College Gameplan: Build a Strong Relationship With Your Coach

by Chris Rotolo

Congratulations, you've made it to college. Are you worried about how you will overcome the challenges in store for you? If so, here is one piece of advice that, if practiced, will help aid you in this transitional period of your life:

You need to build a strong athlete-coach relationship. This partnership will foster success in academics and athletics so be sure to make every effort to develop a strong working relationship with your coach.

Here are some tips to strengthen your relationship with a coach courtesy of the RateTheCoach Team:

Make Meeting with Your Coach a Weekly Thing:

The more you meet with your coach the better the two of you will get to know each other and with understanding comes comfort. In other words, once you learn what type of personality your coach has, you will in turn learn how to go about conducting a meeting with him/her. You will know whether your coach wants you in and out quickly, or is up for a chat, thus making the conference process less awkward.

Keep the Coach Informed About Your Academic Performance:

Most of the time coaches will receive academic reports for all of their players (If you are unsure about this, go meet with your coach). However, if this is not the case, it is your responsibility to inform the coach about you performance in the classroom, good, bad, or otherwise.

WARNING: The worst thing you can do is keep an academic problem from a coach. They will not be upset if you go to them seeking help. What will PISS THEM OFF, is if at the end of the semester, they receive a notice stating your academic ineligibility.

Periodically Review Short and Long Term Goals with Your Coach:

This is pretty self explanatory. Every athlete should set realistic short term and long term goals for themselves. Once you have these goals in mind it is important to make your coach aware of these objectives. Finally, once notified, coaches will usually try to help you achieve these goals.

Get Some Feedback:

Coaches will not deny you if every few weeks you ask them for a progress report. If anything, they will like the fact that you are working hard, trying to improve weaknesses.

Some Important Reminders

Respect Breeds Respect:

When meeting with a coach, or any authority figure, it is important to treat them with respect. If you have a problem, if you need help, if you are in search of some sort of information, go and speak to your coach in a respectful manner. If you respect them they will take notice and treat you with the same respect. If you approach them in anger, if you whine to them, if you complain about every little thing, coaches will be less likely to guide you in the right direction.

Be Honest with Yourself before Asking About Playing Time:

A players’ perspective of him/herself is ultimately a product of their former environment. Despite how college coaches and teammates may see them, if a player has been told how great they are their entire lives, most likely their point of view will not change. It is important for a college athlete to be honest. Are you really better than your team’s All-American short-stop as a freshman? Probably not. So be sure to evaluate your talent level before seeking more playing time. Thinking highly of yourself can only lead to disaster (look at Terell Owens). If you are good at what you do there is no need to tell others about it, they will tell you.

Be Open to Suggestions:

A coach will only tinker with your game if you go into a slump. So, if you do not take constructive criticism well, play good. For those of us who do not have perfection gushing from every pore, it is important to keep an open mind toward criticism. If you have made it to the college level that means your technique is very good. Coaches will sometimes offer constructive criticism to help make your techniques a little more efficient. Be flexible, be respectful, even try their advice for a while. You may learn something new and helpful. If what they suggest fails to work, relay that to them. By conversing, the two of you may come up with something new.

Scholarships by Sport: Fencing

Fencing:

Fencers everywhere lend RateTheCoach your ears. We would like to inform you that your sword wielding abilities may be rewarded at the collegiate level. So, knights of the high school cafeteria table please refer to our scholarship article so you may be notified about the scholarship obtainment process.

Note: Due to the lack of scholarships readily available getting your hands on one is a bit more difficult of a process (Refer to our scholarship article).

The Scholarship Break Down:

-The NCAA allows each DI fencing program 4.5 scholarships for men and 5 for women.

-In DII schools coaches are allotted 4.5 scholarships each for men and women.

Scholarships by Sport: Cross Country

Cross country:

There is an abundance of scholarships available for cross country athletes who aspire to compete at the college level. If you are aware of the intricate process of receiving a scholarship, you will have a firm foundation to move forward with that process, and have a better chance of being rewarded financially for you hard work (Please refer to our scholarship article to gain additional information).

