealing with the high school coach has many limitations; one of which is the lack of time each and every day that at a high school coach would be available to work on recruiting for your daughter or son.

My suggestion for parents is to get off their lazy asses and figure out how the college recruiting process works and then do all that you can to help your high school athlete get recruited.

Lack of academic understanding is another huge reason why many high school athletes end up going to junior college or prep school or end up filling out an application at the local the McDonald’s.

During my years as a college recruiter, I spoke to many high school athletes who were in their senior year and many of them had not even taken the ACT or SAT tests. Not taking the standardized tests until your senior year could ultimately kill your chances of ever going to college.

Without taking the tests and getting a high score means that they may end up going to a junior college to play their sport and to me that would be a total waste of time and athletic talent.

I could never understand why high school student athletes in their senior year would wait so late to take the standardized tests.

Taking the standardized tests is just as important as all the hours you put into developing your athletic talents.

I don’t care what your excuse is, take that test now!!

I believe all high school student athletes should began to study for the standardized tests the summer before their freshman year of high school.  There are books at the library on how to prepare for the standardized tests so there is no excuse for not being prepared.

The GPA is also very important, but it’s really going to come down to your core GPA in a subject that will ultimately get you into a college or university. I would check with the NCAA website on which core courses are most important.

Sometimes, school administrators will place high school athletes in classes that will not help them.  Be aware of the classes and the subjects being offered to you.  There are also school administrators that will put the athletes in classes that they will get a very good grade in just to maintain their eligibility with the high school sports program.

Be careful and pay attention to the types of courses you are taking in high school.  Always pay close attention to your official high school transcript that’s going to be the information that all college programs are going to ask for because it’s a permanent record of the student athlete’s academic history.

The lack of exposure for high school student athletes is another key major element on why many high school athletes will end up just being a student at the local community college or try to walk-on somewhere at a major college program.

It does not matter how good you are athletically because if nobody knows you exists, then how would a college coach recruit you?

Long gone are the days that college coaches come out to individual high school games to recruit high school athletes.  So if that statement is true, then I would say that most high school athletes who are not blue chip superstar athletes are in serious trouble of slipping through the cracks of the college recruiting process.

The only way to get around this problem of lack of exposure to college coaches is to be seen by college programs. You can do that by going to exposure events and tournaments where college coaches can see you play.  Whatever sport you play, make sure college coaches can see you play with their own eyes.

Make sure that college coaches can see you play over many years and many summers so they can see improvements in your athletic abilities.  I believe it’s important for student athletes and parents to be seen at many different events by college coaches in order to build some type of relationship and trust with college coaches.

My final thoughts on the college recruiting process are basically whatever you do, a great deal of time and effort will be involved and a great deal of money will be spent.  The process of going from high school athlete to college athlete is not easy therefore, the more time you have to make the college recruiting process work for you, the better the results will ultimately be.

Don’t fall for the Preferred Walk-on scam

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Many high school student athletes who are looking to play at a major college program will be offered a Preferred Walk-on opportunity. Whatever you do, don’t fall for this scam.

A Preferred Walk-on status generally means that college coaches really like you and want you to be a member of their team but they do not have a scholarship or any type of money to offer you.

Think about this: if that college program really likes you and want you bad enough they should offer you a full scholarship, right?

If a college program is not going to pay for you to get an education and a fully paid education, then you should not play ball for that school. Many major college programs offer Preferred Walk-on opportunities but I believe this a huge gamble for high school student athletes.

There are no guarantees that a student athlete who is a Preferred Walk-on will ever be given an opportunity for a scholarship, to be a starter in that program or even an opportunity to play, period.

Go to a college program where you know you will be given every opportunity to play. Attend a college program that’s going to give you a full athletic scholarship or a very strong financial package to play at that university.

