I know many of you MIGHT be interested in tennis after HS or know someone who might be interested. Here is some useful info.
Planning a Strategy for Obtaining a Tennis Scholarship
By Myla Martin
AssociateTennis Coach, Phoenix Christian High School
In your sophomore or early in your junior year send an updated resume to prospective colleges. Make sure your resume includes a well rounded you. Be sure to mention your grades, GPA, activities such as singing in the choir, NHS, band, teaching Sunday school, feeding the hungry, club participation, and any awards and achievements. If you've been in the newspaper, be sure to send copies of the articles.
Chances are better for scholarships than you may think, but you have to know the system. Girls are going to fair better than boys because of the pure numbers -- there are more boys who apply for sports scholarships than girls; there are generally more boys who play sports than girls. Keep in mind, a varsity team only has six spots they can scholarship and because of the spread over freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors, only two of those spots may be available in any given year. Also, many of your D-I schools recruit from outside the country to get the best team possible.
Colleges are designated according to their size, as are high schools -- D-I, D-II, D-III, NCAA. Then there is D-I, NAIA (which is approximately equivalent to D-II NCAA) and Jr. Colleges/Community Colleges -- NJCAA. With colleges, the larger the college, the smaller the number.
D-I schools are your big state schools and large private schools, prestige schools, Ivy League Schools, etc. These schools are also NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) sanctioned schools. If you are planning to go pro, which is very unlikely and very competitive, you need to go to a D-I, NCAA school. These schools can give athletic scholarships, full ride; that means they pay for everything -- tuition, books, meals, dorm, etc.
You will need to register with the NCAA Clearinghouse at the end of your junior year. This is done on-line at ncaaclearinghouse.net. You may need to get your school's code number from your high school guidance counselor. At the Clearinghouse site you can go to general information, then schools sponsoring NCAA sports, and then schools sponsoring each sport by institution name. When you find a school that appeals to you, you can go back and click on schools sponsoring each sport by conference to see which other schools you will play in your conference. You will probably play other schools outside your conference as well.
To investigate a school more closely you can log on to www.petersons.com and type in the school you want to visit and virtual visit each school.
You need to determine what your college tennis goals are. Some people will want to play at the most prestigious school they can with or without a scholarship. Some will want to play at a D-I school, no matter where it is in the country. Some want to go to school in a certain geographic area regardless of the size school they get to play for, and some will have the goal that they will play anywhere they can get a scholarship.
D-II, just smaller in size, can still offer athletic scholarships and combination athletic and academic scholarships.
D-III, NCAA schools are still smaller in size; which is not to say you can't get a good education at this level school. Many people prefer these smaller schools; the class sizes are smaller, and there are less distractions. These schools are not allowed to give athletic scholarships. They cannot advertise this, but my research has proven that if they want you for their sports team they will offer you an "academic scholarship" with the "understanding" that you will play on their sports team. You could be a B or even C student and receive a full-ride scholarship academically this way. The beauty of this kind of scholarship is that if you are injured, they can't take away your scholarship.
D-I, NAIA schools (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) are generally smaller than D-I, NCAA schools, but may be bigger than D-II or D-III schools and can still give athletic scholarships. You are more than likely to get a partial scholarship from these schools, but if they really want you, they will give you part athletic and part academic (if at all possible) to get you on their team. This category will include a lot of your private colleges. These schools generally play other schools in the NAIA conference, but they do play schools outside their conference, including some D-I schools.
Regarding junior colleges-NJCAA (National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association), there is nothing wrong with starting your college education at a junior college or community college. Community colleges are small and manageable, and you can get all those pesky requirements out of the way while honing your tennis skills and hopefully make headway and contacts at Nationals. These schools can give you scholarships for tuition and books. Most of you would do well to pursue tennis at the community college level, or D-II, D-III level. Community colleges are always looking for kids for tennis scholarships, especially girls. There are five community colleges locally with tennis programs, which I know about -- Paradise Valley CC, Glendale CC, Gateway CC, Mesa CC, and Scottsdale CC. Because so many kids are stuck on the idea of the dorm experience and a four-year school, many scholarships at this level go unclaimed, especially for girls.
Also, check with your guidance counselors regarding pursuing a tennis scholarship. It is helpful to have a CD or video of you hitting; even drills are good to record, like hitting consistently against the backboard, and sometimes even action stills can give them an idea of your stokes.
I have heard from a number of sources that the further away from your home state you are willing to go, the better your chances are of getting a scholarship because most schools try to have "diversity," which to them means having students from all 50 states. They like to be able to advertise that in their literature and on their websites. So keep this in mind.