How to become a scholarship athlete.

• Position: Athletic Arena - Brief article

For student-athletes and their families, the decision to participate in the college recruitment process can be overwhelming. Student-athletes must evaluate both their athletic and academic performance and take the necessary steps to ensure that they have a chance to pursue a collegiate athletic career, maintains former NFL player and National Collegiate Scouting Association speaker Roman Oben, who shares five things prospects need to know to get recruited:

* The recruitment process does not begin during the athlete's junior or senior year. It can start as early as seventh or eighth grade, not when the student-athlete actually is contacted by a coach.

* College coaches do not just discover talented athletes. The athlete must initiate communication and convey interest to be noticed. Even if a student-athlete is a superstar, he or she must be prepared to lake the initiative by calling coaches and asking the right questions.

* When college coaches first become interested in a student-athlete, they do a majority of their initial...