Note: College coaches have the options and the flexibility to divide scholarships among the majority of players or may grant larger scholarships to attract better talent.

The Scholarship Break Down:

-The NCAA allows each DI track and field / cross country program 12.69 scholarships for men and 18 for women.

-In DII schools the number of available scholarships for men and women is equal with 12.6 apiece.

-There are a total of 6,641.46 male cross country scholarships. For women, the total amounts to 8,901.

College Gameplan: The Ins and Outs of the Major

by Chris Rotolo

To declare one’s major is to announce to the world of higher learning that one has arrived. Declaring a major is a significant concept to the collegiate scholar and places those who depart from high school with a career choice in mind at somewhat of an advantage, in the sense that those students can start taking core classes right from the start. The decision is an important one and should not be stared upon with a lazy eye. The following will assist you with the decision making process, offering you a brief insight of the factors a prospective college student needs to consider, research, and evaluate.

Do Not Panic:
Before we go any further it needs to be stated that although choosing a major is imperative to your college success, there is no need to put a rush on your decision. Does it help to have an idea of what you might like to focus your studies around right away? The answer is obviously yes. However, if you can’t think of anything off the top of your head, there is no need to sound the alarm. Although not true of every institution, most schools do not require their students to declare a major until the end of their sophomore year or even the beginning of their junior year. As stated before, this notion is not set in stone so be sure to do some homework on the matter. However, for the most part, you will have plenty of time to do research and come to an informed conclusion.

Choosing the Right Major:
It has already been stated that choosing a major directly out of high school is the suggested plan of action, but do not make any hasty decisions just to say you have a major. There is no point in jumping to conclusions if your heart is not in what you choose to study. Your interest will falter, the work will seem tedious, and it will show in your final grades. Making sure you pick the right major is the most important thing you can do to ensure your success.

Get by With a Little Help From Your Advisor:
The only way to choose the correct major for you is to conduct research. Prior to entering college you can talk to friends and family about the majors offered at their school. Every university offers tours of its campus. Take the tour, ask the guide questions and meet with head of the department you may be interested in. If a meeting can not be scheduled, e-mail is a great tool and is usually the preferred method of communication of professors and administrators. Sticking with the computer theme, every university has a Web site that lists majors, minors, and provides a catalog of most courses offered at the school.

Once you start paying tuition at the college of your choice, if your major is still undeclared, there are a number of research methods at your finger tips. The first step is to meet with your academic advisor. This advisor may be a professor or a department head. Every student is assigned to an advisor and you must not hesitate to seek out the advisor for help (you pay thousands of dollars a year to attend that college and that advisor works for you so get your money’s worth). The advisor can help you explore your interests through career tests and other specific career exploration exercises. Once your major is chosen you and your advisor should formulate a game plan for your academic career.

Introductory Courses:
If the initial proceedings with your advisor do not help, you should be counseled to take a series of introductory courses. The intro courses should be in a wide array of subjects in the hope that one of the classes may spark an interest and focus your academic course load. This spark may lead you in the direction of a major.

Do Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s State of Affairs:
So here’s the situation. You’ve moved your stuff into the dorm room, the first week of classes is upon you, and you still have no idea what you want to do with your life? All your friends have declared a major, they are taking their core classes, and you would trade situations with them in a heart beat. Before you start drawing up the transaction papers and panicking (which, if you have read the prior paragraphs you would know is unnecessary), you should understand that according to studies, 50-70% of students will change majors during their college careers. As important as college is, it is still an experimental period. It will open your eyes to new career possibilities you never dreamed possible.

How to Make the Major Switch:
If you fall into the category that 50 to 70% of students in America do, at some point during your schooling you will switch your major. It is recommended, that if you are pondering a switch, to speak to your academic advisor. Together the two of you can formulate a plan of action for your classes. Now, although it is simple to say you want to switch majors, there may be certain forms that must be filled out to make the change official. Again, speak to your advisor and find out the college’s protocol.

