Transcript Playing_a_Sport_in_College_Final

St. Michael’s Catholic Academy
SO YOU WANT TO PLAY A SPORT IN
COLLEGE?
HOW TO GET RECRUITED TO PLAY
Charlotte Knepp, Director of College Counseling
Ed McCabe, Athletic Director and Head Football Coach
AT ST. MICHAEL’S, WE BELIEVE
only
The goal is not ^ to be successful at
athletics – the goal is to use athletics
to be more successful!
During the course of this presentation, we hope
you will see what we mean.
TO USE ATHLETICS TO BE SUCCESSFUL,
YOU MUST:
• Set realistic goals
• Understand the Recruiting Process
• Develop and work a plan to pursue your goals
WHY PLAY A SPORT IN COLLEGE?
For the pure joy of it!
What else?
Goal Setting
WHAT ELSE?
WHAT IS YOUR GOAL?
• Scholarship?
• Play professionally?
• Enhance admission to college (including highly selective
colleges) and your college experience?
• Enhance post graduate employment opportunities?
Goal Setting
SOME PERSPECTIVE ON
SCHOLARSHIPS
• About 2% of all high school athletes are awarded athletic scholarships
• Very few “full rides” are offered
• Average award is $10,409 while annual tuition range for NCAA schools
is $20K - $50 K
• Academic scholarships are more plentiful than athletic scholarships –
$11 BILLION available through colleges alone, see, www.meritaid.com
• SMCA Class of 2010: 60% received non-athletic scholarship offers
totaling over $9 million
See Charts 1, 2 & 3
Goal Setting
A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE ON A
PROFESSIONAL CAREER IN SPORTS
•
Percentage of NCAA student-athletes who become professional athletes:
• Men’s Basketball - 1.2%
• Women’s Basketball - .9%
• Football - 1.8%
• Baseball - 8.9%
• Men’s Ice Hockey - 3.7%
• Men’s Soccer - 1.6%
As the numbers show there are more than 400,000 NCAA student-athletes and
most of them go pro in something other than sports.
See Chart 4
Goal Setting
A FEW OTHER FACTS
• Over 1800 colleges and universities offer athletic programs
• More than 80% of all college athletic opportunities are not with
Division I programs
• “At many Division III colleges, including the top academic institutions,
varsity athletes make up a third or more of the student body.” The New
York Times
Goal Setting
POST GRADUATE BENEFITS FOR
COLLEGE ATHLETES
• A study by NCAA, College and Beyond, reported that former
athletes earned 15.4% more than their non-athletic counterparts
• 80% of female Fortune 500 top executives describe themselves as
former athletes, Univ. of Virginia study
• Student-athletes graduate at a rate 1% – 2 % higher than the
general student body, NCAA Graduation Rates Summary
A former varsity football and basketball player and now an
executive director at UBS,
“We try to recruit people that can work in a team
environment, are competitive and driven, . . . many times
athletes have those traits…” Ken Marschner
GOAL SETTING
Review Goals
• Athletic Goals:
• Given the facts and figures, remember to “shoot high, but aim low”
• Don’t limit your search to just Division I -- there are many great
opportunities for you as a collegiate athlete at some amazing colleges
• Remember why you like to play your sport
• Review your Academic goals – remember you probably will go
pro in something other than your sport!
The Recruiting Process
COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC
GOVERNING BODIES
The Recruiting Process
NCAA DIVISION I
(COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS “D1”)
• Highest level of intercollegiate athletics
• Huge time commitment by the athlete; there is no “offseason.” Playing a sport becomes a job with pressure to
perform
• College football teams are further classified as Football
Bowl Subdivision (formerly Div. I-A) and Football
Championship Subdivision (formerly Div. I-AA). The
differences between these levels are:
• the quality and depth of talented athletes and
• the philosophical/financial commitment a university makes to its
athletic program.
The Recruiting Process
NCAA DIVISION II (OR “D2”)
• Division II teams usually feature a number of local or
in-state student athletes
• Limited scholarship opportunities
• Substantial time commitment
• Includes smaller schools with lesser known athletic and
academic reputations
The Recruiting Process
DIVISION III (OR “D3”)
• Division III is the largest within the NCAA
• Division III athletes receive no athletic scholarships,
but merit and need-based aid may be available
• Generally, athletes compete because they love their
sport. They are highly skilled and competitive, but the
time commitment is not as huge as Divisions I and II
• Some colleges maintain concurrent membership in two
The Recruiting Process
NAIA
• National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is
the governing body of a group of smaller colleges
• Time commitment and scholarships vary depending
on the school and the sport
• 280 NAIA colleges with approximately 45,000
student-athletes
The Recruiting Process
NATIONAL JUNIOR COLLEGE ATHLETIC
ASSOCIATION (NJCAA)
• Approximately 500 junior colleges
• About 50,000 student-athletes
See Chart 5 for a comparison of NCAA Divisions
The Recruiting Process
WHAT COACHES WANT
Coaches evaluate recruits in three areas
• Athletic ability – size, strength, speed, skill, and the athlete’s
future potential
• Academic achievement – GPA, test scores, ranking
• Quality of character – work ethic, desire to compete, other
extracurricular activities (community service, scouting, etc.)
The Recruiting Process
HOW COACHES IDENTIFY PROSPECTS
• Purchased lists from scouting services, located in
the U.S. and internationally
• Evaluations from coaches
• Watching athletes play at tournaments, camps,
games, summer/club leagues, showcases
• Video tapes
• Student-initiated contact
• Recommendations from current student athletes,
alumni, and community members
The Recruiting Process
HOW COACHES DEMONSTRATE INTEREST
• Sending a player questionnaire, a media guide and other
written materials
• Typed letters
• Hand-written notes
• Phone calls when allowed by NCAA
• School Visits
• Home Visits
• Watching the athlete play at games, etc.
