Athletic Recruiting Misconception: I am waiting for my season to come and then the recruiting will start

Just to let readers know, I will be putting together a series of articles based on common misconceptions with the athletic recruiting process.  This includes why the misconception is a problem and what should be done instead.  In the majority of cases, these misconceptions do not work so it is important to avoid if you want to have success in the athletic recruiting process.

Our second look at an athletic recruiting misconception is something that athletes will tell me every now and then.  Instead of being honest and saying that they are not receiving much on the athletic recruiting front, they will just say that they are waiting for their season to get going so the recruiters will all flock in.  And since it is a misconception, I obviously disagree with the theory.

Obviously with this site, I hope that readers are following the advice that I write about and being proactive in the overall athletic recruiting process.  There may be a fine line between promoting yourself (or your child) and being obnoxious but it is something that you will have to deal with if you want the opportunity to be evaluated.  If you have a problem with it, then it is best to follow this misconception and hope that the recruiting will pour in.

Being proactive means as soon as you have logged enough stats and minutes at the varsity level (how much that is needs to be determined by you), you need to do what you can to email college coaches and consider getting a highlight tape put together.  From there you will put your tape online, send it out, and do what you can to make sure that the college coach has what they need to do a full evaluation of your skills at this point in the recruiting process.

Why is this misconception a problem?
The longer you wait, the more of a disadvantage you are at overall in the athletic recruiting process.  Say that there is a Division II school in a surrounding state that would be a perfect fit for you athletically and academically.  It is the spring of your junior year and you have already done a solid job at the varsity level.  Instead of marketing yourself, you are old school and think college coaches will come to you.  This perfect fit of a school ends up offering a conference rival at your same position because he showcased his abilities to get evaluated and won’t be paying for college because of it.  You on the other hand sat back and will end up with $50,000 in student loans because you are instead attending a Division III program.

What should be done?
The first thing you need to do is be proactive and take a chance in the athletic recruiting process.  What I want you to do is go through the first three steps of our Five Steps to a Scholarship Offer.  This includes putting together a profile, finding schools that match you, and sending off emails to the college coaches.

If you do this and nothing comes of it, at the very worst you may have wasted five to ten hours of your life (this is a high estimate as well).  I feel that if you put together a quality recruiting profile (while also logging enough varsity time to have an impressive resume included), log which schools would fit you well, and track the emails that are sent, these coaches will respond.  Unless they are a major program like USC or Texas, they cannot turn their back on an athlete that may be interested in their school.  There was even a story of a recruit contacting Texas himself recently and he ended with a scholarship offer from the Longhorns (he did have many other offers and was a serious recruit).

You need to do this yourself and take your future (or that of your child) into your own hands.  The only way that you may have a say on the eventual outcome is by marketing yourself to coaches.  If you don’t, you may never know how you limited yourself overall in waiting for schools to contact you during the season.  There is no reason to wait so why not get going on our Five Steps to a Scholarship Offer?

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Recruiting-101 has put together a 25-page e-book on how to Produce a Scholarship Worthy Highlight Video.  It breaks down the overall process of creating a Highlight Video and gives step by step instructions for football and basketball recruits.  Click here to learn more about the e-book now, which is currently on sale for only $7.50!

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