Hello!
The following article is written by guest writer Don Dyer, VP Recruiting, CSA Prepstar, Westlake Village, CA. This is the first article to be published by SportsHopes. One goal of SportsHopes is to publish information that will be of help to high school student athletes who want to go to college and who want to play college sports.
Thank you, Don, for supporting this effort and the Hayward Area Athletic League’s (HAAL) nine high schools: Arroyo, Castro Valley, Hayward, Mt. Eden, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Tennyson, Bishop O’Dowd Catholic and Moreau Catholic.
As one college coach told me with regards to high school student-athletes, “You need to help us find you!”
Sincerely –
Jennifer Oliver
Founder
SportsHopes
About the author of this article –
Don Dyer was a two time All-American in the hammer throw while in college. He attended Newark High School in the South Eastern Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area, graduating in 1972, and attended California State University, Hayward, graduating in 1976. In 1977 he obtained his Secondary Teaching Credential, but was unable to land a teaching and coaching job straight out of college. Due to his competitive nature he entered the world of sales and went on to become vice president of sales and a corporate officer for Blue Cross of California/WellPoint Health Network, the largest health carrier in the nation. These are wonderful successes for an athlete with a major in Kinesiology and Physical Education!
Now full time with Collegiate Sports of America (www.csaprepstar.com) Don wishes to instill that same successful drive in all of the athletes he works with. “Knowledge is power,” says Don. Some will say he was lucky, but per Don, “Luck is when opportunity meets preparedness and without a college education life would have taken me in a different direction.”
Guest Article: Plan Early for College Athletic Scholarship Opportunities – by Don Dyer
WELCOME –
Playing and competing in college athletics is a goal of thousands of student-athletes who participate in high school athletics in the United States today. For those that are exceptional, their abilities may be the ticket to get them into the school of their choice, and possibly have a portion (or all) of their education paid for as a result of their ability to play at the college level.
If you have a high school student-athlete who hopes to play sports in college and who has the ability to take it to the next level,
the following information will be of interest to you and could save you time and energy. We will discuss:
1) Academic Requirements
2) When to Start Looking for Opportunities
3) Core Class Requirements
4) Athletic Ability
5) When to take the College Entrance Exams
6) Registering with the NCAA Eligibility Center
7) Best way to gain Exposure
PART ONE
Question:
When should we start planning? Answer: Freshman and sophomore years. If your answer is senior year you should reconsider.
FRESHMAN AND SOPHOMORES –
According to the recruiting director at a Major Division I college, 60% to 70% of the Division I schools pick the athletes
they are going to pursue by the end of their sophomore year or beginning of their junior year. Right or wrong, it is a reality
we must all deal with. There are always some exceptions which we will discuss later.
What this means is the process starts as early as the freshman and sophomore years if you wish to be considered for the best possible scholarships. If your athlete is showing exceptional ability during their freshman and sophomore years you need to start consistently promoting them IMMEDIATELY. They need to be on the radar in order to get the best possible opportunities come their senior year.
There is good news for juniors and seniors and the late developers. You know the ones. The junior that grows three inches taller or puts on another 30 or 40 pounds of muscle between the junior and senior year. Many of the athletes that are selected early do not necessarily qualify to play at the next level at the signing date. There are Grade Point requirements and SAT and ACT requirements imposed not only by the NCAA, but also by each institution who can impose even stricter requirements. Then there are the Core Class requirements: 16 Core Classes by the end of the senior year for Div I schools and 14 Core Class requirements by the end of the senior year for Div II. If a junior or senior you should still start the process as soon as possible to increase your chances. If you are on the radar early, you will position yourself for opportunities once the Div I finish announcing their choices and the Div II, Div III and NAIA schools start their feeding frenzy at the end of the athlete’s senior year.
ACADEMIC ACCOMPLISHMENT –
We list this first because GRADES are the most important element of this whole process. We suggest a minimum of 2.5 Core GPA but would rather see a 3.00 Core GPA or better to increase you opportunities. You can possess great athletic ability, but if you have three athletes that are being considered for a paid scholarship position at a college, who would you select considering equal athletic ability, an athlete with a 2.5 GPA, 2.9 GPA or 3.3 GPA? If you are an athlete reading this information we encourage you to take the same intensity you have on the field, court, mat, track or where you compete in your sport, and take that intensity into the CLASSROOM.
CORE CLASS REQUIREMENTS –
In 2007 the NCAA imposed a requirement that all athletes wishing to play at a Div I school must fulfill the 16 Core Class requirement. For a Div II school the requirement is still set at 14 Core Classes. This created a dilemma for Div I schools as about 70% of the juniors they had on their radar were in jeopardy of not meeting this requirement. This means that for those athletes the best possible offer could come from a Div II school. Regardless of what year you are in school, meet with a high school counselor and let them know you want to graduate from high school, go to college AND play college sports.
TAKING THE SAT OR ACT COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS – DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOUR SENIOR YEAR TO TAKE THESE –
Remember, planning early is the best policy. College coaches do not know you are eligible until you have taken the SAT or ACT exams. So, even if you are on their radar you could be passed over by waiting until your senior year to take these exams. Taking the practice PSAT in September, October or November of your junior year and then taking the actual exams in March, May, or June at the end of your junior year is highly recommended. Your scores can keep you in the Game so to speak. You can take the test two more times and they will take the best scores from each section and not count the lower scores against you.
