THE HOW TO GUIDEDURING HIGH SCHOOL

ATHLETES WANTED

C H R I S K R A U S E

High School Edition

PART THREE

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ThE HOW TO GUiDEDURiNG hiGh SChOOL

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bY noW, You knoW why a student should be an athlete—sports will open the doors to opportunities, help make college affordable, create critical skills, build character, and strengthen networks. Next comes the question of how to leverage athletics.

During high school, students will begin maneuvering through the world of collegiate recruiting, dedicating hundreds of hours to promoting their athletic abilities. They will buy uniforms, pay for camps and clubs, and spend hard-earned money traveling to and from out-of-town games.

At times, this might seem like a huge expenditure, but the return on investment in an athlete’s future is even bigger. The National Colle-giate Scouting Association reports that high school student-athletes who compete in college win on average more than $15,500 a year in scholar-ships, grants, and financial aid to play sports at a collegiate level for four or five years at public or private schools. At the upper end of the scale, athletes receive $200,000 in scholarships and grants-in-aid—not bad considering the average college student graduates with more than $25,000 in debt.

A student and parent’s investment in athletics continues to pay later in life, as well. As reported by The Game of Life: College Sports and Educa-tional Values (Princeton University Press, 2002), athletes earned 15 percent more than their non-athlete counterparts upon graduating.

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« « F a s t F a c t « «Among the most overlooked opportunities are those atDivision III programs. Student-athletes and their parentsmiss out because they fall prey to the technicality thatDivisionIIIprogramsdonotofferathleticscholarships.Whilethisistrue,itisalsoatechnicality.DivisionIIIschoolsoffergrants-in-aidandnon-athleticscholarshipsthatoftenmakethecostofattendinglessthanthatattheirDivisionIandIIcounterparts.Ofallthedivisions,DivisionIIIhasthelargestnumberofathleticprogramsandthehighestconcentrationoftop-rankedacademicprograms.

Some parents think that opportunities are reserved for only elite athletes, and indeed, some opportunities are. More than seven million high school athletes of both genders are vying for only about $1.4 billion awarded in athletic scholarships. If this pot were awarded proportionately, each of the nation’s athletes would receive less than $200 to help pay for tuition. Only about 6.76 percent of high school athletes will play at a college level, and only 1.68 percent will receive a full or partial athletic scholarship to an NCAA-affiliated school. Only 0.98 percent will make the cut to play on a Division I college team.

But guess what isn’t a Division I school? Williams College. Neither is Amherst, or countless other colleges that offer world-class education. Only about 15 percent of collegiate athletic opportunities are at the Division I level. More opportunities are available through Division II and III schools, NAIA programs, and junior colleges.

And while athletes might have their eyes turned toward big-name programs, they might find that the smaller programs offer bigger opportu-nities and more prestige. The smaller programs are often a much better fit, both academically and athletically. Consider, for instance, the University of

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Chicago and Chicago State University. One is a Division I school, one is a Division III school. One is consistently ranked among the top fifty univer-sities in the country by U.S. News & World Report. The other is not.

Guess which is which. You might be surprised. The University of Chicago, a Division III

school, shows up ninth on U.S. News & World Report’s 2008 list of the best colleges. Chicago State University, a Division I school, does not make U.S. News & World Report’s top 50 percent of colleges.

Earlier, you learned about average athletes who attended world-class universities, elite athletes who turned down Division I offers to attend smaller, more intimate schools, and great athletes who flew under the radar and were passed over simply because they did not know how to play the collegiate recruiting game.

Opportunities are available, regardless of an athlete’s level, but the opportunities might pass by if students and their parents do not learn how to play the recruitment game. If parents and their athletes learn how to play the game, they can position a student-athlete for success, not only in athletics, but also in academics, relationships, career, and life.

