Sports Scholarships Scarce

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  Sports Scholarships Scarce Robert Seith | CWK Network
 
 
“Be realistic about what you’re seeing. You have to step back and look at your kid as if they were any other kid on the field. And do they stand out. Or do they stand out only because they’re your kid.”

– Psychologist Malcolm Anderson, on assessing a child’s real chances of getting a sports scholarship. –

  Related Information What Parents Need To Know Resources

High
School Junior Tony Plagman wasn’t born with a bat in his
hand…but he might well have been.

“Honestly, it’s all I think about. Baseball. It’s
pretty much my life. Schoolwork is not as important,” he
says.

With a batting average over 500, and a 900 plus slugger percentage,
he has his eye on the ball, and a college scholarship.

“It’s like a one-track mind,” says his mother,
Louise Plagman, “This is what he wants to do and he’s
going to do everything he can to get there.”

But what are his chances?

Overall… it’s estimated that less than one-percent
of high school athletes earn a full-ride college sports scholarship.

“If they know that upfront… that these are your
chances and they keep the kid aware of that early… the kid’s
going to keep that in perspective when they don’t get it… they’re
going to be disappointed,” says Malcolm Anderson, Ph.D.,
a psychologist who also coaches high school soccer.

He says, however, that disappointment won’t sting as much
if the child has a plan ‘b’.

“He needs to be studying. He needs to be involved in an
instrument. He needs to be involved in community service. He needs
to be involved in other things,” says Anderson, “So
that when basketball fails… because of his ACL injury in
his junior year… he has other things to fall back on.”

And when it comes to scholarships… sports isn’t
where the money is anyway: Only 1-billion dollars compared to 22-billion
for academic scholarships.

“But it’s not nearly as glamorous, so nobody really
pays attention to them,” says Anderson.

Tony does keep up with his studies… and gets pretty
good grades.

But admits that for the moment… he has no ‘plan-b’.

“I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t play
baseball,” he says, shaking his head.

By Larry Eldridge
CWK Network, Inc.

At a time when college costs seem to be skyrocketing, it seems almost unfair
that sports scholarships may be on the decline. This is especially true when
considering how much a full-paid sports scholarship can be worth. Consider
the following costs of colleges in 2004-05:

  • Famous private university – $42,380
  • Small private university – $39,996
  • Small private college – $38,324 
  • Famous state university (out of state) – $32,973 
  • Famous state university (in state) – $15,664 
  • Smaller state university (out of state) – $24,992 
  • Smaller
    state university (in state) – $16,574
 
By Larry Eldridge
CWK Network, Inc.

According to experts at Next Step, it is important for
student-athletes to make their own connections with coaches of colleges they
want to attend rather than let parents do it. To start, your child will need
to do his/her initial homework – contacting the schools for information
about the academics, financial aid, room and board, etc. After that information
has been collected, he/she should write letters to the coaches of your sport
to introduce himself/herself and to request a program packet, which gives information
about the athletic program.

The introductory letter should be well written, typed, and have no errors in
spelling, grammar, or punctuation. It should be along the lines of a cover letter
for a job – brief, polite, informative and intelligent. Discourage your
son or daughter from writing a form letter to send out to everyone. It should
be personalized to each university.

According to mark Bercik, author of America’s Complete Sports Scholarship
Guide, consider the following layout for the letter:

  • Introduce yourself by name, high school and graduation date.
  • Say why you want to go to that particular school.
  • Give a brief background that includes your GPA, field of study
    and class rank.
  • Include long-term and short-term athletic and academic goals.
  • Ask for the college’s program packet and questionnaire.
  • Conclude with telephone numbers where you can be reached.

In addition to sending the letter, your child will want to include
a videotape of his/her athletic achievements that will serve as a recruiting
video. You can h ire a professional to tape your recruiting video,
but it isn’t necessary. If you are intending to record the video
yourself, keep the following in mind:

  • Don’t use too much zoom.
  • Don’t try to get close-ups of the ball flying through the
    air.
  • Don’t try to film through a fence or other obstruction.
    It’s better to locate yourself somewhere else to avoid
    missing a shot because of an unfocused camera.
  • Don’t film into direct sunlight. It will cause a glare.
  • Do use a tripod to avoid movement. Unstable camera work shows
    when producing a highlight video.
  • Don’t film at such a distance that you can’t identify
    jersey numbers. Coaches won’t know whom they should be watching.
  • Do record 10 seconds before and after you do an interview if you
    want to put in special effects.
  • Do start over if you or your child become tongue-tied during an
    interview.
  • Do purchase a very high-quality recording tape on which to record.
  • Don’t ever record on a tape that’s already been used
    to record something else.
 

Athletic Aid
CUnet
Next
Step
America’s
Complete Sports Scholarship Guide