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The recent outcry against P. Diddy’s son, Justin Combs, for accepting a full scholarship to UCLA for playing football, has quickly become one of the hot topics of the day. Many think that because his family can so obviously afford to pay for him to attend college, he should not have accepted the scholarship funds. Others support the decision of accepting the award noting that he earned it with hard work and dedication and that his family’s financial situation should be a non-issue here.

Attending college is hard work, as is participating in college athletics. Both require dedication and commitments of time and effort. Parents may sympathize with the family as instilling work ethics like this is a major reason many parents put their kids in sports to begin with. It is arguable that other students may need the scholarship money more, but UCLA has taken the stand that the funds would not have necessarily gone to a student who needed the money in order to attend college, as the funds were committed to a merit-based scholarship fund and anyone is eligible for these, regardless of the income level of the parents or even the students themselves.

Funding a College Education for the Rest of Us

Understanding the difference between a need based and merit based scholarship is important for students who are planning to attend college as well as parents who may or may not be footing the bill. Merit based scholarships go to students who excel in one or more areas. Students can receive merit-based scholarships based on athletic abilities/performance, journalism talent, academic performance, or one of many other categories. These scholarships can be full or partial scholarships and they often require students to have certain academic achievements as far as grades and test scores go.

Need-based scholarships are based on, you guessed it, financial need. Students with families who do not meet the guidelines of “need” established by the school or organization offering the award, are not eligible to receive the award. Need based scholarships are limited and when there are more applicants than available funds, aspects such as grades and community involvement may be considered. The income guidelines for need-based aid differ from one scholarship program to another so just because a person doesn’t qualify for one, doesn’t mean they can’t qualify for another.

If attending college and playing sports in college is important to a student, they should do some research on both merit-based and need-based scholarships as well as student loan programs. Considering your current income, the projected worth of the college experience (and degree) as well as your other financial goals is a good idea. Each student should sit down with experts and collect all the information necessary to make the best decisions possible for that student as far as which school to attend and how to financially make that happen.

Epic Sports can help with the cost of sports participation by offering 20-40% savings on thousands of sports-related products. Check out EpicSports.com to see everything you can save on today, and tell a friend!

Sportsmanship isn’t just a team/player responsibility.  The media reports continually on fans gone bad doing everything from booing and heckling to throwing bottles, cheering for injuries and fighting.  All of this is the result of overly passionate fans with a severe lack of sportsmanship.  A sports team cannot be held responsible for the bad behavior of its fans, but having clear rules and expectations can be helpful for schools and programs that are facing these types of problems.

Defining appropriate behavior and inappropriate behavior may be the first step to getting things back on track.  Post these guidelines so that attendees are aware of them and if possible, include an agreement on the back of each ticket that states something about how purchasing the ticket binds them to the rules and then list out specific rules.

Here’s an expectations template that can be changed to accommodate the problems in particular that a sports team or program may be experiencing when it comes to bad sportsmanship by fans:

Behavior Expectations of Spectators:

• Respect officials, coaches and players of all teams.
• Encourage athletes using uplifting comments and behavior.
• Have realistic expectations.
• Do not ridicule or bad mouth players, coaches officials or other spectators.
• Do not harass or heckle players, coaches, players or other spectators.

It is especially difficult to witness fans gone bad at youth sporting events.  Youth games are attended for entertainment and enjoyment and are not an excuse to ridicule or intimidate players or others in the crowd.  These players are still developing skills and cannot be expected to be perfect all of the time.  Attendees who learn the games rules and understand strategy will be able to grasp why some plays take place and why the coaches make certain decisions.  Understand that the officials are probably not biased, they are human and can make mistakes that seem unfair or blatant, but it is not likely they are intentionally swaying the odds.

Learning all types of sets will help the volleyball setter be best in their position.  Jump setting can be more difficult to pull off, but it has many advantages over a set from the ground.  First of all, jump setting can help you to trick your opponents.  When the opposing team is fooled into thinking you will attack, they dedicate a blocker to covering you.  This puts your hitter in a better position.  Jump setting can also offer the setter increased offensive speed because jump setting will allow the setter to get to the ball faster, meeting it in the air.  Quick responses and action can define the game.  Moving faster than the opposing teams defense can make all the difference.

While jump setting has its advantages, the player who wants to be his/her best will practice multiple types of sets and situations.  By incorporating multiple types of sets in the game, players are able to keep the other team guessing as to what they will do next.  This is why mastering one skill is never enough.  Being adequate at several positions and/or skills can be better than defining your play by a trademark move.

