Updated Edition of How to Attract A College Athletic Scholarship – Click Here
When addressing the college athletic scholarship process, the business analogy of the buyer versus seller’s market is easily understood. In the buyers’ market, the athlete has an advantage in the negotiations. In the sellers’ market, the college has an advantage in the negotiations. It is the parents’ job to commit to maximizing their athlete’s potential to earn a place in the money-saving buyer’s market.
WHAT IS A “BUYER’S” MARKET?
In the college athletic world, being in the “buyers” market means college coaches from prestigious universities nationwide will be begging your child to attend their schools. These athletes are not just athletes with possible potential but also proven winners.
These players and their parents have focused on developing the skills of a competitive champion from an early age. Assisting your child in building their physical, mental, and emotional toolsets early on their journey will ensure that coaches will sell you and your child on the merits of their athletic and academic programs, not the other way around.
TYPICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ATHLETE IN THE BUYER’S MARKET
- High National Ranking
- High WTN Ranking
- High UTR Ratings
- Strong Moral Compass, Life Skills, and Character
- World Class Athleticism
- High GPA/SAT Scores
FUN FACT: On a personal note, my stepdaughter (Sarah Fansler) was ranked top in the nation and played the US Open by age 15. She won 10 USTA National Gold Balls and was awarded a full tennis scholarship at USC. Building a champion in her early teens saved us approximately $250,000 on her USC education.
If time is on your side, build it first, and they will come. Focus on developing a world-class athlete. If time is running out, college coaches will likely not be searching your child out; hence, your child will be in the “seller’ market. If so, the college search process begins now.
WHAT IS THE “SELLERS” MARKET?
In this situation, the seller’s market refers to “selling” your child’s possible athletic value to college coaches and the thousands of other talented but unproven athletes vying for the leftover scholarship funds. The word college coaches fear most is “potential.” To them, the potential is like Gold that has to be dug out of the ground. They don’t have time to excavate, clean, shape, and mold an athlete.
Please, let me be blunt: being in the seller’s market isn’t easy, as you will discover as you read through the following pages. Learning how to attract a college scholarship takes “big time” effort from both the athlete and their parents. Speaking of hard work, if you think “selling” your child’s unproven skills will be tough, that is nothing compared to writing those dreaded big checks for their education. So, I’ll repeat it, build a champion and they will come.
“BUILD IT FIRST…& THEY WILL COME”
Earning elite athletic status requires a devoted primary parent who plays an active CEO role in managing the athlete’s career. Have you ever wondered what an internet job post would look like if an athlete needed to hire a tennis parent? What would the post say? What is the job description of the person behind the curtain?
