By University of Salford Press Office [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons ]]> http://topprospects.ca/blog/recruiting-service/feed/ 0 http://topprospects.ca/blog/understanding-cis-athletic-scholarships/ http://topprospects.ca/blog/understanding-cis-athletic-scholarships/#comments Sat, 19 May 2012 15:56:15 +0000 Williams http://topprospects.ca/blog/?p=189 There’s a lot of misconceptions when dealing with the recruiting process in Canada. The landscape is constantly changing and if things go properly, it’s a once in a lifetime ordeal.

For starters let’s look at CIS scholarships and what they really can do.

First off there is an equivalent max per sport of 70% of the Championship roster. For football that game day roster is 45 players and not the total roster that they carry (in some cases over 100). So that means 31.5 equivalent scholarships. In both men’s and women’s basketball that means 8.4 equivalent scholarships.

What does an equivalent scholarship mean? That’s the tuition and fees cost for a single player. The dollar amount doesn’t matter. So for example two players each get a scholarship for $5000 if player A’s tuition + fees costs $10000/year and player B’s tuition + fees costs $5000/year those two players equal 1.5 equivalent scholarships even though they got the same amount of actual dollars.

In Canada the so called “Full Ride” scholarship does not exist. The “Athletic Financial Award” is not supposed to cover books, room, board, or other costs associated to attending school. In the CIS the Financial Award is limited to covering the costs of tuition and fees.

That doesn’t however mean that that a CIS school can pay your $10000 tuition and fees. In the OUA for instance, athletic scholarships are capped at $4000 and first year students must enter University with a 80% average. It’s very important to find out from the Coach or the athletic department what rules are in place for that particular school or conference.

If you play basketball or football and would like to be noticed by College/University coaches join Canada’s largest online recruiting database by clicking the link on the top right of the screen.

+Kent Ridley ]]> http://topprospects.ca/blog/understanding-cis-athletic-scholarships/feed/ 0 http://topprospects.ca/blog/how-to-earn-a-scholarship-as-a-canadian/ http://topprospects.ca/blog/how-to-earn-a-scholarship-as-a-canadian/#comments Thu, 03 May 2012 22:37:16 +0000 Williams http://topprospects.ca/blog/?p=139 Earning a NCAA scholarship as a Canadian athlete is a great accomplishment. Being from another country and playing a NCAA is an opportunity like none other. The recruitment process for many Canadian students  is a mystery. High school coaches sometimes lack the knowledge to understand all the aspects that go into getting a recruit scouted. For international high school players there are few things each recruit has to take care of in order to get a college scholarship:

• Understand what courses are needed for you to be eligible with the NCAA Clearinghouse
• Create a high quality highlight tape
• Get exposure to college coaches

Understanding The NCAA Clearinghouse

For international high school athletes receiving good grades is crucial in helping you earn a sports scholarship. But receiving good grades is just one part; as an international student you must take the correct classes to become eligible with the NCAA Clearinghouse. No matter what college, university a student is applying to, good grades are always a crucial factor. Without standard grades, even the best of athletes will have a  difficult time earning a scholarship. The NCAA has clear specifications for students attempting to earn  scholarships. For instance Canadian students in Ontario must take University or University/College classes to be eligible with the NCAA. If you live in Ontario Canada and are only taking College level classes you need to upgrade to University/College level classes as soon as possible. Many Quebec students attend CEGEP to help better their chances of earning an athletic scholarship, a new rule passed in 2007 requires that CEGEP students complete their studies in 2 years instead of the custom 3 years. Each country, and sometimes each province has guidelines that must be followed for these athletes to become eligible to play college sports.

Creating A Quality Highlight Tape

For many athletes highlight tapes can make them or break them, for international students highlight tapes are everything. Not having a highlight tape as an international student will likely not get you a scholarship. Basketball players can sometimes get by without having a video because they may have played AAU or been invited to elite basketball camps across America. A football player on the other hand must have a highlight tape period. A highlight tape may be the only way a college coach can see you play, the chances are very slim that an NCAA school will take a trip outside of the country to watch one prospect play in person. With the economy being on a downside athletic budgets are being slashed by many NCAA programs across the country. Your highlight tape needs to focus on your very best plays and show you at the top of your game. Every highlight must be clear and easy to see, coaches hate it when they have to squint their eyes to see a player making a play, many times coaches just throw the tape in the garbage when a highlight tape is hard on the eyes. Check out or article on how to create a highlight tape for more information.

