ASSESS YOURSELF
Your pursuit of a College Athletic Scholarship will be more effective and much easier if you can learn to look at yourself through the eyes of the college coaches. It may be difficult at first, but think of yourself as a commodity, a piece of the puzzle, a part of the plan, a potential asset or an investment.
You’ll be more successful from the start if you will learn to view yourself in this way. You’ve probably never looked at yourself or even thought of looking at yourself like this.
It seems cold and calloused; however, you’ll be way ahead in the GAME of college athletic recruiting if you will develop this approach.
Coaches are hired to produce winning teams. More to the point, college coaches are hired for their ability to bring in additional revenue to the school. Their jobs depend on their ability to bring success for the school.
For that reason, they are under relentless pressure to produce winning teams. They may be attractive, charming, and be able to handle a radio or T.V. interview, but if they don’t recruit those athletes who make up winning teams, they won’t stay long. College administrators and athletic directors recruit coaches and eventually select and hire the one who they think will be able to put together a WINNING TEAM.
The whole process is much like the one you will go through in your recruiting process. College athletics is an enormous business involving many, many billions of dollars. Winning teams draw attention (more loyal fans).
Radio and T.V. want to feature winning teams and are willing to pay big bucks for the right to cover these games, (more viewers mean higher paying advertisers).
A company like Nike might pay a school several million dollars for the right to furnish the school’s athletes with Nike gear. Why? Because the more times Nike products are seen, the more products Nike sells, (more buyers). The focus on winning teams is important to you because you must learn to look at yourself as an investment.
When the coach offers you an athletic scholarship, he or she is expecting a return on the school’s investment in you.
The school is putting the money down up front in the form of your athletic scholarship expecting that you will be a part of an overall winning game plan.
They are expecting you to be a profit maker, a MONEYMAKER. When you can picture yourself in this light, you will know how potential coaches will be evaluating you. You’ll be looking at yourself through their eyes.
If the coach doesn’t think you will produce a return on the school’s investment, you won’t be offered a scholarship. It’s that plain and that simple.
Now that you know what’s ultimately behind the college recruiting game, you can successfully create your own unique recruiting package which will be designed specifically to promote you as an athlete that will bring not just a good return but a terrific return on the school’s investment in you.
First, realize that you will need to be in control of your recruiting game plan. Don’t made the mistake of letting your high school coach, counselor, parents, booster club member, friend or any other person or company be in charge of it. This is not to say that you won’t need the help of other people or that you can’t utilize the services of specialty companies like resume, video editing or even recruiting companies.
However, just remember that you will always need to maintain your status as manager of your recruiting game plan whether you do it all yourself, have help, or hire part of it done. If you do decide to contract with a company to do all or part of your package, make sure that you have an agreement with them that you will be kept up-to-date with the progress at all times.
In fact, you should develop a system of tracking all activities. We’ve provided a sample-tracking sheet, which you might find useful for this purpose. Take responsibility from the start and you will be able to put together a winning package that will insure you of the best possible opportunity to be awarded the athletic scholarship you’re seeking.
Since you’ll be in charge, you will know what needs to be done and when. This “take charge” attitude will give you a tremendous advantage, and at the same time will reduce the level of anxiety and frustration.
You will actually being doing all the things necessary to get yourself recruited while most of your competition will be hanging around waiting for the phone to ring.
ASSESS YOURSELF
Are you a REAL High School Sports Recruit? Take a good, long, hard look at yourself keeping in mind the prospective college coach’s point of view.
He or she will be evaluating you as a potential asset and will be looking at you as a potential part of a winning and money generating team. Put yourself under the microscope and size yourself up honestly. Consider your attributes, strengths, and weaknesses from every possible angle.
This exercise will most certainly be enlightening, but it will also give you a starting place for your recruiting game plan and will enable you to recognize and maximize your strengths. And, at the same time, you’ll be able to see and either eliminate or minimize your weaknesses.
