What is a preferred walk on?
This entry was posted on 2/18/2011 7:50 AM and is filed under Boys Basketball News, Girls Basketball News.
It's fairly rare for anyone but top, elite players to get the traditional full ride basketball scholarship. If you are not offered a scholarship by the college of your choice, you can ask to be a preferred walk-on. Because there are scholarship limits, not all players on the roster may be on scholarship.
When a coach says that they want to offer you a preferred walk-on spot, they are saying that they want you in their program and will have a spot for you on the roster. You will have all the same privileges and access as a scholarship athlete does, but will be paying 100% of the costs. As a contributing member of the team you may be able to be awarded a future scholarship.
Preferred walk-ons receive many privileges that scholarship athletes also enjoy. You will report with the scholarship players and be given the green light to be on the team and be a part of practice Most programs do not differentiate among scholarship and preferred walk-on players for training table meals, academic support, off-season training, etc. However, scholarship players may be given an edge in opportunities for playing time to justify the program's investment.
The difference between a preferred walk-on and a regular walk-on is the guarantee of a roster spot. Many schools will have walk-on tryouts for their teams during the season. If you enroll in college as a walk-on you may or may not make the team. You will also not become part of the team until walk-on tryouts have occurred and those players selected have become part of the team.
