How to Get Sports Scholarship in America

Every American student involved in sports dreams of getting a sport or, as it called, athletic scholarship at a US university. However, talented applicants from any country can study at a university in the United States for free. You can think about getting a sports scholarship, having achieved great success in sports. It does not matter in what specific sport it is, you can always choose a scholarship for yourself. At the same time, very often, those who study for sports scholarships do not have the strength to write essays and other written works, fortunately, a service where you can order custom paper will help with this problem. Well, if you are determined to receive a sports scholarship, then our set of tips on this topic will be very useful for you.

Choose the University

It is better to start searching for a university that provides scholarships for athletes in advance; one and a half, or even two years before admission.

First you need to narrow the circle – select a maximum of 50 universities. This can be done, for example, using this site, where according to the parameters indicated by the student, the system makes a selection from suitable educational institutions. There are also specialized sports sites (that choose, for example, tennis or swimming). Next, the question arises of choosing a sports association and division.

Choose Sports Associations

There are several sports associations in the USA.

1. 1. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is the largest association of more than 900 higher education institutions. Here you can find all the necessary information about recruiting, the rules and the procedure for accepting applications, select universities, and colleges of the first, second or third division, learn all about possible financial assistance.
2. National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) includes fewer universities – about 350 – but there are good sports programs and athletic scholarships.
3. National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) – Only two-year colleges are listed here.

Choose Division

There are three divisions in total. The first and second are large universities with a large number of students and considerable scholarship budgets. They themselves allocate funds to support successful students in sports. The third – small, not very popular educational institutions, whose sports funding is small.

Colleges of the third division and universities of the Ivy League as such do not provide athletic scholarships from sports associations. However, they receive funding from other sources, and this, in turn, gives them the opportunity to provide financial support to their students.

Obviously, the easiest way to get into the universities of the third division. Due to their small popularity, there are few promising athletes who want to apply there. It will also be easier to enter not the most popular university in the first division than to enter a university that is among the thirty best in the ranking of the second.

After choosing a division and association, you must register at the certification center of one or more associations: NCAA or NAIA.

Make Action

The athletic scholarship is allocated by the university sports department, in which the sports director and coaches have the main role and decisive word. Getting a sports scholarship for residents of the United States is not as difficult as for the rest: for example, a recruiter ( a person who attends games or performances to search for talented students in sports) just has to attend a game or performance.

If a student lives in another country and, accordingly, he/she does not have the opportunity to invite a recruiter to a match or competition, then after choosing a university and registering in one of the sports associations, he/she needs to write a motivation letter to the coaches of the selected colleges, accompanying it with evidence of their sports achievements. Perhaps it will be most convenient to shoot a small video about them and put it on the network, and then insert a link to it in your letter. It will clearly describe your abilities, in addition, the video on the Internet is not a tangible medium, so it will not get lost anywhere. It is important that the video is memorable and short-lived and at the same time demonstrates the outstanding results of the candidate’s skills.

If a university is interested in a candidate for a future scholarship, a trainer or sports director usually contacts the applicant within a month. If the answer has not yet arrived, you can remind yourself: call or write to college, ask if they received a previous letter. Colleges and universities usually have foreign student departments. They should be contacted in the event of a delay in the consideration of documents. Contacts can always be found on the official website of the institution.

Sum up

In fact, a sports scholarship is a contract between an athlete and a university. The athlete competes in college competitions, and the college pays for his/her studying. A huge plus of athletic scholarships is that even a foreigner has great chances to get it; the American government is interested in attracting talented and successful athletes to the country. Therefore, if you want to receive a sports scholarship in one of the universities in America, then take note of the tips that we have collected for you in this article and … good luck!