MPSSAA Hosts Eligibility, Recruiting Webinar

The state's governing body of high school athletics is striving to make the transition to college easier on student-athletes.

The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association has put together a program to help families and schools better understand the process of college recruiting and eligibility.

The service is provided through The Recruiting Education Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit organization.

"We are happy to provide this informational program to our student-athletes and their families at no cost," MPSSAA Executive Director Ned Sparks said in a news release. "We highly encourage anyone who has aspirations of playing sports in college to watch this webinar. It is an outstanding first step in properly educating parents and students about the recruiting process.”  

The program for families is offered through a free webinar, which can be found here.

"There is a misunderstanding that the recruiting process doesn’t start until a student’s junior or senior year," Sparks said. "Families and students who have aspirations of playing sports in college must begin to prepare themselves for the recruiting process starting in their freshman year of high school. MPSSAA highly recommends every parent of a student-athlete dedicate 60 minutes of time to watch our webinar. We feel it will go a long way to get our kids and families on the right track with recruiting, and more importantly, academics."

An additional 50-minute program for counselors and coaches will further educate staff on college eligibility and recruiting.

The programs can also be found on the MPSSAA website.

The MPSSAA oversees 24 sports at 195 public high schools in Maryland. Friday marks the official opening of the fall season. Practices began Aug. 11.