SPORTS CAREERS: Landing An Athletic Scholarship

By Dann Stupp

dann@sportsworkers.com

A crowning achievement to a career in high school sports can be the award of an athletic scholarship. This can fund a college degree while you continue competing in your chosen sport.

But not all scholarships are awarded directly by coaches of college and university teams. Just because you weren't recruited while in high school does not mean it's not possible to take part in collegiate sports - and still earn a scholarship.

Numerous scholarships are awarded each year with the help of fund-seeking services. These companies usually have numerous contacts from colleges and universities, and they promote you with a resume and highlights videos in hopes a coach will take notice and offer you a scholarship.

This personal promotion is similar to what colleges and universities do with their outstanding athletes during All-America campaigns.

There are many companies that will promote you, ranging from LevelEdge.com to athletes-on-line.com. Their services range from $25 to hundreds of dollars.
Another way to get a scholarship is to promote yourself to the coach. You can put together your own sports resume with career bests or put together a highlights tape. Be sure to call the coach in advance to ask what all he/she would like from you. Be sure to check to make sure the college you're contacting has a team in the sport you play and whether or not it offers athletic scholarships.

The University of Texas offers a searchable database of American universities at http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ/, or go global with your search at Universities.com.

Yet another way to pursue a career in college sports while on scholarship is to earn funding through scholarships given by private organizations or for academics. If you have good grades and take part in extracurricular activities, there's a chance you can earn scholarship money while you try to walk-on to a team.

Many teams will let non-recruited athletes tryout, which could lead to an athletic scholarship later on. Some of the best college athletes got their starts as walk-on athletes. Check out sites like FastWeb.com and scholarships.com for free general scholarship services.

No matter how you plan to go about playing college sports, remember that billions of dollars are awarded in scholarships each year. And even if you don't get any of that money, that doesn't mean there's no hope to compete on the college level.