Getting Recruited

The following are places to go the get your athletes name in the pool of athletes, as well as to learn what is OK and not OK when it comes to recruiting.

1) Get on the "NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse List" by going to www.ncaaclearinghouse.net and click through to "Prospective Student-Athletes". This should be done your freshman or sophomore year.

2) Have your athletes school councilor be aware that the academic goal here is to be eligible for colleges to offer you a scholarship. Make sure that you are taking the right coursework to be eligible at the next level. Remind the councilor that this is your goal each time you meet so they are always double checking you're on track.

3) Go to www.ncaa.org and learn all the information you need to know about college student-athletes.

4) Go online and start looking for people that can help you connect with college coaches. There are people out there who work for a living finding scholarships for athletes. This isn't the majority, but there are colleges with scholarship money they can't give away because they aren't a "name school" like UCLA or Nebraska; yet it's still a FREE education. I am not advicating anyone, but here's an example: www.scoutusa.com  Our ex-wrestler Matt Vigna, two time state qualifier, but no medals at state. His family hired a head hunter to find him a scholarship and Matt signed with William Penn University, an NAIA school in Iowa - free college. He did not hire the above people, just an agency like this. Here is the contact information for an organization with an associate who is a parent in our own community - Keith "Coach" Casey: CoachCasey@cpoa.us This gentleman works for "College Prospects of America", an agency that helps match athletes to colleges.

5) Here is a website that you can join for free. It's kind of a Facebook for high school athletes. You can put some pictures and information on the site about your athlete. Most likely this is a waste of time, but it doesn't take long and you never know who's eyes come across your athletes page. This site advertises that college coaches use this site, but they may blow it out of proportion. Don't put anything too personal on this page. The site is www.AllStudentAthletes.com

6) If you are not a "hot" national recruit, you'll need to do more leg work on your own. You can spend the money and time on letters and stamps to contact all the university's across the country that offer wrestling; or you can spend more money (and save time) by hiring a head hunter type person. Clearly the better the wrestler, the better the odds of finding something - but you'd be surprised at who gets scholarships. It's not always the state medalists and highly decorated wrestlers. Sometimes it's the wrestler who's family does the leg work to make it happen, rather than waiting for someone to call. In a list of 2010 state wrestling athletes and their college scholarships - There were multiple kids on the list who did not place at state, and there were multiple wrestlers on the list who placed low (6th place). So don't wait for offers, go find an offer.