NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

The quest to find the right college for a student-athlete is a challenge that we here at the National Collegiate Scouting Association readily accept with open arms. We understand not only what it means to families to have their student-athlete comfortable and excited to be attending the university of their choice, but we also understand the passion and desire that our student-athletes have to find that particular university. We also understand how important it is for college coaches to be matched up with qualified student-athletes who will help their universities grow both academically and athletically. With this being said, we here at NCSA will do everything we can to match student-athletes with universities that we feel would be a good fit. But when it’s all said and done, it’s up to the student-athletes to visit these schools, meet these coaches and decide for themselves if they truly see themselves being members of that university for the next four years of their lives. So how does a student-athlete go about doing this? How do they put themselves in the best situation possible to meet coaches and visit schools? They should be utilizing a somewhat untapped resource and with this I would like to introduce the unofficial visit.

For those student-athletes who have seen movies like The Program, He Got Game and Blue Chips, the recruiting process might seem like a dream come true. In The Program, Darnell Jefferson is welcomed to Eastern State University by a charter bus filled with cheerleaders. NBA superstar Ray Allen plays the main character in He Got Game and is whisked away from campus to campus for weekends of fun and spoil. Several “blue chip” prospects in Blue Chips receive gifts and frequent visits from the coaching staff. One thing each and every parent, coach and student-athlete needs to know is that these are movies attempting to depict a very long and difficult process. For the majority of high-school athletes, the best way to get a feel for a school and a coach is to take advantage of the unlimited amounts of unofficial visits a recruit can take during their four years of high school.

One might ask, “What is an unofficial visit and what other kinds of visits are there?” Great question. An official visit is one where the cost of part of the visit is incurred by the school. For example, a recruit is invited to visit the campus and during their visit the school will pay for their flight, hotel room and meals. These are less common than unofficial visits and are heavily regulated in terms of how many a school is allowed to give out and how many a student-athlete can attend. The alternative is the unofficial visit, where a student athlete visits the campus on their own and pays for it themselves. Although it may be less glorious than the official visits depicted in films, it is just as effective in terms of finding a school that you would be comfortable and eager to attend. Did I mention that you can take an unlimited amount of unofficial visits? Read on…

So let’s say you are a student-athlete and this blog has inspired you to take some unofficial visits…but you don’t know how to go about it. Here is your crash course to the unofficial visit.

First, come up with a list of schools and programs that you are interested in learning more about. Basically, you want to narrow down your list to schools you would realistically like to attend and compete for. Next, pick a weekend where you know the coach of your respective sport will be on campus. Football and basketball games are very popular events for coaches to entertain recruits, so pick a weekend where there is a game such as football or basketball. Next, you want to contact the coach to let him or her know that you will be visiting that weekend. Ask if they can give you a few minutes of their time to meet and possibly answer some questions that you may have (hint, hint…come prepared with academic and athletic questions for the coach). Next, contact admissions and also make them aware of your visit. Campuses are constantly giving tours and you want to make sure you see the campus in its entirety because it will be your home for the next four years. You also want to have a main contact in the admissions department to answer any questions you may have before, during and after your unofficial visit.

So now you’ve got your game plan to schedule some unofficial visits, but what is it that coaches are looking for when a recruit comes to campus. Marc Thibeault, head coach of John Carroll University’s baseball team, explains what he is not looking for.

“I can’t tell you how many times a recruit shows up with holes in his jeans, hat backwards, earring in and really has no questions when they visit. “

Coach Thibeault looks for potential student-athletes who can carry themselves well both on and off the field. Making a good first impression when meeting coaches is essential, and your appearance is key. A great point Coach makes is the ability of the recruit to ask meaningful questions during their visit. Think of it as a job interview; when your potential employer asks if you have any questions and you say “Nope, I think we’re all good here,” they are going to take that as a lack of preparation and excitement on your part when it comes to becoming a member of their team. College coaches will view this the same way.