The Double Major:
Not to be confused with an ejection in hockey, the double major can be very beneficial to a college student. The most obvious benefit to double majoring is, quite simply, that it makes you look great in the eyes of a potential employer. The better your resume, the more marketable and dynamic you become, making it easier to get a job after graduation.

Another reason the double major is valuable is because it broadens your range of expertise. Instead of being trained for four years in one area, you will be educated in multiple fields opening up more doors for you during your post college job search.

Although a valuable feat if completed, the double major does have its downside. A student with a double major must earn more credits to graduate than a student with only a single major. This ultimately means more classes need to be taken which requires more time and more money. The double major is not for everyone so make your decision wisely. Again, stress is placed on doing research.

College Gameplan: Freshman Year Survial Guide

by Chris Rotolo

Successfully transitioning from the mindset of the high school kid to college adult is a large obstacle. It is important to have fun in college and it is inevitable that you will. Distracting yourself from the stresses of class is a necessity if you wish to hang on to your sanity. However, keeping your focus on the prizes you wish to achieve from four years of schooling is a concept that can erode quickly for the student who is easily distracted by too much fun. The RateTheCoach Team has compiled a list of tips to help guide you through your freshman year as well your entire college career. Enjoy!

Get To Class:

“Get to class,” is a phrase that was barked at you in the past by security guards and administrators, and I am positive that you never thought you would have to hear again after graduation. And you are correct. In college, nobody is going to come to your room, hunt you down on campus, or call your cell phone to tell you “Get to class.” It is all on your shoulders. For the student athlete, going to each and every class you can is a MUST, because you will miss plenty when the season rolls around. A good rule of thumb to keep in mind: If you don’t perform in the classroom, you will not be permitted to perform on the field.

Be Responsible:

When you get everything packed away in your dorm room and your parents take that long ride back home, a great thing occurs (more often than not a party), a feeling of independence will pulsate through your body. Now, with that independence comes, for many students, their first taste of real responsibility. I’m not talking about making sure the trash cans go out to the curb the night before pick up type of responsibility. I’m speaking about the type of responsibility that accompanies the student athlete who is on his/her own for the first time. If you go to the aforementioned party, will you consume alcohol? If so, how much? Will your consumption interfere with your performance on the field? Don’t forget about your teammates. Will they approve of your decision if you play poorly? Be responsible, if not for your own well being, then to your teammates, coaches, and athletic program.

Be Organized:

Everybody is different. Some people need to live organized. Others work better if no plan for the day is worked out. Organized or not, written down or remembered, the most important thing is that everyday you have a plan of action and you follow that plan. Eventually you should develop a daily routine. Three bullet points that need to be worked into your daily routine:

Your classes

Gym/Practice time

Homework

Meet With Your Professors:

I can’t quite put my finger on the reasoning behind it but most college professors are very personable. They love meeting and talking with their students outside of the classroom. Indulge in their mysterious ways. Meet with them for extra help. Stop in their office and say hello. Showing your professors that you really care about the material they teach (even if you don’t, which is sometimes the case) is a simple way to guarantee yourself, at the very least, a decent grade in a class. Plus, it makes the conversation go a lot smoother when you notify him or her of the class dates you have to miss due to games.

Meet With Your Coaches:

Coaches are not there to be your friend and chances are they will inform you of this numerous times. However, this does not mean they do not enjoy helping their players whenever the opportunity presents itself. Meet with your coaches on a fairly regular basis (but not so much that it annoys them). A good player-coach relationship can help you on the field and even in the classroom. During the class registration period, coaches can sometimes get you into courses that are full, or at least point you in the direction of someone who can help you.

Manage Your Time Well:

This tip is the simplest to write, the easiest to say, and the hardest to do. Finding a balance in all aspects of your life is the key to success in college. Managing your time well is the most difficult hurdle to leap but is a jump that must be made. You can’t sit in your room all day playing video games and expect to get good grades, just like you can’t stay in the library all day and expect not to crack up. Having balance in your life allows you to accomplish great things.

