Top 10 Things You MUST Do!
1. You have to keep your grades up!
· The grades you make on the first day of your high school freshman year count as much as the last grade you make during your senior year.
· All grades go towards your overall high school Grade Point Average and Class Rank!
· The better start you get as a freshman, the higher GPA and Class Rank you will end with!
2. Objectively evaluate your talent
· Athletes and parents need 100% honest evaluations in order to make the best informed decisions when planning the next steps necessary for athletic development.
· Parents are not objective evaluators.
· High school coaches may sometimes have biases when evaluating the athletes they work with day in and day out
· Attend college camps, mini-camps and tryouts to have your talent objectively evaluated by college coaches.
· Have a private instructor with college playing, coaching or professional experience evaluate your talent.
3. Develop your recruiting “team”; Parents, coaches, teachers, counselors,
friends that will help you achieve your goals.
· Surround yourself with people that have attended college and/or played college sports in order to learn the college enrollment process and who will be honest with you about how to realistically set and achieve your recruitment goals.
4. Create a “Target List of Colleges,” but don’t limit yourself!
· It’s great to have a target list of schools, but what if those do not work out?
· Have a “Plan B” list of target schools.
· College coaches are the ones that decided if you are a fit for their program
5. Must get promoted to college coaches early with updates to follow your
development!
· The perfect time to start getting your name out to college coaches is after you have one successful year on the high school varsity team.
· The earlier in your high school career, the better so college coaches can follow your academic and athletic development.
· AASR sends unlimited updates for prospects enrolled in our College Matching Services.
6. Keep developing your skills
· You MUST continue to get BIGGER, FASTER and STRONGER!
· Whether or not you are lifting weights, running and working on your skills, someone else that wants your college roster spot is!!!
· Attend summer weights with the high school
· Get a personal trainer
· Hire a private instructor with college or professional experience
· Play year-round if your sports allows
· Compete against tougher competition
· Video your workouts, training and games for analysis
7. Register with the NCAA and NAIA Eligibility Centers
· Simply registering for a PIN (Personal Identification Number) with on the NCAA and NAIA Eligibility Center websites does not mean you have applied for an eligibility qualification decision.
· As soon as your junior year ends send your sixth (6th) semester official high school transcript to the NCAA and NAIA Eligibility Centers
· The NCAA and NAIA Eligibility Centers will use your Jr. Year transcript to make a preliminary eligibility qualification status decision.
· As soon as you graduate, have your final official high school transcript mailed to the NCAA and NAIA Eligibility Centers for a final official eligibility qualification decision.
8. Respond quickly to all calls and questionnaires
· If you do not reply to communications from college coaches, they will move one to the next prospect on their list at your position since you have shown no interest in communicating with them.
· Respond as quickly as possible and stay in contact with them at least once per week.
9. Ask lots of questions
· Ask your parents, coaches, teachers, counselors and friends what academic and athletic questions you should ask college coaches to begin building a relationship with them.
10. Trust your gut instincts!
· If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is!
Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid
1. Not understanding the importance of good grades
· College coaches consider poor grades as poor character!
2. Waiting too long to get started
· The longer you wait, the lower your scholarship opportunities!
· College coach’s scholarship budgets are less and less each year.
· The sooner you start, the better you will maximize your scholarship opportunities!!!
3. Not having a plan
· If you fail to plan…you plan to fail!!!
4. Having too few schools on your target list
· The larger your target list, the more you will maximize your scholarship opportunities!
5. Assuming college coaches will find you
· College coach’s recruiting budgets to travel have been reduced drastically over the past 10 years.
· Over 90% of college coaches ask for video to make a first evaluation.
· If a college coach hasn’t contacted you, then their either don’t know about you or don’t have a need for your skills set for your recruiting class.
· By November of your senior year, 90% of college recruiting is completed and scholarships are signed during the one week, Early Signing Period.
· The November Early Signing Period is a HUGE reason to get your name out early!!!
· If coaches are not calling you once per week, then YOU ARE NOT BEING RECRUITED!
· A camp invitation is not a recruitment letter. It’s an invitation for you to participate in their fundraising camp.
6. Assuming that someone else will get a scholarship for you
· Everyone knows of someone that knew someone that knew a college coach and promised to the coach about them about a scholarship.
· Did it workout for them?
7. Thinking that college coaches will feel you are pushy if you contact them
· College coaches need to know that you are interested and proactive in your own recruitment!
8. Assuming athletic scholarships pay for everything
· With dwindling scholarship budgets, college coaches are relying more and more on financial aid grants and academic scholarships before they offer an athletic scholarship.
· See the AASR Financial Aid and Info Blog
9. Not taking enough college visits before senior year
· It’s extremely important to compare different campuses and athletic facilities to confirm that they will meet your academic and athletic development needs!
10. Believing everything a college coach tells you
· If it sounds too good to me true…
Additional Information:
For additional information contact Coach Eli Herrera with AllAmericanSportsRecruiting.com at info@allamericansportsrecruiting.com
or (361) 446-3812.
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