College Recruiting TOD: There Are No Do Overs
Quick note: TOD stands for “Thought of the Day.”
Still to this day it amazes me how many student-athletes and parents put off learning about or taking steps in the college recruiting process. I’m not sure if it’s too scary and they just don’t want to think about it or if they’re just unsure of what to do and don’t know where to get help so they wait until they get a kick in the butt at the last minute to get started. Whatever the case, there’s one thought that I want to share today:
When it comes to college recruiting, there are NO Do Overs!
Once you’re in high school, that’s it, you have ONE chance to go through high school, play your sports, get the grades you’re going to get, take your entrance exams, contact college coaches, etc and hopefully have a successful journey on to the next level. Not only do you get just one shot at the journey as a whole, but there are so many things during the journey that, once your opportunity comes along, it’s the ONLY one you get! If you miss it, it’s gone forever. 
Take your freshman year in school as a simple example. Once that year is over, you don’t go back and get to do it all over again if you didn’t quite get the grades you wanted. You basically have one shot and that’s it. If you mess around and don’t get very good grades, you’re stuck trying to play “catch up” for the rest of your high school career trying to make up for the poor choices you made in that first year of high school.
There are no Do Overs for college recruiting. You will only go through this process as a high school student ONCE. That’s it!
So don’t wait ’till “later” to take care of your grades. Don’t wait ’till “later” to improve your athleticism and your skills. Don’t wait ’till “later” to find out what you need to do during high school to give yourself the best chance at moving on to college. Don’t wait ’till “later” to get the help you need with college entrance exams or any other part of the process. “Later” just may come and go and pass you by if you’re not ready.
If you’re already in high school (or if your child is already in high school), the time to start has already passed! Get going!
If you’ll be in high school soon, it’s never too early to start learning about what to expect in the upcoming years. It’s much less stressful and complicated if you educate yourself and learn as much as you can BEFORE having to execute your plan. Trying to learn as you go can be frustrating, overwhelming, and disappointing when you realize you’ve missed something because there’s no going back.
Where to Get Help
The NCAA just released their 2009-2010 Guide for the College-Bound Student Athlete. It’s free, you can get it HERE. I highly suggest you download it, read it, and become very familiar with it.
If the whole college recruiting process seems a little scary or overwhelming to you and you’d like some guidance along the way or if you’re just starting and want to make sure you’re on the right path from the beginning, you can get the help you need. If you’re serious about adding a few more years to your fastpitch softball career while getting an education, NCSA can help you create a plan to help you reach those goals.
What do I mean by “serious?” Serious student-athletes don’t just “want” to play in college, but actively work toward that goal by taking care of business ON and OFF the field, by making good choices, and always striving to learn and grow. If that’s you, you’re exactly the type of student-athlete NCSA can help. To have someone contact you personally, fill out the form HERE.
Wishing you the best on your college recruiting journey! Playing is college softball is so much fun ~ I hope you get to experience it.
Fail photo:http://www.flickr.com/photos/phobia/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
Great job as always Stacie
This is an entry that should be read by everyone. Athletes and non-athletes alike, regardless of age. One of the things that I try to teach my 10U softball team is that once a play is over, it’s over there’s no way to undo it you just move on to the next one. Enough mistakes and the game ends in a loss. Your entry is the same lesson about life in general and one we would do well to share with others. Great job, and thanks for an outstanding site!