--- title: Advice for Would-Be College Athletes | TIME description: If you want to play a sport in college, the early you get started, the better chance you have. canonical: https://time.com/video/gCL2ulwx/ og:title: Advice for Would-Be College Athletes og:description: If you want to play a sport in college, the early you get started, the better chance you have. og:url: https://time.com/video/gCL2ulwx/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gCL2ulwx/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Advice for Would-Be College Athletes twitter:description: If you want to play a sport in college, the early you get started, the better chance you have. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gCL2ulwx/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Advice for Would-Be College Athletes > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Advice for Would-Be College Athletes [Watch (HLS stream): Advice for Would-Be College Athletes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gCL2ulwx.m3u8) (0:58)  _Published 2016-01-12. If you want to play a sport in college, the early you get started, the better chance you have._ --- Jul 27, 2023 7:26 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Advice for College Students and Recent Grads](/video/a00Q5kvi/) ### Advice for College Students and Recent Grads [Advice For New College Students and Grads](/video/QVO9etWI/) ### Advice For New College Students and Grads [Why Shouldn't College Athletes Get Paid?](/video/STkMLNJH/) ### Why Shouldn't College Athletes Get Paid? --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] So the student athletes do need to register with the NCAA Clearing House declaring their intent to be recruited as a student athlete. And they would typically do that in their junior year. But they might make themselves aware to their potential college choices much earlier than that by participating in sports camps on the campuses where they're interested in going. Participating in other kinds of athletic competitions where college coaching staff might see them play, so it's not uncommon for students as young as the 10th grade and maybe even in the 9th grade making themselves known to college coaches. A lot changes from the freshman year to the senior year. They can get better, they grow, they change But knowing that they're at least competitive in the sport and interested in playing at the college level and they can do that, you know, as early as the 9th or the 10th grade. Certainly by the junior year they need to make themselves known. 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