Can sports be a possible assist into college?

A college may be interested in you for the sport you play even if you're not a widely recruited football or basketball high school star.

At various U.S. colleges today there are many college sports teams (as opposed to college sports clubs) in addition to football and basketball whose coaches may have a say in your acceptance at the college.

Some of these sports may be fencing, tennis, swimming, lacrosse, track, golf. Schools may have women's teams in some sports and men's teams in other sports.

You should play sports because you love it or it's what you want to learn. You should not participate in high school sports only as something to put on your college application. If you are not interested in sports, spend your limited free time pursuing something you love.

Where can you learn which schools have which college teams?

Check out the National Collegiate Athletic Association's website at www.ncaa.org to see which schools have college teams in your sport and gender.

The website provides information on how student athletes can comply with NCAA bylaws in order to compete in intercollegiate athletics as well as information on what high school students need to do to be eligible to compete their first year in college. The site also has guidelines that coaches and prospects must follow during the recruiting process.

If you are planning to visit a campus with a college sports team on which you would be interested in playing, contact the coach ahead of time for an appointment. You can ask your high school coach to put in a good word for you with the college coach.

If you and the college coach have a meeting of the minds, it is quite possible that the coach will notify the admissions office that he/she is interested in you (although this doesn't necessarily mean a sports scholarship or an acceptance). If the team could use your ability and you want to play on the team, you might thus find yourself in a stronger applicant position.

Do you have to play on the team if the coach has put in a good word for you?

If you tell a college coach that you will be a member of his/her team if you are accepted to the college and then attend, this is an implied contract. This is especially so if the college coach has put in a good word for you with the admissions office.

It is a serious commitment that you must keep for at least one season of your sport. If you have no intention of participating in that sport once you get to college, you should not tell a college coach you will participate in order to get the coach to help with your application.

This is an important life lesson - only make commitments that you intend to keep. The trustworthiness of your word is a very important attribute for success in life. You want to earn the reputation of someone who can be trusted.

A coach putting in a good word for you that helps get you into college is the same as a debt (like car payments). You pay back the debt to the coach with sweat equity - your time and effort - rather than in money payments for the car. And you have a responsibility to pay off the debt before you join a fraternity or sorority or undertake other activities that interfere with your commitment to the coach.