by
Jose R. San Miguel
As published in The TAKEOFF Magazine, October 2021.
Competing in college is the ultimate goal for many high school athletes. You yearn to wear a singlet from your school of choice, live in an athletic dorm, and benefit from the perks of being a student athlete like preferential class schedule, lots of gear, tutors, and recognition. Plus, you hope to surpass your high school record.
The truth is that less than 2% of high school athletes continue competing in their sport in college. And of those, fewer than 30% finish all four years of eligibility.
Being a collegiate athlete is a job. You will train twenty hours per week, which does not include hours spent traveling to meets. Between practice, school work, and relationships, your time management will be challenged as you will have to prioritize rest and recovery.
You will be forced to give 100% of yourself every day or be replaced by the next athlete who is managing a little bit better than you.
And, if you make it, it will be one of the most rewarding chapters of your life. Those who complete their athletic journey enjoy a unique experience that no one can take away. You may be too young to fully comprehend the magnitude of the accomplishment. Employers will be glad to consider you for jobs because if you compete for four years, they know you are disciplined and organized. You have overcome adversity and achieved.
College Athletics is a Business
College athletics is a business. A coach’s decisions are not emotional, they are practical. Their job security depends on how well the team performs at the conference meets, and they will recruit athletes who they think will be able to score points for the team during their four years in school.
The bigger the athletic recognition of the school, the higher the athletic standards to get recruited. If you are looking at a Southeastern Conference school, you need to be jumping at least thirteen feet as a woman and seventeen feet as a man.
The reverse is also true. The higher the academic recognition, typically the lower the athletic standards to get recruited, although there are exceptions. Smaller Division I schools have lower athletic requirements than larger ones.
In order to learn where you can play, take the list of schools you are interested in and go to www.tfrrs.com. Look up the conference of the school, MEAC, SEC, ACC, Sunbelt, Big South, etc. Research what heights scored at the conference meet for the last three years. What heights did the meet open with? Can you clear those heights? Now, consider your personal record and see where you might fit in.
If the women conference scorers jumped 13’, 13’6, and 14’ and your current PR is 10’6’, you have work to do, and you need to be realistic about what you can accomplish with the time you have left in high school.
Can you add two feet to your personal record in two years? Yes, but you will have to work for it. You will need to train year-round, and pay close attention to the difference between what your coach is instructing and what you are actually executing. Where are you brushing off their recommendations or being stubborn?
In the space between direction and doing lies your opportunity for improvement.
You will need to practice pole vault two to three days per week. There is too much technical work needed to polish each phase of the jump. This can only be achieved through consistent effort over time. You and your family will have to prioritize vault practice.
Achieving Your Dream
Sports is a vehicle to an education. You must fit into a school as a student before you play as an athlete. There are thousands of colleges and universities in the country, and you are a perfect match for one of them. Find the school that is the best one for you.
What do you want to study? Be sure the school has your first, second, and third choices for a major.
Don’t be swayed by the brand of a school. Universities are expert marketers! You may think you want to attend a big school because you like their football team, but if it is not the right match for you academically, it is not worthy of your time, consideration, and ultimately your dollars.
There are 3 types of student athletes:
Walk on – you are good, but not good enough yet to earn a scholarship. The coach may offer a semester trial to give you time to train and jump a certain height. A walk on is the most dangerous type of athlete as they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If this is you, prepare your mind to work harder than everyone else. Be the first to practice and the last to leave.
Recruited/ Preferred Walk On– you have earned a spot on the team, but are not receiving any scholarship.
Scholarship – you are given athletic money to cover some or all of your college expenses. You will be expected to perform, and you can do it.
We have had athletes receive full ride athletic scholarships to the wrong school for them, and because of that, they dropped out and are no longer competing and no longer receiving an education. Fit matters.
Let’s Talk About Money
How much are you willing to spend on your college education?
Everyone’s situation is different. If you will be taking out student loans, calculate how much debt you are willing to incur at the end of four years and work backwards from that. Have open conversations with your parents. It can be difficult to talk about money, but it’s better if everyone is on the same page.
If you decide that you want to graduate with no more than $30,000 in student loans and your college of choice costs $15,000 per year, then you have to estimate that you will take out $7,500 in loans per year, or $3,750 per semester. You will essentially pay half upfront, and half through the loans, which come due six months after you graduate. Interest will accrue and that $30,000 may turn into $38,000 by the time you are done paying it off.
