All parents would like to think that they have the next Dan Marino or Zinedine Zidane in their house. However,it is easy to be carried away when someone’s offspring wins a local tournament. Athletic scholarships are a possibility for young sports stars, but they are not easy to get and they aren’t the golden ticket that the media have made them out to be.
It is important to think logically when applying for scholarships for soccer in America, or scholarships for any sport. This is why we are going to give you an insight into some of the things you need to know about scholarships for soccer in the USA.
1. The Odds aren’t Great
138,000 athletic scholarships are available from Division I and Division II schools. This sounds like a lot, but it is not. Look at high school football and you will see that one million boys play it. Yet you will only find 19,500 football scholarships available. Let’s look at track and field in high school for girls. You have 603,000 girls competing for about 4,500 scholarships.
Whether you succeed or not often depend on the year you apply and the competition at that given time. Doesn’t look all that rosy now, does it?
2. The Money isn’t as Much as you Think
An athletic scholarship does not mean everything will be paid for by the college. The average scholarship only makes up about $10,400. There are only four sports offering full scholarships, and these are football, women’s volleyball, and men and women’s basketball. Exclude football and men’s basketball and the average scholarship are only worth about $8,700.
3. The Sliced and Diced Scholarship
It is the job of the NCAA to dictate how many athletic scholarships a sport can offer for Division I and Division II schools. However,there is nothing stopping a coach from slicing up these soccer scholarships in America. A soccer coach could take ten scholarships and split them up into 20 or 30 smaller scholarships in order to bring more athletes to their campus, therefore devaluing every scholarship on offer.
4. Waiting to Be Found
Colleges do have scouting teams, but they only focus on the very best. For everyone who is not a teen prodigy, they have to make themselves visible to their schools of choice. It is always best to introduce yourself through sending an introductory email with various sporting statistics and coaching contacts. This is not presumptuous. Colleges will make the first move if you do this.
5. Guaranteed Scholarships
You do not have to earn a scholarship once for a single year and then you can rest on your laurels for the rest of your college career. No, these scholarships are guaranteed for a single year only. If you are found to not pull your weight after a year, it can be revoked, so you’re left without a college place after your freshman year.
This puts a lot of stress on any student on a scholarship. Whilst they may enjoy sports, they are ultimately there to earn a college degree. Stress over the status of a scholarship can easily act as a big distraction.
United Sports USA have helped thousands of students get scholarships for soccer in the USA. They believe that you have to evaluate the pros and cons of applying for soccer scholarships in America, though.