In the NCAA there are 347 Division-I schools. This means that getting onto one of these teams is very competitive. According to the NCAA approximately 460,000 out of nearly 8 million high school athletes attend a Division-I school for sports. It takes a lot more than just being skillful to get recruited to play at the top level.

There is no definitive path to getting recruited. No two athletes are the same, and the recruiting process is often different and unique for each student-athlete. The recruiting process is always different for every sport and every team due to the spots available and talent required.

The top players in the country will have coaches lining up to convince them to join their team. However, for most athletes, this is not the case. There are several ways to get recruited without having coaches seek you out.

Senior golf captain Luke McGann commented on his recruitment saying “I was recruited by John Sullivan from Montreat after he reached out to me and asked me to play on the golf team for the fall of 2015. He found me on a recruiting website like ncsa.”

Before a coach offers you a spot on their roster, they will first need to see you play. One of the easiest ways for this to happen is to make a highlight tape. There are several companies that can do this for you such as Hudl,Top Form Soccer, and getrecruited.com. They will film your games and edit a video with your contact information and best highlights. However, having a highlight reels won’t be the sole way to get yourself recruited, it will only get your foot in the door. College coaches want to see you play in person before taking any further action.

Camps and combines are a great way to get coaches to look at you. Camps are usually held by a certain college and will occasionally have several coaches from other schools attending. Depending on the school, some camps might be invitation only. Combines are very general and will have a variety of coaches and scouts attending.

This brings us to the next step, contacting coaches. To do this you must first decide which schools to attend. It is very important to consider if the college would be a good fit if being on the sports team was off the table. After deciding this it is time to contact the coach. The easiest way to do this is to set up a tour of the college. Coaches are usually happy to set up an interview with you when you are on campus. Even if the coach doesn’t have room for you on their team, they will still give you helpful information. By sending coaches a copy of your highlight reel as well as an email or letter explaining who you are, why you’re contacting them, and an explanation of why you want to attend their college, you start yourself down the path of playing collegiate sports.

Division-I sports teams are very competitive and aren’t the right decision for every athlete. They are a big commitment that not everyone has the time for. If playing sports in college isn’t your goal then there are other options. Division-II and division-III schools still play at a competitive level even though they may not be able to offer the same scholarships. Intramural and club teams are great ways to keep playing your sport without the commitment level required.