Teenage Athletes Should First Understand the Myths of Playing College Sports

Young student-athletes across America dream of playing sports at their favorite college. For the chosen few, this will happen. For the chosen, coaches will call them and coaches will write to them. They will see their names in papers, magazines, and on TV and on some of America's websites such as scout.com, rivals.com and other new sites that have popped up in recent years to highlight the best of the best. But what about the rest of the best?

If you want to play college sports, be assertive. Write that letter or e-mail. Dear Coach ________, Include your stats, year of graduation, GPA, a few words to describe yourself and your contact info. Remember to include the contact info for your high school or club coach. Send these letters and e-mails out as early as your ninth or tenth grade year for best results and to increase your chances of receiving an athletic scholarship.

There are over seven million student-athletes who play high school sports. Football rosters list more than a million of those athletes, and smaller sports, like soccer, have over 600,000 teen competitors per year. Yet, in NCAA Division I, college athletics' biggest arena, only 151,000 students play intercollegiate sports. (Division II has 75,000 athletes) So what are the odds of, a high school basketball player making it to play big-time on the college hardwood? Less than 1 in 100.

What should high school athletes be doing to earn a scholarship -- or find a place on a college team?