College Student-Athlete? Game Plan.

Students! Are you interested in playing your sport at the college level?

You need a GAME PLAN to become a

collegiate student-athlete.

Let's get started.

1: Pick your sport.

2: Evaluate your athletic ability. Be realistic!

Have your coach, or a coach you trust, provide you with an honest athletic evaluation and be open-minded about the results. The better you understand your athletic ability, the better you can manage expectations and possibilities.

Keep in mind! Besides varsity, colleges offer intramural and club sports that many students who love to play can be involved with. Varsity is only one option.

3: What will your college experience be like?

Take into consideration your athletic ability and determine the appropriate league/level at which you are competitive.

Secondly, consider how much time you want to dedicate to your sport in college. Depending on the league, your college experience can be very different!

The two most popular leagues are the NCAA and NAIA.

NCAA DI teams will expect you to be an athlete first, a student second. These teams practice or play year-round, even during the summer. Your college experience will be limited to athletics and academics.

NCAA DII, DIII and NAIA teams generally expect you to be a student first, an athlete second. These teams have a season by which they practice and play, with an "off" season allowing you time to participate in other activities, such as clubs, work, volunteering, and such.

4: To be eligible for recruitment, you must register for NCAA and/or NAIA and pay the appropriate fees.

NCAA Eligibility Center

NAIA Eligibility Center

5: Utilize the "Broken Leg" philosophy when identifying colleges to pursue.

Approach the process of building a list of schools you are interested in based on the possibility of not actually being able to play your sport at that school due to unforeseen injuries. Love the school for their academic programs, the culture and community, size, location, financial feasibility and social offerings.

Your high school academic performance is VERY important in the college athlete recruitment process. Unless you are the "cream of the crop", considered to be an elite athlete, and are actively being pursued by college coaches, you MUST meet the average GPA and testing admission requirements to be an attractive candidate for college coaches to recruit. The FINAL admittance decision will be with the admission office, not the coach. In other words, your athletic ability will not override poor academic performance when admission decisions are made.

6: Athletic Resume and Highlight Video.

Begin by creating an athletic resume. This is a one page document that provides a comprehensive overview of you as an athlete and student. View resume tips from Athnet.

Develop a highlight video. For additional information on how to build an effective highlight video, view this from NCSA Athletic Recruiting.

7: Time to build relationships with coaches. Key!

Begin with an introduction email to the coach and any assistant coaches at each school you are interested in. The email should include the Athletic Resume and the link to your Highlight Video.

Tips:

Communication with the purpose of developing a relationship with the coaches is key! It is your responsibility to be proactive in initiating and maintaining interaction with the coaches.

Begin communication with coaches as early as Freshman year of high school. Some sports recommend beginning in 7th or 8th grade.

Be conscientious about sending updates to your athletic resume, such as awards, statistic updates, and/or successes. In addition, update coaches on your academic performance, such as SAT or ACT scores, updated GPA, academic honors or awards.

Coordinate meetings with coaches if you plan on being on their campus. Coaches generally embrace the opportunity to meet prospective athletes who visit their campuses.

Send coaches schedules of your games, meets, tournaments, etc. to let them know when and where you can be seen playing your sport. This is hit and miss as to whether the coaches will actually travel to see you play, however, if it is convenient, they may stop by.

Communication with coaches should be ongoing until you receive an offer or denial.