As a frequent reader of articles on elitefts.com, I've noticed that there have been countless articles about improving sport performance. This article was written to help those who have improved their performance and taken it to the next level—playing in college.

A blue chip player is a player who is a "can't miss" prospect coming out of high school. This player has college coaches drooling all over him. His kitchen table is stacked with hundreds of letters from schools all across the country. He has the choice of any school he wants. They call these players blue chips for a reason—they're the exception to the rule. They're the players that dominate with or without any training in the off-season.

Just because you aren't a blue chip player doesn't mean that your dreams of playing in college are over. There is a college team for everyone and I mean everyone. This article is aimed at the non-athletic scholarship athletes. I will break it into three sections—contact, recruitment, and, most importantly, financial aid. Throughout this article, I'll use a high school lacrosse player as an example, but the lessons apply to every sport and every athlete.

Contact

The number one reason you aren't getting recruited is simply because coaches don't know that you exist. You need to get your name out there! Almost every school has an athletics website and on that site is a recruitment form. Fill out as many as you can. Coaches at the Division 3 level rely more on these forms than anything else because recruiting budgets at schools don't allow them to travel the country to see players. Performing this step is especially crucial for players who can't attend recruiting camps and tournaments during the summer months.

Coaches will contact you. It may take a week or two, but they will call. Once they do, they will ask some general questions about you. Most importantly, they will ask for film of you playing. Lacrosse coaches like to see entire games, not highlight films. This will give them a better sense of your overall ability. As soon as the coaches view your film and email/call you again, you're on to step two.

Recruitment

Now that you've received a second call from a coach, you're officially being recruited by him. Coaches don't want to waste time calling someone to tell them that they don't want them. It sounds mean, but this is simply how it works. Coaches may email you and ask you to take a look at the school online. If you sound interested, they will invite you for a day visit. Most day visits will include a visit with an admissions counselor, a tour of the school, a meal with the coaches and maybe some players on the team, and a meeting with the coaching staff about possibly playing for them and where they see you fitting in. My advice is to take a visit during the week (yes, you may miss a day of school) to see the school in session with students walking around so you can get a feel for the campus.

If you like the school and the coaching staff sees you as a value to the team, they will invite you for an overnight visit. You will arrive and a host team member will meet you and take you “under his wing” for the day. This is your opportunity to meet the team and see if these are guys you want to spend four years with. Once this is done, the recruiting process is essentially over, and you need to choose your school and apply for admission.

Financial aid

Now that you've narrowed your choice of school down to those you really want to attend, the fun really begins. You've been accepted by the school, filled out the financial aid paperwork, and received a package from your top school, but the financial aid isn't as much as you had hoped. Don't worry. There is always extra money to be found at colleges. Let’s say you've narrowed your choice down to two schools. You've received financial aid packages from both schools, so you need to look at the total out of pocket cost.

School cost – financial aid = out of pocket cost

What if this happens:

School X out of pocket cost = 12,000 per year

School Y out of pocket cost = 10,000 per year

You really want to attend school X, but it costs more. Simply take your financial aid package from school Y and show it to school X! Alert the coach from school X about this so he can “track” your financial aid package. Ninety-five percent of the time, school X will “find” more financial aid for you and will mail you a new financial aid package that makes it cheaper than school Y.

What you need to remember with financial aid is that you have all the power. Make schools compete for your money. Price is always negotiable! Read that last sentence again. Paying for school is like buying a car. The sticker says one price, but you can always haggle the price down.