Track and Field Athletics are offered by more than 1000 Universities and is the most widespread sport in the US. Due to the funds from the universities, as well as the income from TV rights, the teams are able to supply the financial means to support athletes with scholarships. In Germany there are very few full time coaches, however in the US the coaches are employed by the universities and so have time to supervise the athletes long term. Not only do the colleges have very good coaches but they also have a super infrastructure on campus, usually with a stadium and an indoor gym with a 200m track and this has meant that for years American athletes have been performing better than European ones. Every year, a total of 18,300 athletes (male and female) in the NCAA, Division I and II, have received $134.5 million worth of scholarships, respectively.
In Germany, athletes function on a very individual basis, whereas in the US the important thing is Team-Spirit, which means both training and competing is more fun!
Timing
The best time to go to the USA on a sports scholarship is straight after you finish school. College coaches prefer to give scholarships to younger students, as it enables them to continually train and improve a player’s performance over a period of four years. It is also possible to go to the US for just one year. Due to the contact we have to a large number of college coaches we have been able to help athletes after they have completed their Bachelor to do their Master in the USA. The best timing is if you contact us about one year before you plan to start studying in the USA. Athletes can start studying either at the Spring Semester (January) or the Fall Semester (August).
Requirements for a sports scholarship
Male athletes need to have qualified for the Junior National Championships. The situation for female athletes is really good. The universities are prepared to supply much more funding and usually a top placing in the State Championship will be good enough to get a really good scholarship, even if you haven’t qualified for the Nationals.
Fill out the Opportunity Assessment form and we will see how your chances stand.
Training
College teams usually train 5 times per week for 2 hours. The training facilities are usually very close to the campus which means athletes save a lot of time which they can use for studying and for recreation. The professional training helps athletes to improve their performance to such an extent that they easily achieve good placings in both national and international championships. It is of course an advantage to have areas such as Florida, California and Arizona where you have perfect training conditions all year. However even in regions which are climatically similar to England/Germany the infra structure is so good that you have perfect training facilities.
Competing
In comparison to Germany athletics plays a much larger role and has much more recognition in the USA. A lot of spectators watch college meetings and they are regularly shown on TV. In no other country is it possible to combine athletics with studying at University as offered in the US. Talented athletes are attracted from all over the world and the quality of competition is far higher than in Europe which leads to improvement in performance. This makes the dream of taking part in the Olympics; World or European championships for some young German athletes become reality.
The track and field season is in the Spring Semester, starting in January and finishing with the National Championships in May. This means athletes can still take part in the important championships in Germany in the summer months. January and February are the indoor months with outdoor being centered on April and May.
