USA TODAY High School Sports has a weekly column on the college recruiting process. Here, you’ll find practical tips and real-world advice on becoming a better recruit to maximize your opportunities and play at the college level. Jason Smith is a former NCAA DIII athlete and college coach at all three division levels. Jason is just one of many former college and professional athletes, college coaches and parents who are part of the Next College Student Athlete team. Their knowledge, experience and dedication, along with NCSA’s history of digital innovation and long-standing relationship with the college coaching community, have made NCSA the largest and most successful athletic recruiting network in the country.
The college recruiting process is time consuming. In addition to balancing schoolwork and athletics, student-athletes need to be actively involved in pursuing a college roster spot. This can include: communication with coaches, attending camps and combines, searching for colleges, meeting NCAA academic guidelines and a variety of other requirements.
But what if you’re a multi-sport athlete? In many ways, you have double the work to do. Not sure which sport to pursue in college? Trying to compete in both? There are many rules and regulations that are different by sport and a there is a lot to learn about the recruiting process for potential recruits. Fortunately, NCSA can help multi-sport athletes get the most out of their college recruiting process. Read on to find out how.
Recruiting education
Competing in two sports and trying to get recruited? There is a lot of information to take in when it comes to getting recruited for one sport, let alone two. However, potential recruits can take advantage of a variety of educational resources that NCSA has to offer. To start, NCSA University is the largest library of recruiting education, classes and video that you’ll find. Valuable information is presented in a fun and interactive manner as a series of recruiting drills, and NCSA’s recruiting experts are available to guide you through your recruiting journey.
Additionally, NCSA members can take advantage of SAT and ACT test preparation through our partner Method Test Prep, helping them to boost scores and get more recruiting attention. NCSA also offers valuable information through the integrated Troutwine Athletic Profile (TAP) assessment, which is used by pro teams like the San Antonio Spurs and New England Patriots and classifies athletes into eight distinct mindsets. All of these resources can help multi-sport athletes step up their recruiting game and find out more about themselves and their goals.
Video
Potential recruits need to know exactly the type of highlight or skills video that college coaches want to see, and that can differ from sport to sport. You’ll also need to figure out when and how to get footage, how to compile footage into video and make sure it’s seen by college coaches. NCSA can help multi-sport athletes with their video needs, as it provides professional edits for more than 40,000 highlight videos every year. NCSA members can also post video on their recruiting profiles so that they can get seen by college coaches. Fun fact: NCSA profiles with an uploaded video get 12 times more coach views than those without.
Finding a college
There are potentially many choices out there for future college student-athletes, and it can be difficult to figure out which college offers the best fit for each sport that you’re trying to pursue. NCSA helps with powerful features in its Recruit Match platform like Match Analysis, which lets you see how you match up with every college in the country. You’ll be able to see a visual “snapshot” of how your criteria stacks up against the offerings of specific colleges, both in academics and athletics for every school. This will help you make a decision about which college to purse for which sport. You can also check out the NCSA Power Rankings, which identifies the best colleges for student-athletes.
Managing the recruiting process
Managing your recruiting is an understated — yet crucial — part of the process. You may have to do it for two different sports. With the help of a recruiting expert, NCSA can help you maintain coach communications, meet application deadlines, understand different types of scholarship offers, compare financial aid packages from different schools, negotiate for your best financial aid package and sign with your top school.
The college recruiting process can seem overbearing at times for multi-sport athletes, but NCSA can help you find your best college fit. Sign up today for a free profile and see how NCSA can boost your college recruiting.