If a school is out of your price range, get creative, but be realistic. Don’t burden yourself with too much debt. Someone has to pay those loans back, likely you.
It will be helpful to create a spread sheet listing the schools you are applying to, the tuition to attend each, the potential scholarships you hope to earn, and the impact on the bottom line, which is what you have to pay out.
Communicating With Coaches
Once you have identified the schools you are interested in, create a plan to contact the coaches.
If, after doing your research on www.tfrrs.com, you are close to being in the top three in your school of choice, you are ready to contact the school coach. If you are not close to the top three, you will be better off putting the work in and reaching the target height for performance.
You have one shot in your communication to the coach. Do not waste it. When a college coach receives your email or phone call, the first thing they will do is look at Milesplit to validate your claimed marks and overall athleticism.
- Ensure that your profile is accurate, and contact the administrator if it is not.
- Do not compete in events you have not trained for. Coaches look for performance benchmarks to measure athleticism and potential. If you ran the 200 meters without training just to help your high school team, and ran it super slowly, the coach may overlook it. But if your profile also shows that you ran another lackluster time in the 100 meters, and have a middling long jump mark, they will assume that you lack potential, and will move on to the next recruit. Compete only when you are ready to do so. Once a performance shows up on your profile, it starts telling a loud story about you.
- Prepare your email to the coach and include athletic information, accomplishments, and why you are a good fit for that university and team. What can you contribute?
Your communication should be grammatically correct, contain your transcript, character letters of recommendation from coaches, and a video of your best performance. Invite the coach to attend a practice if a reasonable distance for them to travel. Request a time to have a phone call with them to learn more about their program. This email is your resume – take the time to do it right. And it must be you who does it, not your parents. Coaches communicate with the athletes.
- If you are in the top 3 at the school, complete the athlete’s questionnaire on the university’s athletic website.
- If you are in the top 3 and are committed to pursuing a collegiate career, register for the NCAA Eligibility Clearinghouse. There is a fee for this.
- Follow-up, follow-up, and follow-up. The #1 ranked athletes in the country may not need to pursue the coaches, because coaches are eager to have them. The rest of us need to be persistent. Email the coaches, call them, and if necessary, show up and introduce yourself. Show gumption. The coach may be waiting to see which athletes truly want to be a part of their program.
Tell Yourself the Truth
The competitive landscape of athletics is pushing the performance levels to new heights. College coaches are looking for developed athletes who can make immediate contributions to their teams. They want successful students who can maintain their eligibility status. They want drama free athletes who are eager to work, and be part of something bigger than themselves.
Current seniors will face the most challenging recruiting process in recent years as the NCAA gave an extra year of eligibility to those whose seasons were affected by Covid. Several high tier programs have fired coaches, and others have dismantled programs so the options are fewer.
Honestly ask yourself the following:
- Am I good enough to get into the university based on my own academic merits?
Coaches do not want to worry about you succeeding in school.
2. Would I be happy at this university if I am just a student?
Your passion for being a student athlete may dwindle; you may get injured; be cut from the team; or your coach may leave the school. Transferring is an expensive process as it adds in most cases an extra year of paying for college as not all courses will carry over.
3. Is the financial burden on my family or on my future worth attending a specific university?
Is the upside to your athletic development worth the additional financial burden? Don’t make emotional decisions about money. Being a student athlete may reduce your financial burden. Do not overlook the smaller public universities in your state.
We have coached 31 high schoolers into collegiate athletics at their university of choice. They all trained three days per week at Pole Vault Carolina and on the other days, improved their strength and speed at their high schools or private training facilities. The dividend on the investment of hard work was becoming collegiate athletes.
Of the fourteen who graduated from high school between 2012 and 2016 only seven completed their NCAA eligibility, but all of them graduated from college. Most collegiate athletes will become professionals in something other than pole vaulting.
Athletics and life are similar. Perseverance and hard work will open doors. It is up to you to commit to become the best athlete you can be. Don’t chase a height or time, but improve your strength, speed, and technique, and the heights will show up. It is your job to use the skills learned through sports and education to become a better person.
Plan to put up high marks early in the season, so you can be done with the recruiting process and enjoy the rest of your time in high school.
How your journey starts depends on many circumstances, but once you make the team, you will be a collegiate athlete forever.
