There are good college sports opportunities for just about every reasonably good high school player. You don't have to be the best athlete on your team to play college sports. Drive, motivation, and the desire to succeed count for a lot. More than anything, you should not be ashamed about wanting to play college sports. It's an admirable goal.

There are, of course, college soccer opportunities for kids who are tremendous athletes as well as great students. Yet there are also great situations for excellent students who aren't the best athletes. Not everyone is meant for sports scholarships. There are also teams for strong athletes who aren't in the top tier academically.

The first key component of self marketing is to accurately identify a handful of colleges that meet your academic and social needs. Then investigate the soccer programs of those candidate schools with the same rigor that you evaluated the rest of the school.

Consult sources like college profile books, college counselors, and the Internet to identify the schools seem right for you academically and socially athletically.

5 tips for communicating with college coaches:

• Write a cover letter and resume introducing yourself to college coaches


• Follow up on your cover letter and resume; don't be deterred if you don't hear back from coaches


• Send a schedule of your games and tournaments to college coaches


• Provide regular updates and progress reports -- maintain monthly contact with each coach
• Make a highlights video

There is much more to know about contacting college coaches.

4 tips for getting started with recruiting:

• Determine the type of academic, social, and athletic experience that you want to have


• Identify candidate colleges where such an experience exists


• Assess the colleges and sports programs -- if any -- that have contacted you


• Get organized by listing all of your schools of interest on the CaptainU colleges page