Put yourself in a college coach's position. Which would you rather get: a college recruiting profile with very little information or a detailed, glossy sports resume that a player has clearly put a lot of effort into?

It's important to know the goal of each piece of the recruiting puzzle. You send emails because you want to get responses. You go to tournaments because you want to get seen. You create a college recruiting profile because you want a coach to pause and say, "Hmmm, this is a player I need to keep an eye on."

The good news is, it doesn't take that much effort to get your college recruiting profile to have that effect on a coach. Spend 30 minutes on it, and you'll make huge strides.

5 Things That Have To Be On Your College Recruiting Profile

1. Pictures, pictures, pictures - Be more than a name and text on a page. Show coaches who you are. Action shots are great, but you should also include a headshot and a candid shot of you playing your sport in the front yard. This shows a love for the game, but also lightheartedness.


2. Recruiting event schedule - Keep an up to date list of the college recruiting tournaments you're going to so coaches know where they can track you down.


3. Updated academic info - Nothing is more frustrating for a coach than getting a college recruiting profile with no academic info. It's impossible to tell if the player is academically qualified. Include as much information about test scores and grades as you can.


4. Athletic history - List each team you have played for while in high school. List the events those teams have played at and the teams you compete against on a regular basis. This creates context so college coaches can compare you to other players they know.


5. Recommendations - Attach recommendations from your club and high school coaches to your college recruiting profile. This allows college coaches to have a little color commentary on your ability while they check out your profile.

Once you've sought college recruiting services, you must make the extra effort to enhance your profile.

What's it like to play in three World Cups? This week on Role Models, we pose that question to Marcelo Balboa, an American soccer icon.

Marcelo played in the 1990, 1994, and 1998 World Cups. In spite of being an outstanding defender, Marcelo is best known for his legendary bicycle kicks.

In 2005, Marcelo was named one of the 11 best players of all-time in Major League Soccer. That same year, he was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Marcelo talks about practicing bicycle kicks on his bed when he was a kid, how he developed into a world-class athlete, and what tips he has for young athletes today who are trying to get to the top of the game. He also discusses life after soccer and his work to grow the game through Calle Street Soccer.

by Preston - There are tons of colleges out there. How can you possibly figure out which one is the perfect fit?

Let’s be honest, finding the right colleges is one of the most exciting, but difficult parts of college baseball recruiting. In fact, this is true for any sport. How do you decide where you want to spend what many people describe as "the best years of your life?"

Not so long ago, I was trying to navigate the baseball recruitment process. It took a lot, but I firmly believe that in the end, I found the one college that was the best school for me.

Let me tell you how I got there.

First, I sat down and wrote out my priorities. I knew from the outset that academics were what mattered most to me. But my college experience wouldn’t be complete without the chance to play baseball. By the same token, I wanted to explore other opportunities in college.

So that was my challenge: find a top academic school with a very good baseball team that would still give me the opportunity to try other things.

I started by looking at Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. Each of these schools had great academics, but as I looked more closely, I realized that playing baseball would be a stretch. Being honest with myself was essential. I knew I could play in college, but probably not at the highest level. I was not exactly baseball scholarship material. (This advice goes for softball scholarships, too.

So I started to look elsewhere, specifically to a number of Division III teams that played very good baseball and wouldn’t require a year-round commitment. Division III sounded like a great fit.

My list ballooned to about 20 colleges, including MIT, the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, and Emory. It was a fairly large list, so I dug a little deeper.

I considered the type of social environment I wanted to be in (studious, laid back, and diverse); what I wanted to study (economics); and where I wanted to live (in a big city.)

As I reevaluated each school, it became clear that the University of Chicago was the one for me. Between its notoriously tough academics, quirky academic environment, solid baseball team, legendary economics department, and location, it was the perfect fit.

Not everyone can get college athletic scholarships. The reason? There just aren't enough to go around.

The NCAA limits scholarships very strictly. First of all, there is no such thing as Division III scholarships. They don't exist. And while a Division I college team might have 30 players on its roster, the NCAA might allow only 10 scholarships. That means that either 10 players get full rides, or the coach divides those scholarships how ever he sees fit among the players on the team -- which is more often than not how it's done.