There are many situations where high school athletes have become Preferred Walk-ons and, a year or two later, received a full scholarship and became a full-time starter. Also, there are situations where athletes never receive a scholarship, paid their own way for their entire athletic career at that university and were never given a chance to play. That’s a huge risk!

It becomes a scam when you, the high school athlete, end up becoming a practice dummy that’s only there to help the real players get better. It’s a big problem when good high school student athletes are totally used.

Basically, the solution is to go to a program that wants you and is totally committed to you.

Is there too much presser on high school athletes?

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There is more presser on high school athletes more now than ever before many who don’t play sports or never have played sports in there life time may not understand what some high school athletes must deal with everyday.

High school student athletes; that title right there gives extra presser than just a regular student who just goes to class everyday and maybe an after school job then home for the day.

The high school student athlete has more exposure on then all the time there is someone always looking at then witching there every move only because they are an athlete only because they are on the team. Much of this is not going to make scents to many of you reading this but the daily expectation on high school student athletes are enormous eyes following there every mover is crazy and being ask question on a daily bases.

As an athlete you become something when you make the team then there’s practice then there’s games and if your any good you must always be good you must always win you must always be the best, no big deal right, I mean that’s what these kids do is play sports the game is suppose to be fun right?

The sports they play is only a kids game but there is an expectation place on that kids game they must perform; people are witching them and that’s where the presser comes in always being judge; always being talking about or criticize for how good they are or how bad they are.

Now that these athletes are in the spot light everyday just because they are on the team and fans of there sports expect then to do something, many fans expect some of then to be great to always win to always lead there team to be that great student or leader in the community, now that’s presser place on a kid remember these are just kids who are still growing up and may not be physically or mentally mature.

It use to be back in the day, high school ball players would play there season and when it was over it’s over and players would have a break from that season to do other things, like maybe be a kid again if only for a few months. You explore the outside world again and see how the other student live there daily lives; maybe get an after school job or just relax from sports for a wild.

Now that the season is over the presser will ease for a wild there’s no practice after school or a game to prepare for it’s just you and the outside universe you can be free no coach always on your back about something, your free just to hang out with other kids who may not play sports just to see what there lives are like without playing a high school sports. The presser is gone, the eyes have stop looking at you everyday and expecting you to do something special just because you are an athlete.

Now days high student athletes are still playing games long after the regular season is over; If it’s basketball there’s the AAU travel season to if it’s volleyball then there’s your club season;  football there’s camps and combines to attend if it’s baseball, it ‘s showcases and I could go on and on but by now you get the point there is no off season anymore with the major impact place on getting recruited for a major college program.

High school athletes no matter what sports they play must compete year around just to keep up with another athlete in another part of the county looking for that same scholarship that means more workouts or meetings more traveling to and from practice all the time. These day’s parents are hiring personal trainers, these kids are getting specialize coaching there spending money on instructional DVD’s there is an extra expense for being a high school athlete. The investment many parents make into there athletic son or daughter does build some kids on inter presser on these high school student athletes.

The high school student is not under such scrutiny most of then can go un-notest  no one is going to care what they got on a history exam or weather they were late for school or not.

But if the high school student athlete get’s a low score on that same history test or is late for school everyone will no about it, and there could be some consequences because of it, not fair but that’s what it means to be an athlete in high school someone is always witching waiting for you to make a miss step; now that’s presser right?

Many outsiders who may not understand high school sports will say what’s the big deal there kids and that’s how it’s suppose to be. Playing a sport in high school will come with a lot of extra attention, some outsider would say, “If they don’t want that kind of attention they should not play”.  Statements like that are often said by many who never pick up and ball or where good enough to play of a team in high school.

There’s always haters out there no mater what a high school athletes does you read about it on sports message boards and website and blogs of criticism on high school kids. The talk can be how this player is not as good as that player or where he or she may go to college or weather or not they are a major college recruit or not! The talk can be harsh and could often times be down right evil towards these players that we care so much about.

