Football clinic brings college coaches to M-A Football clinic brings college coaches to M-A (August 04, 2004)

Football scholarships may be more plentiful than you think.

By David Boyce
Almanac Staff Writer

A college football scholarship may seem a distant goal for a high school athlete, given the competition on display on television on any fall Saturday afternoon.

But financial aid for the aspiring college football player is not as unlikely as it may seem, provided one's aspirations don't include playing for a Division 1-A school such as Cal or Stanford.

So says Chuck Muncie, who, along with several college coaches, visited Menlo-Atherton High School July 7 and 8 to conduct a two-day football clinic for high-school players and their parents.

Mr. Muncie played at Cal as a running back during the 1970s and went on to a 10-year pro career, including three Pro Bowl appearances and one season -- 1981 with the San Diego Chargers -- in which he led the NFL in touchdowns.

At the M-A clinic, players from Peninsula high schools got a taste of college-level training drills conducted by college coaches, and heard talks on nutrition, the NCAA, and the importance of the scholastic aptitude test, Mr. Muncie told the Almanac.

Many parents are unaware of the scholarship opportunities, Mr. Muncie said.

"Not everybody's going to be a Division 1 guy, (but) there are schools out there that want you to come and play," Mr. Muncie said.

The Northeast Sports Group, which runs the clinic, is in its second year of operation; this year's M-A visit is the group's first appearance on the West Coast, Mr. Muncie said. The entry fee is $200, but about 100 of the players received scholarships, he said.

Basketball and baseball clinics are in the works, Mr. Muncie said. For more information, go to northeastsportsgroup.com.

Making the grade

Each year, according to the NCAA, U.S. colleges and universities grant $1 billion in scholarships to over 126,000 athletes, including about 23,000 football scholarships.

Of these, about 10,000 are given by 117 Division 1-A schools, and about 7,600 by the 118 Division 1-AA schools, such as Cal State Sacramento and St. Mary's in Moraga, not to mention Harvard and Yale.

Of the 150 schools in Division II, including UC Davis and Humboldt State, the NCAA allows about 5,400 football scholarships. Some Division III schools, such as Pomona and Whittier in Southern California, have football teams, but the NCAA does not allow them to offer athletic scholarships.

Athletic scholarships with an emphasis on academics are available from most of the 300 schools of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, according to the group's Web site. Local NAIA schools include Menlo College in Atherton, Mills College in Oakland, and the California state universities in Hayward and Monterey.

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