High school athletes wanting to play college sports need planning and preparation

We hear it everywhere we go: “I want to play college sports.”  That’s a worthwhile goal to be sure, but high school athletes and their parents must come to the realization that saying it does not make it happen.  Competition for a college roster spot is more than local, regional or even national.  It is now international.  To land a scholarship offer, planning and preparation are essential, requiring near full-time focus and effort.

Gone is the day when prep athletes could rely on their reputation, a newspaper or online feature article or being selected to an All-Conference, All-Region or All-State team.  In today’s recruiting environment, those things and honors are all but given prerequisites for any viable college prospect.  Instead, getting recruited has become a detailed process which dictates club or travel participation coupled with an aggressive, wide-reaching, constant marketing campaign.

Planning is the first step.  Parents and prospects should take deliberate steps to enter and compete in what is rightly described as the recruiting war.  College coaches are inundated with info, but it is the info that has a realistic chance to reach them and their assistants that matters.  Heart-felt letters aren’t enough.  One-time mailings aren’t enough.  Knowing a single, program insider isn’t enough, either.  No, to make this dream come true a much deeper commitment to connecting with as many college coaches as possible is the answer.  Very few travel and club organizations have the wherewithal to make that happen.  And fewer high school coaches can connect the dots.  Moreover, parents that are Internet savvy are more likely to hurt their athlete’s chances than help them.

Instead, parents should explore other options that will more effectively and efficiently bridge the gap between their athlete and college coaches.  Those bridges are out there, but identifying them is another thing.  Some are little more than online page hosts that do little or no marketing to coaches.  An overwhelming majority of coaches do not recruit from these sites.  Other sites are mere telemarketing entities whose primary objective is to create a revenue stream.  Their Web sites are attractive, but they consistently fail to market athletes to schools they really need to reach.  That said, there are a select few scouting and recruiting companies that do the athletes justice by promoting them aggressive both online and via other targeted methods while providing them with personalized service through legitimate local scouts.  Anything less than that is a scam by any other name.

Preparation is the second step.  Once aligned with a reputable scouting/recruiting company, parents and prospects must prepare to snare any opportunities which come their way.  Do accomplish this, parents should be ready to make multiple college campus visits before the recruiting process formally starts.  Giving their athlete on-campus experiences and tours allows the athlete to cross off the things which fail to meet their wants and needs.  Online campus tours cannot provide this experience.  It has to be done in person and without the influence of a coaching staff, at least at first.  Seeing the campus, stepping into classrooms, eating in the dining hall, walking through the athletic facilities all create a feel for the environment which is invaluable to the athlete.  Visiting small, medium and large sized campuses, then, is an essential part of the preparation process.

On the athlete’s side, being in top condition year round is crucial.  Every college athlete will confess to the surprising amount of conditioning they are required to engage in during their college careers.  Early morning workouts, afternoon individual sessions, long practices and intense games are all integral parts of the college athletic experience.  The sooner a high school athlete prepares for the physical and mental demands of being part of a college team the sooner they will get what will be demanded of them and decide if it is all worth the work they will have to do.  Getting into a routine similar to the grueling college schedule is the very best way to prepare.  And it gives college coaches the opportunity to see an athlete’s commitment level, competitive drive and work ethic which are all traits which separate scholarship winners from those so often passed over and ignored.

Being a college student-athlete carries a lot of responsibilities.  Representing a college, its students and every alumnus that has ever received a degree from that institution is indeed a big deal.  But to get to that vaulted point, there is much work to be done.  If parents plan well and athletes prepare equally as well, it can become a reality.