The setter determines the pace of the game as well as who hits when, so practice with the team to ensure good communication and to help your teammates get to know your style.

Epic Sports offers volleyball resources and savings on volleyball gear.  Check out the volleyball section on EpicSports.com to see all the great gear you could be saving on right now!

We will be closed Monday, May 28th, in observance of Memorial Day.

Sales, customer service, and shipping will resume at 8:00 Tuesday morning, Central Time.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Everyday families struggle with balance.  How do you manage work, school, religious commitments, clubs, sports teams, lessons, homework, and the dozens of other tasks that hit the ever lengthening to-do list?

The summertime brings new challenges to this balance as daycare, summer camps, recreation and vacations replace the consistent school day and routine.

At Epic Sports, we know that as the school year comes to an end, you are being bombarded with permission slips and invites to awards ceremonies in addition to the planning that summer forces upon the heads of households.  To make things easier for you, we have compiled lists of summer camps which include links to the camps to help all you planners out there make comparisons and decisions on where your child will learn sports skills and work on conditioning.

These lists are available on the Epic Sports retail Site, each list located on its prospective sport home page.  To make it easy, the links are provided below for the pages we have completed.

2012 Baseball Camps

2012 Football Camps

2012 Soccer Camps – Recently Updated!

2012 Volleyball Camps

2012 Basketball Camps

2012 Softball Camps

Contrary to what the layperson may think, softball is not simply a female version of baseball. Though it was originally modeled after baseball, softball has changed throughout the years to become its own identifiable sport. The game itself is played with different regulations; softball is played with shorter baselines and fewer innings, and different run rules just to name a few.

The equipment for softball is not the same as the equipment that is used for baseball though it may look similar in some aspects. Softball bats are different than baseball bats in both shape and size. Softballs differ from baseballs in a number of ways. Softballs are yellow and larger, with a 12-inch circumference (though smaller white ones are often used with young players) and baseballs are more dense than softballs are.

Epic Sports has lots of products specific to softball including balls, bats, shoes, cleats and gloves for use in fastpitch or slowpitch softball. The 20-40% savings you can get by shopping for these items at Epic Sports can really add up.

In addition, Epic Sports has compiled a new 2012 summer softball camp list that will be added to the Website for you to access soon! The links that are being included on this list will take you to each camp that has summer 2012 information up. Make sure you come back to check out the camp list. If you know of a camp that doesn’t make the list, feel free to post the information on the Epic Sports Facebook page and it can be added! This is a free resource for softball players, coaches and parents to help you save time when searching for softball camps to attend this summer.

Other camp lists that are up at EpicSports.com include football camps, soccer camps, baseball camps, volleyball camps and basketball camps. Click the sweepstakes banner on the Site while you are there to enter for a shot at winning $2500 cash (ok, it will be a check) for yourself plus $500 each for up to 5 of your friends! XGJG6ERX9M5G

Playing sports in college may not be a far off dream for some juniors and seniors in high school. It may actually be a goal or even a set reality for some.

By now, hopefully you have familiarized yourself with the eligibility requirements regulated by the NCAA. As these change from time to time, you may want to review them using the resource link provided below. Another resource that can be helpful for high school players who hope to play at the college level is the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes whose Website provides documents, forms, and answers to many frequently asked questions by students planning to play in college as well as opportunities to play in tournaments with other high level players that are on the same path.

Now, it is not necessary to pay a recruitment service to help you stand out. Coaches can be more impressed with a proactive athlete and supportive family members than with an athletes ability to pay for a recruitment service. If you choose to opt out from utilizing a recruitment service, you will need to be focused and take advantage of the resources that are available at no cost to you.

Epic Sports has provided in previous blog articles all kind of tips and steps that players can take and use to improve their chances of being recruited to play in college. If you missed those articles, you can still read “Be Recruited to Play College Sports on Scholarship!” and “Prepare Yourself to Play College Athletics” in the blog archives.

Other Resources for College Bound Athletes:

Learn the NCAA Eligibility Criteria

Register with NCAA Eligibility Center

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes

National Junior College Athlete Association

National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletes

National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators

National Alliance for Youth Sports

Women’s Sports Foundation

Whatever your sporting good needs, Epic Sports has you covered.  Visit the Epic Sports Retail Site by clicking one of the sport icons at the top of this page or click here and shop for sports gear at 20-40% savings!