Student-Athletes Must Take A Proactive Role In The Marketing Process

Many parents today feel that their child is good enough to play at the college level and that some college coach will likely recruit their athlete. For some outstanding athletes, this is probably true. But many athletes who have the ability to play at the college level are never recognized. Some of their parents might feel that if their son or daughter were good enough, then college coaches would have recruited them. But the reality of the matter is that many colleges' recruiting budgets are sparse. Therefore, student-athletes with less athletic skill than others may receive more interest from colleges simply because he or she has taken a proactive role of marketing their athletic skills. If a student-athlete takes the wait-and-see philosophy, the likelihood of being recruited is very slim.

In order to increase the chances of being recruited by college coaches, the student-athlete must take a proactive role in the marketing process. Furthermore, athletes (and parents) must realize that locating colleges that are a good fit for the student athletically, academically, financially, and socially is much more important than getting an athletic scholarship. If any of these 4 factors are out of balance, a student-athlete may have a very difficult time in college.

When Do College Coaches Start To Track Student-Athletes

According to a survey of 300 coaches, 30% of college coaches started tracking student-athletes as early as the freshman year in high school, 45% started tracking student-athletes in the sophomore year, and 25% started the tracking process in the junior year. None of the 300 coaches surveyed started tracking student-athletes in the senior year of high school.

What Is It Like Playing Intercollegiate Athletics

Few students give much thought on what it is like to play college athletics and very few do not understand what it takes in Time and Effort in order to be successful athletically as well as academically. Playing college sports is a whole different world than playing high school sports.

Included in our services, we offer a video on "How To Market Your Student Athlete" as well as some templates and tools for communicating with college coaches.