|
RECRUITING TIPS |
 |
|
|
The Wisconsin Baseball Report was designed to help educate baseball players from Wisconsin on what they need to be doing to get a college scholarship.
All too often parents have a son with the ability and desire to play college baseball but don’t know what to do to help their son out. This page offers helpful tips that will make the “recruiting process” easier. Check back often because this page will be updated frequently.
NOTHING BUT THE FACTS: The NCAA allows DI baseball programs 11.78 scholarships per program. DII programs are allowed 9 scholarships. NAIA can offer 12 scholarships. DIII colleges offer merit, academic and need based scholarships only. Very few athletic scholarships are a full ride. For example, at the DI level a coach can divide his 12 scholarships between a large number of players. That means a coach can offer 25 “partial” scholarships instead of 12 full ride scholarships. Obviously if you are one of the top players in the country a full ride baseball scholarship is always a possibility. There are 287 Division I and 227 Division II colleges that offer NCAA scholarships. That’s a total of 5,423 scholarships at the DI and DII level.
WBR highly recommends that baseball players from Wisconsin just don’t concentrate on top DI baseball programs. Many of these colleges usually have large amount of potential recruits they have already identified. Let’s face it. There is a lot of competition to get a DI scholarship at one of the top programs in our nation unless you are a blue chip player. There is nothing wrong with a small DI, DII or NAIA college if you are looking for a scholarship.
In addition, Wisconsin offers some of the best DIII baseball in our country. Many college coaches consider DIII college baseball programs in our state to be equivalent in talent to a mid-major DI program. It seems like every year a DIII college from Wisconsin is competing for a national title. If a DIII program wants you bad enough “they can make it happen”.
Last but not least consider a JUCO college. In the Midwest – Great Lakes area there are many nationally ranked JUCO programs. Many players on DI rosters have come from very good JUCO programs. At the end of the day what matters the most is you are getting a great education with the majority of it paid by an academic and/or a baseball scholarship. Plus you are playing the game you love BASEBALL.
Find Out What College Level (DI, DII, DIII, NAIA or JUCO) You Can Play At. Click Here For Baseball Recruiting Guidelines.
BE PROACTIVE: Getting a scholarship takes work. Baseball players with the desire to play baseball at the next level must be proactive. Follow these simple steps.
Starting freshmen year parents and players should download and study a copy of the Guide for the College Bound Student - Athlete, the guide can be found at www.ncaa.org. Players and their parents should understand all NCAA rules and regulations on core courses and academic requirements. Student athletes should do a google search based upon what they would like to study in college and start building relationships with coaches that will ultimately lead to an offer for a scholarship.
-- Being proactive means contacting 50 to 100 college baseball programs by mailing out letters, a highlight skills DVD, sending out e-mails and calling college coaches. Make sure you are following up with college coaches you have initiated contact with. Here is a great website to get college coaches contact info: collegecoachesonline.com
GET GOOD GRADES: Grades do count. Student athletes that have a high GPA and a high ACT test score will be offered an academic scholarship. This is money the student athlete will NOT have to pay back. FACT: Class valedictorians will be offered a free 4 year college education at any of our state or private colleges.
ACT TEST TIP: WBR highly recommends that student athletes take the ACT test every time it is offered at your high school. You can sign up for the test your freshmen year, just go see your guidance counselor. The last ACT test for the year is June 12, 2012. The registration deadline for the test is May 7. Why is it so important to take your ACT test starting your freshmen year? College coaches and admission office personnel do not care what score you received on your first test. They only use the highest score obtained for admission purposes. The national average for ACT test score is 22. Studies have shown that if you are studying for the ACT test every time you retake it you should improve two percentage points. The key here is studying for the test. The higher the ACT test score you can obtain the more academic money you will receive in the form of a scholarship that you will not have to pay back. Student athletes can pick up ACT study materials from their guidance counselor or you can purchase study materials from Barnes and Nobles or a Borders book store.
