How do you Stack Up to Other Recruits
Welcome back student-athletes! . If you missed Part One of our ‘Sports Recruiting Tips’ series, ‘The Differences Between NCAA Divisions I, II, and III’, please click here↗ and take a minute to read it.
Now that you know the differences between NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, you may be wondering, “How do I know if I have what it takes to get recruited and compete for a DI or DII school?” In this installment, we’ll share some tips to know how you stack up against other top recruits.
Look at the Statistics
Let’s say you’re a competitive swimmer and you want to swim for a DI program (e.g., Virginia, Texas, or Stanford). Take a deeper dive (pun intended) into the team’s website and compare your times with their swimmers. Most DI and DII programs will have athletes’ highlight stats easily available for you to see either on the roster link, or you can look up their competition highlights or results.
Other categories to consider when comparing yourself to DI or DII roster players:
- DI athletes are typically bigger, faster, and stronger than your average athlete. Are your stats comparable to what you see in those top programs?
- Compare your high school athletic accomplishments/honours to those achieved by DI or DII athletes. Are you on track to hit those same milestones?
- For comparison, a Canadian high school student-athlete hoping to play at a DI program would typically be the MVP of their team, Top 10 in the Province, Top 25 in Canada, and be invited to participate in elite-level competitions or tournaments.
- You should also research how many players/athletes they already have at your position. If a baseball team already has two, first-year catchers on its roster, they might not be recruiting for a third one.
Reality Check
It might be a little nerve-racking or flat out intimidating to compare your stats to those of DI roster athletes or top recruits, but it’s gut check time! If you see that your stats or accomplishments may not be at the level they need to be just yet, keep pushing and practicing even harder!
Thank you for following us and look for the next installment ‘Sports Recruiting Tips: Part Three’ coming soon. We will share ‘Starting Your Recruiting Process.’ If you have any questions or would like to speak with an Options Consultant, we are always here↗ to help!
