Play Lacrosse - Get Into College

Beating the odds: What college sport gives you the best shot?

By Todd Holcomb
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/20/07
When Westminster senior Reeves Henritze decided two years ago to make lacrosse her passion and basketball her hobby, she was not thinking about college scholarships. She simply preferred lacrosse.

But in making her decision, she unwittingly had selected the sport which gave her the best odds of playing in college while backing off the sport with the toughest odds.

There is one college lacrosse player for every eight playing in high school, according to an AJC analysis of participation data obtained from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

That gives lacrosse the most favorable high school-to-college ratio of any sport. Women's soccer ranks second (one in 12) followed by men's and women's swimming (one in 13) and women's gymnastics and baseball (both one in 14).

"Basketball is more competitive because it has been around longer and it's more developed," Henritze said. "So frankly, I probably would have needed to be better at basketball. ... I didn't know the odds or what was at stake; I just went with my gut. Fortunately, the odds were with me, and I had the talent to make it and play the sport that I'm passionate about."

Today, Henritze has a scholarship to Northwestern University, which has the No. 1 women's lacrosse team in the nation.

A young sport in Georgia

The sports with the worst odds of getting a scholarship are wrestling (one in 37), men's basketball (one in 27) and women's basketball (one in 25). But many factors come into play for athletes trying to earn a sports scholarship.

Henritze's odds were improved because she competed in elite out-of-state tournaments. In Georgia, lacrosse is a young sport and Henritze will be one of only five Georgia women playing at NCAA Division 1-A schools next year.

Raleigh Abbott of McEachern overcame wrestling's tough odds, signing with Newberry College in South Carolina. He knew his future as a 5-foot-9 football quarterback was probably even bleaker.

"I always knew wrestling was a hard sport to go past high school," Abbott said. "But you've got to do something you want to do or you'll end up regretting it."

Other factors, such as natural athleticism, scholastic achievement and the time and money invested greatly influence an athlete's odds, experts say.

Helen O'Neal of Kennesaw, whose daughter Ashley is on Alabama's gymnastics team, said gymnasts training for college typically put in at least 20 hours per week and usually start before age 10.

That commitment can pay off. Six of the last 10 seniors at the Gymnastics Academy of Atlanta, where Ashley O'Neal trained, have gone on to compete in college.

"It's basically how bad do you want it," O'Neal said.

Training can be expensive

Money can also be a determining factor in an athlete's chances to play at the next level.

Todd Shulenberger, a coach at Tophat Soccer club for girls, estimated that his players' families spend as much as $10,000 per year for fees and travel. The club has developed 16 college signees this year, and 11 high school juniors are committed to schools next year.

One of those juniors, Kayleen Duffy of Marist, is headed to Clemson. Her sister, Meghan, a sophomore, is also hoping to play in college.

"I never went into it thinking they'd get any [scholarship] money; I just wanted them to play sports," said Mike Duffy, their father. "I want them to be successful in life, and maybe because they got to travel and experience the things they have [in club soccer], they'll have a better chance than kids who didn't."

Others sports, such as basketball, football and track and field, can be less expensive to play than soccer, golf and tennis, but those sports typically demand more natural athleticism or size, making them ideal for some, longshots for others.

"If you're only 6-1, you've got to be 280 [to be a football lineman], and you've got to be tough, but if you're 6-6, you can be sorry and still get a scholarship," said Southwest DeKalb football coach Buck Godfrey, who has sent 33 players to college in the past five years.

And football and basketball scholarships often come with an added bonus: Those revenue-generating sports typically provide full athletic scholarships. Other nonrevenue-producing sports most often offer partial scholarships.

In women's soccer, softball and lacrosse, for example, there are 12 scholarships to share among 20-25 players on Division 1 rosters.

With the prevalence of partial scholarships, a student's academic resume can play an important role. That's especially true at NCAA Division III schools, which do not offer customary athletic scholarships but use academic and needs-based aid to take care of their athletes.