When asked about some good questions for recruits to ask on their visit, Coach Thibeault had a few in mind.

-What did your graduating class end up doing upon diploma?

-How many freshmen ended up playing 4 years?

-What are the years of players playing my position?

-What were the credentials of last years recruiting class?

The above questions are great things to ask coaches and by asking these questions, a recruit shows the coach that they are interested, committed and eager to contribute to the program.

The bottom line is that no one buys a car without test driving it. No one gets married without dating first and no recruit should commit to a school without visiting campus. So instead of waiting by the phone or the computer for a coach to invite you for an official visit, maximize the unlimited amount of unofficial visits you can take and put yourself out there. The recruiting process may seem less glorious than depicted in the movies, but the end result of choosing the right school is all the glory a recruit needs.

I’ve long been a critic of  the NCAA’s ever expanding rule book.  It has become so complex that athletes face unfair penalties simply because they have no idea what the rules are!  ESPN’s Gregg Easterbrook had a great take on Dez Bryant situation at Oklahoma State and his “violations.”

The Dez Bryant situation is completely ridiculous. In June, Bryant tagged along as Deion Sanders discussed a business deal that did not include Bryant, then went to dinner at Deion’s house. Months later, Oklahoma State, worried that Bryant was somehow involved in the business deal, asked him if he knew Sanders. Bryant panicked and did something really stupid, denying he knew Sanders. Now he’s suspended not for any substantive violation, rather for failing to tell the truth about a permissible action. Of course football players, like everyone else, should always tell the truth. But the punishment is totally out of proportion with the offense: Let him do a community-service project as punishment.

Surely Bryant panicked in part because NCAA rules are so complex, no one can understand them. All big colleges now have a “compliance officer” whose full-time job is to understand NCAA rules — Oklahoma State has two compliance officers plus a “monitoring coordinator” and an “eligibility coordinator” — and even they make mistakes. But they don’t pay any price for mistakes; kids do. The NCAA will bend any rule when it comes to money for the NCAA, but God forbid a confused 20-year-old should fail to follow the letter of subsection 48(d)! Note: Reader Rusty Shackleford of Tulsa reports that Jenks High, a local power plagued by eligibility and recruiting scandals, is hiring a compliance officer. For a high school!

His final point about the high school is one of the more ridiculous stories I have heard this year.  However, kids need to understand just because rules seem foolish, they won’t be held any less accountable.  having someone up to date on every NCAA rule in your corner, like NCSA, can be a huge help in recruiting.

There are a number of fall softball college exposure tournaments and camps. This is a time that the colleges are looking ahead for their recruiting classes and some finalizing for the current senior class. Most D1 schools are already finished with the 2010 recruiting class and are looking at juniors and younger. While D3 schools are still looking for 2010’s.

NFCA endorses three camps that are held during softball tournaments. There is the Sparks Pumpkin Fest held in Elgin, IL; the Oklahoma Night taking place in Mustang, OK and the Ronald McDonald one that will be in Spring, TX.  These camps are an opportunity to show coaches what you can do.  College coaches watch athletes perform skills and evaluate their talent.

The fall is an important time of the year for the colleges at all levels (NCAA, NAIA, Junior Colleges)  to evaluate players and see you play. Players interested in playing at that next level must be letting coaches know about yourself as well as providing the coaches your fall schedule so they can see you play.

If you are a athlete who desires to play at the college level and need help and direction check out NCSA.

Last week the NCAA agreed to pay former Oklahoma State pitcher Andrew Oliver $750,000 to settle the case he filed challenging the NCAA’s rule banning players from using legal advisers in contract negotiations with professional teams.  Richard G. Johnson, Oliver’s attorney, wrote NCSA to air his view on the settlement and the NCAA.

Apart from class actions, I’m not aware of another student-athlete who won a declaratory judgment or permanent injunction, or who has prevailed on liability on one of our two jury counts, and I’m not aware of another individual student-athlete that the NCAA has settled with for any amount of money let alone a substantial amount of money.