While completing this self-evaluation, compare yourself to other athletes in your school, your town, your state, your region, and nationally. Take out a piece of paper and write down the answers to the following questions:
1. Are you tall or short for your position?
2. Are you the right weight for your position?
3. How’s your flexibility and balance?
4. How’s your coordination (the way you move, balance, change direction, how your movements flow)?
5. How’s your speed and jumping ability?
6. How’s your strength (over-all strength, not just the bench press)?
7. Are you in tip-top condition, could it be improved?
8. How’s your GPA? Are you willing to improve it?
9. What are your ACT & SAT scores? Can they be improved? You can take them several times.
10. Are you a troublemaker or do you work in harmony with the rest of the team?
11. Are you a hotshot ball hog or a dedicated team player?
12. Do you take advice from your high school coach? Constructive criticism? Note: Your high school coach is just one of the people who you should not “blow-off” during your high school career.
13. Do you willingly practice or do you have to be forced?
14. Do you work hard in practice or just slide by?
15. Are you weak in some areas and are you willing to put in the extra practice on these weak areas?
16. Do you play to win every minute of every game or do you play your very best just part of the time? Have you ever played your absolute best throughout an entire game.
17. If you consistently play in top form, how’s your sportsmanship?
18. Are you excited about and do you enjoy playing your sport?
19. What’s your emotional state and how will it affect your performance
20. Do you take drugs?
21. How’s your speech?
22. Are you shy and introverted or outgoing and personable?
23. Do you know how to conduct yourself in public or would you be an embarrassment?
24. Do you have an “attitude”? Are you willing to adjust it?
25. Would you be willing to live away from home? How far away from home would you be willing to live?
26. How’s your vision?
27. How do you rebound from injuries?
28. Have you been injured? Do you need rehab or surgery?
29. Why do you want to play college sports? For you or for your family?
30. Do you keep up with your studies on a daily basis?
31. Do you know how to study and prepare for exams?
32. Are you college academic material?
33. Are you a starter for your team?
34. Are your statistics impressive?
35. What kinds of recognition have you received in high school (all-league, all-county or state, etc.)?
36. What kind of local recognition have you had (newspapers, radio, TV)?
37. What were your evaluations like at any sports camps you attended?
38. Do you have the physical skills necessary to play at the college level?
39. Do you believe in yourself and in your ability to succeed in your sport?
40. How well do you rebound from disappointments and adversities?
41. Are you a leader or a follower?
42. Do you have heart?
43. Do you possess the winning attitude of a champion?
These are, of course, just a few of the questions you might ask, but I think you get the idea.
You want to establish where you are right now in every area. This self-examination will give you a base line, a starting point.
Once you know where you are, then you can proceed to where you want to be. No one else will be seeing the answers to these questions, so be brutally honest. If you find that you’re physically out of condition, what can you do to improve this negative?
Do you need to set aside more time for exercise, get a practice buddy, get a trainer, work harder, change your diet, or quit taking drugs?
Whatever your weak areas are, find them and eliminate them or minimize them. Another example might be that you find that your size is smaller than the average athlete in your position.
Realizing that the scouts and recruiters will always be looking at the bigger, taller athletes first means that you will have to work harder to overcome these odds.
Knowing this information at the beginning of your scholarship search will better prepare you to be successful.
You’ll have to learn how to “out hustle” your competition. You’ll need to make a commitment to excellence in your daily activities. When you know what your strengths are, you can build on them.
Even if you are the best in your school, your town, your city, or your state, etc., there is always room for improvement and there’s always room at the top. As an example, for those sports requiring strength, college coaches will not automatically be impressed just because you can bench press more than anyone else in your state.
College coaches are looking for strong players, not strong weight lifters. They want to see how explosive and powerful you are in the game situation.
Are you easily knocked off balance? Do you get run over and shoved around? Can you step up and charge your opponent? Show them that you can use your strength advantageously on the field or court. If you are not an “all star” player, finding and securing an athletic scholarship is basically a numbers game.
You will be sending 50-60 promotional packets. The idea is to be the best that you can possibly be so that your marketing package will stand out from the crowd. Avoid being discouraged, disappointed or demoralized if the top athletic programs do not recruit you.
You will still have many opportunities to win a college education and to play college athletics. Compare your search for an athletic scholarship to a job search. You look for a job until you get one and you don’t stop looking for a job after applying at just a few places.
Have this same attitude with your scholarship search. Keep applying until you’re successful.
Chapter 1|Chapter 2|Chapter 3
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