NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Do I have to play for my high school team in order to be recruited? What if I just play club?

You do NOT have to play on your high school team in order to get recruited. It might be harder, but yes, it is possible to play in college if you don’t play for your high school team or don’t contribute significantly on the high school team. Some sports, like volleyball, soccer, softball, etc. , with a high level of club, barely pay attention to high school participation. Not only is it in the same season, but with multiple chances to see you play travel/club ball, it is quite likely to be playing at a higher level than your high school team.

If your sport doesn’t have a club option, personal contacts with coaches will be crucial for recruiting, as well as attending camps, combines, and that specific college’s camp over the summer. This can be a great way to show your interest and showcase your skills to a specific coach.

Send your recruiting questions to askcoachtaylor@ncsasports.org

You can also get your questions answered directly by contacting an NCSA Recruiting Coordinator at 866-579-6272.

If I am not yet playing for the varsity team at my high school should I actively get involved in the recruiting process? Should I wait until I have varsity experience?

If you are not on varsity, this doesn’t mean that you can’t kick start your recruiting process.  If you play a team sport like Football that doesn’t have any ‘club’ or travel teams, make sure you are getting footage of some of your non varsity games, and also keep track of your stats, and start learning and preparing for the recruiting process.   Learn what you need to do, how to put the best video you can together, and what numbers you need to strive for depending on what division you would like to play in college.  Another thing you could get started on is getting in contact with some college coaches and establishing a relationship, get yourself on their recruiting radar; someone to look and follow up on in the future.  If you spend time preparing, you will be ahead of many people in your same situation.   Having game plan will help guide you through the tough and cut-throat recruiting process.   Always keep in your mind that someone else just like you might be doing more.  That’s your competition, and you need to keep up.   Another way to get recognized in non-club sports is camps and combines.  If you get attention at a camp, you need to be ready!

If you play a sport that has a traveling team, like volleyball, softball, soccer, etc. you have the advantage of playing most of the year, and more opportunities for college coach’s to see you play.   Nothing is more convenient and attractive to a college coach than being able to go ONE tournament in ONE weekend and see 6-10 kids you are scouting. This cuts down on travel time and watching time.   Often times assistant coaches might come with a video camera and tape a couple plays of a bunch of kids to bring back and evaluate.   If you play a sport with a club/travel option, this is a for sure thing to consider doing if you want to be heavily recruited. And feel free to send out as many emails as you want saying you’ll be at the invitational in ________ or the qualifier over this weekend.

If you don’t play on Varsity, this doesn’t mean that you have to wait and doesn’t mean you’re not going to get recruited. Be smart and start early!

Send your recruiting questions to askcoachtaylor@ncsasports.org

You can also get your questions answered directly by contacting an NCSA Recruiting Coordinator at 866-579-6272.

Looking back at any past decisions you’ve made would you say that there have been a few where you wish you could have that decision back to do it differently? For you parents out there maybe it was the decision to take a new job that looked promising, or placed your kids on a team that took you down a couple of levels. For you high schoolers, maybe it was not doing so great on a test you didn’t study for, or didn’t make that team that you didn’t work hard enough to make. Point is, looking back on any of those past decisions, would you have done anything different now to change what happened in the past?

Here’s a tip for you athletes and parents of athletes…don’t make it that way with recruiting!

Just recently I got off the line with a great family with a daughter that has a ton of talent on the pitch playing midfield for her varsity soccer team. Her body of work: Four years of varsity experience, four years of participation on a competitive club team, 3.6 GPA and a 25 on her ACT. She was in cookie cutter form of a soccer player that has some potential to play in the college level. Will you find this girl in the World Cup, probably not, but you could very will find her playing for her college somewhere. Problem though is the chances of you knowing about her and her skills are pretty low because of the way the family is handling the recruiting process. Sure she has good talent but this family truly believes the recruiting process is like the movies. Being a senior, she has received no phone calls from any college coaches (allowed), no official visits on the calendars (also allowed), no scholarship offers verbally given (allowed3) and only a few e-mails from some D3 assistant coaches a few months ago but no contact recently with these coaches. They had a YouTube video posted on her skills but not on any verified source for coaches to see and they haven’t been reaching out to college coaches. Yet the mother of Rachel refused to open her ears up to listen to anyone trying to offer her advice to get on the right path. She believes that this year her daughter will get discovered during the season by scouts that are coming to her games and she refused to listen to anyone but her husband, daughter, and her daughter’s coach.

