How to Increase Your Chances of Getting An Athletic Scholarship
Scholarships are the holy grail for young athletes. They present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend a school or academy and receive professional training, have education costs covered, compete at a high level, and have fun doing it. There is very little that young prospective professional athletes covet more than this reward.
The problem is that there are only so many scholarships to go around compared to the enormous amount of athletes who want to be granted them. With that in mind, you need to start thinking about how to best set yourself apart from the pack.
Here are some tips on how to increase your chances of getting a scholarship.
Get the Proper Training
While you might be a natural talent at your sport, you still need the right training to properly prepare you. Professional trainers can be existing college or professional coaches, former college or professional coaches, and people who specialize in certain sports or athletics. These individuals and training schools can help you get ready for the level of competition you are going to be up against by competing with people of similar or higher skill than you now. Being prepared with the right training at a younger age can help you adjust and adapt quicker, which very well may result in a scholarship for your performance in real competition.
Make Connections
The sports world is not unlike the business world. While you are not filing documents or checking balances, you will be making a lot of connections. People you meet in sports academies or training events can become good friends that know a guy who knows a guy, especially the coaches because of their background and networking. It is good to become more social and get to know those around you because they could recommend you or find someone who can help you get your scholarship.
Visit and Research Plenty of Schools
It is not enough to just know what kind of scholarship you want. If you play rugby or basketball, or any sport in between, you want to know where you want to end up playing on scholarship. Create a comprehensive list of schools or academies you would like to play for and make a pros and cons list for which ones, then narrow it down to 5 or 10 that stand out. Some of them, including rugbyschool.ac.th/, might not have been on your radar until you put in the time to learn what scholarships and schools are out there. The more research you put in, plus visiting the schools to actually get a feel for them, the better you will know how to focus your efforts.
Improve Your Academics
Sports and school do not exist in separate spaces. If you are lacking in academics, a sports scholarship can be harder or non-existent to come by. Improving your academics with harder studying (without sacrificing on sports training) seems difficult, but hiring a tutor to help you in your harder subjects will help you focus and improve your grades. The better your academics, the better of a prospect you will look to a scholarship board. You do not need to be a world-class student, however, but it never hurts to get better with your schooling efforts to help your athletic dreams.
Make Highlight Tapes
Word of mouth only does so much. Everyone knows someone who claims they are the best athlete or has all the skill in the world, but it doesn't matter until people can see it. Unfortunately, coaches and scouts cannot attend every meet, match, or training session so you need to create a well-crafted highlight tape. Do not go overboard on the editing, but make sure to state important information like measurements, academic standing, age, headshot, and clear quality highlights. The more footage you have, the better it is for them to diagnose your skill.
Keep Your Options Open
Finally, you do not want to get tunnel vision and only focus on one school, scholarship, or even sport. Even after narrowing down your list, if a good opportunity presents itself, it is not a bad idea to pick the scholarship you think will actually benefit you even if it is not in your top 5. Likewise, if you think you can get more scholarships in another sport you play, go for it, but by all means, try to pick the sport you truly love most.
The world of sports becomes even more cutthroat outside of competition when you are working towards a scholarship. With a limited amount to be handed out and a vast pool of athletes to choose from, you can use this advice to help you increase your chances and live out your sporting dreams.
