Top-Tier Athletes Work To Be Recruited
Two Percent Of Athletes End Up With Offers
Sydney Becker
December 17, 2021
Each year, student athletes dream about getting scholarships to play at the collegiate level, but the numbers actually recruited are lower than some might think. About 8 million student athletes currently play high school sports in the United States, but just 2 percent of those athletes are recruited to play in college, according to the National College Athletic Association.
Basketball player junior Kayden Fish is currently going through the recruiting process.
“I really just wanted to pay for my college and not have to worry about having my mom pay,” Fish said.
Whether it’s natural talent, hard work or both, student athletes trying to earn a sports scholarship put in work to reach that goal. And not just with sports, but academically as well. Junior Sydney Becker plays softball and said she works hard to get where she wants to be.
“They’re not going to take athletes that aren’t, one, good people and two, aren’t good academically,” Becker said. “If you have a 3.6 GPA but you’re better than this girl with a 4.0, they’re going to take the girl with the 4.0.”
Student athletes work to set themselves apart from others in order to be part of the 2 percent.
“I hit softballs every day, and I play catch every day even in the cold,” Becker said. “It’s just stuff you have to do to set yourself apart. Anything you can do to get even 1% better than last year is what’s going to help you, and that for me has been really stressful to fit in my everyday life.”
Being able to find balance in everyday life and trying to incorporate a job, school, athletics and mental health can be hard to balance as a teenager.
“I want this so bad, I have given up everything. Everything,” Becker said.
One of the toughest parts of the process the athletes have to endure is the waiting game with recruiters.
“It’s definitely something you have to be patient about,” Fish said.
Fish said he starts doubting himself after a while when waiting to hear from a recruiter.
“You really start to think, ‘Maybe I suck,’ or, ‘Maybe I’m bad,’ but it’s really all in your head,” Fish said.
Athletes often have to wait for recruiters to reach out to them or to respond back to them.
“I have emailed probably a hundred different college coaches,” Becker said. “I send emails out three times a week to them and send them my softball resume, academics, stuff like that. And to be honest, I’ve only probably gotten out of a hundred emails I’ve sent to a hundred different colleges, probably only got 10 responses.”
While it is the student athlete being recruited, families often play a big role in the process.
“It’s the job of the kid and the family,” activities director and head basketball coach Chris Neff said. “I don’t know too many high school teachers and coaches that aren’t interested in their student athletes’ future. But it’s such a big part of the individual’s life that they have to be involved.”
