High school athletes can turn odds in their favor of winning scholarship offers

You’ve heard the numbers. On average only about 1 in 15 high school senior athletes go on to participate in college athletics. Many more want to, yes, but line up 100 seniors and you can count on a paltry 6.6 of them getting the opportunity to live their dream.

So what makes the difference? What happens to cause the 93.4% to fall short?

First, parents and prospects must realize that recruiting is a ruthless competition. It is, in fact, the most competitive environment a high school student-athlete will ever encounter. What happens on the court, field or diamond pales in comparison.

Second, high school, club and travel coaches are not typically savvy in regards to recruiting, so the advice they offer is often outdated or inaccurate.

Third, parents too often choose cheap, ineffective promotional vehicles to get their athletes’ profiles in the hands of college coaches.

Fourth, parents simply wait too late to begin the process.

The sad note to add is that each year there are thousands of deserving high school athletes whose dreams go unfulfilled. That does not need to happen. When athletes enter the recruiting process in the eighth, ninth or tenth grades, their chances of grabbing the attention of multiple college coaches increases exponentially over juniors and seniors. The driving forces are relationship building and broad exposure. Neither of these can happen by posting info on free Internet sites or enlisting fly-by-night recruiting services.

Think back, please, to the odds we cited at the start of this article. To beat those kinds of odds, parents and prospects have to be proactive once the athlete makes it clear that he or she wants to play collegiately. That is when the competition for a scholarship starts and every day of procrastination gives the advantage to another prospect that takes the initiative to begin right away instead of waiting.