Planning for Your Athlete’s College Scholarship
If you and your athlete believe they have the ability and the desire to receive a college athletic scholarship, you will want to start working toward that goal by the time they reach high school. There are a number of things you MUST accomplish at the appropriate times in order to secure the best possible offers for your student. While college sports in many ways is a business, for your student a very important component remains their education. The NCAA actually helps with this by requiring a certain number and type of courses, with minimum required scores to be accomplished by the student in high school.
While the athletic scholarship process is often referred to as “being recruited”, it is not by any means a process you can just sit back and watch develop. The amount of effort you put into being recruited (contacting coaches, updating your statistics, etc.) will be directly reflected in the number and quality of offers you receive.
Your best bet to become familiar with the process of receiving a college athletic scholarship is to find a reputable book or guide to help you understand the process. The Sports Scholarships Insider’s Guide written by Dion Wheeler is recommended. Another place to start (and for sure not to miss) is the NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete, which can be downloaded at www.ncaaeligibilitycenter.org or on this site. This guide will detail for you things such as the required courses and scores you must earn to be deemed “academically eligible” for NCAA competition, the rules of when and how you may interact with college coaches (which is different for Division I, II, and III schools), and guidelines on when to submit your transcripts to the NCAA to be declared eligible. Likewise, the NAIA division has their own guide, also on this site.
The first steps you need to take are to review the high school course requirements found in the NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete. Depending upon what division of college program you end up being recruited by, there may be strict requirements for specific courses that you must take in high school, grades you must achieve in those courses, and corresponding scores you must achieve on the SAT or ACT college entrance exams. Without planning your high school course selection to meet these guidelines and achieving academic success in your classes, you might lock yourself out of consideration by many college programs.
While over 500,000 athletes participate in sports in the nation’s college programs, less than 1% (4,000) of those students get a Division I, full-ride financial aid grant. In fact, 80% of all college athletic opportunities are outside Division I. Division I schools are the largest and most prestigious programs. They are the most competitive, and require the most significant academic achievement. There are roughly 336 D-I schools in the country, with 21 in Texas. Division II schools require a slightly less rigorous level of academic success in order to be eligible. There are roughly 289 D-II schools in the country, with 14 in Texas. In any division, you need to be prepared for coaches to offer an opportunity (often called a "roster spot"), but not have a scholarship, or below Division I to not have a full scholarship. Have an idea of whether this is an option for you - consider if academic aid may be enough to not pass up that opportunity, or if you can only consider scholarship offers!
Division III schools do not have any academic eligibility requirements attached, however these schools are required by NCAA regulation to tell you that they “do not offer any athletic scholarships”. The truth is that D-III schools have scholarships to offer; however they cannot (theoretically at least) be based upon athletic ability. So if you are a tremendous athlete and are recruited by a Division III school, expect them to offer you an academic or other titled scholarship, not an athletic scholarship. Because D-III schools cannot offer “athletic scholarships”, they are exempt from NCAA academic regulation. If you find yourself having struggled academically and ineligible for D-I or D-II schools, the D-III programs are where you will want to find a school willing to take a chance that you will be more successful in college. Because D-III financial aid offers cannot be discussed by the coaches (only the financial aid office), it is somewhat more complicated for you. While it is important at all divisions to have ALL scholarship terms included in the tender offer that you will sign, you will want to be even more careful in D-III schools where the money and the offer to play are coming from separate departments. There are roughly 448 D-III colleges, with 16 in Texas.
You can research lists of schools or by an interactive map at www.ncaa.org by looking under the "About Us" tab and clicking on “Search for a School”, or use the link on this site. In the map search, you can specify division levels and states to narrow your search.
Some schools operate under NAIA standards. These colleges generally will not offer any “full ride” scholarships. They are limited in the number of scholarships per sport by the policies of the individual institution. To be eligible in NAIA you must meet 2 of the following 3 standards: 1) graduate in the top half of your class; 2) score a minimum of 18 on the ACT or 860 on the SAT; 3) achieve a high-school GPA of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale. Once admitted, there are minimum standards you must maintain to continue to be eligible. There are separate NAIA Eligibility Center requirements for NAIA, which are found in the NAIA Guide for the College Bound Student Athlete found on this site here. You can find additional details at www.naia.org.
