Subscribe to the NCSA BlogIf I’m a Good Athlete, Will College Coaches Find Me?
April 24th, 2008 - byby Chris Krause, NCSA Founder and President
The following is an actual e-mail that I recently received, and it brings up a common question – and in many cases, a common misconception – among high school athletes and their parents:
My name is Trevor and I am a 17-year old Junior in high school. I am really dedicated to the sport of basketball and I play it at least four hours a day, rain or shine.
Maybe you have the same question as Trevor: If you’re good at your sport, will college scouts find you? That depends upon several important factors.
· Are you hearing from college scouts right now? That’s an especially important question if you are a senior, and even a junior in certain sports. If college coaches we’re going to find out about you because of your natural talent, you would have heard from them by now in most cases. If you aren’t hearing from a college coach – no matter what your age or year in school – you aren’t being recruited. Period. Here’s an interesting take on the subject of getting discovered by college coaches.
· Have you attended any high profile camps or tournaments? Sometimes, coaches will search for athletes at large tournaments – they can see more players in one setting than going to individual schools. If you haven’t participated in any camps or tournaments, colleges might not know about you. By the way, summer is a great time to get out and get seen by college coaches. Most college coaches, in most sports, have some type of summer camp. Seek out a camp at a school you might be interested in so that you can get an up-close-and-personal look at the school and the coach, while giving them the same opportunity to get to know you.
· Have you had any newspaper or television coverage of you or your team? Again, colleges need to find out about
you somehow. Sometimes, a college will hear about an athlete through various media exposure.
· Have you heard about any college coaches coming to your games or to your practice? Have they talked to your coach? Does your school have a record of sending athletes on to the college level? If college coaches haven’t had contact with your school or your coach, chances are you will be overlooked.
I think you see where I’m going with this. It is becoming more and more rare that an athlete gets attention from colleges if they haven’t been exposed to college coaches who would be looking for qualified athletes. Exposure – in whatever form it takes – is a key element in getting the attention, and scholarship offers, from college coaches. If they don’t know you exist, they won’t be able to recruit you.
This past school year, NCSA interviewed and accepted more student-athletes into our database of pre-qualified prospects than ever before. Likewise, more college coaches than ever before registered and accessed our searchable database looking for prospects. The athletes that qualify for our program have an enormous advantage over those that are not being pro-active and just “hoping” that they get discovered by a college coach.
Being a “good athlete” is no longer good enough. You need to make sure as many college coaches as possible know that you are a good athlete who deserves a shot at being considered for their program! If you want to see how NCSA helps make that happen, click here.
April 24th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Most importantly, Does your HS Coach support you? If your Coach doesn’t send out film , return calls or become an advocate for you, No D-1 or D-2 Coach will look at you. Doesn’t matter what NCSA does, your Coach is the most important element to the process.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
My son wants to play Lacrosse in College. He is a Junior. we have already met one division 1 coach on our own. Should we continue to contact the coaches ourselves/
April 24th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
We are going to hire our own Film person will schools accept this
April 24th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
“It takes a village….” It really takes a team willing to work together. That team willing to work in sync with each other is a great High School coach who is willing to promote and stand behind you, get good tapes/dvds out to schools, talk about you in press, other coaches and colleges. A great organization like NCSA to reach out to many colleges and coaches that neither you or your coach could possibly cover. Parents and athlete who are willing to sit down together, go over realistic options and choices, send information, make contacts and make them early. It takes everyone to work together in mind and effort to really get your name out there. To keep it balanced……most important, don’t forget those grades, SAT, ACT etc. Doesn’t matter how well you can handle the ball, if you can’t keep the grades, you can’t play and they lose scholarship money. Like I said, it takes a team willing to work together.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
i ask the same thing all the time but i do recive letters. i jr playfootball and im one of the top players in our state and have not talked to anyone yet
April 24th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Yes I am in the 12th grade and I am getting ready to graduate in June. And I am going to attend a community college and I want to be able to let a big college look at me. I want to do that so I will be getting my game so much better and do my grades and do very good. How can i go about doing that on my own with the community college coach helpping me get scout with a bigger college coach. Thanks for your feed back.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:25 am
It is not a Coach’s job to get their players recruited! I signed my son up with NCSA for that very reason. Essentially, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Depending on a Coach to get your son or daughter recruited is asking and expecting too much.
April 25th, 2008 at 9:52 am
hey my name is oluwaseyi adeniyi and i am 16 years old i play for my varsity basketball team and i have been wondering how can i get looked at because my coach is telling me not to worry that he got me but i am not hearing nothing from nobody and i go work out everyday from 6am to 7pm and i am dedicated to the game.thank you
April 25th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Hi, my name is Michael Calamia. I am 15 years old and I will be starting this year at LT and DE/DT for my Varisty football team. My school, Central Catholic High School in Morgan City, Louisiana has sent a lot of players into college. I work my butt off and dominated last year on the middle school level. I was a freshmen this year, and I was ineligible because I transferred districts. Please help me out man.
April 25th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I understood that Recruitment is a big, time consumeing job for a parent and player. I coached A.A.U. Basketball for many years; and I found out. I found out that many times H.S. coaches don’t have recruiting their players as the top priorety in their lifes: personal issues like family and careers take those spots in many coaches life. As a result, I went with N.C.S.A.; a group of men and women dedicated to helping me get my son Nathan recruited by a college that fits him. I try to do my part with visits and calls/e-mails when possible;and NCSA does their part.I think this way I’m “putting our best foot forward.” thank you NCSA.
April 26th, 2008 at 8:32 am
hey, i’m a freshman that has never played on a real league in my life, unless you count a little league squad when I was 8. i’m very talented and want to play varsity basketball next season. im a bit undersized at 5”6 and 140 pounds but can still really play well at the shooting gaurd pos. anyway, i heard that we get absolutly ZERO recriuts at our games and I could hace the possibilty of going to a bigger school that’s known for their basketball program. What should i do???
April 26th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I am i junior in high school. I put several hours in to my game a day. I want to move on to the next level. Can you give me any tips to help me get there.
Thank you
April 29th, 2008 at 8:16 am
i am a junior in high school and i wanna play divison 1 or 3 lacrosse. i am really good at my position and probally the best one on my team. the only problem is that our team just started to play and i dont think scouts would scout me when i play on a club team, but i am good enough for college lacrosse… what should i do?
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I am a kid who is 16 and is turning 17 and i’m one of them kids who wish they could go to the pro’s. I am going to start playing foot ball for Big IKE in Houston,Tx. and I’ma show every body what kina skill do I have because I really didn’t play my best for Nimitz.. Check me out next season.
August 23rd, 2008 at 12:16 am
Hey,
I’m a jr. at Lakeland High School in Rathdrum, ID. Where’s that? you’re probably wondering. Yeah, thats exactly it. I love softball, and am very determined to go for a scholarship to play at the college level. I’m not really sure how I can get colleges to notice me if I’m in such a small town. I play on a Summer Select Softball team; Coeur d’ Alene Crush. Yeah, we go to tournaments, but I’m not sure if we’re attending the right ones. Playing college softball has always been a dream of mine ever since i started playing. Please, please help me make my dream come true. I need as much help as I can get. =]
~Jamie