Freshman Tips for the Recruiting Process

Laurie Richter provides a valuable piece on the subject of the high school recruiting process on EZineArticles.com, but does so from the perspective of a freshman student-athlete, who she says can "get ahead of the game" and gain an advantage over their competition by doing a few simple things during their first year of secondary education.

Some of the suggestions she makes to freshman :

• Making a four-year plan of the high school curriculum to ensure that classes being taken meet the eligibility standards set forth by the NCAA, particularly those which the collegiate athletics regulatory body identifies as "core courses" necessary for admission to and permission to participate in sports at a university of choice. Future recruits also need to become familiar with the GPA requirements necessary to be cleared by the NCAA, as well as recognizing that Division III schools are not required to register with the Clearinghouse, but may have more stringent standards for admission as a result.
• Richter advises that freshman student-athletes should look into participating in athletic organizations that exist outside of those which they may be members of at the high schools they attend. She provides two lines of argument as to why this can prove beneficial. First, playing on teams such as those represented by organizations like the AAU provides not only valuable playing experience, but too offers student-athletes the ability to gain important exposure in a wide range of geographical locations; so too, Richter states, does it allow players to come in contact with a much larger number of coaches and styles of coaching, a factor which can prove critical in setting oneself apart in the recruiting period taking place between the junior and senior year. Second, competing in external leagues also provides the student-athlete the opportunity to gain a sense of the type of competition they'll be facing when the college recruiting process begins. Richter comments, "You may be the best kid on your freshman high school team but you may also find that there are many kids out there who are more talented than you. Better to find out now and plan accordingly."
• Begin researching colleges and athletic programs online in order to eliminate schools which Richter suggests "you won't have either the academic credentials or the skill level to play at," as well as identifying programs that may not have originally been considered as a non-athlete, but could prove beneficial in light of choosing to play a sport at the collegiate level. Doing so as a freshman, she notes, provides future recruits the opportunity to develop relationships with coaching staffs early on and nurture such contacts as he/she matures during their time in high school, as well as impressing upon coaches that their program is regarded seriously enough to take the initiative to make and sustain contact over time.