Recruiting 101

Tennis Recruiting Timeline

Freshman Year

• NCAA recruiting guidelines stipulate that you become a college prospect by the start of your freshmen year in high school. Start Planning now!
• Prepare for your future as a student-athlete by making your schoolwork and your grades a top priority -- College coaches want to recruit "Student-Athletes" - not just athletes!
• Talk to your guidance counselor to make sure you know the 16 core courses you must take to become an NCAA Academic qualifier - Know the list of your high school's approved NCAA courses at eligibilitycenter.org by clicking "resources" at the top of the screen.
• Begin keeping a record of your scholastic and athletic achievements. This information will be vital when you start building your athletic recruiting profile.
• Focus on your offseason training and conditioning over the summer months. Taking official visits at this stage of the game is expensive and unnecessary.
• It is vital you compete in USTA junior tournaments if you desire to play at the Division I or II levels in college.

Sophomore Year

• Make sure you stay on track academically - Don't let the sophomore blues put in the academic cellar. Stay focused and disciplined in the classroom!
• Begin researching colleges that you believe have your competitive level and your desired academic field. Keep your options open and think about schools from different areas of the country. Make a list of these schools.
• Put together your initial player profile. Plan on updating your profile every semester throughout your high school career.
• Get in the Game! Visits college websites that you have an interest in and complete their online recruiting questionnaire.
• Now is the time to begin creating your tennis skills video. Your tennis skills video should include actions clips of you hitting forehands, backhands, volleys, and serves.
• It is vital that you continue competing in USTA tournaments.

Junior Year

• Continue to take course that meet your high school graduation requirement and that meet NCAA initial-eligibility requirements.
• Make sure that you have completed 10 of the required 16 core courses by the end of your junior year. If you fall behind be sure to use summer school sessions to catch up!
• Keep college programs that you have an interest in updated on your athletic progress. Your junior season is very important for college recruiting!
• Be realistic! Select programs on your target list that meet your athletic and academic abilities as a prospective student-athlete!
• Register to take the SAT and/or ACT test. When registering for the SAT/ACT, be sure to select the Eligibility Center as one of the recipients to receive your test score {Code: 9999}.
• At the end of your junior year, register with the NCAA Eligibility Center and complete the amateurism certification questionnaire (eligibilitycenter.org). A fee waiver is available for students who received a waiver for the SAT or ACT fee. Your high school guidance counselor must request the fee waiver online through the Eligibility Center.
• Create your junior season highlight video that you can send to college coaches along with your player profile that you have been updated throughout your high school career. Start sending your profile and video highlight to college coaches that match your competitive level, geographical preferences and academic interests!
• Schedule at least three unofficial visits to college campuses over the summer. Be sure to choose colleges that have shown an interest in you or schools that fit your competitive level!
• Pick two or three College tennis camps that you would like to attend. This is a great way to allow college coaches to meet you personally and see what you can do!

Senior Year

• Stay in communication with as many college coaches as possible by email and phone. If your phone is ringing you are being recruited!
• Beginning July 1st of the summer before your senior year college soccer coaches may call you once per week.
• Plan to retake the SAT/ACT test early first semester of your senior year if you need to obtain a higher score.
• Start setting your five official visits. You are allowed a total of five visits no matter what division you decide to visit.
• Many Division II, III and NAIA offers will take place during your senior year so it's important to stay in touch with as many coaches as you can with timely updates of your player profile and video highlights.
• The Early Signing Period is in November and runs for 7 days. To learn the exact dates please visit: nationalletter.org. The Regular Signing Period is April 16 and ends May 21 for Division I and for Division II the Regular Signing Period is April 16 and ends August 1st.
• Get ready for the college life... You have a great future ahead of you!

Success Stories

Griffin Garcia

Hello my name is Griffin Garcia, and I’m a senior at Steinbrenner High School; I joined Csa Prepstar with Derek Del Rosal about 3 months ago and the results have been amazing. I signed up with him on a Sunday and the very next day I had college coaches texting me. Before signing up I only had the basic showcase emails and not much serious talk from colleges, but that really did change through Derek. Just like he says he’s invested in his atheletes, he was out at my practices that ran to 10:00 pm on weekdays just to check in and take videos for colleges and many different things. There were very few fall games that I didn’t see him up in the stands taking videos or on the phone with different colleges. Everyone is at a different skill level, therefor obviously he can’t guarantee that everyone will get to a school but I can testify for my relationship with him and what he did for me, and I went from having no serious college interest, to recently committing to Flagler college and he’s a huge reason why. He truly is dedicated to his athletes and has a lot of connections to different schools, from my time with him I believe it was worth the time, effort, and money. Thank you Mr. Derek.

Sarah Brennan

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you and CSA PrepStar for assisting my daughter Sarah find the perfect fit for college at the University of Tampa. Sarah is excited about the opportunity to play collegiate basketball for a Top 20 ranked Division II program. What most impressed me related to the CSA experience was the focus on academics as well as athletics. Chad, you were genuinely interested in Sarah's goals as a student and an athlete! The CSA PrepStar database proved very effective as Sarah received interest from 30+ schools. Also, the personal emails you sent to coaches and recruiting coordinators were a big help to really personalize the process. I would highly recommend CSA PrepStar and Chad's services for anyone looking for education about the recruiting process and measurable positive scholarship results.