Division I College Sports Scholarships Available for Men

NCAA Baseball Scholarships: 11.7

NCAA Basketball Scholarships: 13

NCAA Cross Country/Track and Field Scholarships: 12.6

NCAA Football Scholarships: 85

NCAA Golf Scholarships: 4.5

NCAA Gymnastics Scholarships: 6.3

NCAA Ice Hockey Scholarships: 18

NCAA Lacrosse Scholarships: 12.6

NCAA Soccer Scholarships: 9.9

NCAA Swimming and Diving Scholarships: 9.9

NCAA Tennis Scholarships: 4.5

NCAA Water Polo Scholarships: 4.5

NCAA Wrestling Scholarships: 9.9

Division I College Sports Scholarships Available for Women

NCAA Basketball Scholarships: 15

NCAA Cross Country/Track and Field Scholarships: 18

NCAA Field Hockey Scholarships: 12

NCAA Golf Scholarships: 6

NCAA Gymnastics Scholarships: 12

NCAA Ice Hockey Scholarships: 18

NCAA Lacrosse Scholarships: 12

NCAA Soccer Scholarships: 14

NCAA Softball Scholarships: 12

NCAA Swimming and Diving Scholarships: 14

NCAA Tennis Scholarships: 8

NCAA Volleyball Scholarships: 12

NCAA Water Polo Scholarships: 4.5

In addition to NCAA scholarship limits, you also have to contend with the lack of funding most college teams face. As a result, they often can't afford all 10 scholarships, so they might have only 7 or so.

College sports scholarships are a popular conversation topic. Probably as a result, many of the realities get mired in myths and misconceptions. Discussions surrounding scholarships vary widely, but there are three particularly common myths and one recurring pitfall that athletes encounter time and again. On this episode of our podcast, we debunk the myths, talk about how to avoid the pitfall, and reveal what the college scholarship landscape really looks like.

3 Sport Scholarship Myths

• The Myth of Many - NCAA scholarship limits are extremely strict. The NCAA sets a maximum number of scholarships that teams in a given sport can have.


• The Myth of the Full Ride - There are very few full scholarships. Most college teams split their scholarships among a number of athletes.


• The Myth of Full Funding - Not only are teams limited in the number of scholarships that the NCAA allows them to have, many can't afford that many anyhow.

1 Pitfall

And here's the pitfall: college athletic scholarships are dangerous. Why? They often cloud people's judgment and lead them to make bad decisions.

It's been on your to-do list for months now. It just never seems to get done. There are so many moving parts: "I have to film ten games to get enough highlights." "I need a good camera so college coaches can figure out which player I am." "Once I do have the tape, I need serious help editing it down." Those are three very good reasons to procrastinate.

Here's some good news: by the end of the day, you can have a great college recruiting video. College coaches use videos for one primary purpose: to get a good enough idea about you as a player to know if they should make the effort to see you play in person. What that means is that you don't need something that would make Hollywood proud. All you need is a basic video that gives coaches an idea of what kind of player you are.

Here's how you do it

1. Record a single practice or game - Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to have a season's worth of video footage. Instead, you can just film one practice or game and use that footage.


2. Borrow a camera - The good thing about filming just one game is that it's much easier to borrow someone's video camera for one day than it is to borrow it for a full season.


3. Video doesn't have to be highlights - Your video doesn't have to be all highlights. In the course of a single game, you can get enough video to show (1) your athleticism, and (2) your basic skill level. College coaches are very adept at recognizing right away if you're someone they should see in person.
   
4. Make it personal - Start and end your video with a personal statement. Take a close-up shot of yourself talking into the camera. Thank the coach for watching. Show that you're more than just an anonymous person on the field.


5. Edit it in one sitting - Movie editing software is getting more and more common. If you don't have it on your computer, use a friend's computer. You should be able to edit it in an afternoon. Make your video no longer than 15 minutes.

Lindsay Tarpley is widely considered to be one of the best women soccer players in the world.

Among a long list of accomplishments are two Olympic gold medals, including one at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2003, Lindsay was the National Collegiate Player of the Year, while leading North Carolina to the National Title. After four outstanding years, Carolina retired her jersey.

Lindsay now plays for the Chicago Red Stars, one of the seven founding teams in WPS, the new Women's Professional Soccer league.

