TriCity Striders Student Athletes here are a few tidbits that would aid you in getting a scholarship to run track, cross country at the next level (College)

Everything starts with registering with NCAA Clearinghouse so on your mark; get set, GO!!!!!

 

Have coaches find you first!

If you want to step up your game in the recruiting area, you can try to get noticed and have coaches contact you first through recruiting websites.  The most popular website is beRecruited and you can register for FREE. College coaches use this site to contact potential track and field or cross country athletes all the time.  With college recruiting, it’s routine for college D1, D2, or D3 coaches to print athlete profiles off of the beRecruited website and then contact these athletes and eventually talk about track and cross country scholarships.  It’s really that easy.

All you have to do is create a profile with your highlights and even an action photo and BAM!…you’re all set.  You can even email or snail-mail your profile to the coach of your choice.  Doing so will show any college coach that you are serious about competing in track and field or cross country at the collegiate level.

Get good grades in all your classes not just PE!

This is by far the most important and most over-looked piece of information you could ever come across when getting any type of scholarship, and yes even a track or cross country scholarship.  You can be the fastest track or cross country athlete in the world, but if you don’t have the appropriate GPA, ACT/SAT score, and you don’t meet the core course requirements set out by the NCAA, you could be considered as a “non-qualifier”.

If you end up being a “non-qualifier”, you can kiss your NCAA D1 or D2 track and field or cross country scholarship right out of high school goodbye.  This doesn’t mean you will never qualify for any type of athletic scholarship money in the future, it just means that if you plan on competing in the NCAA right away after high school that you would need to get your academics straight first.

Don’t be a recruiting nightmare!

The worst part about recruiting athletes at the collegiate level is that college coaches have a large number of high school athletes that they have to turn down and say “I’m sorry, I would like to offer you track scholarship, but you did not pass the NCAA clearinghouse standards” or “Your ACT score was too low” or “If only your GPA were a little bit higher”.  And the typical response they get from all of these prospect student athletes is “I wish someone would have told me” or “Had I known that, I would have tried harder”.

The end result is that coaches are unable to offer a track scholarship or even recruit a lot of fantastic athletes due to academic issues.  DON’T LET THIS BE YOU!!!   For more detailed information, feel free to learn more about the NCAA Division 1 academic requirements, Division 2 academic requirements, and Division 3 academic requirements all athletes need to meet in order to compete at the NCAA D1, D2, or D3 level.

Contact the coach!

If you are interested in participating in track and field or cross country for a particular college or university, you should contact the coach or coaches to show you are interested in their school.
College coaches are only allowed to call athletes so often due to NCAA recruiting policies, but you have an advantage in contacting them about track scholarships as often as you like during your senior year.

During your emails and phone calls you can learn about the track and cross country program, and discuss what athletic and academic requirements you must meet to earn a spot on the team.  After you have developed a pretty good relationship with the coaching staff, you can open the door for conversation about a track scholarship or cross country scholarship.

Keep in mind, each track and cross country coach and/or D1, D2, or D3 school may set different rules or they might have standards for who can be part of the team based on their academic and athletic performance. 

******Improve performance!

The coaches at Track Star USA have had a lot of experience with recruiting athletes and depending on the college or university, it makes it difficult to determine what process they all use in selecting who gets track or cross country scholarship money and who doesn’t.  At the end of the day, the better track or cross country athlete you are, the higher your athletic scholarship will be.

Some Division 1 and Division 2 track or cross country programs have a scholarship tier system that is based on performance.  In our experience this has been a pretty popular system when distributing track and cross country scholarships.  Basically, when the college or university has the funding available, the coach and the athletic department may provide a high volume of athletic scholarships to track and cross country athletes rather than a handful of full ride scholarships.

Tier system where athletic scholarship is based on performance

The tier system is a setup that coaches use to determine what performance level matches a certain amount of money.  The tier system could be based on what level of performance can score points in their conference meet, and how many points.  This tier system could also include a level for any athlete who has potential to qualify for NCAA nationals.

The basic principle with track and field is that the lower the points an athlete could possibly score in the conference meet, the lower the scholarship level would be, and the more points they could score, the higher the track scholarship.  If a high school athlete is already competing near a level that could automatically qualify them for NCAA Nationals, they could be eligible for higher levels of athletic scholarship money and quite possibly a full ride scholarship.

So what does this mean?  It means you really have to focus on improving your performance.  It’s that simple.  The better your track and field or cross country performance, the more athletic scholarship money you can qualify for.

******Use your academic success as leverage!

At the beginning of the recruiting process athletes and parents should have a conversation about finances and try to set a goal for how much track and cross country scholarship money they think is fair.  However, most student athletes will run into a few snags here and there.  Even after 4-5 phone calls and 12 emails, the coach could still be nowhere near your goal amount.  When you run into a wall and the coach isn’t ready to meet your scholarship goal, you might be able to change the conversation and use your academic successes as leverage.

