"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.