NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

A large part of recruiting is making sure you connect with the coaching staff.  Finding the right fit means that you feel comfortable becoming part of an athletic family.  Reflecting the importance of this change is a relatively new, but emerging trend on a coaching staff; the “Life Coach.”

Georgia Tech team Chaplain Derrick Moore is a great example of how this new role is affecting recruiting.  The former NAIA player and NFL running back has quickly earned a reputation in the SEC as one of the best recruiters int he land.  Several recent commits have sighted both Moore’s personality and his Christian faith as major reasons why they felt Georgia Tech was the right school.

Of course it can be easy to form a relationship with a coach that is going to great lengths to recruit a blue chip athlete.  That is why its so important for every potential recruit to take the time to contact and visit as many schools as possible.  The more schools in the mix, the better the chance of finding a coach like Derrick Moore.

I talk with a lot of baseball student-athletes and ask a pretty simple question, but receive a lot of the same answers:

“Have you seen this program, that you are interested in, play yet?”

Unfortunately, an overwhelming answer to that question is NO.

The fall baseball season is wrapping up, but the good news is colleges are starting to set their schedules for the spring of 2009 season. What does this mean to you? You need to start thinking about visiting your top colleges and watching a game at the same time. I say this now because when the season begins you will be playing, too. Times are busy right now without baseball, how will you manage to find time when you are playing at the same time?

Remember, you are not just visiting to watch the game. Here are just a few things you should be accomplishing as well:

1. Take a tour of the campus
2. Set up a meeting with the admissions department
3. Possibly visiting with the coaches
4. Ask yourself two big questions:
   1. “Would I go to this school if I wasn’t playing at this college?”
   2. “After researching this team’s roster and watching them play, would I be able to play at this level?”

Start scheduling and managing your time now, NOT LATER.

Almost every recruit dreams of the day they will be playing under the brightest lights possible with the world watching on network TV.  However, not every recruit gets the chance to perform at the highest competitive level.  For some potential recruits this news can be devastating.  They have spent their entire lives working to be an elite athlete and now they are being told that they essentially aren’t good enough to compete at the highest level. 

Some athletes keep waiting by the phone for a call that never comes and are deprived of the chance to continue playing the sport they love and miss out on the chance to receive any scholarship.  Some keep waiting because they are naive to the process, but others keep waiting simply because of pride.  However, if the majority of these athletes took the time to really investigate the different levels of collegiate athletics I think their attitude would quickly pull a 180 degree turn.  Take for instance Naples’ High Senior tailback Greg Pratt, who took the time to visit some smaller schools and had his eyes opened.  The Naples Daily News sat down to get his take after visiting Liberty in the Division formerly known as D 1-AA.

“I talked to some NFL scouts and they told me you don’t have to go to a big school to get looked at,” Pratt said. “The (Liberty) coaches said I have a good chance of playing.”

Pratt even has several BCS schools offering him scholarships, but because he took the time to investigate things a little further, he now has one more option on the table.  That is why I always encourage athletes to take as many visits as possible so they can make an informed decision and find the right fit!

In every sport an athlete must condition and strength train.  How you perform this activity is just as important.  If you are a baseball player, would you go for a long distant run?  Baseball consists of explosive movements that are short to moderate.  So why would you go on a three mile run?  Endurance can be established with long sprints.

Now that baseball players are in the off season it is important to establish a strong base for the upcoming season.  A player must “report to camp” in top physical condition in order to compete at the highest level.

A baseball workout must contain some key ingredients.  1) Work on your baseball skills such as hitting, fielding and throwing. 2) Strength train in the weight room.  3) Conditioning by running poles, base running and long sprints. 4) There must be a proper warm up and cool down routine.  5) There must be a proper core (your core is you’re your knees to chest) routine. 

How do you get the mental edge in your game?  How do you think and act like a champion?  Are you born a leader or is it developed over time?  Having the right thoughts during practice, competition and in your life is a critical part of “winning that college scholarship”.

 A credible source for learning “Championship Thinking” is Jim Meier.  He was an interval part of the Oregon State University Baseball Team who won back to back NCAA Championships in 2006 and 2007.  Jim’s weekly internet show has guests who are the “who’s who” of the baseball world.  Next weeks guest (Oct. 29) is none other then Paul Mainieri, head baseball coach at LSU.

