The Importance of Athletes Being Proactive in the Recruiting Process

It seems to be the common perception that the best way to get a sport scholarship is to train and work hard at sports and wait to be discovered. Traditionally, this passive approach to the recruiting process has meant that athletes must rely on coaches and people in the community in order for them to be discovered by college coaches looking for athletes to play in their program.

The reality is that these days, other students are taking a more aggressive and proactive approach, which gives them an advantage over the passive athlete. These athletes are committed to a process of preparing for the recruiting system, researching schools, and marketing themselves on top of the hard work that they have done in the classroom and on the playing field. Again, the reality is that a student athlete that presents himself or herself to college coach in a prepared, informed, and professional manner is going to have a far greater chance of success since they are presenting themselves in a manner that is more for attractive to the coach. But what does this mean? It means you have to prepare yourself for the process academically, athletically, financially, and then you have to market yourself effectively to schools. Academics not only involve your ability to get into a school, but also your ability to stay in school. The demands on an athlete while performing on the playing field and the expectations in a classroom are often difficult to obtain, so you have to be realistic in your approach. Athletics - your ability to contribute to the team. Part of this means figuring out what it is that’s important to you athletically, and what your goals and objectives are as a collegiate athlete. Financially- your ability to pay for college, because not many athletes these days get full rides.

Once you know where you stand academically, athletically and financially, then you are in a position to be able to market yourself to the right schools, to the schools that are going to have the greatest interest in you. Your odds of placement will increase dramatically when you prepare in each of these areas, but in order to do so, it takes hard work. You have to be committed to the process, you have to be disciplined and do the work it takes to be prepared for the process to research and to effectively market yourself.