If you are a high school senior and still need to make a decision on your future, there are several things you need to do in order to prolong your sports playing career.
1. Try and find off-season tournaments / exhibitions where you can go and showcase your talents to coaches who are still looking for senior recruits. This is a perfect opportunity to go into a venue where you know all of the spectators are still looking to fill their teams. Many recruits get recruited out of these types of events and are able to show their talents to schools they normally wouldn’t have thought of contacting.
2. If you are a multi sport athlete, don’t limit yourself to one sport! So many underclassmen make the mistake of picking one sport to “specialize” at, when in reality different sports help develop new skills that crossover to most if not any athletic event you decide to try. The more tools in your belt, the more jobs you can perform, not to mention how many more people will see you play. Sometimes all it takes is one “WOW” play for people to start following you into other sports venues. You also never know what college scouts and coaches are looking for or needing to fill their rosters.
3. Find a local mentor or former athlete/alumni in your area or selected sport and LEARN, LEARN, LEARN from them. There are plenty of people who TRULY want to help. Ask your coaches, teachers, and administrators if they have any suggestions of people whom they feel can and will help. You could benefit greatly from someone who has been through the ropes and willing to recount their path through whatever it may be that you want to know. Whether its finding a former college player to work out with, or using an assistant coach to help develop weak spots, or just talking to the guidance counselor on what colleges offer what programs, it’s all worth it.
Moral of the story is if you are a senior and want to play your sport at the collegiate level this is not the time to wait around; you need to be proactive. You do have options, but you need to make sure that you explore all of them and be aggressive.
If you have questions on how to get your recruiting started please ask us.
