When you join a sport, you do not think of where it could take you once you reach high school. At least I don’t. Whether you started young or not, if you join a sport you have the opportunity to use it towards your future. It can be any sport, and if the coaches want you, they will tell you and you can get up to free education by committing.

You do not pay attention to it during a game or match but there are coaches out there watching players every move to see if they want to recruit you. Colleges also offer Identification Camps which is a camp a college hosts for players to come out and show their skills.

“I chose to commit to Stetson University because I wanted to play division 1 soccer and it was a pretty campus,” senior Alexa LoBasso said. “I got recruited by going to their ID Camp the summer after my eighth-grade year and ever since then, the coach has watched me play at my club games in and out of state. He made me an offer in March of my sophomore year of high school and I accepted it in April.”

Now, getting recruited is not an easy task and it can happen at any time during your high school years. It takes time and commitment to show you are ready for this next big step.

“You are on the field with talented players with hundreds of college coaches watching and at times it was stressful because you wanted to perform your best,” LoBasso said. “I made many phone calls with the coach my freshman and sophomore year of high school. At the end of the day, I had five offers and had to narrow down my decision which wasn’t an easy task either.”

After being recruited by colleges and considering each one, there are National Academic Signing Nights high school students can participate in. On Wednesday, Feb. 5, eight students had the opportunity to commit to colleges, two students committing to the same college.

“I am going to Methodist University for soccer because they have a great atmosphere,” senior Jaime Farrar said. “I came to my decision on committing to this college when I visited them. I could see myself going there for the next four years. It was hard at first knowing I would be so far away from home, but I know my teammates and coach will be by my side to help.”

Senior Jaime Farrar and Austin Brown both committed to Methodist University. At first Brown did not think we were going to get recruited by them however, after reaching out through phone calls, he was in.

“I committed to Methodist University to play football,” senior Austin Brown said. “I emailed them, and they didn’t read it, so I called the whole coaching roster and they gave me an answer. I would say a great first step is emailing, calling, and leaving voicemails.”

Colleges can either come to watch you or see videos coaches send to them to decide if they want to offer you anything. Senior Eric Hartless committed to Maryville College after he got an offer based on his video.

“I got recruited by a video of me hitting that my hitting coach sent,” Hartless said. “Merryville is affordable, and the area is beautiful. Later I went to a workout and they offered me.”

At the end of the day, playing your best gives you a great shot in becoming recruited. Recruitment can come at any time, so you have to always play your best. Senior Kyle Metiam committed to Warner University based on his play at Olympia.

“Coaches watched the football game I performed at Olympia and this led to me getting an offer,” Metiam said. “I remember the day I got my offer I was in my room watching ‘Last Chance U’ and I got a text from Coach Croley through Twitter that said, “Hey Kyle we have been watching you for a while and we want to offer you a scholarship to play for us for the next four years,” and I was beyond excited.”