The coronavirus pandemic has upended sports seasons for high school student athletes across the country. Games, tournaments and training camps were all canceled. That has left many student athletes worried about their sports scholarships. How will college recruiters be able to see what they have to offer?

In a recent T-D Ameritrade survey, 47% of student athletes said they now believe the cancellation of sports during the pandemic could put their college scholarship at risk.

More than 180,000 students rely on sports scholarships to help finance their education every year, but the NCAA has implemented a recruiting dead period until April 2021; this means college coaches can’t have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents, and may not watch student-athletes compete or visit their high schools.

Due to Covid-19, states like California, New Mexico, Missouri and North Carolina are playing on modified or altered schedules. Other states like Utah, Kansas, and Alabama are playing with minor or no changes to their schedule. Some student-athletes say the heightened competition makes them feel the need to continue elevating their skills, so they are crossing state borders to compete.

The unexpected loss from the pandemic has also caused severe budget cuts for university athletics departments across the country. According to a survey by Next College Student Athlete, 30% of student athletes are concerned that colleges will cut their sport. And that concern is the reality for dozens of schools that have already eliminated sports programs.

The college sports programs forced to make budget cuts are likely to cut the sports with less players on the team, like rowing, tennis and golf. Universities don’t get the same tuition or enrollment benefits from those sports as they do with sports with a larger headcount, like football, basketball and baseball.

It’s unclear when athletic scholarships will fully bounce back. Still, student athletes are hopeful and have been finding new ways to get noticed. Some ways high school athletes have been gaining exposure are through setting up Zoom meetings with college recruiters, attending livestream camps, and uploading skills videos online.

Coaches have also recommended that athletes explore other options for college — like focusing on academics or considering junior college programs so that they can play at the next level to transfer after 1 to 2 years.

College sports scholarships and recruiting, as we know it, may never be the same in a post-pandemic world. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned this year, it’s that anything can happen. You have to be ready to adapt when it does.

KPGZ Sports - Jim Dickerson contributed to this story with data provided by Colette Ngo, a senior at Chapman University