You are a talented student-athlete whose hard work and dedication has led to a multitude of impressive honors and statistics along your high school journey. The Reaching Higher program is indeed geared to assist student-athletes in attaining the "Next Level;" but it is important to temper aspirations of full-ride college scholarships and the even more remote pipedream of professional athletic careers. For most, the "Next Level," will not include competitive athletics. Let the following statistics serve as both a warning and a guide as you prepare for the "Next Level" as a successful citizen rather than an athlete.
- Nearly 550,000 boys and 450,000 girls play high school basketball nation-wide. Roughly 3% of all players of each gender will ever play at at NCAA institution.
- From the above figures, .03% of boys and .02% of girls will ever earn a paycheck playing the game.
- More than 1 million boys play high school football. Annually, just over 17,000 are afforded the chance to earn a scholarship as freshmen.
- Of course, the above figures are contingent on achieving minimum grade standards for acceptance to an NCAA program.