Making it to the next level is every high school football player’s dream. Getting scouted, applying to schools, trying for scholarships, and choosing where you will spend your next four years playing football is both exciting and a little nerve wracking. If you want to play college sports after high school, you need to work hard to market yourself and help colleges find you. Do not depend on a college football recruiting officer to find a great school for you, determine what you want and go get it, including a scholarship.
- Getting Scholarships: College sports scholarships require a lot of work and determination and even then only a select few athletes get their education paid for. Luckily, there are some strategies you can use to go get a college scholarship rather than wait around for a recruiter to notice your talents and work ethic.
- Football Camps: Going to national, state, and local football camps will put you right in front of the college football programs and their scouts and coaches. If you know what college you want to attend, call them and find out if they have a football camp you can attend. Going to a camp will get your face and name out there and also give coaches an opportunity to examine your skills up close.
- Choose Schools: There are thousands of college football programs all over the United States and it will be too difficult to try and get a scholarship to every single one. Instead, narrow down the schools you want to attend and focus your energy on those. You can look at their academic programs and figure out what courses or majors interest you. If you want to study international business, take a look at the schools with a reputable international business program; it is that simple.
- Player’s Position: Often an overlooked aspect of applying to schools and their football programs is that the school might already have a great player in the position you play. You do not want to count on a scholarship from a school that is already giving four other Tight Ends scholarships that are only 1-2 years older than you. Instead, find a school that has a Tight End in his third season so you can take over the starting role when he finishes his fourth year.
- Highlight Film: If you are serious about receiving a college football scholarship and playing at the next level, you will need to film your football games and camps and create a video to market yourself. Do not depend on your coaches to make the best highlight reel for you, take your own camera and combine it with the team’s footage to get the best highlights of you playing football. Shorten the movie to just the best clips and make enough copies to give to all of the schools you plan on applying to. You could also create an online profile to market yourself to college coaches, sites like Nextlevelme allow you to set one up for free.
Image by: Michael Oh
