One of the biggest obstacles an aspiring student athlete faces in their quest for a sports scholarship is just getting noticed.  It’s true.  There’s so much competition for so few athletic scholarship dollars that unless you approach your recruitment project with some marketing savvy, you may never even get seen let alone noticed.

What do you think will get a recruiter’s attention as they plough through the stacks of mail they get?  What will separate your contact with the recruiter from all they others they receive?  Instead of just sending a letter and or resume to collegiate coaches and staff, have you considered something more with a little more flash.  How about a full color postcard as a change-up?  They’re relatively easy to create and some printing companies even enable you to build a postcard online.

What you will need to produce a nicely balanced sports postcard is a good action photo for the front and a profile type photo (headshot) for the back.  You’ll also want to have your biographical information ready as well.  We suggest a glossy finish for both sides.  Since the back will also be glossy, the shiny finish will make it difficult to easily write an address on it.  That said, it is probably a good idea to also have sticky-backed mailing labels that can be hand-written or printed. 

If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, building a postcard can be easy using one of the many application software packages available such as Microsoft Publisher.  The Home version of Microsoft’s Office Suite usually comes equipped with Publisher as a basic desktop publishing software application.  Most simple (and inexpensive) graphics software packages have templates for postcards making it easy to input your own information.

Once you’ve developed your first postcard, it will be easy to design subsequent postcards that can be part of your annual campaign to recruiters.

While a postcard will never replace a well-written letter or resume, it is bound to give the student athlete a better chance of at least a first look by a recruiter or coach.