Athletic Scholarships

Athletic scholarships are given to individuals who demonstrate exceptional ability in sports. This is fairly common in the United States. Many talented sportspersons avail of them. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that getting the scholarship is going to be a cakewalk. There is fierce competition for athletic scholarships.

Academic records are also considered while granting an athletic scholarship. Your GPA and SAT score will be taken into account. Make sure you start early ‘as the early bird catches the worm’. You should draw up a list of colleges, which meet both your academic and sporting requirements. You can divide your colleges into three categories- dream colleges, which are the elite colleges, good colleges where you have a realistic chance of getting into and back up colleges, which is your last resort. You should directly contact the coaches in the college. You can have a meeting with your high school coach, which will give you a clear idea about your potential. You can also receive useful advice by meeting a career counselor. Your profile should be made attractive to the coach.

Unless you are a prominent national sportsperson you will be unknown to the sports coach. Your application should be organized and presented to make it unique and impressive. You should have patience as all coaches may not respond immediately because they may be tied up with busy schedules or have many applications to go through. It is your responsibility to make regular follow ups with the coach. Perseverance and patience will mostly reap rewards. There exist different college sports recruiting services, which you can use.

The first step to get a scholarship is to register with the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) eligibility center. You can fill up a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). This estimates your financial need and eligibility for offered grants and scholarships. This is later sent to the financial aid office of the college you are attending so that they can calculate an offer of student aid.

The NCAA groups colleges into three divisions- Division I, Division II and Division III. Only Division I and Division II schools offer athletic scholarships. You should make yourself familiar with the eligibility criteria of different colleges. Requirements differ in different colleges. Make sure you go through the literature. Finally it is the college, which gives scholarship not the NCAA. If you have heard of a particular scholarship and don’t know its requirement write a letter directly to the college. You can go through the Internet and read books to get the required information. Although Division III schools do not give athletic scholarships they can aid you to find other sources of scholarships. If you do not get scholarships for elite sports you can try getting it for other sports with diverse profiles. If you have an outstanding profile colleges will clamor to enroll you. Getting the scholarship is not enough. You need to meet the academic and sporting standards throughout the duration of the scholarship. You need to play the sport in the off-season also. You have to keep yourself fit and injury free.

Now that you are acquainted with the process of obtaining athletic scholarships don’t waste time and immediately take steps to get your deserved scholarship.