OK, now that you understand the NCAA academic eligibility rules and have set your classes accordingly, what’s next? Do well in those classes, work hard in practice, and strive to improve every time you step on the court. Every bit of work you put in is a down payment on your future. You will want to work with your parents to set up a recruiting site to showcase your talent and your accomplishments. There are many such sites out there, one of the best is found at www.berecruited.com . For FREE you can set up a basic site that college coaches can search and find you. For an additional fee you can receive additional benefits to be more prominently displayed on the site, and to know exactly who has looked at your information. As far as gathering statistics, check with your coaches to see if they already have stats they can share with you, or parents may need to keep them during matches. There are several softwares that work with a handheld device (I-phones, Palm Pilot, I-Pad, etc.) that will allow you to track stats. If you have any questions, simply search the internet or check with your team’s coach for more information. To be successful, you will have to upload some "highlight" video to your recruiting site, as MOST coaches decide whether to come watch you at large tournaments by watching your video. Keep this site up to date - if it has "old" information, coaches will be able to see you are not paying attention to detail! You can pay for some similar sites as well and receive "assistance" in the form of editing video, etc. The Club you play for may also offer a similar website as part of their services. The main thing is to have a link to a quality site that you can e-mail to coaches and they can quickly click it and find you! There are some "Recruiting Services" that charge thousands of dollars to "get you recruited"...many people believe they are not recommended unless that is the only way you will get something up and ready for coaches to see! That said, 2018 changes to recruiting rules makes coaches' contacts with prospective student athletes difficult before the start of your Junior year of high school. A 3rd party (recruiting service, club/high school coach, or club recruiting specialist) can be contacted by the coach, so an unintended consequence of the new recruiting rules will be increased use of these 3rd party communications.
It will be very important for you (and your parents) to honestly evaluate where you would like to play. Do you need to stay in Texas? Are you willing to go anywhere in the country or just a certain area? Do you want to be at a school of 20,000 students or more, or one with less than 2,000? Do you plan to pursue a degree that is only offered at a limited number of schools? How much time to you want to invest in volleyball (many Div I schools will expect you to train about 11 months of the year, DII less, DIII even less, NAIA much less). Use the tools on our Find YOUR College page to gather a list of schools of interest. Gather more details, and decide who you would like to contact...and start contacting them! Many of the "recruiting sites" have links to automatically contact coaches - and I have had many coaches say they are all deleted without reading!
Knowing the contact rules will be very important. You can call or e-mail coaches at anytime with the only limitation being "Dead Periods" on the NCAA calendar. However, Division I college coaches cannot return e-mails or phone calls to you until Sept 1 of your JUNIOR year. Division II coaches can begin June 15 before your JUNIOR year. DIII & NAIA coaches are not restricted. If you choose to e-mail them before these dates (you should), always ask them to reply through your club or high school coach's e-mail. If you call before these dates and they are not available, you have to keep trying until you get them on the phone! Another tactic is to let the coach know (by e-mail or by leaving a phone message) a certain time you will try to call them - if they want to talk to you someone will answer the phone! If it doesn't work the 1st time, try again on another day, at a different time. Face-to-face contacts (anything more than saying "hello") with coaches off-campus is also highly restricted. For Div I, you cannot have contacts until July 1 after your JUNIOR year. For Div II contact is allowed June 15 BEFORE your JUNIOR year. For Div III contact is allowed "after your JUNIOR year". NAIA does not restrict contacts with their coaches. You CANNOT have contact with college coaches ON campus until Sept 1 of your Junior year (2018). This means while you can visit a campus (recommended), you cannot have any recruiting conversations with a coach during these visits. You MAY still attend college clinics/camps prior to this time, but there may not be any recruiting conversations with coaches at these events. While this rule change has limited the unofficial visits to after Sept 1 of Junior year, the rule change also ALLOWS "Official" (paid by the college) visits as of this new date. Any changes to these timelines will be spelled out in the previously mentioned Guide for the College Bound Student Athlete.
