3 Strategies Student Athletes Can Use To Set The World On Fire
3 Strategies Student Athletes Can Use To Set The World On Fire
We already know the college recruiting process is very challenging for high school student athletes.
I have three strategies that student athletes need to be aware of what will help them gain the attention of college coaches today. Talented high school student athletes all dream of one thing: Taking their talents to the college level.
We’re talking about possibly getting a full athletic scholarship, earning a college degree, and having a lifetime of athletic and educational experiences. Every student athlete who has talent should be able to go to college to play their sport, have fun, and enjoy all the incredible experiences college has to offer.
Start early. Far too many high school student athletes start the college recruiting process during their senior year. In my opinion, the recruiting process needs to begin, at a minimum, at the beginning of the student athlete’s junior year.
It’s important for student athletes to get their names out to college programs very early. College programs need time to evaluate high school student athletes from various angles.
College coaches like to identify student athletes early in the recruiting process. Failure to start early enough could hurt student athletes in trying to target multiple college programs to garner stronger interest.
It’s better to have an entire junior year of high school focused on recruiting heading into the summer. If you are on a college coach’s radar early enough, this could potentially lead to early opportunities to sign with college programs.
Final thoughts:
I have personally seen what happens to student athletes who are not allowed to take their talents to the college level. In some situations, the student athlete’s life without sports is totally thrown off track because there is no direction, there’s no guidance, there’s no structure, and there’s no feedback without athletics.
I believe student athletes, while still in high school need to do everything in their power, with their parent’s help, to make sure they’re taking advantage of every college recruiting opportunity available.
- Go to camp to be seen and to get better against talent that you normally would not compete against. How do you stack up athletically vs. other competition?
2. Club ball or travel ball is often criticized for its lack of structure, but it is still a great opportunity for student athletes to improve their skills.
Who cares what others may say about AAU basketball? It’s still an incredible opportunity for student athletes to get exposure and to get better.
Outside of AAU basketball, every high school sport has a club or travel ball component and student athletes need to take advantage of the exposure it provides.
3. Hiring a recruiting service. A recruiting service can offer a wealth of information and resources to assist student athletes and the parents with the challenges of the recruiting process. Think of a recruiting service as your very own marketing company whose sole purpose is to market you, the student athlete, to a huge number of college programs.
Woods Recruiting is such a recruiting service and we have an incredible price point that is very affordable and worth every penny. It’s critical for student athletes and their parents to understand, that you will only get one chance to go from high school athlete to college athlete and you need to do everything in your power to achieve that goal.
Video is a critical aspect of the recruiting process. Many college coaches may not get to see you play in person. It is critical to have a lot of video. Every game you play should be videotaped from the time you start playing in high school.
The video from your early stages as a high school athlete could show increased development. Let’s say you start recording video in your sophomore year of high school.
When you enter your junior year of high school there should be some noticeable changes which is positive in your athletic development. Each year you should be able to show athletic development and growth because this will help you get recruited by college programs.
College coaches are interested in student athletes who are getting better from one year to the next. By your senior year of high school you should be an extremely skilled high school student athlete who is ready to take your talent to the college level.
Having good grades is a critical component in the overall college recruiting process. Student athletes who have put in the work in the classroom are more marketable to college programs who will be very interested in those student athletes who have shown they can get the job done in the classroom.
Bad grades will make student athletes virtually invisible to college programs.
It does not matter if the student athlete is superior athletically, if that student athlete cannot get it done in the classroom, there’s absolutely no hope of taking their talents to the college level.
The only option for student athletes with bad grades is junior college and sometimes junior college does not offer the best opportunity athletically.
