There are plenty of steps that you can take as a girls basketball recruit to make the process easier. NCSA can help make sure that you do every little thing that you can to separate yourself from other girls basketball recruits.
1. Develop your game plan and get evaluated by a third party. Involving a third party like NCSA is an important first step as a girls recruit for basketball. College women’s basketball coaches are inundated with information from potential recruits, but they rely heavily on evaluations from a trusted source like NCSA. And because NCSA is a neutral third party, we provide honest answers about your skill level, which helps you set realistic goals about where you want to play college hoops.
2. Post your academic/athletic resume online. Providing easy and organized access to your highlight videos, statistics, and academic information makes a basketball coach’s job much easier. NCSA has the largest digital platform available to high school athletes, which makes it extremely easy to post profiles and videos and makes you immediately visible to hundreds of coaches. The exposure possible at sanctioned AAU girls basketball tournaments is nice, but coaches need to know about you before they get to the tourney.
3. Create a winning highlight/skills video. College basketball coaches watch hours of video from girls hoops recruits. A skills video is an essential tool in the girls basketball recruiting process. Make yours count. Don’t just include highlights of you burying three-pointers or showing your nifty post moves. Scoring is nice, but also show that you’re a well-rounded player by including clips that illustrate your varied shooting range, your ability to play defense, your knack for establishing rebounding position under the hoop. Let your video prove that you can handle pressure, pass well in transition, or guard players much bigger or smaller than you.
Don’t send coaches unsolicited DVDs or expect to be seen on YouTube. When a highlight video comes from a trusted recruiting expert at NCSA, that video will be seen by college coaches.
4. Contact 50 to 100 realistic basketball programs. There are nearly 1,800 colleges with women’s basketball programs, so when you’re a girls basketball recruit you have plenty of schools to choose from. Starting with a large pool of schools can help ensure that the perfect fit rises to the top when the basketball recruiting process is over. Using NCSA’s digital space makes it extremely easy to get your information to dozens of prospective colleges. It’s important to know that the majority of college basketball teams aren’t in Division I, so set your expectations accordingly. More than 80% of women’s college hoops players compete at the Division II, Division III, NAIA or junior college level.
5. Realize that it’s not a four-year decision. It’s a 40-year decision. Choosing a college is one of the most important decisions of your lifetime. Do your research and make an educated decision, not only as a girls basketball recruit but as a student athlete. Input from a neutral third party like NCSA can help you find a school that’s an ideal fit for you during the four years that you are there.