Get Exposure To College Coaches

To get recruited as an international student you have to be where the coaches are, if coaches don’t know who you are or every see you how will they recruit you?  For basketball players you have to spend a summer traveling throughout America on a AAU team. For football players your summer should be spent going to various camps and combines throughout America as well. A good camp for Canadian players to attend in Canada is the All-Pro Camp held every summer. This camp has actual NCAA coaches that help coach and run the camp. Visit AllCanadagridiron.info for more information about this camp.  If you would like more information about the importance of these events read our article on camps and combines.

Top Prospects provides a platform for you to showcase your abilities so make sure you’ve created a FREE profile. If you’re interested in connecting with NCAA coaches click the link at the top right of the screen to join Canada’s largest online recruiting database.

Top Prospects Canada can create your highlight tape please click highlight tape to find out more information.

Highlight tapes are vital in the recruiting process, it is important for recruits to tailor their highlight tape depending on what sport they want to play in college. From past experiences with college coaches they have consistently asked for three different parts:

Highlight Video

The highlight portion of your tape is your chance to show college coaches your best plays in your high school career. With most highlight tapes a coach will make a decision on either to pursue you as a recruit or take you off of their recruiting list. There are many different opinions on how many clips should be put on a highlight tape. Top Prospects feels that you should create your highlight tape from a coaches perspective, how much time do you think a coach is going to spend on each highlight tape. College coaches view hundreds of tapes each year, so try and keep your highlights anywhere between 20-30 plays and under 5 minutes if possible.

When deciding on which plays to pick the quality of the video is as important as the quality of the play. Parents can sometimes help their son or daughter out by video taping the games themselves. Also speak with your head coach and ask if he can supply you with the games tapes from the past season.

Top Prospects highly recommends that before each play you highlight yourself on the field or court. This way coaches know exactly where you and takes out the guessing. The last thing you want is for a coach to throw away your highlight tape because it was to difficult to see exactly where you were on the field.

Full Game Tape

After a college coach watches your highlight tape he should be impressed and want to see more of you. College coaches can learn a lot from your highlight tape, but they can learn almost everything they need to know about you as a player from your full game tape. Does the player take plays off, his attitude and demeanor around his teammates, how hard he plays on every single play and many other things that a highlight tape is unable to show. For some recruits these full game tapes may be even more important than the highlight video.

As a recruit, it is imperative that you pick your best game of the season. If the coaches are really interested they may spend an hour to watch the entire game to see what type of player you are from start to finish. Your performance, the effort you put forth and your ability on the full game tape is important. Coaches will sometimes request even more tape after this as well.

Contact & Other Information

Top Prospects recommends that at the beginning of the tape you include your athletic information your jersey number on the tape, height, weight, bench press, 40 time, squat, vertical jump, wingspan and anything else of interest.  At the end of the highlight is where you can include your contact information which includes:  home phone number, cell phone number, email address, and home address. You should try and include your coaches phone number, email address and your school’s address because many times college coaches can’t speak to prospective recruits but they can always talk to your coach.

If you really feel that you are good enough to play at a certain level, it is important to send the coach as much contact information as possible. You need to include an address, phone numbers (Home and cell), email addresses (Yours and your parents) and any other ways for the coaches to reach you.  If they feel you have the talent to play, they will want as many contact details as possible.

Grades & Academic Information

Coaches are aware of the grades it takes to get into their school, so make sure that they are aware of your academics.  If you have worked hard enough in high school, this should be something you are proud of and want them to see your GPA. If you have taken your ACT and SAT already, make sure to include those scores. The majority of the schools around the country do not have Ivy League standards, so even a 3.3 and a 23 ACT is good enough to put on your athletic resume.  Most coaches seek out individuals with these grades because they can put you into a lot of places. You can also include your class rank, if you have talked to the guidance counselor and know it.

Athletic Accomplishments 

Make sure you are realistic and do not exaggerate your statistics. The last thing you would want is a coach to find out that you lied about your stats. Therefore, if you rushed for 800 yards, do not put 1,000, put your exact stats. Keep things realistic because the coaches will eventually find out if things are exaggerated.  Other things which should be covered include individual stats, post season honors, team records, and team accomplishments. You should also add your accomplishments in other sports. If you earned a letter in baseball college coaches like to see athletes play multiple sports.  It shows that you are well rounded and are athletic in more than just one sport.

