<p>We have a friend who is not a college graduate, who is a single mom working a very basic job.
She has a junior son that is getting recruited for basketball by some good schools. I showed her a session at the local CC about being a parent with a recruited athlete but she thinks the colleges and the coaches will tell her what she needs to know...I have my 3rd kid going through the process of college next year as well but I've never had an athlete in the family. Is there a page in here for the basics? If he will be on scholarship- both athletic and financial, does he have to pay the application fee? Is there any guidance on here for basics like there is for almost everything else?</p>
<p>For starters, he needs to register with the NCAA clearinghouse if he hasn’t already. He also needs to make sure he’s on track to meet the eligibility requirements and is taking the required course load. </p>
<p>Your friend could check the NCAA recruiting timetable so she understands how the coach/athlete contact rules work. Specific questions about initiating coach contact, official visits, NLIs, etc, can be addressed here as they come up by lots of helpful people with experience.</p>
<p>That he’s done and academically he’s fine. Do you fill out all those applications and write all the essays the rest of the kids do? </p>
<p>Sent from my DROID2 using CC App</p>
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<p>Yes, but as his recruiting progresses, he will likely narrow it down to just a couple of schools.
Any idea how his grades and test scores are?</p>
<p>Unless he has both exceptional skills and is highly athletically gifted, most kids that negotiate the basketball recruiting process have a mentor that helps them negotiate the path. The top tenth of one percent kids usually get found. For the others, a high school coach, an AAU coach, a trainer, or friend/member that played helps them get found and work their way through the recruiting process.</p>
<p>This doesn’t just happen for most kids. There are over 27,000 high schools in the US. Let’s say there are 25,000 basketball teams. According to the NCAA ([Estimated</a> Probability of Competing in Athletics Beyond the High School Interscholastic Level - NCAA.org](<a href=“http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/issues/recruiting/probability+of+going+pro]Estimated”>http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/issues/recruiting/probability+of+going+pro)) there are 540,207 High School Men’s Basketball Student Athletes each year. 154,345 are seniors. These 154,345 are competing for 4,859 NCAA Freshman Roster Positions. The average High School Senior Varsity Basketball player has a 3.2% chance of playing at any NCAA school. Of the 4,859 positions, around 1100-1200 are D1 full rides. Around a 1000 are D2 full or partial scholarships. The balance are walk-ons or D3 players, who do not receive scholarships. In addition to the total, there are also opportunities to play at NAIA and NJCAA schools.</p>
<p>So, there are stiff odds. But a lot of kids get to play and lot kids get scholarships. The trick is getting the assistance to get your skills showcased and get on the radar of schools you are interested in.</p>
<p>There is a lot of good advice on this bulletin board. Most of it in the Athletic Recruiting forum is targeted at high academic athletes trying to gain admission and scholarships to elite colleges. There is much content that will be useful to all athletes.</p>
<p>Use the CC Search Function. Key word basketball. Take some time and digest what has been offered. Then come back to the board with your specific unanswered questions and you’ll get some great, straight-forward, informed advice.</p>
<p>Also advise your friend to start with high school or travel team coach, but find a mentor you can trust. Many of these mentors have personal relationships among college recruiters. More to the point, they can offer the athlete an assessment of his skill and ability level and how its fits with colleges that he is interested in.</p>
<p>Good Luck!!!</p>
<p>His grades are at 3.0 at a private college prep school.His grades have gone progressively up and they’re even better now. He’s played HS ball and AAU ball and traveled to all the big tournaments. The coaches at Div 1 are calling- mostly the less known names then some of the big names but then again, look who is in the final four. He’s getting the recruitment,the coaches have called all year (when they’re supposed to, of course!) he’ll get the offers but his mom wants him at a school that educates him not just plays him. I’m trying to help her get through the process because she says the coaches know. I think there are things some of those people leave out that you have to know. I will tell her to ask the HS coach that left last year for help navigating through this. Thanks for any advice.</p>
<p>I’m thinking that at a private prep school, the college counselor will know a good bit about athletic recruiting. The coaches are also placing kids in good colleges on athletic teams. At one school I am familiar with, the college counseling head is also a football and lacrosse coach.</p>
<p>should be but they haven’t had many athletes out of there.</p>
<p>You can start by checking out the schools that are calling him. There is a lot of info online. I would look into the graduation rates and team GPA’s. That will give you an idea on how serious they are about academics.</p>
<p>the first two people I would think would help are his HS and his AAU coach. The Mom could right or wrong about if colleges will lead the process … if he is a solid DI recruit then a lot of the recruiting will likely take care of itself (and it seems that might be the case) … when a recruit drops into DII and especially DIII recruiting is typically at least initiated by the student.</p>