How To Get Recruited From A Small High School?

Getting recruited to play collegiate athletics is difficult, but coming from a small high school presents even more challenges. Fortunately, there are a number of ways that you can better your chances of getting recruited from a small high school.

Getting exposure, especially from a lesser-known, small high school, requires you as a student athlete to take on more responsibility to put your talents in front of the right people. Players that come from predominant high schools have a significant advantage because these programs have reputations for producing highly competitive players. As a result, it’s likely that college coaches have already built strong relationships with these schools, so these players are given a network to guide their recruiting process. Coming from a small high school, it’s likely that you won’t have this luxury.

The key thing is that the level of responsibility is higher on players coming from small high schools. That being said, it’s important to remember that there are always opportunities and ways to get a leg up on your competition from larger schools. There are important strategies to help navigate your process and present yourself in a way that will open up these opportunities.

What Can I Do To Get Recruited From A Small High School?

Like we’ve said, getting recruited from a small high school requires you to take on more responsibility as a player. Fortunately, today’s technology and media presence offers numerous platforms and capabilities to showcase yourself and communicate with programs. There are specific measures you’ll want to take to open up as many opportunities as possible.

Highlight Videos: Coming from a smaller school, it’s likely that college coaches won’t have you on their radar unless they hear of your talent or physically see it. Creating detailed highlight videos that demonstrate your skill set is one of the most important things you should do because it will give coaches a chance to see you play when they otherwise wouldn’t, because your school simply isn’t part of their core scouting pool.

Online Recruiting Profile: Recruiting profiles are a great opportunity for you to present everything you offer as a player, from your athletic talent to your academic achievements and even your personal qualities. You can then share your profile across various platforms and gain recognition of coaches, which is ultimately the first part of the entire recruiting process.

Communicate: One of the most important things you should do is proactively reach out to coaches to express interest in playing for their program. Especially coming from a small high school, you can’t assume that coaches will find you and reach out – you have to be the one to take responsibility and initiate contact. The idea is to express your interest in a genuine and polite manner and showcase yourself by sharing highlight videos, recruiting profiles, and reflecting your character. The ultimate goal is to build relationships with coaches in the hope that they’ll be impressed enough to meet you, watch you play, and potentially endorse your recruitment.

Social Media: Today’s social media gives you an opportunity to present your skills to much larger audiences than you might have at your small school competitions. Use this to your advantage by posting highlight videos, sharing your recruiting profile, and expressing your interest in collegiate athletics across various platforms. Be humble and have awareness for what you post, but at the same time demonstrate that you’re hungry for opportunities.

Camps And Showcases: There may not be many coaches and scouts coming to your games at a small high school, but you have the opportunity to go to them. There are tons of camps and showcases, many of which are sponsored by college programs, where you can go and compete in front of tons of coaches that are looking for talent. Coaches will often invite players to these but also leave room for non-recruit players to voluntarily participate. Coming from a small high school, you might be one of these non-invite players, but this gives you a great opportunity to demonstrate your skills and work ethic versus other players that are already being recruited.

While there, definitely take the time to introduce yourself to coaches, express your interest, and inquire about contact information and the overall recruiting process. Going to camps and showcases is the perfect opportunity to get noticed and conceive relationships, an opportunity you might not have at your small high school.

Club Teams Outside Of High School Season: For some sports, there are club and travel teams that you can try out for outside of the high school season. Playing for one of these can allow you to access a whole new environment of recruiting exposure, and potentially offer a higher level of competition than your small high school, which is especially attractive to coaches as it provides more certainty on readiness to play at the next level. However, it’s important to know that these clubs can be expensive and burdensome with time and travel. You should do your research and understand if it’s worth making the commitment with regard to advancing your recruitment opportunities.

Use Resources To Build Network: Reach out to current and former high school coaches, trainers, and any other people you know in the athletic sphere. The sports world is a large community and you can leverage this to access different networks of collegiate recruiting. Make sure that your current and former coaches are aware of your interest in recruiting. Chances are, they might know college coaches that they can connect you with, and they can also be a part of your process by advocating for you and getting you in front of the right people.

Academics: Strong academic performance always gives you a better chance of being recruited for a few reasons. First, the NCAA has specific eligibility rules in place, so college coaches are more likely to give an offer to someone who is in a secure academic position than someone who might not be eligible to play, even despite how the two compare athletically. Additionally, exceptional students can earn academic scholarships, which benefits coaches greatly because it frees up more athletic scholarship money for teammates and new recruits (In the case of Division I and II). In general, being a good student also reflects strong work ethic and character, which warrants more attraction and respect from coaches.

Getting recruited from a small high school has its added challenges, but at the end of the day recruiting is a process that requires one to be proactive, hungry, and determined. In the case of small high schools, the personal responsibility is especially large, but the main goal is to present yourself and get noticed, build relationships with coaches, and prove your worth for a spot at the next level.

Why Is It Harder To Get Recruited From A Small High School?

This might seem obvious, but it’s worth understanding the challenges you might face, in order to gain more perspective and control over your recruitment from a small high school.

Relationships: Remember that relationship-building is the key to recruiting. Larger high schools have probably already built these relationships with college coaches, which makes it a lot easier for their athletes to access a network of programs. A smaller high school might not be on a coach’s radar, but you still have the full ability to go out and build these relationships yourself.

Reputations: Certain large high schools are known for producing the best players year in and year out. As a result, college coaches flock to these schools in search of talent. This doesn’t mean that these are the only schools producing talent, but college coaches might not be aware of other places to look. Your job as a small school recruit is to show them how to find you, and there are a number of ways to accomplish this.

Level Of Competition: Small high schools often compete with other small high schools, and often in lower divisions than large high schools. This can be a concern to college coaches because it’s easier for them to imagine that players facing more talent in higher divisions will be more college-ready. This isn’t always the case, and there are a number of steps you can take to prove to coaches that you’re capable of competing at the next level, regardless of the size of your high school.

The truth is that getting recruited from a small high school presents unique challenges and disadvantages, but the key is to remember that these can be overcome. Recruiting is all about getting yourself out there, building relationships, and proving that you’re worthy of the opportunity regardless of the name on the front of your jersey.

Things To Keep In Mind

Small Not Invisible: Just because you go to a small high school doesn’t mean that you’re invisible or nonexistent in the recruiting world. It simply means that you might have to do more than the average player to make yourself visible. In fact, with today’s technology, social media, and communication platforms, getting recruited from a small high school is more plausible than ever and it happens frequently.

Added Challenge = Added Responsibility: Coming from a small high school absolutely requires more responsibility on you as a prospective recruit, which means you should have a very proactive mindset at all times. Initiate contact with coaches, share your highlights to larger audiences, and look for different opportunities to play in recruiting-based environments as described above.

Resources Available: While online profiles, email, social media and other forms of technology are essential tools for recruitment, one of your best resources can be your network of people in the sports world. Exploit existing and former relationships in your youth and high school sports development to branch into the college world. In addition to taking action yourself, having a team of people advocating for you and reaching out to programs on your behalf will open countless more opportunities.