For all you parents out there, here are two of the top myths of collegiate recruiting: 1) your high school coach will take care of the recruiting process for you 2) College scouts just discover talent at the games they go to. Remember these scouts and coaches are people too. Let’s take a step back and remind ourselves that their time is valuable and their connections are limited. Scouts go to games to evaluate talent that they have been watching for quite some time; rarely do they look at anyone else. Coaches have limited college contacts, usually five at most, a curriculum to teach, papers to grade and a family to take care of, how much time during their day are they going to have to recruit your son or daughter? I’m not trying to preach, but the importance of getting your facts straight can be the difference in D1 or D3, or how much money your family will receive in scholarship money or financial aid.

Don’t you owe it to your family and your talents to make sure that you are sure with the hands you are putting your future in? Like anything in life, the college decision is ultimately a big leap of faith to hopefully land in the right place. The place to transform you into that adult that you want to become, to learn to grow, to play your sport, and have pride in your new home. Be smart in these next four years, trust the people that you trust, but remember to always take advice with an open mind and go to trusted sources to help you reach your goals. Sometimes this process requires help to get there! Good luck!

NCSA Athletic Recruiting’s Collegiate Power Rankings assess the academic and athletics standards of all NCAA and NAIA athletic programs across the country. The Power Rankings were developed to help prospective student athletes and their families evaluate the particular strengths of the top colleges and universities at the Division I, II and III levels. Fewer than 6% of colleges and universities earn a spot in NCSA Athletic Recruiting’s Top 100 for 2010.

Chris Krause, CEO and Founder of NCSA Athletic Recruiting, says, “The Power Rankings are an objective tool to empower student athletes to find the right fit in a college or university, not only for its athletics, but academics as well. Our hope is to educate these student athletes and their parents on the importance of evaluating schools that will provide the education for an enriched, successful career after college, in addition to athletic success.”

The Collegiate Power Rankings from NCSA Athletic Recruiting are calculated for each Division I, II and III college and university by averaging student-athlete graduation rates, academic rankings provided by U.S. News & World Report, and the strength of athletic departments as determined by the U.S. Sports Academy Directors’ Cup ranking,

1 Amherst College

2 Williams College

3 Middlebury College

4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

5 Stanford University

6 Washington University in St. Louis

7 Princeton University

8 Duke University

8 Tufts University

10 Harvard University

11 Emory University

12 University of Notre Dame

13 Carleton College

14 Cornell University

15 Yale University

16 Haverford College

17 Claremont McKenna College

17 Johns Hopkins University

19 Harvey Mudd College

20 University of Pennsylvania

21 Northwestern University

22 Scripps College

23 University of California — San Diego

24 Carnegie Mellon University

25 Wellesley College

26 Bowdoin College

27 Brown University

28 Colby College

28 Washington and Lee University

30 Pomona College

31 Wesleyan University

32 Brandeis University

33 Bates College

34 Pennsylvania State University — University Park

35 Georgetown University

36 Boston College

37 Illinois Wesleyan University

37 New York University

39 DePauw University

40 Kenyon College

41 Pitzer College

42 United States Naval Academy

43 University of Chicago

44 St. Lawrence University

45 Stonehill College

46 College of William and Mary

46 Columbia University

48 Vassar College

49 St. Olaf College

49 Vanderbilt University

Be sure to check out our advanced Division by Division Breakdown as well as the scores behind the rankings!

The only real truth in the recruiting process is the earlier you start, the more options you will create. Thus you will have more variety when deciding on what school you are going to play your sport for. So frequently, on a daily basis in fact, I speak with families who’s child is far behind in the recruiting process and they address their conversation with me as if they are right on the right track with it. They think that the realities are the same if you start when your 15 versus when your 17 (amongst any age comparison of any High School student) because talent doesn’t change. False, the reality is that for you freshman out there the recruiting process started yesterday and for those who are older it started a lot longer ago for you. Let’s get up to speed.