• Talking with coaches, scouts
• Inviting the prospect to the college
• Inviting the prospect to a camp
GET RECRUITED
DEVELOP A PLAN AND EXECUTE
Plan and Execute
HOW TO GET NOTICED BY COACHES
• Don’t wait for colleges to contact you
• Remember that most colleges have a modest recruiting budget
• Approximately 50 Division I colleges have recruiting budgets of
less than $100,000
• Only 22 Division II and III schools have more than $100,000 for
recruiting athletes that must be split among all the sports
offered
• The average recruiting budget for a college coach is $500
Plan and Execute
RECRUITING BUDGET FOR WILLIAMS COLLEGE
(D3),
#1 COLLEGE IN ATHLETICS AND ACADEMICS, NCSA POWER RANKINGS
Plan and Execute
HOW TO GET NOTICED BY COACHES
START EARLY
When to begin your plan:
• Set goals (athletic and academic) as a freshman
• Start research and list of colleges/coaches 9 th and 10th
• Start contacting coaches late sophomore, early junior year
“Coaches are looking for prospects with inner motivation and
mature responsibility; prospects who are self-starters.
Procrastination is championship stupid.”
Plan and Execute
ACADEMICS
Do not ignore the importance of your
academic record!
A college coach will not recruit a student-athlete who cannot
compete in the classroom. A good academic record:
• Tells a coach a lot about a prospect’s ability to manage
time, set goals and prioritize
• Makes the student easier for the coach to recruit and
present to his college admissions committee
• Increases likelihood and amount of academic
scholarships
Plan and Execute
HONESTLY
ASSESS YOUR TALENT LEVEL
• Have an objective third party
evaluate your athletic ability
• Check your statistics against
benchmarks for your sport, see:
www.athleteswanted.org
EVALUATING
TALENT
LEVEL
Plan and Execute
BEGIN AN AGGRESSIVE MARKETING
CAMPAIGN
• Assemble team to help with organization and research –
parents, college counselor, athletic coach, friends, etc
• Aim low, shoot high – contact Division I schools, but also
include Div. II and Div. III and NAIA colleges
• Initial list of college coaches to contact should range from 50 –
200 different schools and you may want to include multiple
coaches at one school
See Charts 6-15 for good resources to use to build your list of colleges to contact.
Plan and Execute
MORE MARKETING TIPS
• List should include colleges that you would want to attend even
if athletics were not possible – the Broken Leg rule
• Consider size, location, climate, social atmosphere, major,
academic rigor, academic programming, religious affiliation,
etc.
• Research should tell you the record of the team and current
team roster
• Does the team win?
• Does the coach need someone at the position you play?
Plan and Execute
NOW THAT YOU HAVE A LIST
Create a sports resume/profile, which should
include:
• Academic record, GPA, ACT/SAT scores, advanced course
work
• Stats relevant to your sport
• Your teams, including school and club and their records
• Individual athletic achievements, e.g., all-State, MVP, team
captain, etc.
• Include a photo – in uniform
• Coach references with contact information
• Example of sports resume is available in the college office and
on Naviance
Plan and Execute
NOW THAT YOU HAVE A LIST
Produce a highlights video, which should include:
• An introduction by you of a summary of your sports resume
• Skills drills
• Highlights
• Game footage
• Check team websites for any particular
requirements/requests by the college/coach
• Send video upon request or have it as a link on your website
if you create one – Youtube will work!
Plan and Execute
"You just laugh at some of the professional videos I get with their
Hollywood special effects," she said. "It's so unnecessary. Just
give me a few skills highlights, and then I want to see a simple
game tape. I've seen enough girls hitting balls as 'Eye of the Tiger'
plays in the background to last a lifetime."
Amy Bergin, Head Volleyball Coach, Haverford College, as reported
in the New York Times
Plan and Execute
NOW THAT YOU HAVE A LIST
• Contact coaches with a personal email with your sports
resume attached
• Should include your interest in the college and the sports
program with some details that indicate that you aren’t sending
a form letter (if possible)
• Consider creating your own website and include link in
your email
• Upload your video or link to Youtube
• Include your sports resume
• Doesn’t have to be professional, but clever
Plan and Execute
AFTER YOU HAVE SENT INITIAL EMAIL
• Follow up with a phone call to coaches
• Be aware of NCAA rules that allow you to phone coaches,
but within certain limits they may not phone you. Keep
trying. See NCAA Guide for the College-Bound StudentAthlete
• Become familiar with NCAA rules, which apply to Division
I and II colleges about contacts and behavior that is
permitted and not permitted
• Clean up Facebook or other social networking sites
Plan and Execute
NEXT STEPS TO GET NOTICED
• Respond promptly to any communication from a coach!
• Stay in contact with coaches
• Update resume/website periodically
• Attend camps, especially those invited to by coaches
• At some point, must ask where you are on the coach’s recruiting list
• Keep a communication log, enlist your team to help with this task
• Continue to work hard at both your sport and your studies
Plan and Execute
A Word About
Recruiting Services
A FINAL WORD
• More student-athletes at SMCA should be
playing their sport in college
• It is possible if you are realistic, know the
process, develop and work a plan
We hope to see more of you realizing your dream
to play your sport in college!
Helpful Resources: See Charts 11-15
The End