In regards to the obvious question: What this means is that there is no declaratory judgment now against the NCAA invalidating its Bylaws 12.3.2.1 or 19.7.

So the NCAA can continue to act with its typical arrogance and try to continue to deny student-athletes the right to counsel, or it can realize that it will lose 100/100 of any such future lawsuits over this rule, since no court is going to allow the NCAA to regulate lawyers or prohibit nonmember student-athletes from retaining counsel (Can you imagine what would happen if they had a rule that its members couldn’t have counsel when negotiating their media rights?). As has been reported recently, the NCAA has sent out a baseball questionnaire to student-athletes who were drafted, but who did not sign, and this questionnaire goes beyond even the bad-faith the NCAA evidenced towards Andy. No student-athlete legally has to respond to this inquiry, but we’ll see if they are bowed into submission or whether someone decides to challenge this new affront to student-athlete rights.

Since I represent Andy, I had to do what was in his best interest, and without a settlement here, we would have won the trial, and probably received a very large verdict, in my opinion, and then we would have been stuck in 3-5 years of appellate hell. Andy needed to move on with his career and life, and to do so, the NCAA was able to “extort” its way back to the status quo–which it can only do, because no one regulates it as a nonprofit unincorporated association with a $20MM annual legal budget that it spends to beat up on student-athletes and anyone else that dares to challenge it. In fact, the NCAA is the only unregulated monopoly in the United States. Until Congress gets involved, decides to regulate undergraduate sports and the NCAA, and passes a national Student-Athlete Rights Act, the kids will continue to be mistreated by the NCAA as well as by its member colleges and universities, who at the Division I level hide behind “amateurism” while chasing the mighty dollar as fast as they can (See Myles Brand’s quote in the April 2nd U.S.A. Today, I believe, but I don’t have it in front of me, about how the NCAA wanted to compete with the professional sports leagues for revenue.). For instance, the NCAA Eligibility Center, LLC is now a for-profit, wholly owned subsidiary of the NCAA, which is now making money off of the NCAA’s supposed tax exempt purpose! I could think of a thousand more hypocrisies within the NCAA. Why is this allowed? Why, apart from an historical accident, does the NCAA have tax-exempt status as a 501(3)(c), when it acts like a trade association for its members, when its primary purpose by revenue is to, well, generate revenue, and when its spends less than 5% of its budget on its tax-exempt purpose, as far as I can tell from its IRS Form 990 filings (it spends more than this on executive salaries and private jet service)?

I’ve got plenty to say on the topic, but the NCAA is a billion dollar bully, we could not fight this battle alone forever, nobody came to our aid, and so we did what was in Andy’s best interests, which, unfortunately, is not in the best interests of the other 360,000 or so student-athletes nationally, which I regret.

As I awoke to the blaring of my alarm clock, I rolled over and checked the time to make sure that I was indeed waking up at the right hour. It read 4:30 AM, and yes, this was the correct time for me to be waking up today, even though the sun was still an hour away from rising. I rolled out of my temporary bed for the week which was a pull-out couch in the condo that my family had rented. We were in Knoxville, Tennessee for the 17 & Under AAU National Olympics and my traveling baseball team, the Redshirts of Chicago, Illinois had the misfortune of being slated for a 9 AM game this morning. Pregame for us started at 7:30 AM, which meant getting to the field at 7 AM, after an hour drive to the field. As I gradually awoke from my sleep I began to pull on my uniform and quickly noticed that I was not the only one up. My mom had heard my alarm go off and was in the kitchen putting a cooler together for me as the temperature would undoubtedly reach into the 90’s that day. As I munched on a bowl of cereal and a banana, she wished me luck for the game and went back to bed for another hour or so.

