If 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.
