Do You Want to Play at the Next Level?

If you are a high school athlete who aspires to play your sport in college, do you have what it takes? Are you currently doing what is needed to get noticed by college recruiters? Are your habits, routines, work ethic, behaviors, and mindset all in line with your goals?

This post isn't going to be a list of "how-to's" as much as it is going to be a summary of the kind of high school player that stands out and gets noticed. I'm going to metaphorically hold up a portrait of what a real college recruit looks like. What kind of person stands out to a college recruiter? Why does this kind of person stand out? What makes him appealing to the college coach?

What I am going to talk about are just a few of the things that are valued by college coaches during the recruiting process. Some points may sound obvious but you may not actually grasp how big of a deal they are. Some points, on the other hand, will be things that many people do not even realize, or perhaps they realize them but just don't take them seriously enough.

In preparation for this article, I have spoken with nearly a dozen college coaches to ask them to answer the question, "What do you look for..." when you are out recruiting. Additionally, I have read a half dozen books on the subject of college recruiting and nearly three dozen articles from publications or websites, listened to countless college coaches on podcasts talk about their recruiting methods, in addition to following tweets and posts from hundreds of college (and pro) coaches.

Along with the collected research, I have also experienced the process first-hand, having recently walked through all aspects of college baseball recruiting with my son, and now going through the same process with my daughter for softball. Admittedly, most of my knowledge and experience on this subject (like everything else I write) is primarily in the realm of baseball. However, I think you will find there are principles that crossover to multiple, and perhaps all, sports.

LOVE

The first necessity for a recruit to the next level of your sport is love. Yes, you read that correctly. You have to LOVE your sport. You have to love everything about it. The easy stuff and the hard stuff. The good days and the bad days. The practice and behind-the-scenes work as much as the games and the glory. You have to love your teammates and your team. There is perhaps nothing more obvious than watching an outstandingly talented player playing the game for himself. Playing to "get recruited." Do you play for YOU, or do you play for your TEAM? That is the big question, and your answer to that question not only speaks volumes on the field and in the dugout by the way you play and interact with your teammates, it also speaks volumes to the coaches who are looking to recruit you to play for their TEAM.

The best recruits love it. They eat it up. They love everything about it. And it is so obvious they love their team and would do anything to help their teammates succeed. If that LOVE for everything about the game is not noticeable, you may actually still get recruited. But let me say this... if it IS noticeable and obvious, then you will certainly stand out among the others. You can't hide love. And recruiting coaches know a player has it when they see him or her.

TALENT

Much has been written in recent years about the overrated aspect of talent. Many of these observations are ones that I wholeheartedly agree with. For years people have overlooked the value of hard work, determination, and grit at the concession of talent. Natural athleticism, giftedness, or talent isn't everything... but it IS something.

The bottom line is, you have to have talent if you want to play at the higher levels of your game. In younger, instructional levels, natural talent is often overemphasized, causing some kids to get overlooked. When athletes are developing and growing and working at their game in the instructional levels, there are often less talented players who have the potential to bypass those that have natural gifts, and they will do this by building skill, which we will talk about in a minute.

But this point is about talent. If you are not in any way talented athletically, it is going to be very difficult to get an athletic scholarship. I'm not going to say it is impossible, I will just say that it is going to require a lot more of attention to the next point we will discuss.

SKILL

It is easy to say, "That guy is just born with special talent," or "You can't coach what she has, she's a natural." Perhaps you have also heard this phrase before, "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." That is also true.

There is something very encouraging about skill, and that is, it takes no talent to develop skill. Skill and talent are not the same. Talent is what you are born with, skill is what you build. Talent comes natural, skill comes through intentional practice. Talent is just there, it's part of your DNA. Skill is developed through routines and eventually becomes part of who you are. Talent is a gift, skill is earned.

The bottom line is, you can be naturally talented and still not get recruited. Regardless of how much natural talent you have, you had better work on your skills if you want to make it to the next level. Even more so, if you are not as naturally talented as others in your game, then working on developing skill had better be a regular, routine habit in your life. If it is not, you are not going to be recruited. It's very easy to spot the player who relies solely on his natural ability vs a player that has become skilled in the game through consistent work, effort and intentional practice.

Know your game. Some people have skill and can play the game, but the best players have a feel for the game, and that feel comes from knowing the game. You watch it as much as you can, you read about it, you study it, you know its history, you know its rules. Having a high IQ in the game you are playing means you are more instinctual. It means you are more trustworthy. A coach knows that you have a good feel for what is happening in any given moment and therefore you can be trusted with making instinctive, sometimes big decisions on the playing field.

Recruiting a player who has a high IQ in the game is attractive because a college coach knows he is not going to have to teach you things you should already know. For what it's worth, this is an attractive quality for a high school athlete as well. As a high school coach, with only a handful of weeks to get prepared for the upcoming season it is a huge plus to know that you don't have to invest much time in elementary aspects of the game that a player should have learned either at a younger level or through his own study of and experiences in the game.

