HigherStride
                       Football Recruiting & Student-Athlete Advising
                       Your talent. A greater purpose.


 GRADE 9 | FRESHMAN | FAMILY GUIDE


 Freshman Foundation
 Build habits before a recruiting campaign.
 Protect academics, build healthy football-development habits and help your athlete take ownership of a
 manageable plan.

 Start with these priorities
 1. Review courses with the school counselor, including NCAA-approved core courses if relevant.
 2. Ask the high-school coach for two development priorities, not a predicted scholarship level.
 3. Choose a weekly school-and-football routine the athlete can own.
 4. Explore what makes a college fit beyond football without rushing into a target list.

 A private family readiness check
 Mark what is true today. An unchecked item is a useful question, not a failure.
 [ ] We have a current course plan and know who can review it.
 [ ] The athlete can name two football-development priorities.
 [ ] Our weekly schedule has study time and reasonable recovery time.
 [ ] The athlete owns at least one recurring task.
 [ ] Parent and athlete agree on how to ask for help.
 [ ] We have not treated a camp invitation as a recruiting promise.

 Choose the right amount of help
 Use the free guide, your school counselor and your coach first. A short readiness plan may help when roles or
 priorities remain unclear. Ongoing recruiting management is not the default for a freshman.
 Independent education and planning. No school endorsement or recruiting outcome is implied. Preview resource, reviewed 20 October
 2026.




HigherStride | Football Recruiting & Student-Athlete Advising                                                     Grade 9 guide | 1 / 2
 GRADE 9 | FRESHMAN | ACTION SHEET


 Your next seven days
 Choose a manageable pace. The athlete leads; adults help with logistics and questions. These are planning
 suggestions, not recruiting contact dates.
 Day 1 Athlete names one academic and one football goal.
 Day 2 Choose one adult to help arrange a counselor course review.
 Day 3 Ask the coach for two skill priorities.
 Day 4 Set three short study blocks and protect recovery time.
 Day 5 Create a private folder for schedules and school records.
 Day 6 Agree who owns each weekly task.
 Day 7 Review what worked and set next week's one priority.

 Our weekly foundation plan
 Complete privately. Do not post student records or identifying information.
 One school habit I will practice
 ________________________________________________________________________________
 One football-development question for my coach
 ________________________________________________________________________________
 The task I own as the athlete
 ________________________________________________________________________________
 The support my parent or guardian will provide
 ________________________________________________________________________________
 The day we will check back
 ________________________________________________________________________________

 When to pause and verify
 If school work or the weekly routine is already strained, simplify commitments before adding camps, recruiting
 platforms or a paid package.

 Rules depend on the pathway
 A school GPA is not automatically an NCAA core-course GPA. Review course choices early with the counselor; HigherStride does not
 certify eligibility. No college-coach outreach campaign is assumed.
 Grade is a planning stage, not permission for coach contact. Verify the current association, division, football, activity and calendar rules
 with the college compliance office. Admission, athletics eligibility, aid and roster decisions are separate.
 Official starting points: NCAA recruiting | NCAA eligibility | NAIA | NJCAA. Consult the current rules for the student, not a universal grade
 checklist.




HigherStride | Football Recruiting & Student-Athlete Advising                                                              Grade 9 guide | 2 / 2