With all differing situations aside, I want to highlight one family that is steering their daughter in the right direction. Recently I spoke with a proud father of his talented young softball playing daughter named Lauren. Lauren’s father explained to me that he was her travel coach and that he runs a competitive softball program in the state of Rhode Island. Normally I believe that parents who go as far as obsessing over their child’s ability and push usually end up doing more harm than good (maybe in the form of running your own program), but this is a different case. Lauren’s dad was not one of those dads because his actions spoke louder than words. He ran a program because there was no program in their area and he knew how passionately some girls were to want to play softball in College.

Lauren is a very accomplished softball player. She was an honorable mention All-State pitcher during her freshman year in high school. For those who laugh because the state of Rhode Island is so small, please take a step back and realize that no above average athlete could simply accomplish this in that state regardless of their sport. Lauren had some serious talent. She already pitched at D1 caliber, maintains a pretty good batting average, and has a work ethic that will make her successful in whatever (she has a 3.9 GPA to boot).

What made me to want to empower this family to take control of their recruiting process was when her dad admitted that he didn’t know what he was doing but that he really wanted to learn so Lauren could maximize her recruiting process. School was going to be challenging for them to pay for and they would like to see if she could get a softball scholarship. He knew he just couldn’t sit back and wait for scouts to discover her because that is one of the ultimate myths of collegiate recruiting.

Now that call was over a week ago. Lauren’s family is now much more educated on the process and their likelihood of not only finding her a school that she enjoys but that will suit her abilities and skills better than if they just took the runt of the litter because they started too late.

Lauren should consider herself lucky to have the family with the presence of mind of this. For those of you who may be a little late in the game, the train hasn’t left the station but it’s leaving soon, meaning you better be confident that you are going to catch it. Lauren’s family got on the train at the first stop and they are being the given the option of where that train will take them. Everybody’s welcome on this train it’s just a matter of where you want to get on and where you want to go. If you feel that you would rather wait to get on later, you won’t be given the same choices of end destination that you would have should you have gotten on at the last stop, or maybe the stop before. Hop on board early and your end destination may be just perfect, if not you’re running a much bigger risk of having to take what you get.

I bet all the juniors in high school will pay more attention to their mailbox at home today more than any other day. Well I take that back, for those of you who aren’t serious about your future in college sports you can go ahead and stop reading now. For all the juniors in high school that play sports competitively and are serious about taking their talents to the division I or division II level, you need to keep reading.

Yesterday I was engaged in conversation with two up and coming junior athlete’s in men’s golf and women’s basketball and their desire to play in college. Their desire was there as was their ambition (one of the girls even paid for her basketball lessons straight out of her pocket). Better yet when the parents had a chance to get me accustomed to their level of skill by giving me their numbers and involvement in their sport I found that they were working with DI and DII numbers. Typically, this isn’t too uncommon to have parents who have stand out athletes, it’s a good start, but it isn’t the whole thing.

What separates athletes with number that qualify from the athletes that make it to the next level are the athletes who know what they are doing in the recruiting process. Both families that I had spoken with had no idea that the recruiting process started freshman year! They thought that since they were going into their junior year that they were on the ball because this is typically the first year of varsity athletics. Not the case.

Today represents the first time that DI and DII schools can send personalized recruiting materials to those recruits who they are watching and THAT THEY KNOW OF. Colleges could potentially have a high level of interest in the student athlete and want to see if the interest is mutual from the athlete. Unfortunately the family was not on par (no pun intended with the golfing family) with the recruiting process, but from a glass half full approach they have the time to play a nice game of catch up. Acting immediately on their new information they wanted to get going as soon as possible because they were pretty confident that they had not been on any radars to this point.

Like many families who sit back and wait for someone to discover their student athlete, September 1, 2010 is a big realization day to those families who think they have it covered. The call to action is out there to be proactive and cover your own bases. Luckily for Lynn and Preston they are already acting on September 1st epiphany to make their college choice to play basketball and golf a reality. The question though remains to the thousands of student athletes who go without mail today, how much longer are you going to wait for your future school to discover you? Be proactive and know the dates will put you ahead of the game and in front of the competition. Good luck today!

