Pat Britz & Alexandra Powe Allred 
Athletic Scholarships For Dummies 

Get insider tips on navigating the recruitment process

Find the right school, the right program, the right coach, and the
most money

You’re prepared for challenges on the athletic field. But are you
prepared for the challenges of winning an athletic scholarship? Let
this friendly guide be your coach. It explains what kind of
scholarships are out there, how to promote yourself and deal with
recruiters, and how to survive possible snags after you’ve won your
scholarship.

Discover how to

* Get yourself noticed and recruited

* Make the most of college visits

* Negotiate a contract and make a commitment

* Understand redshirting

* Know when and how to transfer schools

Table of Content

Introduction 1

Part I: The World of College Sports 7

Chapter 1: Getting the Basics: Athletic Scholarships 101 9

Chapter 2: Defining a College Athletic Scholarship 19

Chapter 3: College Alphabet Soup: NCAA, NJCAA, NAIA 35

Chapter 4: Clearing the Clearinghouse 47

Part II: Getting Recruited 71

Chapter 5: Knowing What Colleges Are Looking For 73

Chapter 6: The Game Begins: Getting Noticed 83

Chapter 7: The Full-Court Press: Calls, Letters, and E-Mails from Coaches 105

Chapter 8: What to Do If You Don’t Get Noticed 125

Chapter 9: Recognizing College Recruiting Violations 139

Part III: Making College Visits 149

Chapter 10: The Play-by-Play of College Visits 151

Chapter 11: Taking Your Turn to Recruit 171

Chapter 12: Preparing for and Evaluating Each Visit 185

Part IV: Committing to a School 195

Chapter 13: Negotiating a Financial-Aid Agreement 197

Chapter 14: Making the Verbal Commitment 209

Chapter 15: Understanding the National Letter of Intent 219

Part V: When You’re in the Big Leagues: For Existing College Students 229

Chapter 16: Maintaining Your Eligibility 231

Chapter 17: Redshirting 249

Chapter 18: Transferring 259

Part VI: The Part of Tens 271

Chapter 19: Ten Things Not to Do during the Recruiting Process 273

Chapter 20: Ten Considerations When Choosing a School 279

Appendix A: College Scholarship Web Sites and Resources 287

Appendix B: Resources for College Recruiting and Selecting Colleges and Coaches 291

Index 299

About the author

Patrick Britz: Pat Britz began his athletic career at a
young age, playing youth league soccer. He continued to play soccer
and earned a partial athletic scholarship to attend the University
of North Carolina at Asheville. While there, he was a four-year
starter and ended his playing career as the second all-time leading
scorer in school history and the leading goal scorer since UNC
Asheville went to Division I (1986). Britz has worked in the world
of intercollegiate athletics for over 14 years, the majority of
which he has been involved in NCAA rules and regulations. He began
his professional career as the Assistant Commissioner for
Championships and Compliance for the Southern Conference and then
moved to East Tennessee State University as the Assistant Athletics
Director for Compliance and Student Services. Britz spent five
years working for the NCAA national office (1996-2001) and
was primarily involved in the initialeligibility and recruiting
process. From there he went on to Texas Tech University, where he
was the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Compliance and
Administration. In August 2005, he followed his heart and
never-ending passion for the game of soccer and accepted a position
with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America as the
Director of Division I Intercollegiate Programs. Although this is
his first book, he has seen the need for Athletic Scholarships
For Dummies throughout his professional career. Today, Britz
lives in Lubbock, Texas, with his newlywed wife, Kim, their dog,
Josie, and their cat, Shortstop. Even though age and lack of talent
forced him to quit playing soccer, Britz is an avid golfer and
sports a handicap of 10.

Alexandra Allred: Alex Allred earned two karate black
belts and was honored Athlete of the Year by the United States
Olympic Committee in 1994 when she was named to the first ever
women’s bobsled team. She went on to become a
sports/adventure writer. Over the years, Allred has had a variety
of unusual writing assignments. She test-drove and wrote about
Volvo’s Gravity Car, played as a professional female football
player for Sports Illustrated, competed as a fighter
(kickboxing), and took a rigorous firefighter physical — all
for a good story. But when coaches began talking to Allred about
her own daughter’s soccer abilities, she began looking into
athletic scholarships. As the author of over a dozen how-to and
sports books, Allred saw the need for Athletic Scholarships For
Dummies. Today, Allred lives in Midlothian, Texas, with her
husband, Robb, their three children, and a variety of animals.
Together, they try to balance soccer practices and games, horseback
riding, tennis camps, karate, running, and volleyball.