RECRUITING ADVICE

RECRUITING ADVICE AND ANALOGIES

Like any kid that is obsessed with sports growing up, I wanted to be a professional athlete. My dad would take me to baseball games, basketball games and I knew for a fact that I was going to make it in the pros. I was a point-guard who spent hours in my front yard shooting hoops every day. I was ahead of the competition at a young age and had a father who stood 6’4” in stature. I was told since a young age that the doctors predicted I would be 6’6”, so when all was said and done, for a kid to hear that they would be that tall and have an exceptional skill set, who is going to tell them they can’t make it?

I ended up falling between my parents in height at 6’0”, and by the time I had reached my junior year of high school, many of my priorities had changed. My mom was sick and my dreams of playing in the NBA or even at a Division I school were starting to sit on the back-burner. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with the game of basketball and I wasn’t even sure if I still wanted to play in college. I ended up walking on at a Division I NAIA school after being convinced by the head coach to try out for the team. Four years later, I can hang my hat on being a big part of the best team in the school’s history, becoming a captain my senior year and even played a year of soccer as I missed the balance of the two sports that I had excelled at in high school. But I was naïve in that I thought it was such an honor to play, I never thought about taking care of myself financially by earning scholarships.

Here I was a walk-on, playing two sports and never received a penny in scholarships, merit or any type of aid towards school. I was clueless on how early recruiting began, ignorant towards the importance of contacting schools in a timely matter, and can remember wishing my high school coach had done more to help me find a school where I could play. I received letters from coaches as high as NCAA Division II while in high school, but I didn’t know how to respond, what to say and assumed that if I was good enough, a coach would find me.

What I have learned after spending years in a Division I Athletic Department, time coaching and now studying and working in athletic recruiting and development is that there is endless opportunity for young men and women wanting to compete at the college level if they are empowered with education and knowledge on the steps necessary to attain that goal. In this world of technology, the resources for up-and-coming athletes are endless, but having those resources and not utilizing them is like hoping to get hired for a job, having a great skill set, but never sending anyone your resume. Why would you do that?

In speaking with hundreds of families each week, what I have found is that there are families who do not understand that there is a process to recruiting (which I would have been guilty of in high school). There are other families that understand that there is a process to recruiting, but don’t know where to begin.  Some that think if my athlete is good enough, they will be found and of course families who have some correspondence from schools and think they are on the right track. The question I always have to ask is what are you trying to accomplish? If what you are trying to accomplish is to find any old school to compete for, perhaps waiting to see what happens is right for you, but I do not recommend this approach with how important your choice of school is.

Utilizing a recruiting network is something for all athletes – and when I say all, I mean all. Everyone uses them differently, but then again everyone’s recruiting process will be different. A top athlete that utilizes a recruiting network to gain leverage by showing schools the other coaches that are interested will typically win the race to the scholarship package they are seeking. If an athlete wants to play Division I or II, has the ability to do so and is only getting D III looks, there is a large benefit in just getting on coaches radars at a higher level. Lastly, for those who may not have made a roster otherwise, the resources available through a recruiting network, can open doors to compete in college that simply would not have been there otherwise.

Not every athlete will go on to compete in college, and every individual will experience the process differently. Some will have instant success, but less than 1% of high school student-athletes will go on to compete at the Division I level each year. You have to be patient and persistent.  An amazing analogy to the recruiting process can be found in a video linked here with a message from a motivational speaker named Les Brown. Stop reading and watch this two and a half minute clip.

Now that you have seen this video, you can compare it to the recruiting process and listen to what he says. “We live in a world that wants instant gratification, but are not willing to put in the work.”  As is the case with recruiting, those who put in the work will find success, whatever that means to you. For some, success is just making a roster. For others it is finding a full-ride scholarship to compete in college.  Make no mistake, competing in college is one of the greatest honors and individual can have.  But if you are going to put in the work in athletic development, spend money on going to showcases and tournaments, but you are not corresponding with colleges, you are most likely going to become very frustrated when you see teammates, or even worse, opponents receiving camp invites or official visits. It is not because they are necessarily better, but are probably going about their recruiting in a more intelligent, streamlined way. They are corresponding with the right schools because they have direction.

Your high school coach and club coach may be your best friend in the recruiting process and a great ally, but use them correctly! If you leave your college future up to your coach and you’re okay with only speaking to the connections they have, be aware that it will be a limited search and you are taking an approach of ‘I’ll go to college wherever I can play’. Remember, student comes first in student-athlete and the idea is to find the right fit school for you, where you can graduate with a meaningful degree while competing in college.  Too many families get hung up on looking for “athletic” scholarships.  Less than 2% of athletes are going to receive these, however, if you are targeting the right programs and a coach wants you to compete for them badly enough AND most importantly you do well in the classroom, your financial aid package to go to school will greatly increase. Your package may be a collaboration of academic scholarships, merit scholarships and then a small percentage of aid from your sport, but the more aid you can find from an institution that wants you, the less debt you will be in coming out of college. The process goes quickly, so be proactive!  I can tell you first-hand a lot of us who didn’t receive aid, or know how to attain it, are very jealous of those who did and a proactive approach sets you up for success right out of college, which is crucial in our current economy.

So again, use your resources; use your college search tools to identify what coaches are looking for an athlete like you, what part of the country you may want to compete in, who offers the major you are looking for, and begin correspondence with those programs.  How do you identify what level is a realistic starting place for you to begin reaching out? The answer is by setting up an evaluationwith a trusted source in the recruiting process.  All Access Ahlete’s scouting force is compiled of former college and professional athletes and coaches.  We have been there and we know the amount of pressure that there is in finding the right school. Remember that priorities change and if you narrow your search from an early age and limit yourself, you may be letting the mindset that you are a Division I athlete prevent you from becoming a collegiate athlete all together.  Cast a wide net of schools who know who you are and, know that you are serious about competing so that they are anticipating your upcoming high school and club season. Start when you are able to, which in a lot of cases is middle school, but no later than freshman year of high school. Lastly, put in the work and be patient!