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The way Brandon Sizemore figured it, his basketball career had come to a near-perfect, albeit unwanted, ending.

The recent Newport graduate, a scrappy sparkplug on an overachieving team, had helped the Wildcats to an improbable run to the state tournament at Rupp Arena.

But he was 5 feet 9 and the squad’s sixth-leading scorer. His name wasn’t on recruiting watch lists, and college coaches hadn’t come to see his games. “I thought that was it,” Sizemore said. “Then this kind of popped up.”

Sizemore will attend NAIA Georgetown College in the fall on a partial basketball scholarship. He’ll face an uphill climb for varsity playing time on a huge roster that features several former NCAA Division I players.

And he’s not alone. Every year, small colleges add more roster space on more athletic teams to attract more students and more tuition money to their campuses. As a result, high school students have more opportunities than ever to play college sports, sometimes regardless of their skill level. It’s an option for many. But according to experts, students and their parents must enter the small-school recruiting process with open eyes.

According to a recent NCAA study, the association’s member schools are adding nearly 8,000 athletes every year. According to another NCAA study, from 1982 to 2007 the number of Division III athletes increased from 85,521 to 158,621 – a growth rate of 85 percent.

Most of the increase has come at the smallest schools because they have little to lose and much to gain. Division III schools can’t offer athletic scholarships. They field a variety of teams while spending relatively little. Those teams bring exposure – as well as millions of dollars in tuition – to the schools’ typically small, private and expensive liberal arts campuses.

Similarly priced and sized NAIA colleges are in a comparable situation but do offer athletic scholarships.

What small schools find in the recruiting process, according to experts, are students and parents who are willing to go to any lengths for a college athletics experience.

“The parents – even if they’re smart – they’re lambs to slaughter,” said Tom Elias of College Prospects of America. “Kids are emotional. They pick a school because of the color of the uniform or because the coach is nice or the other guys in the cafeteria say it’s a cool school. Meanwhile, the parents are looking at an expense of $20,000 to $40,000 per year for four years. Maybe that school gives your kid $1,000 and you can put in the newspaper that Johnny got a scholarship. But all of a sudden the parents are getting a loan for $19,000 a year.”

Some coaches say that for some seniors, the allure of calling oneself a college athlete – along with the pomp and circumstance that surrounds their decision – directly affects their futures.

Conner athletic director Tom Stellman said as recently as 10 years ago his school would hold one or two “signing ceremonies” a year. They usually were held when a highly recruited Division I athlete signed his or her national letter of intent. Now, he says, Conner averages 40 ceremonies a year. Sometimes the athletes are going to college on scholarship. This time of year, when Division III schools are landing commitments from students, many are not.

“Our policy is supposed to be one group (signing) in the winter and one in the spring,” Stellman said. “But everybody wants their own. We need to do them all at one time, as a team. It used to be more about team, not the individual. It just kind of evolved that way. … It’s out of hand.”

How out of hand? Roster numbers tell the tale.

Lindsey Wilson, an NAIA program in Kentucky, had 33 players on its men’s basketball roster last year. Rio Grande, an NAIA program in Ohio, had 30. By contrast, NCAA Division I schools such as UC, Xavier and Kentucky carry about half that many players.

Brescia, another NAIA school in Kentucky, had a 46-player baseball roster last year. That’s 13 players more than last year’s College World Series champion, LSU.

NCAA Division III football power Mount Union started the 2008 season with 215 players, including an 84-player freshman team. Meanwhile, Division I programs are allowed just 85 total scholarships.

Local Division III schools Thomas More and Mount St. Joseph started their football programs in 1990, partly to increase the schools’ enrollments. After struggling early, both programs have been nationally ranked in recent years and maintained rosters between 90 and 120 players..

Mount St. Joseph coach Rod Huber said building a program is a process – one that places a premium on numbers.

“When we were 0-10, we took anybody who would walk and chew gum,” he said. “… I tell kids all the time, if you really love this game, there’s a Division III program for you. It might not be Mount St. Joseph. But there are places out there, like we were 10 years ago, that are just looking for bodies – anybody who wants to play.”

Even at elite small-college programs, the numbers game is evident.

