How to get a sports scholarship for college

Resolute Sport Fencing

Resolute Sport Fencing

Feb 19, 2020

College planning can be difficult and stressful for a young student. However, it is easy to get a sports scholarship for college. For many Athletes, playing their sport at a college level is their main goal. But there are a lot of misconceptions about being awarded a college scholarship. For example, how much aid can student-athletes receive? A lot goes into planning your future career and college is one of the many hurdles into your life.

What are the different types of Athletic scholarships I can apply for?

An athletic scholarship is normally a one-year contract agreement between the athlete and the college. Some of these scholarships can also become multiyear scholarships or even a full 4-year ride through college! Full ride scholarships cover more of your education costs than tuition. The top of the full-ride scholarships includes taking care of your full total cost including food, housing, school supplies and traveling.

What do coaches look for when handing out scholarships?

Coaches are one of the main people to try and impress when going for your athletic scholarship. A lot of young athletes will overthink and push themselves to the limit in their sport to try and impress. When honestly its nothing to get into your head about. Coaches who give out scholarships look for an athlete who has phenomenal leadership skills, good ACT and SAT scores, Athletic performance, and abilities and community involvement.

Winning an athletic scholarship is not only about being amazing in sports but is about your overall performance as a student, a leader, and an overall great human being. So, pushing yourself and just giving your focus on only sports might not get you the key to your dream scholarship.

If you are truly serious about your love for sports and are looking for a future career in the sport you play, there is a bit more to know about coaches who give out full scholarships and scholarships in general. Something you and your parents must know does not only do they watch your performance when you’re at your peak in high school. But coaches will start watching as early as your freshman year! So, keeping up your grades while growing yourself in your sport is just as important as it would be when applying for your scholarship.

How much scholarship money can you apply for and possibly receive?

The amount offered to you will depend on the type of sport you play and if it is an equivalency sport or a headcount. The Headcount sports are normally full-ride scholarships. These mostly include sports such as DI basketball or tennis and gymnastics.

Equivalency sports will normally hand out only partial scholarships. Coaches will spread out the money given to multiple athletes. They can choose to give all the money away too one lucky high-level athlete, but it is very rare for coaches to do this. Some examples of equivalency sports (for men) include soccer, fencing, swimming, ice hockey, track and field and gymnastics. Some examples of equivalency sports (for girls) include gymnastics, fencing, field hockey, softball, swimming and cross country.

You need to put in as much work as the coaches!

You can’t only rely on the coaches to look at you and watch you. But you need to give the coaches something interesting to watch. Standing out will help the coach focus more on the skills you would like to show them that you have. It is also important for you to find the division that is best for your skill set then start applying and searching for colleges based on that skill set.

Maybe division 1 level will be too much for you to start with, in fact, most students hardly compete for division 1 colleges! Understanding your division level skills will help make it easier for you to select the college that might be best for you or that interests you the most.

After finding the College you think is best for you and your skills It is important to gather up all the information they need or ask from you. So, for example, most colleges will ask for your ACT or SAT scores and Academic records. But every college is different so doing some research on the college of your choice is very important. Depending on the college you choose, you will also need to take down the phone numbers and email addresses of the head coaches. Keeping in contact and forming a bond with your coach might help increase your chances.

Communication with the college coaches!

Standing out in the field is not the only way to impress college coaches. But communication is key when applying to be in their school. Emailing is one of the many ways of keeping in contact with them. College coaches do get hundreds of emails a day so making sure he or she reads your email, you need to make it stand out! Professionalism also helps in this matter.

Making sure your email holds all the information the coaches need and the information you would like them to have will show how well you communicate with others and the organization skills you might have. Avoid creating mass emails! If your email tends to be way too long, the coach might not have the time to read over something like that.

Instead, create smaller emails for each coach’s number. It is important you specifically state in your email why it is you want to be a part of their program. Some student-athletes will write scripts to go by when preparing to contact their college coach on the phone. This way they will stay prepared and will know the information being given to the coach. Some information that should be included in this conversation should be things such as why you're interested in the program, some facts about the team’s history and some key facts about the school you want to attend.

College planning through sports scholarships does seem like there are a lot of steps in preparing for your future sports career. But overall, following some of these steps provided really might help your chance to get accepted to your dream scholarship. There are so many ways you can possibly apply for sports scholarships. But if you follow some of these rules you might be able to reach your goals of becoming a college athlete.