November 29, 2021 | Tagged Coaching
Four active steps to propel you to the forefront of college basketball coach’s recruiting list
Get serious about basketball
If you love basketball, most likely you want to play beyond high school. Here are four key steps you can take to improve your college basketball scholarship options.
1. Do your homework. Research ahead of time what area of the country you’d like to live in, enrollment sizes, urban vs. rural, private vs. public, the majors you are interested in, and be honest about what divisions in which you can potentially compete. NCAA Division 1 is definitely the most competitive; NCAA Division 2 and some high level NAIA Division 1 schools are comparable, and NCAA Division 3 and lower level NAIA schools are very similar. Every school has a different balance of athletics, academics, on-campus social life, and local attractions. It is important for you to have at least a general idea of “your perfect college.” Once you’ve established some parameters, find all the schools that fit your description. This is your foundation.
2. Create your personal profile. There are a lot of recruiting agencies and companies that can do this for you, but it’s not really necessary to have them put it together. Coaches see so many profiles that they tend to blur together anyway. You want to be organized and professional, but you can do this by putting together an athletic/academic resume on your own, or with the help of your school college counselor. Be sure to include: your name, contact information, GPA, SAT/ACT scores, community involvement, academic honors, athletic honors, years of basketball experience, kinds of experiences, positions played, height, weight, standing reach, basketball stats and any other athletic info you have available.
3. Have film available. Don't only have a highlight reel with you draining shots or making stops. Coaches want to see your full game. They want a full accurate assessment of your skills.
4. Make the effort in the details. Communicate to the coaches what you are looking for in a college: kind of playing style and goals for your basketball career, also what major and vocational career you're interested in pursuing. Say things like, "I am definitely interested in the Journalism emphasis in your Communications department," and "My beliefs match up well with the doctrinal statements at your school," and "I'm really looking to become actively involved with (name a variety of the programs you found that the school has)." You want to communicate that you will be a good fit for their school and their basketball program. Be professional, but be approachable; make sure all grammar and punctuation is correct, and include contact information for your parents, coaches, high school counselors, and yourself. Communicate that you would like to talk with them over the phone and eventually visit the school to meet the team and tryout. Yes, college visits can get expensive. But after your initial contact with coaches, you can begin to narrow down your top choices to two or three schools. You really do need to visit all of these schools, meet the basketball teams, observe the coach’s style, stay in the dorms, and sit in on classes. A website cannot do justice to the actual feeling you experience while on campus.
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