Harrison graduate Steve Strassell was a standout pitcher at Division II power Tusculum (Tenn.) College. He arrived on campus in 2004 to find a 51-player roster that included 27 pitchers.

“When you’re a senior in high school and you’re being recruited, sometimes you can get a sense for how competitive it’s going to be,” he said. “You have schools come in and say, ‘We really want you, but we’d really like you to walk on and then earn a scholarship.’ You kind of get the feeling that they’re thinking, ‘Hey, worst-case scenario, we have one more body on campus paying tuition.’ ”

To that end, the athletic departments at many smaller schools assign each sport an enrollment goal – a number of roster spots each coach should fill to increase or maintain the size of the student body.

The policy has worked at Lindsey Wilson, where athletic director Willis Pooler said enrollment goals and the addition of several sports have raised the number of the school’s athletes from 400 to 700 in the last seven years.

“One of the things that athletics bring to the table from an enrollment standpoint is you’re bringing in students who might not have otherwise looked at your school,” said Pooler. “That’s important. We look at that when we look at what programs we want to offer. We also just started a nursing program. We try to attract students in all kinds of ways.”

Lindsey Wilson uses JV teams to develop varsity players and add enrollment.

“For some students, it’s just participatory,” said Pooler. “For others, it’s a way to get into the varsity lineup. … But we’re not taking people who have no business playing. They’re at least JV-level athletes coming in.”

And when it comes to NAIA programs like Lindsey Wilson, many of the JV players receive athletic scholarships. According to NAIA rules, JV scholarships don’t count against the program’s scholarship limits. So even JV recruits often receive thousands of dollars worth of incentives to continue their careers.

Cooper High School senior Shumekia Overstreet is one of those players. The undersized center, who averaged 2.0 points and 2.9 rebounds for a fledgling program that went 11-16 this past season, recently signed with Midway College. The NAIA school’s annual tuition is $24,000. After grants and academic money and $11,000 in athletic money, she’ll pay about a quarter of regular tuition.

“I was stunned (by the scholarship offer),” said Overstreet’s mother Darla. “… When she first mentioned she wanted to play basketball in college, I said, ‘Ummm, Shumekia, I don’t know.

“But she loves the game. Even if she doesn’t get a lot of playing time, she has a core group of people that she can bond with and turn to. That’s important in college.”

Brandon Sizemore, the Newport grad, will have plenty of teammates to turn to. Georgetown had 33 players on last season’s varsity and JV teams. He said he knows he’s entering the program as a JV player – the JV and varsity practice separately and play different schedules – but he hopes to crack the starting lineup.

Georgetown coach Happy Osborne wouldn’t comment about Sizemore’s future or the inner workings of his program, but it’s obvious Georgetown isn’t the only side benefiting from the arrangement. Sizemore, who landed on Georgetown’s radar after Newport’s athletic director sent out a recruiting questionnaire on his behalf, wanted to go to Georgetown even before Osborne contacted him. He said if he keeps his grades up, after grants and scholarships, he’ll pay only $2,000 of the school’s annual $35,000 tuition.

“Money would have been the only reason why I couldn’t have gone there,” he said. “I’m not the richest. Coach Osborne told me he’d see what he could do, and they came back with a great offer.”

The challenge facing small-college coaches is projecting how high school seniors will develop while giving them a fair assessment. The coaches then must decide how much scholarship money to give the player, or in the case of Division III coaches, whether or not to invite him or her to join the team. At times, it becomes an ethical dilemma.

“There are schools that bring 20 or 25 kids in as freshmen, and then the kids show up and all of a sudden they get cut,” said Mount St. Joseph men’s basketball coach Larry Cox. “The creed I try to tell our coaches: Never recruit anybody who we don’t think can ever be anything more than a JV player after two years.”

The onus, according to high school coaches, should be on the recruits. Many tell players and their parents to research the schools interested in them. Go to their games; ask to see their practices; talk to the players. Compare your skills to theirs.

Ryan Vogel is doing just that. The recent Silver Grove graduate plans on attending Thomas More in the fall. He also would like to play on the Saints’ JV basketball team. So he spent the weeks after his senior season playing in open gyms with Thomas More players to find out if he could compete.

