NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

We would like to thank Coach Randy Taylor for all the insight he has provided the last two weeks.  His behind the scenes look at how college coaches recruit elicited a wonderful response from our loyal readers both in terms of questions and comments about the topics he covered.  I realize that a great deal of Randy’s information centered on football (no surprise given his background), which inspired many of you to ask questions about other sports.  With that in mind, I wanted to take some time to introduce all of you to a tool that student-athletes and parents of ALL sports can take advantage of (and thousands already are)…The NCSA Recruiting Education Blog.

Learn how to use this tool.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term “blog,” it is defined as:

“a ‘Web Log.’ -  Frequently updated website often characterized by short posts, links and the ability to comment.”

The NCSA Recruiting Education Blog is exactly that…A website with information updated daily about the world of college recruiting.  All the content is written by a member of NCSA’s expert staff and there are new articles everyday covering relevant and current topics.

Curious about new NCAA rules?  Check out the NCSA Recruiting Education Blog!

Want to read about how to edit your highlight tape?  Check out the Blog!

Looking for sport specific information that is offered more frequently than our weekly newsletter?  Yup, you guessed it…Check out the Blog!

How can you get the most out of the Recruiting Education Blog?   Here’s a quick lesson that will allow you to maximize this tool.

The first step is to make sure you have the link to the website saved somewhere (I suggest adding it to your favorites):

NCSA Recruiting Education Blog:  http://blog.ncsasports.org/

Once you arrive at the Blog, the information is automatically ordered chronologically starting with the most recent posts.  While all the information posted on the blog is insightful, accurate, and relevant…obviously everyone is interested in learning about different aspects of the process.  This is where you can utilize the search capabilities to find the information you want.

Let’s imagine you are interested in learning about the financial aid process or how to secure more financial assistance.  Upon arrival at the blog, you have two options to search for that specific information.  In the upper right hand corner, there is a section that says, “Search Blog” and then has a space where you can type in whatever information you desire.

A simple search of the keyword, “Financial Aid” immediately pulls up a number of articles, again ordered chronologically, ranging in topic from how to appeal your financial aid award to an article about how leverage can be used in the financial aid process to secure more money.  That search alone pulls up almost 50 articles!

Another option to search for specific topics is to use the “Keyword Cloud” on the left hand side of the Blog under the title “Categories.”  A “Keyword Cloud” is basically a different format of the keywords associated with the website.  The larger the keyword, the more often that term appears somewhere in the Blog.  You will notice that “Athletic Scholarships” is the biggest term in the cloud and that is because that phrase is discussed so often in the articles on the site.  All you have to do is look in the cloud, click a category you are interested in, and you will immediately have a list of articles to read through.

Now that you have found all the content you are interested in, it is time to interact.  One of the most attractive features of the blog is the conversation that the articles inspire between readers.  At the bottom of every post, the reader has the option to comment.

COMMENTS ARE ENCOURAGED!!!

This is your opportunity to communicate with both other readers and also NCSA’s expert staff.  All comments are reviewed and answered by a member of NCSA’s staff…and we love responding so…Comment Away!

Now that you have found the information you are looking for and commented on the topic, some of you might be interested in sharing that particular article with others.  We have made it very easy to share the article on a number of platforms.  Sharing options are located in two places on the blog.  At the end of every article, there is a section that says, “share this story,” followed by seven different logos.  Each logo represents a different way to share the article (Facebook, Google, etc).  You can choose whichever online vehicle suits you best (or just simply email the article using that icon) and spread the education!  The sharing options are also located in the upper left hand corner just below the “Blog Home” link.

All the articles that have ever appeared in this newsletter are saved on our Recruiting Education Blog…along with thousands of other useful posts.  We realize that education is the first step towards success in this process and the Recruiting Education Blog was designed to provide families with a fresh source of information about the recruiting process.  We hope you take advantage of this valuable resource!

Tags: coach, college coaches, highlight, ncaa rules, ncsa recruiting, ncsasports, Parents, randy taylor, student athletes

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 8:34 am and is filed under Athletic Scholarships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.