Athletic recruitment, scholarships competitive among high school athletes

Photo Credit: Gloria Cortez

Danny Santana, a senior varsity basketball player, has applied and been offered a numerous amount of scholarships and remains indecisive on which offer he will take.

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March 21, 2012 • Gloria Cortez, Staff Writer
Filed under Sports

Money is a big deal when you are on the verge of graduation. Considering the fact that college is right around the corner, many people turn towards scholarships for money.

”I haven’t really chose a school to go to but a scholarship in the NCAA division II is all I am aiming for because its hard to get a scholarship in division I of the NCAA for a person who has only been playing a few years,” said Onammi J Garcia. Garcia plays Kofa’s varsity girls golf team and says that it is her favorite sport. “When I play golf, it’s the best feeling ever, it’s not only fun, but helps with stress which might be from school or people in general. When I’m playing, I forget everything negative that goes on in my life and focus on the sport, and even if I have a bad day, in the end, I end up happy.”

An athlete has a better chance of receiving a sports scholarship because of the fact that the athlete could be recruited by a coach in a college division. There are many divisions to play for in college, many people only hear and know about the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), though there are many other divisions that are open for athletic applicants and broken down into two categories: full-ride and a varied amount. Over 85% of college scholarship opportunities are available at the NCAA DII (Division two), DIII (Division three), NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) and NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) . Mr. Garcia said at Kofa High School only about five percent of athletic students receive a sports scholarship, out of 450-500 athletes.

Being recruited by a coach is not all that easy to do. Knowing exactly what they are searching for in their athletes can be difficult. The one thing that can be done, is that the athlete can let the coach know that they are interested in playing a specific sport in college and would like to be given the opportunity to do so. A coach will not recruit you unless they know who you are. It is the athlete’s responsibility to get noticed by the coach. Only about 5% of all high school athletes go on to play sports for college teams, according to the National Federation of High School Associations. With that small percentage, it seems that there is not a lot of room for those who would like to apply.

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