Live Healthy:

You are going to experience some bad times in the health department. There is no way around it. Undisturbed sleep can sometimes be hard to come by at night. Unhealthy food will follow you in every campus eatery. It is vital that you try to live as healthy as possible. Take your vitamins, seek medical attention at the campus infirmary if you feel sickness coming on, and when possible make good food choices. Also, get to the gym and get tired. It will help you drown out your floor mates who insist on playing video games until 5:00 a.m.

Your College Education Is What You Make Of It:

The first thing you need to learn about taking college courses is that an open mind is essential. There is one big difference between high school teachers and college professors. In high school the teachers regurgitated to you facts and the opinions of others. In college, you’ll get the facts, but the goal of the professor is to have you formulate your own opinions. If you are content with memorizing facts, taking tests, and then forgetting the material, then you will waste four years of your life. But if you want to learn to develop a voice and make informed opinions on important subject matter, if you want to develop new ways of thinking, if you want to view your world in a new way, you need to get involved and do more than follow your syllabus. Your college education is what you make of it.

Freshman Year Survival Kit For The Student Athlete

by Chris Rotolo

Surviving your freshman year with a good G.P.A. and your sanity intact is an accomplishment in itself. Being able to manage your time between classes, work, practice, and a social life is a difficult transition from high school to college, but a necessary evolution none the less.

To help the collegiate student athlete make a smoother transition the RateTheCoach Team has conducted research and come up with list of items that needs to be in your Freshman Year Survival Kit.

Flip Flops:

In World War II soldiers were exposed to the elements and would often find themselves sitting in sloppy muddy fox holes for days and weeks at a time. Frequently these “foot soldiers” would contract trench foot, sort of an extremely severe case of athlete’s foot. All you need to worry about is the regular type of athlete’s foot, the one that won’t cause doctors to amputate. It’s hard enough to play through a grueling college season. Why deal with itchy burning sores on your feet? Use flip flops and keep your feet fungus free.

Toilet Paper:

When you go away to school, whether you live on or off campus, at some point you will be forced to dine in the university cafeteria. Afterwards, when you are walking back to your residence, you may find that the slimy glob of vegetable lasagna you just consumed is not sitting right. So you race back to your bathroom to have a double and all that sits in your dispenser is a bare, brown cylindrical piece of cardboard. Do not place yourself in this helpless situation. Have plenty of toilet paper readily available.

Shampoo and Soap:

One of the perks of being a student athlete is that you attract the opposite sex more easily than the average student. Unfortunately one of the cons of being a student athlete is that you will be sweaty and smelling like a foot more often than the average student. So do yourself a favor ladies and gentlemen, keep large quantities of shampoo and soap on hand.

Laundry Detergent:

As well as having to bathe more frequently than the average student you will also have to do more laundry. Nobody likes a stinky teammate, and unless you are the star of the program, the other players will let you hear about your stench. Stock up on laundry detergent. It tends to run out quickly.

Clothes Hamper:

Contrary to popular belief, not all colleges pair athletes up as roommates during freshman year. With this in mind get yourself a hamper to put dirty clothes in. Your roommate will not appreciate grimy clothing strewn about the room so keep him or her happy, and clean up after yourself.

Cooking Utensils:

If you are lucky enough to have a stove in your room it would be pretty silly not to use it, you’re paying for it right? Have cooking utensils in your cabinets. They will come in handy when you get back from practice or a game and you can’t gather the strength to venture out to the cafeteria.

Storage Containers:

This one is rather self explanatory. While at school you may find that some of your belongings can not be stored away in conventional means. This is where the storage container comes into use.

Yearly Planner/Calendar:

One of the most difficult adjustments that you need to make from high school to college is the management of your several syllabi. The syllabus contains every meeting date and every assignment due date for a certain class. You will receive a syllabus for each class. Without a planner or calendar to write all these dates down it is easy to become overwhelmed by your workload.

