Myth: If you’re good enough, they’ll find you.
Reality: You have to let them know you’re out there.

Myth: If you get your name in the newspaper, the colleges will know who you are.
Reality: College coaches do not recruit from the newspaper.

Myth: Go to their camp and they will discover you.
Reality: College camps are nothing more than a revenue stream for college coaches.

Myth: Your high school coach will help you find a college at which to play.
Reality: High school coaches don’t have the time or money to help you with a college search. It’s up to you and mom & dad to market yourself.

Myth: E-Mail is a great way to contact college coaches.
Reality: Most E-mails are deleted without being read. Buy lots of stamps and mail short letters without clippings or letters of recommendation.

Myth: Recruiting services will help get your name in front of college coaches.
Reality: 95% of all recruiting services are unscrupulous. If you want to use a service, find one that gives oyu a money back guarantee if you’re not satisfied and don’t pay more than $1,200 or $1,300.

Myth: Playing club sports and competing in national tournaments and/or showcases will give athletes exposure to college coaches.
Reality: College coaches are at these competitions to evaluate the kids that are already on their recruiting list.

Myth: Send tapes or DVDs to as many coaches as possible.
Reality: Never send a tape or DVD to a coach unless it’s requested. And if it is requested, it should be no more than 6 or 8 minutes long.

Want an athletic scholarship?
Get serious…right now!!!
By Larry Randa
    
Interested in being a college athlete? There’s a place for you somewhere but you have to be prepared to market yourself. 
    
So says Jack Renkens, an ex college coach and athletic director, who tours the country speaking to high school student-athletes about how to play the college recruiting game.
    
“Everybody out there thinks they know something about recruiting,” says Renkens, who operates a company called Recruiting Realities. “You got a friend? A relative? A neighbor? Know someone whose kid played in college? Everyone has advice for you.
    
“Don’t listen to any of them.”
    
The fact is it takes a lot of hard work on your part and a change in attitude by both you and your parents right now.
    
“Sit down with your parents and decide if you want to play in college or not,” Renkens says. “If you are a legitimate Division 1 prospect you should hear from between 100 and 150 colleges starting in your freshman year in high school.”
    
Otherwise it’s time to lower your expectations and think about playing at an NCAA Division 2 or Division 3 school, an NAIA school or a junior college. In reality, less than 1 percent of all collegiate athletes hold Division 1 scholarships. And 83 percent of all collegiate sports opportunities are at levels other than Division 1.
    
“The majority of student-athletes play at the D3 level,” Renkens says. “Those are the most exclusive, most expensive colleges in the country.
    
“If you are a good student and a good athlete, you shouldn’t have to pay to go to college,” the University of Wisconsin-River Falls graduate points out. “But you have to be prepared to give up your dream of going to a big name school.”
   
  The “name game,” as Renkens calls it, starts when mom and dad go the mailbox and find the first recruiting letter from a major college.
    
“Who loves the recruiting letter more than anybody? Dad. He can’t wait to go to work the next day and brag. Everybody gets out of whack just because you got some mail.
    
“The fact is you got on some list somewhere. Colleges pay big money for all sorts of lists. If you haven’t personally heard from a D1 coach by Sept. 1 of your junior year, it’s a tipoff to get serious. No one knows who you are.”
    
And because every athlete has a dream to play college sports, the letters from the big name schools wind up having a negative affect on your future ability to continue your career.
    
“You’re getting letters from some big schools and then you get a letter from some school called Assumption College. Where does that letter go? Of course. You throw it away. It happens in every athlete’s house. It’s a name game.”
    
Non Division 1 schools have limited recruiting budgets. The problem is they have no way of knowing about you and you probably have never heard about them.
    
That’s why you have to do your homework.
    
Renkens says the best way to get started is to find a copy of the NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete and read it thoroughly.
    
Most people think the publication is designed to assist young athletes in registering for the NCAA Clearinghouse, a necessary step if an athletic scholarship is a possibility. But it’s much more than that.
    
“Read the last six pages. It will get you real fast,” Renkens says. “This is the most critical piece of literature on college recruiting there is.”
    
Renkens lists some do’s and don’ts if you want to get a college education, play a sport and get it all paid for.

• Don’t sit back and wait for college coaches to find you.
  
  
• Do send as many letters as possible to as many college and university coaches as possible. Keep them short, no more than several paragraphs telling them you are interesting in playing for them when you graduate from high school.
  
  
• Don’t send tapes, DVDs, newspaper clippings, letters of reference unless a coach specifically asks you to.
  
• Don’t use E-mail because “it’ll be nothing but Delete, Delete, Delete” on the coach’s end.
  
  
• Don’t spend a lot of money on recruiting services. “Out of 100 recruiting services, there are 95 unscrupulous companies.” If you want to use a service, find one that gives you your money back if you’re not satisfied. And don’t pay more than $1,200 or $1,300.
  
  
• Don’t expect your high school coach to help you. A high school coach will be happy to talk about you if a college coach calls, but he or she hasn’t got the time or the money to initiate the conversations. You and your parents have to do your own marketing.
  
  
• Don’t expect to be discovered when you attend a college coach’s summer camp. You might learn a lot about your sport at the camp but college summer camps are nothing more than a revenue stream for college coaches. Attend your high school camp instead.
  
  
• Don’t expect college coaches to discover you because your name is in the newspaper. College coaches don’t recruit from the newspaper.
  
  
• Don’t play on a club team or attend a national “exposure” event in hopes of being seen by a college coach. In almost all cases, college coaches attend these events to evaluate the kids that are already on their active recruiting list.
  
  
• Do be prepared if a college coach calls you. Ask for a paid visit to their school. Ask them to make a home visit. “If they won’t do one or the other, they don’t want you. The most you’ll get is some sort of need-based financial aid.”
      
  Renkens also has a great tip for your parents that you might like to pass along:
      
  “If you’re a parent, keep your mouth shut and let your kid play. A relaxed athlete is a great athlete. If an athlete is looking up in the stands, that’s bad,” he says. “I promise you your son’s or daughter’s performance will escalate.”
      
  More information on Recruiting Realities or on Renkens’ book, Educating the High School Student-Athlete in the Recruiting Process, is available by calling 1-800-242-0165 or by going to www.recruitingrealities.com.