A Picture

If the coaches are unsure, you might want to send them a picture of you. If you visit the school in the future, they should know who you are if they consider you are a serious prospect, a picture will help this.

Things to avoid

Do not add every stat you have and try to avoid things like shooting percentage.  College basketball coaches may think it is great that you scored 28 points per game, but if you shoot 25%, they will find out after a thorough evaluation.

What format should I use to put this together?

It can be Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or even an Adobe PDF.  Make sure to not use a program that causes the coaches any trouble in opening.
This recruiting profile is an important introduction of your talents to a college coach.  While it may not seem like much, it is a good way to introduce a lot of coaches to your skills.

Top Prospects creates FREE Personal Recruiting Profiles. Making a good first impression is a very important step in gaining a scholarship. So don’t delay create your FREE Top Prospects profile today.

Top Prospects will now go over the steps coaches usually cover in the recruiting process….

The Questionnaire Phase

The first thing coaches usually do after building their initial list of recruits, is send out questionnaires to the prospective athletes to try to find out more information about them.  These sheets are vital to fill out, but at this point the coaches may simply be looking to narrow down the recruiting database. Factors that they may use to do this may be lack luster stats or bad grades, so the chances are that once the form is filled out, they will be taken out of the database or at least downgraded in the level that they are recruited at (I will discuss the levels later on).

The coach will usually take hundreds that meet his criteria and what he is looking for, and will start to show more interest, sending more letters, and requesting video tape from these prospects. (I have always reiterated that putting together a quality highlight video is something that is vital in the recruiting process).  In general, these athletes will either not be able to get their hands on tape or the highlight video is so bad that the coaches can’t see much, therefore the list is often further reduced. We offer FREE highlight tape creation so you don’t have to fall into the latter category.

The Evaluation Phase

Now the coaches will begin to go through the highlight videos and judge which players have the ability to play at their level. It is often the case that coaches need to be impressed early by your highlight tape, as they have many prospects to evaluate for an athletic scholarship and unless you have other offers, the coaching staff cannot just focus on you.

I have seen  underrated prospect’s highlight videos that wowed me into thinking that they would receive a Division I scholarship, and as I predicted they all ended up getting those scholarships and are attending schools such as Baylor and North Dakota.  Before seeing these videos, I would say that the prospects were flying under the radar.

Now we shall say, hypothetically, the coach dismisses 50 of the recruits because they simply are not good enough, now are now down to 100. This is when the coaches should be sending hand written letters and showing much more interest. While you may be high on their list, if you have not officially received an athletic scholarship at this point, you are not among their top tier of athletes. The coaches take this time to judge how serious you are about their school and then they will rank the recruits accordingly. This is needed because if option A, B, and C all fall through, they need to quickly respond and look harder at options D, E, and F to see if they are worth offering.

The Summer Camp Phase

With the top 100 recruits decided, the coaches will try to bring these athletes on campus for their camp so that they can evaluate the prospective recruit in person. This gives the coaches a chance to see assess you in person, and see if what you have told them is true, such as if you really are 6-foot-3, can you handle coaching, and adapt quickly. It is important for me to note that just because you are invited to a camp, that does not mean you are on their top tier of recruits.

After the camp, the coaches will cross a recruits off their list, who may just not be good enough or are not what the coaches expected them to be. We shall say that there are 30 scholarships out, back up plans for the other positions, and the possibility that if you are among those players you can walk on.  These coaches need to keep the back up options committed to them, incase things fall through with their top recruits.
That is a quick description of how coaches cut down their list to prospects that they are somewhat serious about. In the end, around fifty get athletic scholarship offers and the class ends up around twenty to twenty five players. It does differ somewhat in basketball but the coaches narrow down their prospects in the same way and offer as few prospects as they can.

If you’re looking to get on a coaches recruiting list creating a FREE Top Prospects profile is a great way to get started.

Be Confident Talking To College Coaches On The Phone

I understand that some individuals love to talk and that others don’t. Some people are just more outgoing and others are more introvert. Despite this, when it comes to talking to a coach, it is very important to not show your shy side and be confident. This may not make or break your chances of a scholarship offer but it could result in the coach not calling you back because communication is hard and trying to get more than one word answers out of you is a chore.

