Understand Your Child’s Skill Level
As a parent who is raising a successful high school student-athlete you have probably been thinking of ways to get your child noticed by college coaches. Encouraging your child is great, but knowing and understanding their skill level is most important when helping them find the right college and division level that is the best fit.
Teach Your Kid to be Proactive in his Recruitment
When going through the college sports recruitment process your child needs to realize that college coaches don’t want to speak to a student-athlete’s parents. Coaches will not be able to get a sense of who the athlete is when they deal primarily with the parents.
Some coaches may take a parent’s persistence as a negative warning sign and dismiss the athlete who is not personally taking part in his own recruitment. College coaches may stop recruiting a student-athlete they believe has pushy parents. Don’t let this happen to you.
Let Them Do it Themselves
You may feel you’re helping your busy child by doing some of the recruiting legwork for them. The truth is, though, that you may actually be hurting their chances at a scholarship by limiting the development of relationships with coaches. If your student-athlete is dedicated and willing to spend time on their own recruitment they will be fine contacting college coaches on their own.
Get an Outsider’s Opinion
To get a better understanding of how your son or daughter matches up in their sport have them ask to be evaluated by a non-biased coach (preferably someone you don’t have to pay). Attending sports camps and showcases can also help athletes improve their skills while getting advice from college coaches.
Have an Open Mind
Be open to obtaining lots of advice. Use the evaluation wisely and understand what your child will need to work on in order to make it to the college level of play. Be there to coach and encourage your child on the work (athletically and academically) that will have to be done early in order to play sports in college.
Be Involved, But Not Too Much
It is good to be a parent who is involved in your child’s sports recruitment. But he will benefit the most in the long run when you play a supportive role and let him be the star.
As a parent it may be hard to let your child be in charge of his own recruiting, but it is his life and will essentially be his decision where he attends college.
Financial Aid and Scholarship Opportunities
Most questions that surround higher education are about money. Setting the standard early in terms of budgeting and what your family can afford to spend on your child’s education will help in athletic scholarship negotiations.
If a college is interested in your child they will find a way to accommodate them the best they can. Don’t disregard colleges because of the financial aspects. Be aware of the costs up front so you know what to expect.
Athletic scholarship money changes from year to year–making sure that your child asks the right questions when developing relationships with college coaches will help them gain the most out of a possible scholarship opportunity.
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