The competition for sports scholarships in the United States is extremely high. As a matter of fact, it has grown tremendously over the past decade and will continue to do so. We always talk about the importance of an athlete standing out in the recruiting process and doing all the right things in order to impress coaches and to beat out other athletes of the same level. This is definitely true and an extremely important thing to keep in mind. However, in this blog post we want to talk about the importance of exposure and how you can further improve your chances of getting that dream scholarship that you are seeking.
While this does not necessarily apply for team sports as much as it does for individual sports, it still does to a certain extent. For example, playing soccer for a big club or academy rather than for a small local team, even though you might now have the same statistics (goals, assists, etc.), probably will help you more in the long run. Now when we look at individual sports like golf or tennis, exposure becomes even more crucial. So what do we mean by exposure for those two sports in particular?
When it comes to tennis and golf, first of all, you should always try to play the biggest possible tournaments. On one hand, it will make you a better player if you play against the best players in your country or in your region. On the other hand, it will give US college coaches a better idea of your level since they will be able to compare you to other players they might know and they will be able to see how you handle more pressure and tougher conditions (this applies to golf more than tennis obviously). So it will definitely help coaches make a scholarship decision faster and without necessarily having to see you play in person.
Now, the second thing you can do in those sports to increase your scholarship opportunities, is to play in tournaments where you compete in front of college coaches. Those can be big tournaments in Europe for example, that coaches typically attend, or events in the US. Obviously, if you can make it to America to an event here, that will increase your chances even further as it is more likely that a lot of coaches will be there, just because traveling within the US is much easier for them. However, if that is not possible, there are a bunch of events in Europe where a good amount of coaches typically fly to. We know which events those are and can definitely help you adjust your schedule in order to maximize your exposure.
As always, not every process is the same and this might now apply to every athlete. In a lot of cases though, this can add another little advantage that you might have compared to your competition. So like we always say, don’t just wait for coaches to recruit you. Do the little extra things and try to stand out as much as possible. And one additional way of doing that is by maximizing your exposure!