New Web Site Service Helps High School Student Athletes Find Athletic Scholarships

A new company is introducing an online service designed to help high school and junior college student athletes in their search for colleges or universities across the country. The company, Utah-based Steel Athlete, utilizes the Web site, steelathlete.com, to match college coaches with potential student recruits. Steel Athlete's founders say their service is for men and women, and can be used for any sport.

Steel Athlete's founders are Nick Whatcott and Don Dunn. Both were high school athletes in Utah over a decade ago.

"When we were high school athletes, Don and I were both in a position to try to figure out what we wanted to do after we graduated. Based on our own experiences, and having talked to parents recently, we know that the entire process of trying to match a college or university to a student's academic and athletic abilities and future plans can be complicated and confusing at best. Steel Athlete simplifies the process and really tries to provide high school athletes of all abilities-and not just the stars-of finding opportunities they might not otherwise be aware of," Whatcott said.

Dunn added, "Our research has shown that a huge number of athletic scholarships are never used each year-especially in lower profile sports and many women's programs. Our hope is that Steel Athlete will provide scholarship opportunities to many young men and women who might not otherwise have the means to get an education."

When students sign up on the Steel Athlete Web site, they can create a profile page and post game film for up to four different sports.

Steel Athlete offers student sports recruiting packages for $299 in full or $29.99 per month, $399 in full or $39.99 and $549 in full or $49.99 a month. Whatcott said the packages are priced according to video storage capabilities. The company also offers a free service to ninth grade students.

"From a coach's perspective, Steel Athlete can be a tremendous tool in finding athletes that are compatible with a school's athletic and academic standards. Coaches will have to create a profile page themselves with a user name and login. By doing this, it protects the student athletes from having their information accessed by unauthorized parties. The coaches can use a searching method to find athletes based on height, weight, state, positions, grade point average and other factors," Dunn said.

Whatcott noted that the site can also help parents of student athletes. "Steel Athlete can really build parents' awareness about what's available and what's involved in the entire recruiting process. In the near future, our company will also be offering free high school recruiting seminars for high school teams, programs and clubs. We hope that parents will attend these seminars with their student athletes to gain the knowledge they need as they embark on the search for a college or university," he said.