College coaches are always recruiting high-school athletes to come play for their college team after they graduate. Several young students are hopeful that they will receive a sports scholarship because it is the only way they can afford to pay for their education. Colleges give away over $1 billion in sports scholarships to worthy student athletes. If you are just going to sit back and hope a college coach comes knocking on your door, you probably will be sitting there for a long time. You may be the best athlete at your school, but you still need to make an effort if you want to receive a sports scholarship. There are thousands of student athletes and not all of them were lucky enough to receive a scholarship. It is important to increase your chances of receiving a scholarship long before the coaches start recruiting.

Here are is a simple guide to sports scholarships:
First, you need to prepare a sports resume. The coaches want to see a list of all your accomplishments. You also need to include a 10-15 minute video that highlights your best moments. If you played on a high-school team, ask your coach to write a letter of recommendation.

Second, it is time to make a list of all the schools you are interested in. Once you have your information gathered you need to assess the different schools and find out which one will be able to use you. Make sure the list includes the names of the coaches at each of the schools and that you know how to get in touch with them.

Third, apply for admission to the University. A guidance counselor can walk you through this process pretty quickly. You will need to send your transcripts to the school and you will need to pay a processing fee. Once you are admitted to the school, it will be easier to gain access to the coaches and to the University. This can really help you when you are preparing for your interviews.

Fourth, now that you have everything ready you need to get ready for the interviews. The coaches will be looking for someone with tremendous talent but they will also be looking for a student that has respect for their coaches and teammates. They also want an individual that has confidence and has some goals for the future. Most college athletes never make it into the professional sports arena so the coach will ask you what your plans for the future include. This is a time when you need to explain what your major will be and what job you intend to do someday. The interview is critical to your chances of being awarded the scholarship. You need to ask the coach a few questions about the school. Ask them about the scholarship and the other athletes you are competing against. Find out how much of your college expenses will be covered if you are offered the scholarship. It is also important to find out how the coach plans to use you if they do award you with the scholarship.

Fifth, now that you have passed the interview, it is time to wait. If you haven't heard back, you need to follow-up with the school. Some scholarships are withdrawn due to budget cuts and you could miss out on the opportunity to receive a scholarship with another school because you were waiting on one school.

The sports scholarships are awarded through the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Associate of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). In order to maintain a sports scholarship, the student will be required to spend at least 15-20 hours practicing and training. They will need to travel with the team, which could cause them to miss classes. The students must also be enrolled in at least 12 credit hours of school and they need to maintain a set GPA.

Each school also has their own standards that the students must meet in order to maintain their scholarships. This could be simple things like dressing up on game day or when you are on the sideline and injured. You may also need to limit your exposure to parties and you will probably have a curfew during the playing season.

How to increase your chances of getting a Sports Scholarship
There are some things you can do to increase your chances of receiving a sports scholarship. To start, you need to pay attention to how good you are at your particular sport. If you are one of the star athletes, you will attract attention from local newspapers and media members. Once people start talking about you, the college coaches will begin to notice you. Normally, you attract the attention from the regional schools first. If you continue to get better, the bigger schools will start to notice you. It also doesn't hurt to have a good coach that has some connections with the bigger schools. Have your parents start to record your games and make condensed videos of them. Upload them to the internet so they can start to attract more attention. Obtaining a sports scholarship is all about how well you can promote yourself.

The next thing you need to do is to look at the smaller schools. The smaller private schools may give you a full-ride scholarship, but this can also hinder your chances of gaining national exposure. If you want to become a professional athlete, you might want to stick to the bigger schools that get a lot of attention. If you only want to play sports, then you should look at the smaller schools as you can easily become a big star with them. Smaller schools often have larger amounts of money to award because the price of tuition is a lot less than the bigger schools. You can easily go through college without paying a cent while you may end up taking out student loans at another school.

Try accepting a 2-year scholarship from a smaller school. Several larger schools will send their scouts to these schools instead of the high schools because they get to see you play at a higher level. This is a great way to get all of your schooling paid for because the first 2 years were covered by the smaller school and the last 2 will be covered by the bigger school.

Now, let's say you were a big offensive lineman in high school but you didn't quite make the cut for the college team, what are your options? There is a simple solution for you, become a cheerleader. The cheerleading squad is always looking for big guys to join their team because they can handle harder physical routines. You may not get a full-ride sport scholarship out of it, but there is some money available to people that make the cut.

Another way to improve your chances of receiving a sports scholarship is to become a member of the practice squad. You may have to pay for your tuition on your own for your freshman year, but if the coaches like what they see, they will offer you a scholarship. Coaches like athletes to volunteer for the practice squad because it helps their older athletes to have stronger conditioning. The starters are able to practice against better athletes, helping them when they have to compete against other schools.

The best option you have is to be recruited as an `athlete'. This means you have played multiple sports in high-school and you can play them in college. You can become a member of the football team and the baseball team. If you have mastered multiple sports, it will increase your popularity with the recruiters.

The last thing you can do to really increase your chances of receiving a sports scholarship is to have good grades. Not only do coaches want to bring you in to improve their team, they want to give you the money knowing that you will use it to further your education. They want to bring a person that has higher grades and isn't looking a sports scholarship as an easy way to get to the NFL or to another professional sporting company.

Make sure you spend time with your guidance counselor to make sure you are taking the right courses. Since sports scholarships are limited on the number of years a student can receive them, you need to complete your education within this time frame. This means, if you receive a 2-year scholarship, you need to finish up your Associates Degree and a little bit of your Bachelor's Degree before the money is gone.

Save every newspaper clipping that talks about you and every news broadcast that features you. The more media attention you can get, the more college coaches will start to notice you. Use the media clips and blend them with your own highlights and start sending tapes to college coaches in your Junior year. This will give the coaches an entire year to come out to your high school and watch you play.