ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIP TIMELINE
How to get Sports Financial Aid. What to do and when to do it.
Here is a complete checklist for your freshman and sophmore years to use and make sure you are getting everything done each year that you need. If you aren’t starting the recruiting process your freshman year look over the past years checklists and make sure you have everything done that is needed.
Freshman
Many student-athletes make the mistake of not preparing for the recruiting process during their freshman year. Below is a checklist for you to follow throughout your freshman year. If you have any questions please ask your recruiting coach.
Academic
•Make an appointment with a counselor to ensure you will fulfill all NCAA and NAIA requirements by the time you graduate.
•Take honors/AP courses, but only if you can maintain a high GPA.
Look at next year’s dates for the PSAT and PLAN (pre-ACT) so you can start preparing.
Athletic
•Start contacting college coaches by sending them letters of interest – because this is your first year in high school, you do not need to send them a resume or video yet – your goal here is to have them put you on their mailing list.
•If you are not currently playing for a club team, think about joining one – coaches like to see this. Training year-round will help your skill level, keep you in shape, and provide coaches with more statistics to evaluate you with (if applicable to your sport).
•Evaluate where you need improvement in your sport by talking with your coaches and attending a college game.
•Start building video footage of all of your games; you will use this to create a highlight video to send to schools before your sophomore year begins.
•Plan “unofficial” college visits – it is never too early to start visiting different campuses to see what type of school environment you like.
Other
•Put together a recruiting budget.
•Google yourself – make sure that all references to you on the internet portrays you in a respectful manner (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blogs, etc.)
•Review the NCAA/NAIA Rules and Regulations (Guidebook for the College-Bound Student Athlete).
Sophomore
Your sophomore year is the best time to start contacting coaches and being aggressive in the recruiting process. After having one year of high school athletics under your belt you should have good game footage that you can use to start editing into a highlight video.
By now, you should have already:
•Put together a recruiting budget.
•Made an appointment with a counselor to ensure you will fulfill all NCAA and NAIA requirements by the time you graduate. If you are behind in classes, make arrangements to make-up classes in summer school or at a local junior college.
•Looked into playing for a club team – coaches like to see this. Training year-round will help your skill level, keep you in shape, and provide coaches with more statistics to evaluate you with (if applicable to your sport).
•Started contacting college coaches by sending them letters of interest.
•Started to build video footage of your games so that we can create a highlight video for you.
•Looked into taking honors/AP courses, but only if you can maintain a high GPA.
•Evaluated where you need improvement in your sport by talking with your coaches and attending a college game.
•Planned “unofficial” college visits – it is never too early to start visiting different campuses to see what type of environment you like.
•Searched for yourself on Google to make sure that all references to you on the internet portrays you in a respectful manor (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blogs, etc.).
•Reviewed the NCAA/NAIA Rules and Regulations (Guidebook for the College-Bound Student Athlete).
Academic
•Take the PSAT and or PLAN (pre-ACT).
•Register with the NCAA/NAIA Eligibility Centers – get your name in their system early
Look at next year’s dates for the SAT and ACT so you can start preparing – it’s best to take these exams in your junior year so that if you are not satisfied with your score you can have a chance to re-take it your senior year
Athletic
•Take the video footage you have so far and edit it into a highlight/skills video – we can do this for you. Upload this video online for easy viewing.
•Start contacting college coaches by sending them a resume and highlight videos through email.
•Get comfortable speaking with college coaches by practicing with your recruiting coach
Look for skill camps and showcases that will display your talents to the coaches of the schools that you are interested in going to. The summer after your sophomore year is a great time to go to your first camp.
•Get contact information from your coaches and ask them to be an athletic reference for you.
•Play on a club team.
Other
•Be a good role model – coaches are looking for reasons to take athletes off their recruiting boards; make sure you are not giving them a reason with your actions or reputation