How Do I Start And When?
I ve had this asked of me from parents who ve had students anywhere from eighth grade through twelfth grade. I think it s great that parents do have a concern and are willing to put in the effort required to help their child win an athletic scholarship.
Even though your senior year in high school is not too late to start your own recruiting game, you should try to begin in your sophomore year. The recruiting game takes time and if you start then, you ll be well prepared by your senior year. Now, you can begin sooner because there are certain things you can do to start the ball rolling. You may not want to contact any coaches before your sophomore year, but you can start the process.
One of the most important steps to your process is to decide on which schools you have an interest in and want to contact. You could start this research in your freshman year. There are many ways to do this research and probably the best is on the internet. You can pretty much check out any college or university in the country by using the internet. I recommend that you start with as many as 200 schools. As your recruiting game proceeds, your list will narrow itself down. So 200 may sound like a lot, but in reality it s not. Prepare your list and be ready to work on your options.
Now, if you are one of the top athletes in the country then you will probably be contacted by many programs, but if you re not in that 1% of the athletes in your sport, you will need to do your part and initiate contact. It s not just going to happen automatically. The competition for athletic scholarships is growing. So remember, DO NOT PROCRASTINATE.
When you have your list of schools that you are interested in, then you can build your cover letter that you will send to the coaches. You must take your time and get this done as best as you can because it will be the first impression that a coach gets about you. It only needs to be one page but it does need to be well written. Just make it short and to the point. This is not the time to tell your full story you are just introducing yourself to the coach and peaking his or her interest in you.
With this cover letter you will include your “Player Profile”. This is basically your athletic resume. This is where you spotlight all of your accomplishments.
That s it. These two pieces will represent your initial contact with a coach. If you do this right and take your time crafting a well-written cover letter and Player Profile, you will accomplish your goal and you will get a response from coaches. Keep in mind that just as you have a list of certain things that you are looking for in deciding on a school, coaches are looking for a certain type of athlete to help them fill out their program. So, you may not get a response from every coach that you contact, but you will hear back from many. This is why I recommend that you start with 200 or more schools. The key is to have as many options as you can get.
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