Subscribe for free through iTunes (what's an iTunes subscription?)

For more on Lindsay, go to ChicagoRedStars.com, LindsayTarpley.com, Twitter, and Facebook.

Who do you want to hear on a future episode?

Lindsay's two nominees for our next episode of Role Models are: (1) Jessica Mendoza - Star of the US Softball team. Find out what Jessica's up to on Twitter; and (2) Ivory Latta - Star basketball player for the Atlanta Dream and former standout at North Carolina.

Parting shot

Lindsay shows some gold and throws out the first pitch at the Dodgers game.

I feel your pain. There's an email from a college coach in your inbox. You open it, excited to see what it contains, and then, BLAM! It's another coach asking you to attend his college recruiting camp.

This can be pretty frustrating. You've put a lot of effort into emailing coaches and all you seem to get are impersonal responses asking you to spend $500 to attend their camp.

So what do you do?

This may not be what you want to hear, but recruiting camps during the summer are an increasingly important part of the recruiting process. They serve a very important purpose in that they give coaches an extended period of time to observe players -- not just how well they play, but also what they're like as people.

College recruiting camps are also great for high school athletes, because they give you an unrivaled opportunity to show for a coach. They also give you, the opportunity to evaluate the coach and see if you like his style.

Sounds great, right? It is until you see the price tag on these things. They often cost $500 for a 4- or 5-day week. And that's before you factor in transportation.

The bottom line is, you should go to college recruiting camps if you can. But you should pick carefully. If you have 10 colleges on your list, you can't go to them all. There are two key questions to consider:

1. Which coaches need to see you play most? These may be the coaches who are at schools far away, who haven't been able to see you play in a tournament. Or, they may be the coaches at the schools at the top of your list.

2. Where can you get the most bang for your buck? Some college recruiting camps may have coaches from multiple schools on your list. If you can get more than one coach you want to play for to see you at a single camp, that makes your camp tuition go much further.

IMPORTANT: Inevitably, there will be some college recruiting camps that you get invited to but can't attend. Don't ignore those requests. Instead, email the coach and tell him you're flattered by his interest and that you'd love to come to camp, but you can't because it's not in your family's budget, you already have plans during that week, etc.

Be clear that you're still very interested in making his team and want to know what you should do despite not being able to make it to camp.

A couple weeks back, we released our big study "What College Coaches Think About Recruiting." One of the most encouraging things we found is that college coaches are very concerned about players finding the right "fit" -- colleges that offer the right balance of athletics and academics.

It's great that coaches want this for athletes, but it's also in the college coach's best interest. In this episode of our radio show, we discuss why, for their own sake, college coaches want you to find the right school -- even if, in the end, it's not theirs.

"How do I get a college soccer scholarship?" We hear that question all the time. It takes two things: (1) you have to actively promote yourself to college coaches; (2) you have to ask them the tough questions.

(Actually, there's a third thing you need. You have to understand the potential dangers of college athletic scholarship.)

One of the big mistakes recruits make when trying to win a soccer scholarship, is that they assume that soccer scholarships are the norm, rather than the exception. In reality, college soccer recruitment is tougher than that: only a small percentage of college soccer players get scholarships. What questions do you need to ask to get a sports scholarships?

DI women's teams, for example, are only allowed 14 total soccer scholarships. Men's teams are allowed 9.9. What on earth is a fraction of a scholarship? It means that men's teams can have the equivalent of 9.9 full rides. If tuition costs $10,000 (wouldn't that be nice), the team can have nine full rides plus another for $9,000.

The NCAA limits the amount of full athletic scholarships teams can have. But often, the teams don't even have enough money to fund all of them. So you may very well come across a DI women's team with only 8 sports scholarships, for example.

What should you do?

The scarcity of soccer scholarships means that you have to be very strategic in how you go about positioning yourself to win one. Let's evaluate the two points from above in more detail:

1. Promote yourself - To win a college soccer scholarship, you need a clear strategy on how you're going to convince a college coach that he should give you one of his precious scholarships.

2. Ask the tough questions - Once a coach knows you, you have to ask The Question: if you go play at that college, will the coach give you a scholarship?

3. Know the NCAA scholarship limits - Find out what sort of resources the coach has to work with.