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The following blog article is sponsored by National Scouting Report.
RECRUITING BLOG: WHAT ARE YOUR ODDS OF PLAYING COLLEGE SPORTS?
By Gary Silvers
Want to play college sports?
If so, your odds of fulfilling that dream are only slightly better than the odds of a Philadelphia professional sports team winning a championship this year.
Yes, that bad.
I don’t mean to burst your collegiate bubble, but let’s face facts: Only 6 percent of high school athletes will play in college. That’s right, only six out of 100.
How did I arrive at that lowly figure? Simple math (although no math is simple for me).
There are approximately 7.5 million high school athletes (freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors) in the U.S. Of those, there are about 1.875 million seniors (7.5 million divided by four).
At last count, there were about 450,000 NCAA student-athletes (Division I, II and III), including about 112,500 freshmen (450,000 divided by four).
Therefore, about 1.875 million high school seniors are competing for about 112,500 freshman roster spots. If you divide 112,500 into 1.875 million, you get 6 percent.
Unfortunately, it’s the end of the road for the other 94 percent of high school athletes … unless they plan to play club or intramural sports in college.
Boys’ sports with the highest percentage of high school athletes competing in college are: 1. Fencing (29.7); 2. Gymnastics (18.6); 3. Lacrosse (13.0); 4. Ice hockey (12.2); 5. Baseball (11.5).
Girls’ sports with the highest percentage of high school athletes competing in college are: 1. Fencing (38.2); 2. Ice hockey (23.0); 3. Lacrosse (13.3); 4. Soccer (10.1); 5. Water polo (9.5).
Boys’ sports with the lowest percentage of high school athletes competing in college are: 1. Bowling (2.6); 2. Wrestling (3.6); 3. (tie) Track & field (4.2) and Volleyball (4.2); 5. Tennis (5.3).
Girls’ sports with the lowest percentage of high school athletes competing in college are: 1. Bowling (4.4); 2. Track & field (4.8); 3. Tennis (5.0); 4. Volleyball (6.1); 5. Basketball (6.4).
(Disclaimer: That’s not including sports such as archery, badminton, beach volleyball, cycling, equestrian, rifle, rodeo, sailing, skiing, snowboarding, squash and synchronized swimming. Bet you didn’t know colleges even offer some of those sports.)
To make matters worse, if your heart is set on playing at the highest level in college, you likely will end up with a broken heart.
Only 1.8 percent of high school boys will compete in Division I; 1.3 percent in Division II; and 2.1 percent in Division III. An additional 0.8 percent will play at NAIA schools and 0.8 percent at junior colleges.
Only 2.2 percent of high school girls will compete in Division I; 1.2 percent in Division II; and 2.2 percent in Division III. Another 0.8 percent will play at NAIA schools and 0.7 percent at junior colleges.
What do those numbers mean?
Very few high school athletes will play in college, especially at the highest level.
Can you be one of them?
Absolutely, but the odds are against you.
How can you beat the odds?
Stay tuned…
Gary Silvers, Area Director of College Scouting for National Scouting Report, writes a weekly recruiting blog for SuburbanOneSports.com. He can be reached at (215) 480-8764 or gsilvers@nsr-inc.com.