Area colleges give athletes chance to continue to participate
Published 6:00 am Thursday, December 25, 2008
It is the dream of many high school athletes to be able to go on after high school and play at the college level.
Whether it be at a junior college or a Division I university, the level of athleticism greatly increases and that is part of what entices so many of athletes to go on.
With the increase of media coverage on today’s student-athlete, from the pee wee level through college, is it any wonder that it is easier than ever for a young athlete to dream out his or her future?
Two area colleges offer athletes a chance to realize those dreams.
Just a little more than a half-hour drive to the southwest of Albert Lea in Forest City, Iowa is Waldorf College. Waldorf has been offering a post-secondary education to students since 1903 and athletes have been a part ever since its beginning.
Paul Meyer, a Waldorf alum, is in his first season at the helm of the Warrior volleyball program after serving as a head coach at the high school level for 16 seasons, most recently at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School. Part of coaching at the college level is recruiting and Meyer goes out looking for his players.
“When I am talking to perspective student-athletes I always tell them what we are looking at is a good fit for both the student and the college,” Meyer said.
There are numbers of ways to find the athletes.
“I like to get in my car and drive out to the high schools and watch them play,” Meyer said. “The challenge and the downside of that is with our practice time in the mid-afternoon and game time at 7 o’clock, you have a very limited number of athletes that you get to see.”
Other methods of recruiting used by Meyer are Web site services such as: www.berecruited.com and www.recruitathletes.com.
“Networking with coaches from other colleges as well as high schools and clubs is another way of finding possible players,” Meyer said.
There are many good athletes in the area.
“Finding them is only part of the challenge.” Meyer said. “Once we find someone that we think we would like to have come and be a part of our program, we start asking them what they might be looking for.”
Colleges of various levels can help students to come to their school in various ways.
Waldorf is a part of a level of colleges called the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and can offer athletes scholarships.
Meyer said that often Waldorf will do a package deal where the student-athlete gets help from many other sources in the financial aid office. Academics, family income all factor in as a student applies.
This is attractive for many students who may not have the academic scholarships or personal money available to afford college.
“There are basically two criteria that we use when we are looking at making an offer to a perspective athlete,” Meyer said. “The first thing is our level of need on the team and the second being the funds that are available to us at the time.”
Although the list is quite long as to what is available at Waldorf, the three top offerings are in communications, education and music.
Another option for students is junior colleges.
Riverland Community College, with campuses in Owatonna, Austin and Albert Lea, is a popular choice for athletes.
Suzy Hebrink is the women’s head basketball coach at Riverland, who returned for her 10th season of coaching this year. The Blue Devils are coming off their best season in school history.
“As a community college we feel we have some very positive things to offer our student-athletes,” Hebrink said. “The one thing that we can’t offer is money. We do have athletes that come and after two years of playing with us they have been offered scholarships to go play at another school.”
Riverland cannot offer athletic scholarships, but Hebrink feels tuition costs at Riverland are such that many can afford it.
Riverland is on its holiday break now and Hebrink spends much of that time recruiting.
“Most of our athletes come to us from within a 65-mile radius.” Hebrink said. “We would love to have students come to us from farther away, like the Twin Cities, but it gets hard to cover that much ground sometime.”
Of the athletes that come to Riverland, Hebrink said around 80 to 90 percent of them stick with the program for the two years.
“Some of our girls find that the education program that they chose gets very intense and extensive, such as nursing or radiology and they just are not able to keep up the athletics along with it,” Hebrink said.
Hebrink feels that Riverland offers a good education at a very affordable tuition as well as having on campus a nice housing setup.
“Personally I believe that an athlete would be happy to go and play at a school where they can play at the level of that school’s play,” Hebrink said. “I think it is important to find a place where you can go and make an impact.”