In Georgia, the HOPE scholarship helps because in-state schools don't have to give Georgia kids as much athletic money.

"College coaches want you to get that academic money first so they can break those scholarships up," said Ian Goss, the head coach of Stingrays Swimming in Marietta. "The more you qualify for academic money, the more valuable you are."

Goss said that his 18 seniors have an average GPA of 3.7. Ten will swim in college, many at NAIA schools, where good students are highly sought.

NAIA athletes who enter college with high school GPAs of 3.75, or higher, or who score 1200 on the SAT or 27 on the ACT (or higher) do not count against scholarship limits.

Looking ahead to college

Another consideration for a high school athlete wanting to play at the next level: Are more colleges, or fewer, competing in your chosen sport?

Those growing the least at the college level include women's gymnastics and wrestling, men's swimming and men's track and field. Growing the fastest are women's golf, men's and women's soccer and baseball.

Women's golf is often viewed as an easy sport in which to get a scholarship, although Kathy Cousart, executive director of the Georgia Junior Golf Foundation, bristles at the suggestion.

"It used to be 10-15 years ago, you'd hear about unused scholarships and that if you just break 90 you can play, but that's so untrue anymore," she said. "Even small schools today, they're looking for good players."

Women's basketball continues to grow in college but has been surpassed by soccer, track and field and softball in total participation. But that's no reason to avoid basketball, said Darlene Norris, president of the Georgia Pearls AAU basketball team.

"The worst thing to do is to look at sports as a scholarship, especially a young girl, who gains so much for their confidence and self-worth just by participating," Norris said. "If a child shows interest in whatever sport it might be, then that child needs to pursue that sport."

That's what Henritze did at Westminster, and she got her reward.

"If you don't have the passion, you're not going to play [the sport] as well," she said. "You're going to be so burned out and not ready to play four years in college. So I'd definitely say just go with what you like."

COMPETING AT THE NEXT LEVEL

There is no simple formula to predict the chances of an athlete making the jump from high school sports to college sports, but using participation statistics from the NCAA, the NAIA and the National Federation of State High School Associations, here's a comparison showing the number of high school participants in given sport compared to participants in college programs (this does not reflect the number of scholarships available):

Men's sports

Lacrosse, 8-1

Swimming, 13-1

Baseball, 14-1

Soccer, 15-1

Football, 16-1

Golf, 17-1

Tennis, 18-1

Track and field, 24-1

Basketball, 27-1

Wrestling, 37-1

Women's sports

Lacrosse, 8-1

Soccer, 13-1

Swimming, 13-1

Gymnastics, 14-1

Golf, 14-1

Tennis, 18-1

Softball, 19-1

Track and field, 21-1

Volleyball, 23-1

Basketball, 25-1

Note: 8-1 means there are eight high school athletes for every one college athlete in this sport.

Method: Participation rates in high school to participation at four-year colleges.

Sources: NCAA, NAIA, National Federation of State High School Associations.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The sports with the worst odds of getting a scholarship are wrestling (one in 37),...

This is sad - and a direct result of Title IX and the insane roster allowances and budget hogging for football.

I would be interested in seeing the data for hockey.

Tom Pasniewski 98
I would be interested in seeing the data for hockey.

That might be very difficult, if not impossibe to get it accurate. With all the Canadian players and the other options for hockey players, I don't know what list you would draw from as your base.

Not a big sport in Georgia.

Forgot our original source there. If we took Americans in the US at the high school level and assume that all positions on all college hockey teams are open to an American, just not filled by US players, we should be able to get some idea of where on the spectrum hockey falls.

Tom Pasniewski 98
Forgot our original source there. If we took Americans in the US at the high school level and assume that all positions on all college hockey teams are open to an American, just not filled by US players, we should be able to get some idea of where on the spectrum hockey falls.

A more comparable statistic would be to compare the number of American high school hockey players with the number of college hockey players who attended American high schools.