I have never had the luxury of being able to travel out to America’s most beautiful state, Hawaii. But oh how I have dreamed of living there ever since I realized the dramatic pull of the four seasons and how lovely the winters in Chicago and Columbus Ohio actually are…not. I consider the Hawaiian tradition to be culturally one of the richest and full of values (from everything I have seen in the movies and on TV, which is usually pretty accurate). Moreover, I also see the pacific island state to have a unique way of breeding athletes. Their athletes are traditionally very mentally tough with a niche in perseverance and using their own technique to find success. There is a unique combination between speed and strength that allows the Hawaiian island to get things done their way.

But how can these athletes leave the island to come to the mainland to pursue their collegiate sporting dream? That is precisely the issue that one mom verbalized to me recently. Setting my jealousy of her current location and lifestyle aside, she was one of the most charming people that I have ever spoken with. Her daughter, Kawai, plays volleyball very competitively for her high school and her club team as an outside hitter. She is, as described, a very powerful girl who strikes fear in every opponents eye (at least the girl who stands right across the other side of the net) when she looks to land a dominant spike!

Her mother was very concerned with how they were going to go about getting Kawai into college for volleyball. She has good enough grades, enough volleyball participation and the body frame that volleyball coaches nationwide should want apart of their program, but she really needs exposure. US mainlanders may take the fact that we are centrally located for granted when it comes to exposure. In fact, there are plenty of us that take the stance that we will “get discovered” by a scout in your sport. Even though this is not the truth, there is some truth to the fact that it is easier to get exposure when you live in an area where there is a lot of action.

The reality is that college coaches and scouts don’t travel around the country to discover talent, they travel to get more research on talent that has already been discovered and needs to be evaluated further (Quick tip, if a scout is in attendance at one of your games and doesn’t know who you are, a good game won’t get you a scholarship, it may not get you noticed so make sure they know who you are before hand). So how can Kawai possibly rely on the little chance that a scout will be traveling to Hawaii to come watch her play? Bad news is that she can’t because most colleges can’t afford to send their scouts to Hawaii for any period of time. But that doesn’t mean that Kawai can sit back and take that reality, she can take her future into her own hands by creating exposure. She still has two years in high school, comes from a family with lots of volleyball pedigree, makes her grades and is an ambitious student athlete. Creating exposure for herself by reaching out to college coaches, putting out a video highlight tape, and knowing what is expected of her and going beyond those expectations will land her a position in college. There are many ways to get noticed, it just takes the ambition, the will, and the intelligence to know what you have to do and then to go out and do it.

I believe that Kawai will do this for herself because of the glowing ways her mother talked about her. Her mom actually is looking for exposure for all of Kawai’s teammates because her team has such a passion for the game and they want to keep pursuing their dreams, but they can’t do that without focusing on exposure for themselves and sharing the information with each other.

So for all you athletes that feel that you are being overlooked because of your location, or your high school program, whether it’s a small town, or Hawaii, or your football team hasn’t won a game in the last decade, if you believe you have the skill then pursue the dream. Get yourself some exposure, ask for help and share the knowledge to your teammates and competitors.

It’s all about the love of the game.

Two current college athletes shared a lot of valuable insights with me recently when I was speaking on Recruiting at the IMG Academies in Bradenton, Florida.

Matt Lanchantin is coming off his freshman basketball season at Tufts University in Boston, a prestigious Division Three school. I asked him to share some observations about the college experience and recruiting.

“A lot of people don’t understand how competitive it can be at all levels of college sports,” he said. “I averaged about 3 minutes a game my freshman year (Matt is 6’6” and 230 lbs). The skill level at high D3 can be comparable to D1. The size and speed is usually the big difference. There are incredible shooters at D3, but they may be 5’10” guards compared to being 6’3” at the D1 level.”

Getting into a University like Tufts is hard. Matt’s 2130 score on his SAT (out of 2400) helped him a great deal.

“I did SAT Prep,” he said. “That is really helpful. I know a lot of kids are smart, but if you want to do well, take Prep courses for SAT or ACT. It helps you know the test better. It doesn’t have anything to do with your intelligence. It’s about knowing how to take the Test.”