Batavia graduate Justin Lowe said he wished he’d had that same mentality when he enrolled at Thomas More in 2000. Lowe was part of a 15-player freshman class for the Saints basketball team. But he quickly learned why some small schools bring in so many players. He received enough money in grants and academic scholarships that during his freshman season he paid only room and board. By his sophomore year, he was on academic probation. Without the academic scholarships, he owed full tuition. On top of school and basketball, he took a job at CVS before leaving school.

Lowe, now 28, still owes approximately $30,000 in student loans.

“I wanted to stay in school, but there was really nothing else I could do,” he said. “There’s school and there’s sports. But at the end of the day you have to pay your bills. I’m still happy I went there. I just wish I would have had my head on right.”

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If you want a college athletic scholarship then don’t wait any longer. You must start today. Learn how to choose the right athletic conference for your talents and have a successful recruiting season ending with a scholarship offer.

CLICK HERE to see the college athletic scholarship recruiting guide that will show you how to earn the athletic scholarship you deserve.

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The competition for earning and being awarded a college athletic scholarship is getting harder every year. There is a correct path to take to get one no matter the sport you play. These 5 mistakes are the biggest that I have seen every season.

1. You don’t have the grades.

I’m sure we have all heard of the talented athlete who should have gotten a scholarship, but was left sitting home in the fall because they could not get into school. In addition to having to pass the NCAA Clearinghouse, athletes must also meet the minimum requirements to get into the college where they are being recruited.

2. High School athletes who only want to play NCAA Division I.

Part of being awarded with a roster spot in college is being able to take a true measure of your talent and put your ego aside. If you are good enough to play DI, then by all means, go for it. But if you are not, you may have a hard time getting an offer and should look at DII schools or smaller conference DI.

3. Starting the recruiting process too late.

As the scene becomes more competitive each year, parents and students are starting earlier in their high school athletic career to get a jump on the other students. Do not wait until your high school career is over to think about playing in college. If you are a sophomore or junior, the time to start is now.

4. Getting hurt during the season.

I realize that if you get hurt it is not your fault. But you can’t use the injury as an excuse not to get an offer. There is a right and wrong way to treat injuries that occur during your career.

5. Not knowing what coaches are looking for.

You have been working most of your life at your sport. Don’t waste years of training by not knowing what coaches want in a recruit. If you want a college athletic scholarship then don’t wait any longer. You must start today. Learn more about how to avoid costly mistakes that will ruin your college athletic scholarship chances.

CLICK HERE if you want to avoid these mistakes. Get a college athletic scholarship recruiting plan that shows you the proven way to earn the athletic scholarship you deserve.

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Track and field/cross country schools in NCAA DI have 12.6 scholarships for men and 18 for women. NCAA DII has 12.6 for both men and women. NAIA schools have 12.6 for both men and women and the largest allotment is in the NJCAA which has 30 scholarships for men and women each. It is also classified as an equivalency sport which means the scholarships can be divided into partial amounts and usually are. Meaning if you are awarded a .4 or 40% partial scholarship, then the coach in NCAA DI Men’s would have 12.6 scholarships to divide among as many athletes as they wish.

In order to earn a track and field scholarship you must at the minimum qualify for State’s as a high school athlete. Each state is slightly different and at the state meet you want to place in the top-8 in your even or multiple events to qualify for All-State status.  This will place you in the top 400 in the country essentially for that event.

Here are 5 tips for success in earning a track and field scholarship:

1. Be able to perform well at two or more events. Specialization is rare at the collegiate level and it is easier for a coach to award a scholarship if you can be a points earner in multiple events. If you throw the shot put well, make sure you work as hard at the discuss also. Distance runners should be able and have show success in cross country and distance track events.
2. Be able to contribute immediately. With scholarships scarce in collegiate track and field, it is hard to award scholarships on athletes that show potential but may never meet collegiate standards. Work hard in the off-season and do extra in-season to continually improve your strength and conditioning.
3. Begin recruiting early. You need to start your recruiting game plan in your junior year for track and field scholarships. Waiting until your senior track season has started is too late.
4. Cast a wide net. Search and contact at least 50 colleges. Track and field scholarships fill up fast and coaches can’t recruit you if they don’t know about you.
5. Get good grades. We have said this many times in other articles but we feel it can’t be said enough. Having less than a 3.0 makes it impossible for 50% of NCAA DI schools to recruit you because they can not get you past the admissions office.

