College Tennis Recruiting?

I have been recruited to this college recruiting showcase at Curry College for Tennis. I'm going into my senior year now and I a pretty decent player. It's from the "Top College Prospects New England High School Sports College Recruiting Showcases".





Has anyone ever been to one of their showcases (because they do other sports as well)?





If so, was it good? Was it worth the money?


Should I ever paid to let colleges see me play tennis?


It's costs $155.00





If you played tennis in college, how did you get there, like how does the recruiting process work.

College Tennis Recruiting?
Hey Bond35. I'm from out West--I grew up playing in the Intermountain region--and so I don't know anything about the recruiting showcase going on in your region. I suggest that you contact a local USPTA pro to ask them their opinion of the showcase.





We have similar showcases out west, but they're mainly for football. If I'm not mistaken, the goal is to video tape and record the stats of the different high school players to make that information available to college coaches. If such is the case, then I'd say that it wouldn't be worth the money for a tennis player to do it. But again, I'm not from NE, and so I don't know.





College tennis coaches look at one thing when they recruit: tournament results. They want to know how you did against your peers. I know that when I contacted D1 coaches, their first question was always, "What's your Intermountain ranking?"





However, there are significant differences between women's college tennis and men's. You see, because of Title IX, most division 1 men's tennis teams have just one or two scholarships to divide among their whole team, while on the women's team each young lady has a scholarship. This has led to a situation where it is much easier for girls to get scholarship money playing tennis (because there's more of it). You could very well end up with a full-ride scholarship if you know how to attack the process.





Interestingly enough, your regional singles rank could be the key to getting a scholarship, and even getting a coach to meet with you. If you don't think that you're ranked high enough as a singles player, try to play more tournaments as a doubles player to improve your ranking. College coaches are always looking for good doubles players (a college player who is good at singles but horrible at doubles is a liability) because the "doubles point" is often the difference between beating and losing to another school. I have had several female friends who weren't very good singles players in juniors, but because their doubles record was so impressive they were offered D1 scholarships.





I suggest that you make of list of schools for whom you'd like to play. You can usually go to that school's website and see a list of players who are on the team. Often you'll recognize players from older age groups that you knew growing up. That's a good way to gage the level of tennis you'll need to play at to go to that school. Try contact their coach and discuss your possibilities of playing for him/her. You could also throw together a video presentation with film from matches and practice sessions to send to coaches. But again, for coaches, the most important factor when recruiting is your rank.





Bond, i hope that helps. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any other questions. Good luck.
Reply:I think your struggle to find an avenue to collegiate sports is similar to most athletes. You can go to www.recruitu.com and get in front of hundreds of tennis coaches. Sometimes a showcase like that can be helpful, but if you have a bad showing, what does that prove? Report It