Updated Edition of How to Attract A College Athletic Scholarship – Click Here

The following post is an excerpt from the newly updated How to Attract a College Athletic Scholarship.
What Do Top Coaches Seek?
Let’s start this section with the opinion of an award-winning multi-NCAA D-1 National Champion men’s college coach. The following are a dozen of his tips for those in the college search process.
Suggestions Include:
- Research and recruit the colleges that fit your child’s needs and wants.
- Don’t wait for coaches to recruit your child. It is the job of the athlete and their parents to contact the coaches.
- Don’t confuse a smooth recruiter with a good coach. Next year, they’ll heavily recruit someone else instead of coaching your child.
- Please start the process of researching colleges by their freshman year. Begin by itemizing a list of their top 10 collegiate choices.
- Coaches don’t want to hear about ten and under rankings. Develop a full game.
- Although the high school competition level may be a consideration, most college coaches do not view high school results as important.
- Coaches are very interested in the athlete’s entourage. The parents’ moral code and the primary coach’s tennis IQ speak volumes to a recruiter.
- When organizing the email letter, include a video link of your child performing in a competitive situation. Coaches want to see the athlete in action before they read pages of information.
- Begin pursuing your college prospects by sending emails and making unofficial school visits around the start of your sophomore year.
- Assure your emails are short and to the point. In a resume, include your GPA, SAT, and other test scores and criteria requested by the school, along with athletic achievements, such as Sectional, National, and International UTR and ITF rankings.
- Be prepared to resend the email 2-3 times before you get a response.
- Remember, coaches have rules to follow; recruits don’t! You can approach us, but we can’t approach you.
Frank’s guide will assist in prioritizing your top picks. Once your top 10 list is set, familiarize yourself with your preferred universities’ GPA & exam requirements. The academic and athletic scholarship requirements will be specific for each university. Knowing the particular criteria of your chosen schools will help you organize your academic schedule leading into your child’s junior and senior year of high school.
“Athletes are often held to an academic standard different than non-athletic students.”
Frank Giampaolo
Here are a few fun facts for the detailed parent: An estimated 400,000 student-athletes are among the 15,000,000 students attending college. There are approximately 12,000 college athletic programs and 35,000 college coaches. Over 150,000 of those student-athletes earn $2.4 billion in athletic scholarships annually. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) D-1 universities have an additional “Student Assistant Fund” of approximately $75 million to help athletes with other incidental expenses.
Before you become overwhelmed by the numbers, I recommend choosing your top ten schools. Part Four will guide you through the beginning phases of your college search process.