Being an above average student definitely has its advantages.  Track  and cross country coaches take pride in their team’s GPA and are always looking for student athletes who can help keep the team’s GPA up .  If you are serious about your studies, college coaches may be interested in your academic leadership and could be swayed to help out with more scholarship money.

If this sounds like you, don’t give up.  Keep grinding, and pull out your academic ace when you find yourself within reach of your financial goal.

 
Complete these 16 core courses and graduate from high school:

·         4 years of English

·         3 years of math (Algebra 1 or higher)

·         2 years of natural or physical science (including one year of lab science if
offered by your high school)

·         1 extra year of English, math, or natural or physical science

·         2 years of social science

·         4 years of extra core courses (from any category above, or foreign language,
comparative religion or philosophy)

·         Earn a minimum required grade-point average in your core courses

·         Earn a combined SAT or ACT sum score that matches your core-course grade-point
average and test score sliding scale (for example, a 2.400 core-course grade-point
average needs an 860 SAT).

Requirement to graduate with your high school class

You must complete the 16 core-course requirement in eight semesters, which begins when you initially started high school with your ninth-grade class.  If you graduate from high school in eight semesters with your class, you may use one core-course unit completed within one year after graduation (summer or academic year) to meet NCAA Division 1 initial-eligibility requirements.  You may complete the core course at a location other than the high school from which you graduated and may initially enroll full time at a college or university at any time after completion of the core course.

 

What is a Division 1 Qualifier?

Being a Division 1 qualifier enables you to:

·         Practice or compete for your college or university during your first year of college.

·         Receive an athletics scholarship during your first year of college.

·         Play four seasons in your sport if you maintain your eligibility from year to year.
– You may be able to play only three seasons in your sport if you
maintain your eligibility from year to year.  To earn a fourth
season you must complete at least 80 percent of your degree
requirements before beginning your fifth year of college.

What is a Division 1 Non-qualifier?

If you are a Division 1 non qualifier, you will NOT be able to:

·         Practice or compete for your college or university during your first year of college.

·         Receive an athletics scholarship during your first year of college, although you may receive need-based financial aid.

Students Enrolling on or After August 1, 2016

If you enroll full time in a Division 2 college on or after August 1, 2016, and want to participate in track and field or receive an athletics scholarship during your first year, you must:

Complete these 16 core courses and graduate from high school:

·         3 years of English

·         2 years of math (Algebra 1 or higher)

·         2 years of natural or physical science (including one year of lab science if offered by your high school)

·         3 additional years of English, math, or natural or physical science

·         2 years of social science

·         4 years of additional core courses (from any category above, or foreign language, comparative religion or philosophy)

 

Division 2 Qualifier

Being a qualifier enables you to:

·         Practice or compete for your college or university during your first year of college

·         Receive an athletics scholarship during your first year of college

·         Play four seasons in your sport if you maintain your eligibility from year to year.

Division 2 Partial Qualifier

You will be considered a partial qualifier if you do not meet all of the academic requirements
listed above, but you have graduated from high school and meet one of the following:

·         The combined SAT score of 820 or ACT sum score of 68; or

·         Completion of the core courses with a 2.000 core-course grade-point average.

As a partial qualifier, you:

·         Can practice with your team at its home facility during your first year of college

·         Can receive an athletics scholarship during your first year of college.

·         Cannot compete in a track and field meet during your first year of college.

·         Can play four seasons in your sport if you maintain your eligibility from year to year.

Division 2 Non Qualifier

You will be considered a nonqualifier if you did not graduate from high school, or, if you
graduated and are missing both the core-course grade-point average or minimum number
of core courses and the required ACT or SAT scores.

As a NON qualifier, you:

·         Cannot practice or compete for your college or university during
your first year of college

·         Cannot receive an athletics scholarship during your first year of
college, although you may receive need-based financial aid

·         Division 3 college-bound student-athletes are NOT certified by the NCAA Eligibility Center because Division 3 colleges and universities each set their own admissions standards and there are no initial-eligibility requirements in the division.  This also means that Division 3 schools are not allowed to offer any athletic scholarships either.

·         College bound student-athletes should contact their Division 3 college or university regarding policies on admission, financial aid and athletics eligibility.

NAIA Eligibility Basic Requirements

Graduate High School or be accepted as a regular student in good standing

Meet two of the three following requirements:
1) Achieve a minimum of 18 on the ACT or 860 on the SAT
2) Achieve a minimum overall high school GPA of 2.0
3) Graduate in the top half of your high school class
If you do not meet 2 of the 3 requirements, you will not be allowed to participate in athletics for the first full year of attendance

NAIA Transfers

Transfers must “sit out” 16 weeks (112 calendar days) unless they only attended a 2-year college previously or never competed at a previous 4-year institution or have a 2.0 GPA and written release from the previous 4-year institution.

 

 

 

Now that you have hit your full stride, running through the finish line is all that is left for you to be blessed with getting scholarships, just remember the early bird gets the worm and of course “ We Don’t Need Wings To Fly”

 

Have a great day full of blessings

Coach G