Student-Athletes Must Take A Proactive Role In The Marketing Process

Many parents today foster the belief that their child is good enough to play at the college level and that some college coach will likely recruit their athlete. Unfortunately, these assumptions are not realistic. The recruiting budgets of many colleges continue to be sparse.  Therefore, since recruiting budgets are insufficient at many colleges today, student-athletes with less athletic skill than another may receive more interest from colleges simply because he or she has taken a proactive role in marketing their athletic skills.  The real key to the marketing success is to understand the fact that many student-athletes who have the potential of playing at the next level never get noticed by college coaches. If a student-athlete takes the “wait-and-see” philosophy, the likelihood of being recruited is very slim.  According to many reports, only 10% of today’s student-athletes get full-ride scholarships today. 

If these statistics are correct, then students who are not blue-chip prospects MUST be “proactive“ in marketing themselves to college coaches if they ever hope to play at the next level.  Waiting around to receive letters and calls from college coaches is not a viable method for getting an athletic scholarship. Most student-athletes are reactive or take the “wait-and-see” philosophy.  In order to increase the chances of being recruited by college coaches, the student-athlete must take a proactive role in the marketing process.

Furthermore, athletes (and parents) must realize that locating colleges that are a good fit for the student athletically, academically, financially, and socially is much more important than getting an athletic scholarship. If any of those 4 factors are out of balance, a student-athlete may have a very difficult time in college.  The athlete must learn how to evaluate and select the proper program and college, including coaching staff, team, social atmosphere of the school, playing opportunity, team travel, and academic programs.