Even from a young age, many students aspire to be a professional basketball player in the NBA (National Basketball Association). It’s not just students from United States, but it’s a dream even for international students. Being famous, playing basketball, and earning bucket loads of money might be your dream life, but let’s get the foundation straight by facing the facts.
USA Basketball Scholarships are given by many different organizations in the United States, but for this post, I will focus on basketball scholarships offered by NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). To focus my points and narrow your focus and mine, I will also include tips for aspiring basketball players.
How Do You Start?
Before getting too deep into USA Basketball Scholarships, I’m going to talk about the steps that you should take in your early years so that you can indeed receive the basketball scholarship to fund your college education. These tips apply to both US Citizens and International Students, so read carefully!
1. Set Priorities Early
Setting priorities early is a key factor when you are aiming for professional basketball career. College coaches want to know their prospective basketball players earlier in their career, so you need to research which colleges that you are interested in and contact their coach to let him know of your interest.
Setting your priority early will give you an edge over your competition since the coaches might not even about your competitor since he didn’t contact the college that he is interested in. Starting as early as ninth grade, you can start by visiting college campuses, contacting coaches, and sending your game schedules.
2. Practice, Practice, and Yes, More Practice!
Yes, setting priorities does matter, but the college coaches won’t look at you if you don’t have the basketball skills. If you perform poorly in every match, the odds of your USA Basketball Scholarship gets slimmer and slimmer. To get better every day, you need to practice your basketball skills and get your body into shape.
Remember, college practices are way harder and strenuous than practices at your high school, so, even though you think you are good, practice even more. Condition yourself and make yourself stronger each and every day, and when you think you are ready, train again!
3. Let More Coaches Know!
Yes, I know that you have already done that through college visits, but summer camp is one of the best ways of displaying your talents to college recruiters. College coaches want to save time and money, so they come to the places where there are many prospective basketball players.
Attending a summer basketball camp is a great way to show off your skills not only to one college but to many colleges across the United States. Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity by attending the summer recruiting camps!
4. Focus on Your Grades
You might be shocked to hear this, but college coaches want basketball players with good grades. Since you are going to play basketball while in college, you need to do well in sports as well as in academics. Keep your grades up, and don’t just focus on basketball!
Make sure to manage your time since keeping up your grades and practicing basketball at the same time is not easy.
5. Set Priorities Late
We have already covered setting priorities early, and yes, you also need to set priorities early. Mainly for international students, but this also applies to students in the United States as well. There comes a time for some students to make a choice between playing basketball and getting an education.
You need to set a higher priority on getting a college education since playing basketball is for a short time, but getting an college education last for a lifetime. So please choose wisely!
USA Basketball Scholarships
Finally, we get to our main point, which is the basketball scholarships. In NCAA, there are three divisions: NCAA I, NCAA II, and NCAA III. If you want a full-ride scholarship and is one of the best, apply for NCAA I colleges. If you want a partial scholarship and is a great player, apply for one of the NCAA II Member Colleges.
Joining NCAA III is not a great option for a student in financial need since the member colleges of NCAA III do not give sports scholarships to their incoming students; however, if you want to play for fun, go ahead! Hoped this helped, and click on the link below for more detailed information.
To Know More About NCAA Basketball Scholarships, Click Here.
For Our Post Concerning USA Sports Scholarships, Click Here.
For International Students, Click Here for More Tips.
