Olympics Athletics

This past Wednesday I did a fantastic recruiting panel at Brentwood high school with former Princeton and pro baseball player Stephen Young, women’s head basketball coach at Occidental College Heidi VanDerveer, and UCLA compliance coordinator Dan Goldberg. We spoke about different aspects of the college recruiting process, and the one thing the Brentwood athletic director asked me to discuss is the College Recruiting Game Plan.

There are 3 keys to your College Recruiting Game Plan:

TIMELINE

Parents always ask me, “When should I start promoting my student-athlete to college coaches?” I always tell them the best time to start is once you have quality varsity footage. This way a college coach can see you play against top talent and better judge your talent and skills.

TOOLS - What do I need?

The second thing you need for a successful recruiting game plan are the right tools. You will need an athletic resume, an official transcript, and a quality highlight video. If you can think of this process as being similar to getting a job, it will help you to effectively understand the use of each tool. Your transcript is very important because more and more schools are putting more emphasis on the academic aspect of recruiting. Your highlight video is also an imperative tool. A coach cannot effectively recruit you if they are unable to watch you play.

TAKING CHARGE - PROMOTE YOURSELF

The third thing you will need, and what I believe to be the most important step in the college recruiting process is to PROMOTE yourself to college coaches. If coaches do not know about you, then they cannot effectively recruit you. Be sure to send your TOOLS out to colleges that seem to be an ideal fit for you.

South America will host the Summer Olympic Games for the first time in 2016, as Rio De Janeiro, Brazil was awarded the honor on Friday. Rio beat out the US choice of Chicago, Illinois along with Tokyo, Japan and Madrid, Spain to earn the right to host the games. Despite a high pressure effort from the American power elite–including President Barak Obama and TV gabfest queen Oprah Winfrey–Chicago was the first city eliminated from contention. Tokyo was the next to go, before Rio got the nod over Madrid in the final round of balloting.

Bookmakers offered odds on the host city choice, with Rio listed as second favorite at +200. Chicago had been the wagering favorite at most books, particularly after President Obama got involved personally in the US bid effort. Chicago was bet as high as a -300 favorite, while Madrid and Tokyo were priced in the +250 range. Some suggest that Tokyo didnt deserve to have such short odds, but was the beneficiary of regional pride from the notoriously enthusiastic betting population of Japan. Despite some media attention to the betting odds, bookmakers reported that they didn’t receive a lot of action on the event.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, got the better of his US counterpart with a passionate speech that stood in marked contrast to Obamas typically baleful collection of talking points;

“It is a time to address this imbalance. It is time to light the Olympic cauldron in a tropical country.”

The Olympic committee was apparently swayed by this presentation and paid no mind to Rios many downsides. It is without a doubt the most dangerous of the finalist cities, where drug cartels and armed bands of thugs roam without impunity. Well do to Rio citizens are used to removing watches and jewelry before they drive anywhere lest they be targeted by carjacking brigands. Rios murder rate is also one of the highest in the world. Brazilian bid officials have stressed that security will be a priority at the games and it better be lest the Olympics turn into a bloodbath.

Some IOC members suggested that the summary dismissal of Chicagos bid was more of a rebuke of the notoriously corrupt USOC. The last two Olympics held in the US were tainted by crime and corruption. The 1996 Atlanta Olympics were disrupted by a terrorist bombing, while the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games were marred by a well known bribery and corruption scandal.

Golf is getting more and more popular thanks to Tiger Woods. As its popularity increases, there are more and more student-athletes that are getting involved with Junior golf programs. With this increase in popularity, comes an increase in competition for college golf scholarships. Due to this increase in scholarship competition, I want to share with you some basic guidelines that will help you get a college golf scholarship.

One thing I want to stress to student-athletes is that what I am about to share with you are SIMPLY guidelines. If you are able to offer a college coach certain intangibles that he/she is looking for they may still offer you a college scholarship.

Do not let these parameters deter you from shooting for the stars in your college golf goals. I am only 6′, and I played quarterback in the Pac-10…most Pac-10 quarterbacks are at least 6′2″.

I think it is important to know what college coaches are looking for because it gives you something to shoot for…a goal to strive for as you practice and prepare.

Keep in mind, that the BASICS of college recruiting still apply…even if you are within the given guidelines. It is important that you still excel in the class room, and YES, coaches want to see video your swings. Once you get some video done of your swings, begin to promote yourself to college coaches all over the country.

Typical grades are 3.0+ GPA and a 24+ACT/1000+SAT

One thing I often get asked by parents and players is, “What do I need to shoot in order to play in college?”

RECRUITING PARAMETERS

A D1 coach is looking to recruit scratch golfers for his male golf team, and a 0-5 handicap for the female golf team.

A Division 2 coach is looking for MALE golfers with a handicap from 0-4, and FEMALE golfers from 0-10.