“Developing…Mind, Heart, Spirit”

When I was in 7th Grade, my basketball team was terrible. I mean, we were horrendous – if one of us ever made a shot from outside the paint, it was like “Jordan over Ehlo”. Needless to say, we were win-less until the last game of the season.

Yes, we actually won a game. And I tell you, it was glorious. We were all jumping up and down, shouting at the top of our lungs as if we had just won the NBA title.

This wasn’t professional basketball, and we weren’t the best team in the world – it was 7th grade, and we just won one game.

But boy, did it feel good.

Lately, I’ve been talking to a slew of kids who are dead-set on one thing — playing at the Div. I level. For some of them, it might happen. For others, probably not. Very few student athletes get the opportunity to play at the top collegiate level — for basketball, only 0.9% of high schools players will get the chance to play Div. I.

But let’s look at my 7th grade basketball team. I harp that sports improve your health, confidence, self-esteem, teamwork, etc. But let’s face it — winning feels good. And guess what — winning feels good at any level!

For example, take these community college athletes in various Iowa community colleges. From the article in the Des Moines Register:

Eight of the 14 schools in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference have a team or teams that are ranked nationally.That’s not surprising. Iowa Central won the 2007 women’s cross country championship and was second in men’s cross country. Iowa Western finished second each of the last two seasons in women’s soccer and won the volleyball national title in 2006.

Now, when the Iowa Central women’s cross country team won the championship last year, do you think they sulked that it wasn’t a “higher” or “better” championship? Don’t be ludicrous! They were like my 7th grade basketball team — screaming, jumping around like madmen.

It’s not just Div. I that gets to take the spoils. Div. II, Div. III, NAIA, NJCAA and NCCAA schools all have the ability to experience the thrill of victory, too.

Among the many reasons to enter the college sports recruiting process earning an athletic scholarship to pay for college is always at the top of the list. Playing in college offsets the burden of paying for college. After all, who wants to be paying for college 10 years after they graduate because of student loans? In May 2007, testimony before US congress revealed that a quarter of all students graduate with too much debt to pay back on a starting teachers salary. That is way too high.

If that’s the case, shouldn’t you be knowledgeable in the ways of Financial Aid?

I earned my MBA from one of the top business schools in the country and traded sophisticated financial instruments for over 20 years. I thought I could figure this financial aid thing out. I couldn’t. I needed help. I’m very glad I invested in professional advice that helped maximize the grants and scholarships my daughter received. One of the great things about NCSA is that their advice on how to maximize scholarship dollars actually works. And it continues to work. Except for the less than 1% of college athletes who have “full rides” (tuition, books, room & board, fees, transportation), most families must negotiate their financial aid package on an annual basis. Paying for that expert advice helped - a lot! As she enters her junior year, my daughter has received over $135,000 in financial aid. Not one penny of that is a student loan. It’s all grants that don’t have to be paid back. Do you think I’m happy with the professional advice I received? My return on that investment was over 6700.00 per cent!

 Many of the student-athletes I work with are unaware of the NAIA level and I want to make sure you know a few things about it:

-NAIA stands for National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics

-NAIA is a separate association of colleges who compete in intercollegiate athletics; similar to the NCAA

-These are generally smaller schools, but NAIA schools can give athletic scholarships, unlike DIII schools. If an NAIA program is fully funded it can offer 12 scholarships (more than DI and DII fully funded programs)

-Many of these coaches also rely on their own camps and showcases to recruit players. Like NCAA DII, NAIA coaches are allowed to invite players to workout for them at their schools to get a better look

- In the event the student-athlete feels that the school or team is not the right fit, he can transfer to another NAIA institution and compete the next season without sitting out a year. The same is true if an NCAA player wants to transfer to an NAIA program

-Some NAIA schools are playing at a DI level, while others are competing at a lower DIII level. The majority of the time, it is compared to DII baseball. Many of the top notch NAIA players are being drafted

A great example of a top program in NAIA is Lewis and Clark State College (LCSC). They have won 16 national championships, the latest in 2008. In comparison to the 2008 College World Series Champions, Fresno State University, Lewis and Clark State had four players drafted in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft as Fresno State only had two.

It’s important to research colleges and learn about all of your options at the next level instead of just playing the “Name Game” by limiting where you think may be able play. I encourage you to check out the NAIA level and expand your options.