The above situation was something that occurred often in my house ever since I started playing baseball at the age of 5. My dad coached me from my first t-ball game until I joined my traveling team at age 14 and both of my parents made every attempt possible to attend every game that they could. Family road trips were common and the sacrifices my entire family made, including my younger sister, should not go unnoticed. Summers basically revolved around my baseball schedule and for this I am grateful for everything that my family has done for me over the years to encourage my growth both athletically and as a person. This is why I urge all student-athletes, especially those who are involved with the National Collegiate Scouting Association, to be appreciative and thankful when it comes to their families, especially their parents. Without our parents and guardians, we as student-athletes would not have the means to play the sports we love and attend the school of our choosing. Uniforms, equipment, rides and time are just a few of the things that parents contribute to us and we should work hard everyday to make their sacrifices well worth it.

Emily Simpson attended Saint Louis University and played four years for the Women’s Club Soccer team. The time she spent at SLU was truly memorable both for soccer and academics, but when asked about the role her parents played in her development as an athlete, she voiced the true appreciation she has for them.

“My mom went to every soccer game she possibly could, even to a few in college, while my dad made it to the games he could due to his heavy work schedule. My parents have always been the most supportive people in my life, even when it comes to my activities like soccer.”

As young people growing up, we sometimes lose sight of the sacrifices and hard work our parents commit in order to help us become better athletes and better people. Now a 22 year-old college graduate, Emily spoke about her parents during her youth playing soccer.

“When I was younger, they would either take turns taking me to every soccer practice and game or found a way to get me there.”

Again, to us as student-athletes, it seems common and assumed that our parents help us in any way possible. At the very least, as high-school athletes, collegiate-athletes and perhaps beyond, we should act in accordance with the values and commitments of our parents. When it’s all said and done, we are given the means to succeed athletically and academically because of the opportunities they have provided for us.

For those student-athletes that are enrolled with NCSA, take the time to thank your parents for giving you the opportunity to utilize our services and maximize your college recruiting experience. Time and time again we here at NCSA see parents and guardians going above and beyond to provide our services for their children, services that will undoubtedly help these student-athletes achieve their goals on the playing fields and in the classrooms. Not only should these student-athletes thank their parents, but they should also make decisions that will be a reflection of the commitment their parents have made.

Luke Powers, a former basketball player at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, spoke fondly of his parents and all of the work they did to provide him the means to play basketball in high school at Loyola Academy in Chicago and beyond.

“My parents were always there to support me and my basketball career. Every time I needed a ride to practice or a game they were always there to be counted on. When I got to John Carroll to start playing, their support continued and it felt great to make them proud of my achievements. I owe it all to them.”

Emily and Luke are just two student-athletes who understand the true commitment and sacrifice that their parents have made over the years. I strongly urge the hundreds of thousands of other student-athletes across the country to do the same, especially those who are involved with NCSA. I personally know that I would not be anywhere close to the person I am today without the support and dedication of my parents.

There was a running joke amongst the baseball parents at John Carroll University that every time my parents came to campus to see a game, I would have the game of my life. Specifically, the mothers all had a theory that it was because my mom was there to watch me, and they very well could have been right. I tried to make my parents proud whether it was performing well in the classroom or committing myself to the team at JCU. So please, take the time to thank your parents, your guardians and even teachers and coaches who have given you the opportunity to play the sport you love so much. Make them proud by the way you carry yourself on and off the field, because someday you will hope that your children follow the same path that you once did. Besides, it really is the least you could do.

The fall sports season is truly one of the most exciting times in all of the sporting world from the high school level, collegiate level and on to the highest ranks of the professional sporting leagues. As Major League Baseball enters their postseason play, the National Football League kicks off their season and the puck drops for the National Hockey League. High school athletes are in mid-season form for their respective sports and the same goes for college athletes across the country. What is so magical about this time of the year is that while so many sports are going on congruently, at so many different levels, one major lesson is to be learned by everyone participating in these sports. Whether you are taking the field as a professional athlete or waking up early for off-season training for your high school or college, one thing is happening to all athletes. They are being taught the values of hard work, commitment and dedication by their parents, coaches, teachers and teammates. To many, sport is merely that; a game that is played by people of all ages and that it is merely a game. However, those who understand sport at a much deeper level know that it is so much more than just a game. The lessons that are learned and the work ethic that is instilled in athletes are truly amazing. Let’s take a look at a few examples of how athletes use what they’ve learned in sport and have applied them to everyday life.

