HELP!!! On International Scholarships

[doonbugz]

Ummm I am just ending year 8 now and live in Australia. I am an alright player...not a fantastic one and hoping to go to a college in America with a scholarship to play tennis. Note my grades r pretty gd. I was wondering if any 1 could tell me what they did, or tell me who too contact in australia, or easy schools 2 get 1...etc..

Thanks much appreciated

[tennismom42]

You might not find much sympathy or help from USA. Many have the approach that we need to save the American scholarships for Americans only. Some coaches seek only foreigners, as they assume only foreigners are good players. (Weird if you ask me.) I will throw out some assumptions for you. You will need to compete the same way our kids compete for these positions, however you will not have a USTA ranking. You'll be using your own. First & foremost, research the types of schools you want using the academic search engines availble through your school. Next, search if the school has a tennis program. Our kids use several recruiting websites, but he main one is www.tennisrecruiting.net I highly recommend that you pay the extra bucks & buy the better membership because it will show you which coaches are looking at you each & every day. On the left, click on MENS TEAMS. They are first divided by Division 1, Division 2, etc. Then they are divided by conferences. Start researching. You will need help determining where you land in that star system. Narrow your search to 20 schools & send out letters. It would be nice if you include a dvd of play. Give the coach time to view it, then call all of them immediately. First signing was about two weeks ago. Normal signing is April 5? I think. (That is for kids going to be freshmen in the fall of 2009.)

Excellent advice from tennis mom. To add to it, there are a lot of players from SA in the college system past and present. You need to ask around and find some of these people. That's how a lot of the recruiting gets done. Coaches will also look at tennisresults.com.au or whatever it is so you do need to play as much comp as possible. If you're a guy your chances aren't great unless you're pretty good. If you're a girl, much better especially at the smaller schools.

[jaggy]

Look at First Point USA. www.firstpointusa.com I have had very good dealings with them, they will not bs you or any coach regarding your chances.