What They Say

Athletic Recruiting for the High School Athlete

As a high school athlete, you probably have invested countless hours training for your particular sport(s) with the hopes of competing in college. It’s a fact that less than 5% of the nation’s high school varsity athletes ever compete in college. As real as this is, it does not mean that playing college sports is out of the picture for you. With that in mind, how are you going to get yourself noticed in front of all those college coaches? What will you do to set yourself apart from the thousands of other deserving student-athletes? In other words, what is your college recruiting plan? If you're a high school student-athlete who wants to play at the collegiate level, this means you need to get noticed by the college coaches, you need to stand out, and you need to effectively sell yourself. There is a game plan out there for you. When developing a college recruiting plan, the most important thing you can do is be proactive in the recruiting process. You don’t want to find yourself sitting and waiting for college coaches to contact you. That will not happen, especially if the coaches don’t know who you are.

 

College recruiting can be an extremely overwhelming process. Don’t sweat because there is help. A student-athlete does not have to be a "superstar" to play sports in college. If a student-athlete has good grades, along with some athletic ability and the desire to play collegiate sports, there is definitely a college looking for them. Over the last few years, there has been an enormous amount of college recruiting services available to high school athletes and their families. These services range from costing a family nothing to costing families thousands of dollars. The good news is GetaLifeNow.com (GALN) is here to help you. We have developed a comprehensive online marketing tool for student-athletes, allowing them to proactively market themselves directly to the head coaches at schools of their choice. GetaLifeNow.com puts the families in the driver seat of making these important decisions for their athlete’s future.

Return to Top

How to Market Yourself

How does a student-athlete go about marketing himself/herself to the college coaches? Through the use of GetaLifeNow.com, student-athletes will build an impressive portfolio by attaching a variety of documentation, including photos, video and other information, highlighting their unique talents, allowing them to stand out from the crowd. Once the portfolio is complete, the student-athlete will go through a school selection process. Based on a variety of questions GALN will ask, such as size and cost of a school, geographical location, etc, GALN’s database will provide a list of schools the student-athlete qualifies for. At this time the student-athlete can directly link to each school’s website to gather decision-making information on the schools. Each school the student-athlete feels is a good match, he/she will add that school to the list of potential schools to be sent to. What makes GALN so unique is its comprehensive database and the program’s ability to directly connect the student-athlete to the head coaches at the schools they qualify for. GALN’s database contains 4 year colleges/universities, 2 year community/junior colleges, technical/trade schools as well as fine arts and the culinary arts. The database also has every email address of every head coach of all the collegiate sports and the admissions departments. When a student-athlete is ready to send his/her portfolio out, GALN will automatically send the information directly to the head coaches’ email address. This allows the student-athlete to be proactive in the recruiting process. He/she knows the coaches have the information in front of them and feels comfortable that the coaches know who they are. This has also created a communication process between the student-athlete and the coach. The student-athlete will be able to directly communicate to the coach any changes or updates along the way.

Return to Top

When to Start

Begin the marketing process as early as your sophomore year or the summer before your junior year. You want to provide enough time for the coaches to see who you are and to pique their interests. A student-athlete will want their portfolio in the hands of the coaches before their senior season starts. It’s a good idea to attach your current game schedule, if possible. Some college coaches may have the opportunity to see you play.

Return to Top

How Coaches Contact You

You’ve created an impressive portfolio; one that includes your stats, glorious recommendations and current video highlighting your talents and skills. It also includes any academic information you will need to provide; GPA, test scores, course work and any attachments you want the coaches to see. Electronically, this information has been sent directly to the head coaches at the schools you qualify for. This is where your patience will be tested.  The following are some general procedures coaches follow when recruiting prospects:

1. Student-athlete will receive a packet of information, sometimes including a signed letter from the coach

2. Student-athlete will receive a questionnaire explaining their program and to find out the prospects level of interest

3. Student-athlete will receive a form letter

4. Initial phone calls take place in May

5. Follow-up phone call in September

6. Official school visits offered in the fall

7. National Letter of Intent is awarded in February

 

This is all dictated by the NCAA guidelines and coaches must follow these guidelines closely. For more information on rules and regulations concerning the student-athlete, visit http://www.ncaa.org/.

Return to Top

Scholarships 

There is good news for those seeking athletic scholarships: Athletic departments at NCAA colleges spend in excess of $4 billion per year on their athletic programs. Approximately $ 1 billion of that is awarded annually as scholarships to student-athletes. In fact, a recent USA Today study ("Athletic spending grows as academic funds dry up") shows that the average college’s athletic budget rose by 25% between 1995 and 2001, while university spending increased only 10%.

Over 126,000 student-athletes receive athletic scholarships each year from NCAA Division I and II schools alone. Division III schools aren’t allowed to offer athletic scholarships, but unofficially compensate by offering other forms of non-athletic financial aid to academically and financially qualifying student-athletes they want to recruit. NAIA report that over 90% of their institutions offer athletic scholarships.

NCAA recently published approximate statistics for several sports, comparing the number of graduating high school athletes to incoming college freshman athletes. They show that the number of NCAA Freshman roster positions in the surveyed sports runs between 3% and 13% of graduating high school senior student-athletes. (Note: these figures don't include the NAIA colleges or the Junior Colleges.)

 

Student-Athletes	Men’s Basketball	Women’s Basketball	Football	Baseball	Men’s Ice Hockey	Men’s Soccer
High School Student-Athletes	549,500	456,900	983,600	455,300	29,900	321,400
High School Senior Student-Athletes	157,000	130,500	281,000	130,100	8,500	91,800
NCAA Student-Athletes (all divisions)	15,700	14,400	56,500	25,700	3,700	18,200
NCAA Freshman Roster Positions  (all divisions)	4,500	4,100	16,200	7,300	1,100	5,200
NCAA Senior Student-Athletes (all divisions)	3,500	3,200	12,600	5,700	800	4,100
Percent High School to NCAA (all divisions)	2.9%	3.1%	5.8%	5.6%	12.9%	5.7%

 

GetaLifeNow.com is your answer to getting yourself noticed by the college coaches. GALN allows you to stand out, showcasing your talents, and will directly connect you to a multitude of schools you qualify for. Take control of your future. Be proactive in the recruiting process with GetaLifeNow.com.

 

GetaLifeNow.com is your answer to allow yourself to stand out, to effectively sell yourself and to get yourself noticed by the college coaches. Take control of your future. Be proactive with GetaLifeNow.com.

Return to Top