ield Pressures of rship Struggle ships because they don’t know the right people.” Silberberg, however, does not want to downplay the importance of talent and individual effort. According to Silberberg, “You definitely need to have skill and work hard. It is easy to get in contact with coaches through email or any number of methods of communication.”
Advertising and Networking Student athletes have multiple methods of pursuing an athletic scholarship. Recruitment tournaments, according to Wright and Silberberg, are the best method of networking with college coaches. Wright believes that the most important aspect of the tournaments is that they allow him to interact with coaches outside of his immediate area. His tournaments take him across the Mid-Atlantic and allow him to connect with coaches he would not have otherwise met. According to Silberberg, though, the tournaments are essential because college coaches do not put a lot of consideration into high school golf scores and achievements. “For golf, coaches only look at individual tournaments . . . It’s stressful because you have a limited number of opportunities to show your game,” said Silberberg. Recruitment tournaments are not the only way for students to gain an edge in the athletic scholarship search. Students can also post an athletic profile on a recruitment
website. But according to Hughes, who has one such profile, the websites allow for athletes to lie about their abilities and achievements. “I could be a poor athlete and they wouldn’t be able to tell from my profile,” said Hughes. Students wishing to bypass the recruiting websites can also contact coaches directly. Coaches’ emails can often be found on their college’s website.
Making Sacrifices After Making the Team Earning the scholarship, through whichever method students choose, is just the beginning. The time commitment for actually playing on a college varsity team is huge, according to Wright. “It would be my entire life. I would spend every moment of every day focused on baseball,” said Wright. Pascale cites the time commitment as one of the main reasons she wants a merit, rather than an athletic, scholarship. “Considering how playing on a college team would affect my schoolwork, I think it is smart to focus on academics rather than soccer because I can’t make a career out of soccer.” Although Pascale does not want an athletic scholarship, other students every year partake in the battle. The competition is fierce, but the opportunity to lessen the burden of college and further their athletic ambitions proves too tempting for student athletes time and time again.
Photograph by Becka Farquhar Charlotte Berry warms up before the Girls Varsity Basketball game. Berry hopes that competition will not rule out the possibility of her obtaining an athletic scholarship.