At NCSA, we have done extensive research into employers seeking out college student-athletes to hire upon graduation. Matt knows where he goes to College will be a 40 year decision. He is studying Engineering at Tufts.

“Networking is so important,” he said. “I have heard so many examples of athletes at Tufts being connected to great companies after graduation. Being able to manage School and a varsity sport separates you from the regular College student. “

While at IMG, I also spoke with Brooke Stephens, who is going into her freshman year as a member of the University of Santa Clara golf team, a D1 program. I asked her to share recruiting insights.

“A lot of College Golf coaches didn’t respond to my emails because they were in their seasons,” she said. “They told me later they were too busy at that point, so many of them responded after their season. When visiting Santa Clara I took the approach of ‘Would I like it if I had a career-ending injury?’ and that is what separated it. I liked how everyone was so friendly and the campus was so beautiful.”

Like many golfers in College, she is on partial scholarship. “It can’t go down over the 4 years,” she said, “but it can go up depending on improvement as my golf scores go down. I am shooting in the high 70’s now and believe I will go in as the #4 golfer. I will get about 30% athletic scholarship starting out. I also have a scholarship through the Jr. Tour. What I learned through the recruiting process is how important academics are. There are certain top level schools that won’t even look at you unless you have a certain level of academics.”

One of the biggest challenges regular College students face is the amount of free time on campus. Being a College student-athlete means you are busier, and that is a good thing.

“I know going in that being a student-athlete teaches you the discipline of time management,” she said. “During the golf season I will be more motivated to do my academic work rather than goofing off because I won’t have time to mess around.”

Brooke has worked hard the past few years to capitalize on her ability to play the great game of golf.

“There are a lot of girl’s golf scholarships out there, but it is getting more competitive. What I heard was that as long as you can shoot in the 70’s, you can go just about anywhere. I am sure there are opportunities for girls not shooting that well, but if you can improve to that level you have many more options.”

I asked her about understanding the power of how being a College athlete can impact her next 40 years. She was on top of that.

“Golf is a sport for life,” she said. “I know that I will be able to go out with clients and do business on the golf course.”

I was so impressed with the character of Brooke and Matt. They handled themselves so well and seemed mature beyond their years. They totally “get” what being a College student-athlete is all about, and one day employers will be fortunate to have them on their team.

When I speak on the Recruiting Process, I often use examples like these two young people.

New Official NCAA Guide to the College Bound Student Athlete

DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY HERE

National Letter of Intent:

The Signing Period ends on August 1st. This is the last day for a student-athlete in the following sports to secure an athletic scholarship to a DI or DII program: Field Hockey, Soccer, Track & Field, Cross Country, Swimming, Baseball, Softball, Tennis, Volleyball, Lacrosse, Wrestling, Ice Hockey, and Water Polo.

Official Visits:

The student-athlete can start taking official visits opening day of class senior year.

Unofficial Visits:

Juniors and Underclassmen should take a visit once the college has started classes, to see what the school is like in full swing.

PHONE CALLS:

2011 Grads (Division I):

1. Men’s Basketball, Men’s Ice Hockey – 2x per week.

2. Football – No calls can be initiated in August by the college coach.

3. All Other Sports – 1x per week.

2011 Grads (Division II):

1. All Sports: 1x per week.

2012 Grads (Division I):

1. Men’s Basketball: DI – 1x per month (includes letters/emails).

2. Men’s Ice Hockey: DI – 1x per month (includes letters/emails).

AUGUST RECRUITING TIPS

Fall Sports – Coaches will be getting ready for their seasons in August. Pre-season conditioning and practice will be starting.

Other Sports – August is the time of the year coach’s head out for vacations and communications may be limited.

Swimming – Meets are common at the beginning of the month.

Golf – Recruits should still be playing in tournaments (State, Local, National).

Softball – ASA Nationals are occurring at the start of August.

Tennis – Scouts it is important to add in the scout notes the recruits experience, such as USTA tournaments and junior team tennis.

Offers – At this time, juniors and top tier sophomores have or will be securing DI offers by the end of the month and throughout the fall months. Top tier DII programs will be extending offers as well.

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