Although NCAA coaches are not allowed to actively recruit you until your junior year there are a number of things that you should be doing to ensure that you are building the type of background and exposure that will give you an advantage over your competition.

SportsWorx can help you in the early stages by giving you the tools you need to set up the right kind of portfolio and get it in front of the right coaches. As you move into your Junior and Senior years we are right there with you to help with the entire process.

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Tasks for Freshmen

Focus on your academics - Believe it or not, the first thing coaches ask for when they are looking for a prospective athlete is GPA. It is really important to keep your grades up if you want a coach to seriously consider you.

Begin thinking about things that interest you for college. - Choosing the right college is a difficult proposition. Obviously looking for a school that has a sports program and coach that is a match for you is a priority but you need to spend at least as much time, if not more, researching the academic program related to the field of study you are interested in. If you are not happy there you won't be happy overall.

Start gathering your information for your resume - When you present yourself to a prospective coach you need to be prepared. This includes putting together a resume that tells about your grades, athletic highlights and stats and other pertinent information. The SportsWorx Online Athlete Profile provides you with your own online web site to build this resume to share with coaches.

Join a travel team - The best athletes usually play outside of their High School team on travel teams and sports clubs. This gives you greater exposure to other athletes outside of your geographic league boundaries and shows coaches that you are serious about your sport. Many college coaches look to these organizations for the top talent.

Call a few college admissions sports programs - Ask what they look for in potential candidates for their school. This will give you an idea of what to prepare for.

Tasks for Sophomores

Continue to maintain good grades - Because coaches place so much emphasis on attracting athletes with higher GPAs and test scores you need to focus on this if you want to be a serious contender for a spot on any college team.

Prepare game film highlights for college coaches - Coaches want to see you in action, but what if they are in another state? You should have highlight tapes of your play ready to show to them to make their job easier. As a member or the SportsWorx exclusive coach/athlete national matching database you have the option available to add up to 6 minutes of film highlights to your online athlete profile.

Begin to narrow your list of colleges - Take time to visit prospective colleges, talk to the admissions office and get a tour, talk to alumni, and do anything you can to get a feel for the academic, athletic and social aspects of the school. This will allow you to make an informed decision on which colleges to seriously consider.

Keep your information in circulation for college coaches to have access - Keeping the most up to date information available for coaches can be invaluable. Use your SportsWorx online athlete profile to keep visible to coaches on your terms.

Work on speed strength and agility - Stay active and in shape all year round. That is the only way to condition your body to be the best it can possibly be. However good you think you are, there are other athletes out there that have just as much talent and only the ones who are always pushing themselves make it to the very top.

Involve yourself in extra curricular activities - Get involved in other things outside of school. Coaches and admissions offices also look for well rounded athletes with more interests than just sports.