When junior Mark Gasperini of the Brimmer and May School or his teammates touch the basketball during a game, the eyes of a college basketball coach are often following their every move. Not many high school athletes have this privilege.

And according to Gasperini, athletes competing for most public high schools have little opportunity to merit the attention of a college athletics coach.

Gasperini transferred from the high school to Brimmer and May after the 2013-2014 school year. Like other high school athletes who have switched to private schools, Gasperini made this switch with the goal of continuing his athletics career into college.

“You get a much better opportunity to play college basketball,” Gasperini said. “You don’t get the same chances at Brookline.”

Gasperini has received scholarship offers from six Division 1 schools this year, including the University of New Hampshire and Boston University.

According to girls varsity basketball coach Allyson Toney, there are multiple benefits of transferring for athletes in search of stronger college programs. Not only do athletes earn attention from college coaches, they also often gain an extra year of high school.

“A lot of times when they do transfer, they go an extra year. They get an extra year to play,” Toney said. “It gives them an extra year to improve their grades, their GPA, their SAT scores, which allows them the opportunity to get into a better college.”

Gasperini repeated his junior year upon transfer to the Brimmer and May School.

Another Brookline athlete who transferred to a private school to improve his college prospects is junior Jacob Harris, who now attends The Rivers School. Harris is a goalkeeper for the Rivers varsity soccer team.

“Not to take anything away from Brookline soccer, but Rivers is kind of at a whole new level,” Harris said. “This year we had eight kids going to play college soccer, whereas at Brookline I think there are maybe one or two. We play in a more competitive league, with kids from, really, all over the world.”

Harris competes for both the Rivers soccer team and for the New England Football Club (NEFC), a soccer club.

Harris has received a scholarship offer from Colgate University.

“My goal was to play college soccer, and I felt like Brookline wasn’t giving me the best opportunity.” Harris said.

According to Harris, Rivers participates in a tournament designed specifically for college coaches to watch the high school teams for potential recruits.

Gasperini and Harris agree that competing for high-caliber athletics programs in high school has opened up more possibilities for their future athletics careers in college.

“It definitely helped me get into college,” Gasperini said. “If I had stayed in Brookline, I would not have had the chance to go to school for free.”

Sam Klein can be contacted at [email protected]