DI Prospects: Most DI prospects are identified by the end of their sophomore year. It is important to get to Wisconsin Baseball Report ID Showcase Camps at the start of your freshmen year so you can be in our database and also ranked. College coaches recruit from multiple verifiable lists and resources like WBR. It’s simple. To get recruited, you need exposure. Attend our ID showcase camps to get on our database.
Be Realistic: Student Athletes need to be realistic concerning getting a college scholarship. Not everyone can play college baseball. For those that do it takes hard work not only in the classroom by getting good grades but by working hard on "your game". Student athletes need to have clear expectations of college programs you qualify for based upon your athletic and academic performance. Click here to get "BASEBALL by the NUMBERS."
CREATE A WINNING HIGHLIGHT SKILLS VIDEO: Baseball players that are serious about getting a college scholarship must have an edited highlight skills video that can be easily distributed to college coaches when requested. If a college coach cannot see a player in person, a quality videotape is the next best thing. Videotapes are very valuable when evaluating baseball players. College coaches do a majority of their initial evaluation by looking at video – requested or received from reliable online sources (like Wisconsin Baseball Report). Videos are now typically streamed online and sent out through e-mail. After watching video, a coach may decide to make an in-person evaluation or invite a player to attend their college baseball camp. Click on player video page at WBR for further information on how we can help you put together a skills video.
8 IMPORTANT STEPS IN THE RECRUITING PROCESS: If you are a high school baseball player from Wisconsin dreaming about playing college baseball on a scholarship, then you need to know that recruiting is very competitive. If you want to make it to the college level, you will have to compete with thousands of other high school baseball players from around the country to get a scholarship. To make it to the college level, you need to make sure college coaches know about you and your talents. If you are a blue-chip player, that will happen automatically. Let’s face it, if you are a kid who throws a 95 mile per hour fastball college coaches already know your name.
For everyone else, you need to do a little work to make sure your name gets out there among college coaches. Here are 8 very important recruiting tips you will want to keep in mind when it comes to college recruiting.
- Start contacting coaches early (at the start of your sophomore year). Don’t wait until the start of your senior year. It is to late by then.
- Don’t rely on your high school, AAU or American Legion coach to make contact with college coaches. IT IS YOUR JOB.
- Decide what geographic location of colleges you are interested in playing for. Decide what you want to study in college. Start contacting colleges that offer the major you want to study. Make sure you contact the admissions office to find out what core courses you need to be taking to get admitted. Contact the baseball coach. Establish a relationship with him that will ultimately lead to an offer.
- Develop your athletic resume. Wisconsin Baseball Report can help you put together a resume.
- Attend Wisconsin Baseball Report ID showcase camps. You will want to have your player profile posted up at our website and be ranked.
- Play baseball all year round. Besides playing on your high school team play AAU or American Legion Baseball. Get in a good fall baseball league. Get on a team that travels so you can get more exposure during the summer and fall. Attend camps and clinics to improve your skills. Many state colleges offer very good camps at a reasonable cost. Make sure you are hitting and throwing in the “off season”. Long toss every chance you can get to increase overall arm strength. Get in a good strength and conditioning program.
- Check on colleges that offer “select camps” to get more exposure.
- MARKET and PROMOTE yourself to college coaches. All of the these tips are certainly important and can help you with your goal of reaching the college level. However, the most critical college recruiting tip is #8. Why? College coaches at all levels need talented baseball players. Most of these coaches don’t have huge recruiting budgets, so they have to rely on other ways of finding talented baseball players. Therefore, marketing and promoting your talents to college baseball coaches is not only good for you, it’s a great deal for college coaches. College baseball recruiting is very competitive, but you can come out on top. If you are not currently being recruited, or if you are receiving little attention, you need to spend some time in marketing and promoting yourself to college coaches. To get a college scholarship takes some effort on your part, but it will pay off richly by allowing you to play the sport you love at the college level.
Last but not least, read "Why Spring Break Can Make (or Break) Your Recruiting Goals" here and plan ahead for your next spring break.
For more information email:
info@wisconsinbaseballreport.com
|
|
|
