Looking to gain a scholarship for your child through their sport? There are some things you should know to get prepared.
How Many Scholarships Are Awarded Each Year?
If your son or daughter is a Freshman or older in High School and is currently playing a sport looking to gain a partial or full-ride scholarship, there are some things you need to know and prepare for. First thing is first. Scholarships are given out in limited numbers at the colleges:
https://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/Recruiting%20Fact%20Sheet%20WEB.pdf
Volleyball Specific:
http://www.scholarshipstats.com/volleyball.htm
On average, less than 5 percent will get a scholarship to an NCAA Division I college if your child is male and less than 9 percent if your child is female. Don’t be discouraged if your child cannot compete at the highest level for their sport however. There are Division II and III colleges as well that can still offer you scholarships for you to take advantage of. This can equate to considerable savings over the course of their college years and the tuition that will be incurred.
What Scholarship Is Right For My Child?
If your child is extremely gifted in their sport, but they are suffering academically, their chances of securing a scholarship go down even lower to the numbers listed above. Their grades are in many colleges opinion, just as important as their sports stats. Sit down with your child early on (the earlier the better). Do they like to do something as a hobby which could equate to a lucrative earning potential as a profession later on in life? Throw out some ideas and help them narrow down their choices. Some ideas will earn more money than others. Help them to understand that being a Doctor for instance might allow them a more luxurious lifestyle than being a florist. Not saying that being a florist is a bad thing, but help them to put things into perspective.
For example, one child may love to spend hours on a game like “Minecraft”. What they are actually doing in this game is a form of Engineering, but they might not know that. They are building things on a PC and watching how their inventions operate when completed. Once you have some ideas what your child is interested in, now start looking at the colleges around the country that offer the best education in that field.
Once you have a list of colleges that are at the best in the country for your child to learn their trade, the next step is to look at their sports programs. Is the college a NCAA Division I, II or III? If you are shooting for the stars and going for the “best of the best”, see which colleges are Division I (top seeded) and also align with the best locations for your child to learn their trade. Now that their sports and academic interests are aligned, keep these colleges as your child’s “dream locations”. Be on the safe side and be sure to document some lesser colleges, even Division II or III as backup plans.
The Three R’s. Rules, Regulations and Requirements
- Based on your child’s year in High School, know all the rules that apply to them.
- Read the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) Guide for the College Bound Student.
- Know the rules on how you/your child can contact College Coaches and how they can contact you. These sound the same, but are different. It is important you know what is and isn’t allowed.
- Register with the NCAA and NAIA Eligibility Centers to be cleared for athletic scholarships.
- Determine which core classes are required and the grades your child must earn to be academically eligible. Follow these to the letter and check back often to be sure your child is on-track and taking the correct courses and achieving the proper grades.
- Look into the exams you must take and the minimum score requirements for these tests to be eligible for an athletic scholarship
How To Prepare To Get A Sports Scholarship?
Gather Contact Information for Coaches
Now that you have a list of the best colleges that happen to also provide the best education on your child’s interests, the next step is to collect contact information. Do some research and find out who the coaches are for these colleges. Get their names, Emails and phone numbers.
Create an Online Presence
There are many online profile businesses out there, but you should be looking for the ones that are the most frequented by college coaches and recruiters. Two that we highly recommend are BERECRUITED.COM and NCSASPORTS.ORG. Both of these sites allow for athletes to build an online profile with stats and skills. After you have created your profile, you can then add content to it (pictures/videos). This is where we at ATHLETEDISCOVERY.COM come into play.
We create high-quality, professional Skills Videos and Highlight Reels for your child and the sports they play. Skills Videos are 1 on 1 with the coach and the player. In some sports, this could be more than 1 on 1. If you are a parent who films all of your child’s games in high definition, we can also use this video footage to put together a Highlight Reel showcasing their top plays throughout the season.
Once your child has an online Athletic Profile with some professional video footage of them in action, now you are ready to reach out to the coaches at the colleges you are interested in and make contact.
Contacting the Coaches at the Colleges You Are Interested In
Your email to the coaches you are interested in playing for should contain the following:
- A Resume – Not your normal resume, but a professional resume with detailed stats of your child’s previous seasons. The resume should include height, weight, and your end of year stats that are specific to the sport they play. If you are unsure of which stats are important, go out and look this information up online and put in the necessary research.
- Transcripts of your child’s grades. You want to show your child is a well-rounded individual that is not only athletic, but bright. Transcripts, GPA and test scores such as ACT, SAT, PSAT/NMSQT, SAT Subject Tests and PSAT 10 are tests that many colleges would be very interested in.