Nothing has changed for Trevor Heffernan in terms of his schedule since he graduated from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. During his days at WMU, he would wake up at 4 and 5 AM for early morning skate with the Men’s Ice Hockey Club Team where he played goalie, and then head off to school for a full day of classes. This routine was engrained within Trevor so when it was time for graduation, he was well-practiced in the ability to be a hard worker no matter what he was doing. Whether it was working down at the Chicago Board Options Exchange upon graduation or working on his family’s farm in upstate Illinois, Trevor always put 110% into whatever it was he was doing.

“The bonds I formed with my teammates playing hockey are unbreakable. It was these bonds that taught me the value of counting on the person next to you, whether it’s on the ice or working on my family farm. You need to commit and work towards your goals regardless of what they are.”

Today, Trevor’s main priority is preparing his family farm, Susanna Farms, for the annual harvest, which is a month long celebration of the history and natural beauty of the vast acreage of their farm. To be more specific, Trevor spends countless hours making sure things are prepared for hayrides, pumpkin picking and his pride and joy, the First Annual Haunted Hayride.

“I understand and appreciate the great history that this farm represents. Everything I learned about respect and dedication, I put towards this farm and getting it ready for other people to enjoy it as I have.”

Trevor is a true example of how playing college athletics can not only mold you physically to perform at a high level on the fields, courts and rinks, but more importantly, mold you mentally to be an all-around better person.

Kellen Kmiecik began his collegiate career playing baseball at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio. He soon found opportunity elsewhere at Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina. During his college years, Kellen competed in several prestigious summer leagues including invite-only leagues in Alaska and South Carolina. In January, Kellen will head to Arizona to compete in an invite-only league so professional teams can evaluate his talent. However, Kellen brings the same passion and determination to the baseball diamond that he brings when he helps his father run the local Recreational Center in Elmwood Park, Illinois.

“I enjoy my time at the recreational center because it is a great way to give back to the surrounding area and it’s so enjoyable to see all the kids come in here and play the sports they love to play.”

When I asked Kellen if playing baseball, especially at the collegiate level, had anything to do with this, his response was precise.

“I learned everything I know about respect, focus, hard work and dedication from playing baseball. I was always taught from an early age that playing baseball is about ability and respect. There is a right way and a wrong way to play the game, and I play the game the right way. I try and live my life the way I play the game.”

Parents often worry about their student-athlete as they head off to college for their freshman year in terms of academics and athletics. Will they play enough? Will they get a good education? Will they make the right decisions? Both Trevor and Kellen are great examples of student-athletes becoming upstanding, respectful citizens upon graduation. So much goes into being a collegiate athlete that is behind the scenes, and those who can’t handle the responsibility of hard work, dedication, commitment and respect will quickly make the adjustment or fade away.

The first step towards finding the right school for your son or daughter is through an aggressive and meaningful recruiting process. We here at the National Collegiate Scouting Association understand what it takes to not only be a student-athlete, but also be a well-rounded citizen. We understand the process and the requirements better than anyone in the business and we urge you to take that first step towards starting that recruiting process. The road may seem long and harrowing, but what lies beyond it for your future student-athlete is truly amazing and will make you proud.

The NCAA often makes headlines for extravagant athletic budgets.  Powerhouses like Ohio State pour millions of dollars into their athletic departments fueling the passion of their fans as well as critics of the commercialization of collegiate athletics.  However, the critics usually ignore the unprecedented level of academic support that has increased over the last few years.  A just released NCAA study confirms that academic support is still on the rise.