Many fans who enjoy high school sports will leave comments on sports forums may not understand that these are kids there talking about and not some high price pro athlete. A large number of  high school athletes are really not that fair remove from middle school we are talking about kids some of them are just 16 and 17 year olds and at that age many of these athletes are still growing up mentally and placing that kid of presser can rune them.

We have all herd of high school athletes being burnout and just want to quit playing. Most of us will look at a high school athletes as something more than a kid. We may being looking at that star ball player as future pro or at lest a big time college athlete and when that kind of expectation is place on these over work athletes something has to give.

The presser from the parents what do we now know about parents and athletes? Parents understand what it means to be a good high school student athlete many parents see that the better you are as a ball players could lead to that kid of theirs getting a scholarship to a big college program and possibly to keep playing there sport for at lest 4 for years.

Parents some may see dollar sings in the players “he may be the next Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan or great pro athlete.

A number of parents just want there kid’s to just have fun playing that sport without all the presser that often times comes with playing in high school.

We all have herd stories of over baring parents, pushing parents, parent stepping outside there roles and trying to coaching the team or instruct the coach on how to coach the team or lead the team.

Parent as we all know are the power behind that the high school athlete reaching there athletic highest to greatness.

Parents have made huge investment in there kids athletic development from putting money into all sorts of things  such as summer camps equipment   travel club teams off season workout program, they just want a return on all that money they have invested over a 4 year high school career. Parents want scholarship parents want the T.V schools biggest and the best and if they don’t get it then heads will roll just look at the numbers of high school coaches who quit every year mainly because of outside presser from parents.

Can you blame the parents for there what can seem to be crazy behavior all they want is a return on that money.

The high school coach may or may not understand how to deal with parents or even care they just want to coach without the outside distractions from fans or parents and school administrator But there is something about leading kids or coaching kids in high school that gets people liking what your doing or hating your guts!

Do high school coaches add to the presser that many high school student athletes must deal with? Are high school coaches really trying to develop the talent that they have or do they just roll out the balls and just let them play?

How much of an impact does a high school coach have on the kids?, there are countless stories of the good coach, the bad coach and the ugly coach.

Some high school coaches are in it for the kids and want the players that they coach to do well and to reach great athletic achievements they try to help these athletes reach higher goals everyday by motivating the players to not only win games but to have a goals to work towards and sometimes there are life lessens that are taught by these coaches other that there sports. Some high school athletes may come of homes where there is no father and that coach is looked at as a father finger a leader of young-men and ladies. High school coaches want to be a coach because they feel that they can be the diffidents maker in that young person life and they are in coaching for that very reason.

The bad in coaching can lead to added presser on high school players some coaches do cheat or recruit players from other teams just to win a few more ball games.

Some coaches do very little in the development of high school players some high school coaches do nothing to help there own players get recruited for college some high school coaches don’t know what they are doing and many more high school coaches may have just fell into the job as coach because nobody else wanted the job.

The huge amount of presser on high school student athletes is real there’s no running around that issue we all know that all eye’s are on them we know that fans of the game and hater too read about high school sports post comments in forums about high school sports this is real.

Some will say that life will be hard as these kids mature and that we are only getting them ready for what the real world will be like some day and that in this completive society  we live in we are always competing for something better schools, better coaches, better teams better everything that is what life is all about and some high school student athletes this kind of presser is  no big deal they think nothing of it; where others all of this may be too much to handle keep in mine they are just kids.

There is life after high school sports for some it maybe college athletics others it just may they want to be college student somewhere and leave the presser of playing sports behind them for ever! There are academics issues and presser to deal with  all the time outside of just playing there sport. Athletes must study and past the SAT or ACT test, they must scours well they must get that test in order to be recruited in the first place.

There recruiting issues to finger out most parents, student athletes and some high school coaches are learning how the process works for the first time. Now that’s real presser! The high school student athletes is different as long is we all care about high school sports there will always be presser of kind on the kids on matter what.