Locating College Tennis Scholarships
If you think tennis scholarships are reserved for nationally ranked players, you may be surprised to learn that the vast majority of collegiate tennis players on financial assistance were not nationally ranked as juniors.
Even more interesting is the fact that almost 10,000 of the approximately 13,000 college students playing collegiate tennis today are on some form on financial assistance, according to collegiate newsmagazine publisher, Bob Larson, who has followed the college scene for more than 20 years.
A simple check of the numbers will explain why it may be worth your while to explore, with your high school players, opportunities to play collegiate tennis, either on a full or partial athletic scholarship, an academic or other scholarship, using grant money or without any aid.
The bottom line? Thousands of former high school players who are not highly ranked are able to participate a collegiate tennis program each year.
The Numbers
Each year, the USTA ranks 180 boys and 180 girls nationally. At
least one-third of these are already in college or are too young
for college, estimates Larson, leaving only 240 nationally-ranked
players available for recruiting by college coaches.
There are more than 280 Division I schools with tennis programs. Division I women's programs have eight scholarships which they may not split. Men have four and a half scholarships which they may split (e.g., two players may receive half scholarships). This means there are approximately 3,500 full, academic scholarships available. In addition, some schools which have no athletic scholarships get around this by giving academic scholarships if the student qualifies.
Each Division I coach recruits an average of two players per year, according to Larson. This means more than 1,100 boys and girls are needed for Division I tennis teams alone. And this number soars when you include Division II and III programs.
This is why coaches at many colleges may go 10 or 20 years without ever being able to recruit a nationally ranked player and means that your players do not have to have national rankings to be recruited to a college team.
And while all 13,000 collegiate players are not on athletic scholarships, with partial, athletic scholarships, academic scholarships and scholarships available during a player's second, third or fourth year, high school coaches and players should be aware that there are many opportunities available for talented youngsters to play college tennis and receive some amount of financial assistance.
This doesn't mean every high school player is going to get into a collegiate tennis program -- on scholarship or otherwise. To keep things realistic, remember that there are more than 13,000 high school tennis programs in the U.S. With an average of 10 players per team, this means that more than 130,000 kids are playing high school tennis -- and this doesn't include the number of highly-ranked players who are playing tennis and do not participate in high school programs.
However, keep in mind that many high school players are recreational players only who have no intention of playing college tennis, so the numbers looking at college tennis shrink proportionately.
How to Go About Applying
Based on their recruiting rules, coaches may not contact players
directly except during certain times of the year.
Players, however, may contact coaches. Start with a letter to the coach stating that you're interested in playing for him or her, when you will be attending school, and asking if he or she has spots available. The will then let you know whether or not you should send a video, letters of reference, ranking information, etc.
Preparing Your Videotape
Many coaches require that prospective players send a videotape in
lieu of a personal visit.
Videotapes should contain minimal stroke footage, and only four our five repetitions of each stroke are necessary. Watching a player hit five minutes of forehand winners, with the balls being fed from a basket, does not let a coach evaluate a prospective team member's playing skills.
Position your camera behind you, with the opponent in view.
Let the tape role, unedited, complete with the non-playing time between points caught on camera. This will allow the coach to see how a player develops points, reacts to pressure, handles bad calls, tough breaks and other miscues. Even keep the camera rolling during changeovers.
After four, five or six games, a college coach will be able to tell much about a prospective player.
Won-Lost Records
Most college coaches are not interested in a high school player's
achievements in high school competition because there is no way
to gauge the quality of opponents and because of the fact that
most, top-ranked juniors do not play high school tennis. Even a
conference title means little because of the lack of information
a college coach has on any high school conference. Even a
lopsided 87-12 high school record will count almost nothing with
most top college coaches, according to Larson. If a high school
player has done well at the state level, perhaps winning a state
tournament, that can have some bearing on a coaches decision.
Results in USTA-sanctioned tournaments and USTA rankings, however, are objective, measurable results which coaches can and do use as measuring sticks.
Include Doubles Ability
Because of possible, future rules changes by the ITA, doubles
skills might be more valuable than singles skills for
lower-ranked juniors. Currently, collegiate singles matches are
played first, with doubles matches following, allowing singles
players to play two matches (one singles and one doubles) per
dual match.
Collegiate rules may soon be changed, however, to have all matches played simultaneously, or precluding players from playing more than one match.
One top-ranked coach was asked, “If you had two kids who are basically equal in ability, which one would you choose?” His answer? “The better doubles player.”
What to Send
In addition to your videotape, you will want to send a
prospective coach a personal letter, as well as letters of
recommendation from teaching pros her or she has worked with,
sales reps of companies who have sponsored the player, teachers
and his or her high school coach. While letters of recommendation
may help, they are not a significant determining factor,
according to Larson.
Resource
The USTA publishes the Guide for Prospective College
Tennis Players, available for only $7.95 (as of
1999), which can be ordered by calling 888/832-8291. The USTA is
currently putting their catalogue of books on the 'net, and has
limited order hours (8:00-10:00am EST?) for the time being.
This book has a wealth of information on how to apply to college tennis programs, including contact information for colleges with tennis programs, complete with names of coaches, addresses and phone numbers.
You may also want to find a copy of Peterson's Sports Scholarships and College Athletic Programs.
For more information on college tennis, including a directory of U.S. colleges and universities with tennis programs, click here.
Here are some other useful links with general information on college scholarships:
http://www.collegenet.com/mach25
http://scholarships.salliemae.com