I recently spoke to a Division I basketball coach and we were talking about a prospect he was recruiting. The coach and the athlete had a number of things in common that included similar backgrounds, similar high schools, and a lot of things that could help foster a productive conversation. This athlete, who by nature is not talkative, made the conversation as difficult as possible. While it is unsure if the coach will call this player back, I am willing to bet it is something that he is not looking forward to and may affect his decisions in recruiting.

Ask Questions When Talking To College Coaches On The Phone

As a prospect, you should take the time to learn more about the school. Ask questions about the location, their academics, their program, and anything else that comes to mind. These questions will show the coach that you are interested in learning more about their program. If you are naturally a quiet person, it shows that you are interested while letting the coach do most of the talking.

Keep Your Options Open

If coaches are calling you, it is because they are interested in you. As I said, in regard to the levels of interest from college coaches, the phone call is the highest thing that they can do in recruiting, besides offering you a scholarship. It shows that they want to learn more about you and build a better relationship. Take the time to ask questions and seem interested. I have said it many times but keeping your options open is very important. Even if a Division III coach calls, respect him and offer him your time. In the end, that may end up costing you a chance to get an education at a very strong academic school.

Take Time to Organize and Prepare

If you are a very sought after prospect and are receiving call after call from coaches, it may be important to set up a time to finish your homework and still have a personal life. School work needs to come first and that should be remembered, although these calls are very important in the recruiting process. Another important thing to remember, is always call the coaches back. These people are taking their time to show you that they are interested, therefore it is a common courtesy to return a phone call to them and show them respect.

Talking to coaches on the phone can make or break you in the recruiting process, so its important to say the right things. How has your experience been with coaches over the phone? Comment below and let us know

Fall Back Plan

An example of this is of a few years ago when following a recruit on Rivals.com, in which the athlete appeared to have many positive things going for him in the spring of his junior year. At 6’6” tall and 215 pounds, this athlete had a great deal of interest from colleges from the Big 10 and Big 12, with hand written mail being sent to him everyday. He was rightly attending visits to different colleges and learning more about them in doing so. With all the interest from the big time schools, he still did not feel that he would be playing Division I football, and wisely kept interest in a wide range of schools to be safe. As the signing day approached, the interest from the Big 10 and Big 12 colleges had rapidly declined, and the athlete eventually signed for a Division III school. This shows the importance of the athlete responding to even the smaller schools during the recruiting process, despite interest from bigger schools. Even if you have interest from top schools, this does not assure you of a scholarship, and if this athlete had only conversed with top schools, he may not have found one at all.
It is important to look into all of your options, whether they be Division I , Division II or even Division III, you never know what will be the best fit for you as a person and as an athlete.

It is clear that the more schools that are interested in you, the better options and more choices you will have. The scholarship offers may not have come to the table as you may have hoped, but any financial package offered will help pay for college and reduce student loans. You may be offered a Division I walk on place, a Division II partial scholarship, or a CIS scholarship, so all options are important to have so that you are able to try and reduce the expense of college.
As mentioned earlier, it is important to know that just because Division I and II schools send letters and show interest, it does not mean that a scholarship is offered or is about to be. Student athletes should always keep their options open; college keep their options open in the attempt to sign the best recruits that they can. While it is flattering to have interest from these schools, they may have just added your name to a list that could consist of around 5,000 prospects. Also, despite that the CIS programs may not send a media guide like the bigger schools do, they are still good fall back options if things do not go to plan. Therefore you should try to respond to as many schools as possible and do not burn bridges with schools you may want to turn to later in the process.

The Transfer Option

One last reason of keeping your options open, is if you want to change your mind after a few years of attending a college. For example, you may get the scholarship you wanted from a big school, but after two years you are unhappy due to the lack of playing time or personal satisfaction. If this happens, it would be useful to have contacts from schools which recruited you at the start, and you could contact these coaches to see the options. This is of course after you have received your release, according to NCAA/CIS rules. To have this option will give you a starting position, especially if you have developed relationships with the coaches from the recruiting process.