Don't mistake what I am saying, I am not talking about basic fundamentals in the game and saying that upper levels shouldn't have to focus on those. EVERY level practices and works on the basic fundamentals (or they should). I am talking about what you know and how what you know gives you a feel for the game, an instinct that other players do not have. This, again, is a skill that can be built.

THE GREATEST OF ALL TRAITS

The truth is, it all comes back to LOVE. If you truly love the game, you will learn the game, you will work daily on the game to build your skill, and in doing so, you will make yourself more talented and noticeable to college recruiters.

Honestly, if you don't truly love it – I mean at the core of your being – then you will not enjoy the experience of playing it at the next level. Some have often referred to college sports as a "job." That's pretty accurate, at least in terms of the time commitment and devotion that is given to it. While other students are hanging out or working on their social lives after class, you are at practice or some other team activity. While other students are sleeping until the last possible minute before having to get up and go to class, you are up before the sun and in the weight room lifting, or catching/pitching bullpens or getting extra BP. While other students are going home during breaks or on weekends, you are not.

And here's the point... if any part of that above paragraph sounds negative to you, then you don't really want to play in college. You may think you do, but you don't realize that college ball is not like high school ball. It is a big part of who you are. In fact, if you are on an athletic scholarship, it is a big part of your overall academic success, which is laying the foundation for your future success. It is all connected.

You see, for the person who truly LOVES it, none of that sounds negative. In fact, the person who loves it reads the above and says, "Yes, I cannot wait! I long for the days when the game is that much a part of my every day life." In fact, there is a good chance that for the person who loves it, the game is that much a part of their life already.

Some players think they love it, but then they get to college and discover that what they loved was high school ball... or at least, the level of commitment that was required to be a decent high school player. They weren't ready for the NEXT level. There is a reason why it is called the "next" level. That is because it is not the same. At the next level, you give more, you work more, you sacrifice more, you train more. It is more, more, more... and if you felt like high school ball or travel ball was a big commitment, then you are in for a surprise at what is in store for you in college.

But for those who LOVE it, they read all of the above and can't wait to get there! They can't wait for the daily grind of working out with their teammates. They look forward to developing new friendships with new teammates and building their social lives around the game of baseball (or whatever sport you are playing). To these student-athletes, they can't imagine college without playing their sport. They aren't interested in many of the other social aspects of college that other students pursue or look forward to. They can't wait to be part of the social circle that is built by their new teammates and to build their college life around their team and the game they love.

Yes, you have to love it.

If you love it and you want to be recruited, then what are some other things recruiting coaches have told me they look for in prospective players when they are out watching games? Here is a list:

How a player responds to coaching
How a player comes onto and off the field
How a player reacts after a teammate makes a big play
How a player reacts after a teammate makes a bad play
A player's body language after he makes a bad play
How a player reacts to bad calls by officials
How a player treats athletic trainers and support staff
Does the player "sell out" his body when necessary?
Does the player run as hard as he can on plays that seem like "gimmies" (pop-ups, grounders back to the pitcher, etc.)?
When the player is not playing, does he have a chart in his hand, chasing foul balls, or working in some other way to serve his team?
Does the player consistently give maximum effort, winning or losing, close game or blowout?

These are just some of the things recruiting coaches take note of DURING THE GAME. These are "on-the-field" points to getting noticed in a positive or negative way. And make no mistake, all of these things are noticed all the time, which means you are either doing them and gaining positive exposure, or you are not doing them and thus gaining negative exposure.

If a coach becomes interested in you and wants to start looking into you more, they are going to be looking at the following off-the-field things (the following is a list taken from a sampling of 20+ coaches, articles, books and/or interviews):

Grades
Test scores
Are you taking the ACT (and/or SAT) multiple times to get as high a score as possible?
Are you making sure your GPA is as high as possible?
Are you registered with the NCAA eligibility center?
Are you the kind of student that will be accepted into their college institution? Remember, it's not just about being able to play ball, you have to be able to get into college!

Notice a common theme with the first 6 points? Additionally...

Are you a good person, or a potential discipline problem?
What do your social media accounts reveal about that?
Can you be trusted off the field?
Do you have a well-rounded and balanced life? Hobbies, other interests?
How well do you manage your time?
Do people say you follow through with what you say you are going to do?
Do you show up on time (early)?
Do you show up when it is voluntary?

As I stated at the beginning of this article, my intention was to provide you with a portrait of the prospective college athlete. Hold this up next to yourself and compare. Does this look like you? Are you built for the next level? Do you have what it takes? Do you encompass the kinds of behaviors, mentality, and characteristics that are required of real college prospects?

If not, here is the good news. 95% of what I wrote about above is within your control. It is a CHOICE. We admitted that some percentage is based on natural talent, which is outside of your control. But the path to playing your college sport is in large part within your control.

Consider what has been discussed here. Be honest with yourself about what you really, truly want. Compare your life with the life of a real college prospect. Do they match?