Highlighters:

This isn’t high school anymore. The books for your classes are your property. Feel free to write in them with utensils of all sorts. Highlighters are usually the weapons of choice on the college campus. Highlighting helps you retain important information while reading for class. And, during mid-terms and finals, you will be amazed how easy it is recall information during the study period when it’s encased in a bright streak of yellow or pink.

Ibuprofen:

You are a student athlete and you will quickly learn that ibuprofen is your friend. On the field you work out your body and at some point you will be forced to play through a nagging injury. In the classroom you work out your brain and at some point you will be forced to sit through class with a headache or a sore throat. Keep a bottle of ibuprofen in your equipment bag and your book bag. Making it to class is just as important as making it through a game, because if you don’t perform in the classroom, you won’t be allowed to perform on the field.

Scholarships by Sport: Bowling

Bowling:
Bowling is very competitive sport, and many DII and DIII programs compete at the same level as their DI counterparts. If you are a high school bowler, you may be able to use your talents to pay for parts of college. However, It should be known that college coaches have only a limited opportunity to grant scholarships, and are inclined to divide these limited resources amongst the majority of players.

Receiving a bowling scholarship is a different process from those that accompany many other NCAA sports because of the limited scholarships available. (Please refer to our scholarship article for information on approaching the scholarship obtainment process).

The Scholarship Break Down:
-There are 29 DI and 15 DII colleges that offer women's bowling scholarships.

-The NCAA allows DI and DII women's bowling program 5 scholarships each for distribution.

-There are over 180 club teams currently in operation at NCAA member schools and most are anticipated to change to NCAA status over the next few years.

Scholarships by Sport: Baseball

Baseball:
For the millions of baseball players in America that plan to compete on the college level there may be partial athletic scholarships available for you, however, it is not guaranteed, and in some cases it is an impossibility.

The Myth:
Despite what some boasting ball player may spout off, college baseball programs do not hand out full athletic scholarships. In very special situations a combination of athletic and academic money may be packaged together, in turn covering all of a players expenses, but this is too is of the rarest breed.

The Facts:
The reason no baseball players receive full scholarships is because there are so few to give out. NCAA Division I programs are permitted to disperse only 11.76 scholarships per year, and many lower level Division I programs do not fund the full allowed amount.
Division II schools are allotted even less scholarships, possessing a total of 9. Even worse, Division III programs are not permitted to grant any athletic scholarships, although they do offer a good deal of academic money for those players who are eligible.

Conclusion:
To receive a scholarship in such a competitive collegiate sport such as baseball takes a lot of work. A high school ball player may be able to use his talents to partially pay for college. However, college coaches have the power to divide scholarships unevenly among their players. Based on talent coaches may grant larger scholarships to attract better players. Despite this fact you should note that due to recent NCAA regulations, if you are seen as a scholarship worthy ball player, you may receive no less than a 25% athletic scholarship.

More Facts:
- There are 287 division 1 and 246 division 2 colleges that offer NCAA baseball scholarships.
- That's a total of 5,594 scholarships in the NCAA alone.

Scholarships by Sport: Basketball

Basketball:

If you are aware of the obstacles and the systematic process of receiving a scholarship, you will have a firm foundation to move forward and be rewarded for you hard work (Please refer to our scholarship article).

Note: College coaches do have the flexibility and options to divide scholarships amongst players.

The Scholarship Break Down:

-The NCAA allows each Division 1 Men's Basketball program 13 Scholarships and in Division 2, 10 are available.

-For Women's basketball 15 Scholarships are offered in Division 1 and 10 in Division 2.

-There are 329 division 1 and 290 division 2 colleges that offer men's basketball scholarships.

-There are also 328 division 1 colleges and 291 division 2 colleges that offer women's scholarships.

-There are a total of 7,177 men's basketball scholarships available in the NCAA alone. For women's basketball there are a total of 9,285 in the NCAA