Overall the more open minded a student athlete is, the more choices they will have in deciding what college they will attend. It is vital for you develop to long term relationships with college coaches as well as create options for you in the recruiting process. Have you burned any bridges in the recruiting process? Let us know with your comments below

Talent

First and most important you have to be the best basketball player you can be. My coach always use to tell me “everyday you’re not getting better, someone else out there is.” Work on your skills, conditioning and strength as much as possible. NCAA basketball is very different than high school ball, players are bigger, stronger and more experienced. The game is faster longer and way more physical, so your training has to be geared towards getting you ready to make that jump to the next level.

AAU basketball

Recruiting has changed drastically, it is no longer good enough for you to be the best player on your high school team. Nowadays college coaches go to places where they can scout multiple prospects at one time. These places have become the huge summer recruiting camps and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) tournaments.

AAU sponsors spring, summer and fall tournaments in multiple age groups; the age brackets are 19 & under, 17 & under etc. The biggest advantage of the AAU system is that it allows you a chance to play up a bracket to play against better competition. Tournaments are often played during “live” recruiting periods for college coaches. I strongly recommend that you find an AAU team in your area if you are not currently on one.

Camps during the summer months that attract big name players also attract college recruiters. Most of these camps are private camps and are not owned by universities, colleges or high schools. They offer top notch instruction and highly competitive games. The best advice to give is to call or email a couple of college coaches to find out what camps they attend to scout players and try to attend those camps.

Summer basketball is the most critical aspect in basketball recruiting. Today college coaches can go to an AAU tournament or summer camp and evaluate a couple hundred of players at a single time. Being where the coaches are greatly increases your chances of landing a scholarship.

Be assertive

Don’t wait on college coaches to find you go find them, if there are schools that you are interested in, contact them and let them know you are interested. Visit a few campuses and invite the coach to come and watch you play. Make sure all the coaches that you or your coach contacts on your behalf have all the tools necessary to evaluate you. Game schedules, summer schedules should all be sent to the schools you are interested in.

Hit the books

College coaches want good players with good grades, they really don’t like to take chances on academic risks. Get the highest grades you can and take theSAT or ACT as early and often as possible. You must register with NCAA clearinghouse, this is the organization that will evaluate your school grades with your SAT or ACT scores to determine if you will be eligible to play collegiate basketball.

My coaches use to tell me, “If you can play, they will find you.” Being able to play is not good enough anymore. You have to get out there and be where the coaches can find you. Top Prospects is a great way to put yourself in front of coaches from across the country. Make sure your Top Prospects profile is up to date with your latest stats and information.

Over the years the one thing that I’ve noticed is that if a player can shoot the ball he has the ability to get an athletic scholarship. Just look at the AAU basketball seen how many players have you seen under 6 feet that can shoot the lights out end up with 10 plus scholarship offers. As you know your ability to shoot has more to do with how hard you work in the gym then with natural talent.

Your Play in front of College Coaches

This year when you’re playing high school or AAU basketball whether boys or girls prove to college coaches that you can get your shot off at anytime. If you’re hitting your shot your stock can sky rocket, I’ve seen a few players have a great day of shooting on the AAU basketball circuit and pick up Division II scholarship offer. If there is any position in basketball where your basketball stock can rise very quickly it’s the shooting guard.

Your Highlight Tape

When creating your highlight video it’s important to show your ability to hit your shot anywhere on the court. Some things to include: mid range jumpers, coming off screens to make your jumper and three pointers. Also it would help to include plays where you get to the basketball and perform lay ups or dunks.

On your highlight video you need to show that you have what it takes to make big shots. Some things to include is any late game baskets that helped your team get the victory or a few free throws that sealed the game.

It’s is important that your highlight video shows college coaches that you’re someone that works extremely hard on their jump shot. Coaches love to see players with excellent fundamentals on their shot; that means shoulders square, feet facing the basket and a good follow through. Great shooting guard make shooting their life.

J.J. Reddick is a prime example of this he was a player for Duke that was an excellent clutch shooter, his ability to shoot is what got him a scholarship and eventually allowed him to make it to the NBA. I can bet he spent countless hours trying to perfect his jump shot. If you’re looking to follow in the footsteps of other great shooting guards the most important thing that you must show college coaches is that you have the ability to shoot for them. If you play shooting guard and you would like to showcase your skills to coaches create your FREE profile on TopProspects.ca