At the beginning of your Junior year, you will need to submit the required documents to the NCAA so they may certify your eligibility (the beginning of your Senior year for NAIA). You must request a copy of your transcript be sent from the school directly to the NCAA eligibility center, along with completing a questionnaire that will be used to certify your initial eligibility. Once you are initially certified, you will have a few more steps to complete. When you take the SAT or ACT exams, be sure to enter the NCAA Eligibility Center’s code of 9999 as one of the places you want your test scores to be sent. You will also need to request a final transcript from your high school (after final graduation) be sent to the NCAA so that they may complete your final certification to participate. Registration and all other details regarding eligibility certification can be found at www.ncaaeligibilitycenter.org .
One final note regarding eligibility certification – if you are fortunate enough to by the end of your Junior year already earned a 980 SAT score (composite of reading & math), a 75 ACT sum score, and a 3.0 GPA in the NCAA core curriculum courses, you may contact the NCAA Initial Eligibility Center and ask for “Early Certification”. If you meet this goal, you raise your value as a recruit because coaches don’t have to worry about whether you will meet academic requirements to be eligible.
Now you have taken care of your classes, your grades, and your eligibility certification. You should have a profile set up (on www.BeRecruited.com or a similar site), and you should be working as hard as possible to develop your skills to a higher level and increase your dedication and commitment. For a college to believe in you enough to offer one of their scholarships (of only a few each year depending upon the school) they will need to see that you are serious about being committed as a successful part of their program.
While some schools will simply “find” you – through BeRecruited or through coaches or tournaments you may play, you MUST be proactive if you want to assure that a certain school or group of schools recognizes you. You should create a personal profile to introduce yourself to coaches at schools you are interested in. Your profile represents your scholarship resume. It should provide your basic information, links to your BeRecruited(or similar) site, your match schedules, and links for coaches to contact your club & high school coaches. Most importantly, make sure your profile honestly represents your accomplishments and activities. This is not the place to embellish or oversell and have coaches learn you are less than honest. You will have the chance to “sell” yourself in the cover letter you should send with your profile to each coach. DO include stats, honors, opportunities, and of course contact information for yourself, your parents and coaches.
With a profile in hand, you will want to create a cover letter for EACH INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL you wish to contact. You will want each letter to appear personal – do not send a generic letter without the name of each individual coach and some facts that let the coach know you have actually looked at the details of their program. Recognize their past accomplishments or note your desire to compete in their conference, something that lets the coach know you have a true personal interest in their program. This is where, within reason, you want to sell yourself as the committed hard working athlete they don’t dare pass up. The letter should not be too long - you don't want them to get bored & stop reading! Create a well developed letter to use repeatedly, and identify segments (the beginning & end) where you will personalize it to each school. Always address correspondence to the coaches by name (not just generically "Coach").
CHECK THE "PRESENTATIONS" TAB FOR HELP ON HOW TO FIND COACHES E-MAILS AND PHONE NUMBERS!!!
Finally, you want to have video evidence of your skills. You may want to demonstrate your ability in staged drills for a portion of this. You certainly want to include a 5 minute segment of your best plays clipped together, and coaches will want to see some unedited game footage (1 full set) that demonstrates your regular level of play. These type videos can be produced on your own, or there are many companies who specialize in creating professionally edited highlight videos. You may also get an idea of what to include by checking out some other profiles on www.berecruited.com . There is information under the "Quick Links" tab in the "Helpful Links" section regarding video editing software.
If you have reached this point and successfully accomplished everything we have already talked about, you only have a few more steps. One of the most important will be to answer any requests for information (or requests that you complete a college questionnaire) in a timely manner. Coaches love to see athletes that take their future seriously, and a great way to showcase your responsibility and commitment is to quickly and effectively answer any and all requests for information.
When you start to see results, and coaches begin to contact you (via letter, phone calls, or visits) you will want to make a note card to remind you of the allowable contacts, and dates for those contacts. These details are found on www.ncaaeligbilitycenter.com and in any publication you might rely on. Violating the rules of contact, and/or accepting any benefit not allowed from a coach or recruiter could jeopardize your entire opportunity to receive an athletic scholarship – make sure you stay within the allowable boundaries.
There are many other pieces of advice, steps that can be added, and experiences that you might read about that may help you to be successful in your search for an athletic scholarship.