Almost 92 percent of Division I institutions report that spending on academic support for student-athletes remained steady or increased since 2007, even though more than half of those schools cut overall athletics spending in the wake of the national economic downturn.

The finding was part of an NCAA study this summer of academic-support services for student-athletes at Division I institutions. The National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics (N4A) and the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) assisted with the survey, which was a follow-up to a similar study in 1998.

The study also showed that more institutions reported coaches becoming more supportive of the academic success of their student-athletes, an effect tied directly to the increase in academic standards brought by enhanced progress-toward-degree requirements and other policies established by the Academic Performance Program.

The study found that most schools experienced between a 1 to 20 percent increase in total spending on academic programs over the last two years, with 12 percent reporting even greater increases. At the same time, overall reductions on athletics spending were identified.

Football Bowl Subdivision members reported spending more on academic-support services than their counterparts in the Football Championship Subdivision and Division I programs without football. The median total academic-support budget reported at the FBS level was $655,000, compared with about $150,000 in other subdivisions. Similarly, more FBS institutions reported greater use of academic resources among their student-athletes than those in other subdivisions.

FBS schools also reported that they were more likely to provide a broader array of academic-support services than those in the other subdivisions. Most schools, however, offer assistance with course selection, degree-progress monitoring, class-attendance checks, study-hall facilities, course-specific tutoring and computer labs for student-athletes.

Many institutions reported requiring the use of academic-support services, such as study hall, for incoming freshmen student-athletes. Though recent NCAA data collected through the APP have indicated that many incoming transfer student-athletes are at risk academically, fewer schools are likely to require transfers to take advantage of the academic-support opportunities available to them.

As schools continue to fight for recruits, they have realized that having elite academic support has become a key component to a student athlete’s decision process.  Athletes realize how much their collegiate decision will affect the next 40 years of their lives and are factoring in more than just athletics.

The death of NCAA president Myles Brand has thrown the NCAA direction into a state of flux.  Before Brand took over the job, it was traditionally held by an administrator with a background in athletics.  Will the next President be a former collegiate president like Brand?  If so, should presidents from the Divsion II and III levels be considered.

The New York Times examined the issues ahead with a great piece.

For all the talk about priorities, the great conundrum facing the organization is what to do with the teams that compose the Football Bowl Subdivision, which competes for the Bowl Championship Series title. The N.C.A.A. administers 88 championships in 23 sports. But the B.C.S. operates its bowl games independently of the N.C.A.A.

“I’ve always found that unconscionable,” Cowen said.

Unlike a large number of their colleagues, Adams and Cowen want the N.C.A.A. to take back Division I football. It effectively lost control in 1984, when the Supreme Court ruled that the N.C.A.A.’s existing television contract violated antitrust laws.

The issue is much larger than a debate about a national football playoff. It gets to the essential question of whether the tail is wagging the dog in football and basketball, the two biggest, most commercialized college sports. The commissioners of the B.C.S. conferences, as well as bowl organizers and some university presidents and boosters, refuse to cede control of a billion-dollar football enterprise to the N.C.A.A. This is the N.C.A.A.’s equivalent of health care reform, just as daunting and emotional and, in some ways, more of a mission impossible.

As I came up through the ranks of high school and college baseball, one luxury that I quickly learned to do without as soon as my freshman year of high school was a little something called “Spring Break.” While all of my friends were packing their suitcases for Panama City, Myrtle Beach and Cancun I was getting ready to perform at my peak potential. Spring Break in high school meant early morning indoor practices and in college at john Carroll University it was a week-long bus trip down to Florida to play our first ten games of the season. So what was it that drove me to sacrifice Spring Break after Spring Break while everyone else was out partying and traveling? Well, for a student-athlete, that answer is easy. I had been working tirelessly day in and day out for the past 9 months to get ready for my season and that was most important to me. I wanted to show off the speed, strength and skills I had sharpened in the off-season because in all reality, there is no such thing as an “off season” for the serious student-athlete.

