The Best Sports to Play to Qualify for a Sports Scholarship
If you’re a passionate athlete and want to play professionally, then getting a sports scholarship is the perfect first step. It can help take your athletics to the next level while giving you access to post-secondary education, which can help you in your other career goals as well. You eliminate the pressures of student debts as the scholarship will cover some or even all of your tuition. Plus, you will have the chance to play your sport competitively on a grander scale.
How easy will it be to get a scholarship?
If you’re serious about getting a sports scholarship, it’s important to note that it takes a lot of hard work. There are tons of competition for these scholarships, and only about 2% will qualify. Don’t let that deter you, however, because that’s still a substantial number of success stories. It’s good to know which sports scholarships are easiest to get to maximize your chance of success.
This information is heavily based on how many students are competing for scholarships in these particular sports. The lower the number of students, the higher your chances are. Both women’s and men’s sports have different statistics, so below, this is broken down for you.
The women’s sports that are easiest to get scholarships for
1. Ice Hockey
Many college hockey teams recruit players internationally. It’s likely if you make the cut, you’ll have others playing with you from abroad. That said, an ice hockey scholarship is the easiest one to get for women. Around 18% of high school hockey players will qualify for college teams, which is almost 1/5th. That is because not all high schools have ice hockey teams; therefore, you’ll have less competition. These are pretty high odds compared to most others. So, strap on those skates!
2. Lacrosse
Since lacrosse isn’t the most popular of sports, especially not in international countries. You likely won’t be competing with many overseas players when trying to get noticed by a college team. College lacrosse teams tend to look for recruits on the east coast, but don’t worry if you don’t live there. You’ll still have an almost 13% chance of making a lacrosse roster.
3. Soccer
Soccer is the most popular of the three sports, but there are many more college soccer programs located across the country. While you’ll have more competition, you’ll also have more options. For that reason, around 9% of high school players will make it onto college teams.
If you are interested in achieving a scholarship in soccer, then you should enlist the expertise of ASM Scholarships, to boost your odds of qualifying.
The men’s sports that are easiest to get scholarships for
1. Lacrosse
Similar to the women’s teams, the pool of lacrosse players is relatively small in comparison to the number of varsity teams. As lacrosse is only really popular in North America, you won’t need to worry about international competition hurting your odds of getting recruited. Around 13% of male high school lacrosse players will be selected for college teams.
2. Baseball
With the most varsity programs of potentially any others in the US, one popular option is baseball. There are almost 1700 opportunities throughout various divisions for high-school baseball players to play at the college level. While the pool of players is pretty substantial, the odds are still pretty good at around 11.5%.
3. Ice Hockey
Again, ice hockey makes the list, this time coming in third for men. You will face international competition for a college ice hockey team, but the pool is still considerably low, especially considering the number of ice hockey programs through the states. It’s also good to note that recruiters tend to focus around the New England, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin area. High school players have around a 10% chance of making it onto a college team.
It’s important to note that all scholarships have requirements. Though the scholarships have an athletic focus, you will still need to keep up academically to keep it.