- Links to your Online Athletic Profile. You have spent countless hours putting together this profile which showcases your child’s achievements, now it is time to show it off. If you have more than one profile, provide the links to them. Some profiles show more information than others.
- Inform the coach what year your child will graduate in, what position(s) they play. What their goals are both academically and athletically. Explain why your child wants to play sports for this particular college. If your child is not camera shy, a brief video that goes over all of this is a great way for your child to introduce themselves.
- If your child has their season schedule for their High School or Club, give this to the coach and see if they may be able to attend one of the games to watch them play in person. This is quite possibly the best way to market your child and can have the biggest impact!
If you do not receive a response from a coach within 2 weeks, call them to express your interest in their college or university. Respond to each and every email you may receive from coaches you reach out to. Never ignore any communications you receive. As time progresses and your child gets closer to graduation, your options may be limited and the one coach you ignore may have been the one that could have offered the best scholarship deal.
Once communication happens between the coach and your child/you, stay in touch with them frequently. Have answers to their questions ready if they asked some in a previous conversation, have your own questions ready for them and be ready to take down notes from the conversation. Do not waste their time.
If your child is close to graduation, your conversation with the coach may be more focused. You may want to ask questions such as “What positions will you be recruiting for next year?” or “What stats are you looking for in someone to fill that position?” You want to show the coach your child is willing to put in the work and do everything they can to EARN a position on the team. Coaches will not just GIVE AWAY a scholarship. They have a list of requirements for their team and it is up to you to get this information and act on it accordingly.
Attending College/University Camps
Going to a camp and hoping to get discovered is not a good idea. However, if you or your child has been in communication with a coach before-hand and the coach has invited you down to see you play in person, then that is completely different. Coaches who attend camps are there primarily only to watch players they have been in contact with, so plan accordingly.
Another thing to think about is the cost you can incur with these camps. Registration, airfare, meals and hotel accommodations add up if the college or university are out of town. Think these camps through carefully and determine if they are a win/win for your child and their future.
If you were invited down to a camp by a coach, be sure to follow up with the coach after the camp has concluded. Thank them for their invite, go over any things your child learned from the camp. Be sure to ask questions about what they thought of you as a player and what they think you need to work on.
Schooling/Club Play
Some things are in your control and others are out of your control. Where you live may or may not dictate what school your child can go to. Certain schools offer much better sports programs than others. You may be zoned for a High School that has won State several years in a row in the sport your child plays. Depending on where you live, your child may be able to attend one school because it is close to where you live, but can also play for another High School. Check around and know what you are or aren’t limited to.
Obviously, you will want your child to play for the best school they can. Get to know which coaches play where and what their records are in terms of win/losses. Some coaches may be in their last season at a particular school and have plans to move across town due to a better opportunity. Pay is one of these factors and you should know this before you make plans to uproot and move across town just to be zoned for a particular High School for your child.
Another option for your child is Club play. Depending on the sport they play, certain clubs around your town may offer excellent training. Some Clubs are even recognized nationally. There may be some clubs that offer better training than the local High Schools. If you are in a city that has both excellent Club training and High School programs, this may be the best possible combination for your child to get the most exposure. As mentioned above, once you have your season determined by your High School or Club Coaches, reach out to the College Coaches and invite them to come and watch you play in person. One thing you should go over with your child as it relates to their games….you may or may not know when a College Coach or Recruiter are in the crowd watching.
They should play at 110% each and every time they go on the court, out on the field, etc. They need to have an aggressive and hungry play style based on their sport. Are they diving to make that dig that matters in Volleyball? Are they sacrificing themselves on a block in football so the runner can score the winning touchdown? These are just some examples, but it is something they need to always be thinking about when playing.
Summary
Attaining an athletic scholarship is very demanding, not only for the child, but also for the parents. It is not an easy route to take and there is quite a bit of work involved to secure one. However, for those kids who dedicate their time academically and athletically, the reward is great. From a parent’s perspective, keeping your child heavily involved in sports and academics is a great way to keep them out of trouble, keeps them fit and they learn teamwork and a healthy social interaction.
Depending on the sport, the cost incurred to parents for all of their time spent in the sport is a mere fraction of the savings which can be earned by being rewarded with a full-ride scholarship to a top College or University in this country. Out of state tuitions are now peaking over $60,000 per year. A Bachelor’s Degree could easily set back a family to the tune of over $250,000. That is a hefty financial setback for anyone to endure.
Depending on the sport, from college, a player could go pro and the earning income is nearly unlimited. There is also the trade which is learned from college. Going out into the workforce without a college tuition loan looming over your head is a huge step to a bright and fulfilling career/life.