PART TWO
ATHLETIC ACOMPLISHMENTS –
In the prior section we covered Academics, because at Collegiate Sports of America we believe that is a very important component in the search for Athletic Scholarships. Coaches would like a level of assurance that if they place money on the table for an athlete, that they are not going to have to worry about them academically at their institution. Now for the Athletic connection….
IF YOU ARE A TOP ATHLETE START PLANNING YOUR FRESHMAN OR SOPHOMORE YEAR (or JUNIOR YEAR) –
I know I have already covered this but it is worth repeating. I am amazed at all of the families we talk to who think that waiting until the senior year to start looking for opportunities is the proper thing to do.
The fact is that 60% to 70% percent of all Division I Colleges that are looking for athletes make their decisions on athletes they want to go after by the end of the athlete’s sophomore year or beginning of the junior year. So waiting for the senior year does diminish the opportunities. The good news is some of the athletes that were selected are deemed ineligible because of Core Class Requirements and College Entrance Exams and could create opportunities for athletes who made themselves available early or even late in the game. To start promoting yourself as a senior is still in your best interest, but beginning as a junior or sophomore is better. We will talk about this later.
ATHLETIC ABILITY –
One of the best assessments your student athlete can obtain is the recognition that he or she receives for their efforts. But, STATS are very important, as well as a few other things. Here are some items to consider.
Stats –
It is very important that the athlete have stats for the colleges to assess. How can a college offer a scholarship to a softball player that does not know what their batting average is; or a running back that does not know how many yards per carry. If your school is not keeping stats, please do not blame your coach. They put in a lot of time and effort prepping for game time and practice, preparing for the games that your athlete participates in. But do talk to them about this if stats are not being recorded. Volunteer your time or suggest they get students that are not athletes to participate in the program to keep the stats. The math club may be a good place to look, as they are more inclined to like statistics. Look into posting the team roster and stats on sites such as MaxPreps.com. Services such as ours look at these sites to seek out candidates. Some colleges do also.
Other Ancillary Measurements –
These are measurement that are not necessarily directly specific to the sport, but may indicate the ability the athlete possesses. For football: the 40 yards sprint, 5-10-5 pro shuttle and 3 cone drill. For basketball or volleyball: the vertical jump and two step jump. For baseball and softball: how fast does the athlete run the bases. If a pitcher: how fast is their fastball. Your coach should know what the colleges look for. If not, they can connect with me and I will get them the information. In addition to GRADES and STATS these MEASUREMENTS could be the tie breakers.
We have been working with a volleyball player since the end of her freshman year. She played varsity as a freshman, was All League and second team All Section of CIF. Now this Athlete is 5’6” and an outside hitter. Looking at her height she may not even be in the running. But, with her stats of 21 kills in one match she almost won one game out of three games by herself in the semi finals of the CIF playoff. The fact she can two step touch 9’6” along with her 3.6 GPA has made her an IVY league candidate.
Team Awards –
Captain of the Team, Most Valuable Offensive Player, Most Valuable Defensive Player, Academic Athlete, Athlete of the Year, Player of the Game award just to mention a few. We talk to a few high schools that do not believe in giving awards. I ask that they reconsider. When looking for an athletic scholarship ask yourself, what makes the athlete different from the over seven million athletes that participate in high school sports every year? These awards are a start.
League or District Awards –
1st Team All League, 2nd Team All League and Honorable Mention are all good. Just as in the team awards these awards recognize exceptional performance and usually are the league coaches’ compilations of the standouts.
All CIF North Coast Section –
1st Team, 2nd Team and Honorable mention are even better because you are being singled out in most cases out of thousands of athletes.
All State or All National Recognition –
If you are in a sport where individually or as a team you are recognized at this level this could place you in the elite.
THE NCAA ELIGIBILITY CENTER (Formerly the NCAA Clearinghouse) –
This is recommended no later than the summer between the junior and senior year. Some schools recommend registering early on with the NCAA at the beginning of the second semester of the junior year. This will insure that all your transcripts and SAT or ACT tests are placed in the Eligibility Center for colleges to obtain and confirm that you are eligible to play at the next level. Colleges are not even supposed to contact you unless you are registered with the Eligibility Center.
==NEXT IN THE SERIES OF E-MAIL==
In our second e-mail of this series in the coming weeks we will discuss the different divisions and what you should be doing depending on the year you are in school. For a free specific College Scholarship Evaluation you can call Don at 805-413-4499 or e-mail him at ddyer@csaprestar.com Include a phone number and best time to call. http://www.csaprepstar.com/profiles/video/csa-promo-final.html
You can also register on-line at http://www.csaprepstar.com/athletes/registration.phtml
If your student athlete possesses the ability to possibly go on and participate at the Collegiate Level, we will offer our CSA Exposure Program. Go to www.csaprepstar.com and see athletes that are participating. This program will connect you with over 2,000 colleges and 24,000 college coaches. There is a family investment for a fraction of what it will cost to contact all the colleges yourself, but we will build his or her Athletic Resume and post it in our CSA Clearinghouse.
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