Before we begin discussing the how to’s, consider two things:

The rules change depending on whether a student-athlete is 1. in high demand. Contrary to popular belief, most high school athletes do not choose the school they attend. The schools choose them. Because only a select few of heavily recruited athletes have multiple schools fighting for them, most students are given an opportunity to play at only a handful of schools from which they must find the best fit. Throughout, we will discuss how students who are heavily recruited, lightly recruited, or not-at-all recruited can leverage their talent for eventual success. Specifically, see Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. As well, to determine a student-athlete’s level of recruitment, visit www.athleteswanted.org and complete the

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Recruiting Action Plan questionnaire (RAP). Based on a athlete’s level of recruitment, this questionnaire also provides action steps that can help build the necessary relationships with college coaches to earn scholarship dollars.

The rules change depending on how early or late in the 2. process an athlete starts. Because most parents, athletes, and high school and club coaches do not start the process until an athlete is in high school, the rest of this book assumes that the athlete is in the ninth, tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grade, unless otherwise noted. However, college recruiting can start while a student is in junior high school, and the NCAA course requirements start the moment a child begins taking classes his freshman year. As we discussed earlier, a student-athlete’s involvement in sports and dedication to goal-setting can start when that child is in elementary school.

c o a c h ’ s t i PComplete the Recruiting Action Plan questionnaire (RAP)atwww.athleteswanted.orgforspecificstepsastudentcantaketoincreasehislevelofrecruitmentbasedonhissportandgradelevel.

With this in mind, parents and coaches of young athletes can help by preparing children for future collegiate athletic careers in elementary or junior high school, whenever possible. Even something as simple as picking out the correct core classes before high school can make the differ-ence between winning and losing the game of recruiting.

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If a student-athlete is in elementary or junior high, preparing for her college career when she cannot even drive a car might seem strange. But remember that top student-athletes are given verbal scholarships as early as their seventh-grade years in junior high school. College coaches, who know their jobs and salaries are tied to a team’s ability to win, are hungry to secure talented athletes, so they start looking early, hoping they can snatch the best athletes before a competing school sneaks in and scoops talent away. Though it is not impossible for student-athletes to start during their senior year, most recruiters start looking at students the minute they begin as freshmen. Five of the top seven basketball players graduating in 2010 gave verbal commitments in the spring of their sophomore year.

As well, most athletes can confirm that they started dreaming of college careers early. I knew in the fourth grade, so setting goals was appropriate when I was nine.

In short, it is never too early to get a child started on the path, and the earlier the better, especially since only limited students are offered scholarships. The more student-athletes practice their skills, and the more experience they have for exposure, the better chance they will have of being recruited by the college of their choice.

c o a c h ’ s t i PParents and athletes should start learning the game ofrecruitingasearlyaspossible,saidChrisDucar,thewomen’ssoccercoachforthetop-rankedUniversityofNorthCarolina.Ducarstartstherecruitingprocesswiththisyear’spoolofthetopseventhandeighthgraders.

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Leveraging statistics from thousands of student-athletes who have made the leap from high school to college in twenty-five different sports, the following chapters provide realistic advice on:

Evaluating an athlete’s potential to play in college; •

Positioning a student to build relationships with coaches; •

Becoming educated on opportunities; and •

Ultimately finding a college that not only allows a student to •play sports, but also earns a child a top quality education that opens doors after college.

Remember that student-athletes cannot redo the recruiting process. They cannot take a mulligan. The recruiting process is a once-in-lifetime experience that requires both the parents and the students to jump in full-steam ahead.

High school consists of only about 720 days. How will the student-athlete make the most of this small window of opportunity?

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K e y P o i n t s

1. Almost 85 percent of collegiate athletic opportunities are available

through Division ii and iii schools, NAiA programs, and junior colleges.

2. The rules of the game change depending on whether an athlete is highly

recruited, moderately recruited, lightly recruited, or not-at-all recruited.

To determine a student-athlete’s level of recruitment, complete the Re-

cruiting Action plan questionnaire (RAp) at www.athleteswanted.org.

3. The rules of the game change depending on how early or late in the pro-

cess the athlete starts, as well as the sport the student-athlete plays. For

sport- and time-specific information, complete the RAp questionnaire at

www.athleteswanted.org.

4. it is never too early to start packaging a student for recruitment. Some

coaches start recruiting students as young as the seventh or eighth

grade.