Use those 5 tips for success as a starting point for getting a track and field scholarship along with a solid recruiting game plan. With some hard work you can earn a college athletic scholarship in this sport if you start early, take the right steps, communicate with coaches correctly and beat out the competition.

CLICK HERE to get the insider guide to getting the track and field scholarship you deserve and have earned.

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Baseball is classified as a equivalency sport. This means there is a set number of scholarships that can be awarded, but the coach can divvy up the scholarships and awards partials to as many players as they wish. NCAA DI baseball teams can award 11.7 scholarships. NCAA DII have 9, NAIA have 12 and the biggie here is NJCAA schools that have 24. This means if the coach awards you a .4 or 40% partial, very common in baseball, he has 11.3 more scholarships to give out.  Divide this over four to five years of athletes and a coach may only have 2-3 scholarships to divide up each year for incoming freshman.

There are just over 135,000 senior high school baseball players in the US. Of these players, 8,200 will make a NCAA team as a freshman. This includes DIII and non-scholarship players. The actual number of baseball scholarships for incoming freshman is only around 1,100. Coaches can also recruit you as a walk-on in baseball or award small .1 or .2 scholarships with the verbal agreement that if you make the rotation your scholarship will be re-examined at year’s end.

In other sports we do not recommend this so much, but baseball is much different. Last year alone there were 161 players drafted from the NJCAA into the Major League Baseball Professional Draft.  Depending on your goals and how your recruiting is going, considering junior colleges is an excellent choice to get a baseball scholarship. Junior college players are also highly recruited into NCAA DI and DII schools.

CLICK HERE if you have the drive and ability to get a college baseball scholarship. We will show you the way.

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There are a lot of football scholarships out there and if you are willing to put in the effort you can get one. The biggest mistake we see if athletes who think they are not good enough to get one, so they don’t even try. You don’t have to be a “blue-chip” athlete or even All-State. If you have the desire and some talent, you will be able to find a college coach you will believe in you.

Here are 5 Tips to Increase Your Scholarship Chances:

1. Play Multiple Positions: Show coaches you are an athlete and not just a wide-receiver.
2. Get the job done in the classroom: Having less than a 3.0 GPA closes the door on 50% of DI schools.
3. Play another sport:Success in other sports makes up for minor deficiencies on the football field.
4. Get good film: Get copies of all of your games from your coach if your family can’t film the games.
5. Strength & Conditioning: Put in the extra effort in the weight room to prepare your body for college football.

Incorporate these 5 items into your routine now and start developing a recruiting game plan that will help you get a football scholarship. We have seen year after year, those who have determination and put in alot of effort during the recruiting season get scholarships over those athletes who may be more talented, but didn’t know how to play the recruiting game.

Want to earn a college football scholarship? Let us show you the insider recruiting guide that has helped over one thousand high school football players like you. CLICK HERE to get recruited today.

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NCAA Division III schools do not offer direct athletic scholarships but they do “help” those who are attending the school to play sports. Most DIII schools will offer a financial aid package to those who were recruited that contains grants and other scholarships that total 50% of tuition.

What sports scholarship you go after depends on your personal goals for playing college sports. Is your only goal to earn a full scholarship? Then you need to look at DI and DII schools. Are you looking for a more balanced athletic and social college experience? Then smaller schools might be a better fit.

If a larger, more competitive school offers you a partial scholarship, then if you were to step back and recruit yourself to schools in a smaller division, you would stand a better chance at a larger scholarship or full scholarship.

There are many options, but you first must decide what your personal reasons are for wanting a sports scholarship. By doing a personal assessment of your academic, social and athletic abilities you can make the recruiting season much more rewarding and successful.

CLICK HERE to get the college athletic recruiting guide that will show you step-by-step how to get a sports scholarship.

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