As a baseball player, I technically had four seasons, not one of which could be considered the off-season. In the fall when I arrived on campus, I would immediately begin on-field workouts and scrimmages so that the coaching staff could evaluate the progress I’d made over the summer. Taking the summer lightly is not an option for those who are serious about playing at the next level.

Marc Thibeault, head coach at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, a perennial contender in the Ohio Athletic Conference, emphasizes the importance of a strong training regiment, especially for players early on in their career.

“My feeling is that proper training is vital to making an impact at an early stage of your career. Freshmen are competing with highly skilled veteran athletes at the college level. Having a solid training base upon arrival to campus in the fall can separate you from other freshmen and allow you the physical presence to compete with established players… Bottom line, we tell our freshman to come to camp in shape to compete for a starting position.”

Come October I started full-time lifting and conditioning, 5 days a week, in order to build up strength and endurance for the long grind of the baseball season. When it comes to these workouts, make sure that you are staying within yourself in terms of frame and ability. For you skinny guys, don’t be intimidated by the football guys you may be sharing a weight room with. Not only are your sports different, but you need to focus on being as strong as you can be, not emulating someone else who is beyond your capabilities. Safety is key, especially in the wake of the recent injury to University of Southern California running back Stafon Johnson.

During these lifting and conditioning sessions you also want to pepper in some sport-specific training as well to stay fresh once it comes time to get back in the swing of practices. Your first practice should not be the first time you’re swinging a bat, throwing the baseball or softball or running routes. Again, remembering Coach Thibeault’s words, be ready to compete for that starting job.

Once your official practices begin is when you can relax and show off your new strength and skills. We always began our indoor practices in February and couldn’t wait to step off that bus into the warm South Florida air to start our season. The regular season is the time to focus all of your hard work and dedication on winning and playing your best. Out-of-season workouts are meant to be difficult, painful and challenging so that when game time arrives, you are free to relax and have fun.

If you plan a strict regiment of off-season training that will help you not only build muscle and strength but also speed, quickness and stamina, there is no limit to how high your game can soar. Whether you are a fall, winter or spring athlete, there is always the “off-season” for you to build your athletic skills. The summer season is a great time for a healthy mix of sport specific workouts, lifting, conditioning and actual participation in your sport.

Brian Flanagan, a senior outfielder for Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina, had this to say about his dedication to off-season workouts.

“Off season workouts help maintain what you’ve built up and will undoubtedly make you stronger… the will to prepare goes hand and hand with the will to win in whatever you are trying to succeed in.”

The next time your friends are packing their suitcases to party and take trips, don’t hesitate to tell them what you’ll be doing while they’re away. They might laugh and some of them might even poke fun, but none of them know of the dedication and commitment it takes to play sports at the collegiate level and beyond. For that, you are already one step ahead.

Huge potential changes came out of the NCAA today.  The Division I recruiting and athletics personnel issues cabinet endorsed a number of rule changes that would completely alter the college recruiting landscape.  The biggest changes are:

• A proposal to eliminate a cap on phone calls to a prospective student-athletes during a sports contact period.
• A proposal to prohibit the distribution of media guides to recruits.
• The cabinet also supported Proposal No. 2009-48, sponsored by the Southeastern Conference, which would limit to 28 the number of football prospective student-athletes in the Football Bowl Subdivision who may sign a National Letter of Intent or an institutional offer of financial aid from the first day of the signing day in February through May 31 and 2009-56, which originated with the Men’s Basketball Issues Committee and would require scouting services in all sports to provide specific services, such as dissemination of information at least quarterly, in order for coaches to subscribe to them.

These rules have the potential to drastically change the way the recruiting game is played.  NCSA will be monitoring these changes to make sure all of the recruits we are guiding know how to best take advantage.  It is just one of the advantages to getting recruiting guidance from a trusted source like NCSA.