By Nick Philips and Nick Stollard, Reporters
Senior Blake Serpa has signed with Central Michican to play Division 1 football, senior track runner Andrea Strang is committed to St. Joseph’s and senior golfer Hayley Guyton has signed with Illinois State.
Yet even top athletes aren’t automatically in line to be offered a chance to play at a college.
Although many dream of the full-ride athletic scholarship, it’s rare. NCAA statistics show that only two percent of the 6.4 million high school athletes receive scholarships each year.
The average NCAA scholarship is $10,409, but the majority of that money goes to football and basketball players. In other sports, such as baseball or track, players commonly receive scholarships as low as $2,000. In comparison, the tuition at NCAA institutions ranges from about $20,000 to $50,000 a year. That means athletes shouldn’t get their hopes up, Jaffke said.
However, when an athlete does catch the eye of a scout, the process is straightforward.
“They’ll contact the [high school] coach and get any kind of statistics. Sometimes, they’ll ask for highlight clips of the player,” Kaneland Athletic Director Leigh Jaffke said.
The player will get a letter next, Jaffke said. Sometimes the scouts come to Kaneland, but sometimes athletes go to the university.
“Different colleges can come and see you, so you don’t always have to go out and see the college. They can come to you,” Strang said.
While the player’s talent is important, scouts care about more than just the athlete’s performance, Grand Valley State scout Tim Selgo said.
“[Athletes] should represent themselves, their families and their school in a first-class fashion. They should set the standard that their academic success is of primary importance to them,” Selgo said.
Junior Jenn Howland is already being scouted for track and cross-country. She’s not sure whether she’ll get a full-ride scholarship, but she has narrowed down the schools she’s interested in.
“It’s down to the University of Colorado and West Point,” she said.