Division 3 coaches are typically looking for male golfers to have an 8-13 handicap, and their female golfers to have a 10-20 handicap.

ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

D1 schools can have a total of 4.5 male scholarship golfers on the team, while the woman’s golf team has a total of 6 scholarships.

D2 schools are allowed to have 3.6 scholarships for their male golf team, and 5.4 scholarships for their female golf team.

NAIA schools have 5 scholarships for both their male and female golf programs.

Be sure and schedule all 5 of your official visits as soon as possible. The sooner you can schedule your official visits, the sooner you can make a final college decision. There are a lot of stories out there from people about how much FUN your recruiting visit should be and it should BE FUN, but be sure you approach your recruiting visit like a business trip.

When I took my recruiting trip to Stanford my senior year, I had a blast! I had a chance to meet OUTSTANIDNG players from all over the country. I was teamed up with a great guy on the team to show me around campus, classes, and introduce me to the Palo Alto area. We went out to an AMAZING restaurant in Palo Alto. There was about 20 of us in the restaurant chowing down…I am glad I didnt have to pay that bill In the midst of all my fun, I made sure that I kept my wits, and I approached my visit as a business trip.

Why is this important?

One the most important reasons to think of it as a business trip is because as soon as you leave campus, the coach is going to call your host into his office and interview him about you. He is going to be asking your host:

How was he during the weekend?

Does he seem like a kid that can fit into our program?

How did he behave when you were out and about?

These are just a few questions a coach will ask his players, and my point is that the coach is going to grill the person he teamed you up with to make sure you seem to be a student-athlete that will fit into his program.

KEY STRATEGIES ON A RECRUITING TRIP:

1. Be sure that you are prepared for your trip. Talk to people about the questions you want answers to, so when you make your final decision you will feel great about your choice in your heart.

2. Do the RIGHT Thing while on campus - typically the person you are teamed up with will take you to a party. DO NOT drink or do drugs (you shouldn’t be doing this anyways) on your visit.

3. Visit with as many current players as possible. They will be able to give you a GREAT feel of the college and its program.

4. Always talk to students as well. Find out what they like about the school…how are the athletes treated on campus? Do the athletes fit in? Get a good feel of what your collegiate experience will be like from as many people as possible.

Every university across the country uses a recruiting board to evaluate their current recruits. A lot of coaches use either a number system or grades to score their prospects. For example, Coach Saban at Alabama uses a number system to grade his recruits. All of his top recruits receive a number 1 for their height, weight and speed.

The reason you want to know where you stand on the recruiting board is because a lot of coaches will tell you that you are their number one recruit when in FACT YOU ARE NOT. Why would they lie to a 17 or 18 year old? Because they want to keep you excited about their school…they want you to believe that you are their number one recruit.

By knowing where you stand on a coaches recruiting board will give you GREAT knowledge and power with other schools that are recruiting. What it means to be a number 2 or 3 recruit is that if their number 1 guy does not accept their offer then you are next in line.

If a coach tells you that you are their number 2 or 3 recruit that is fine. At least the coach is being honest with you, and now you can start playing the RECRUITING game with great knowledge to use against other coaches/schools and how to leverage this information for your number one choice.

Another great question to ask a college coach, is to find out what would have to happen for you to be their number one recruit at your position. You will get all kinds of different answers to this question, and again it may give you very valuable information to empower you during the recruiting process.

At the end of the day, you are trying to do what is BEST for your future, so be bold when you ask questions. Be confident when you speak with college coaches, and just ask them to be honest with you about where you stand on their recruiting board.

One of the most empowering things you can find out as a college recruit is where you stand on a college coaches recruiting board. EVERY coach in the country uses a recruiting board to evaluate his incoming recruits. Think of it as a depth chart for his recruits. Just like a coach uses a depth chart during the season for his team…he does the same thing for his incoming recruits.

The reason you want to know where you stand on the recruiting board is because a lot of coaches will tell you that you are their number one recruit when in FACT YOU ARE NOT. Why would they lie to a 17 or 18 year old? Because they want to keep you excited about their school…they want you to believe that you are their number one recruit.

By knowing where you stand on a coaches recruiting board will give you GREAT knowledge and power with other schools that are recruiting. What it means to be a number 2 or 3 recruit is that if their number 1 guy does not accept their offer then you are next in line.

If they tell you that you are their number one recruit, then you should quickly start talking about official recruiting visits and/or offers to their school. If a coach starts tripping over his tongue, then you know that you are not really their number one recruit.

If you end up being a number 2 or 3 on a recruiting board, I would also encourage you to ask the coach what needs to happen to make you their number one recruit. I know this may sound bold, and it is…but college coaches want a kid that is confident in his abilities. Keep in mind that every time you talk to a coach they are evaluating on EVERYTHING YOU say.

There are other great questions to ask college coaches, and you can learn more of them by watching the video in this article.

Every college coach uses a recruiting board to evaluate his recruits. He may use numbers or letters to grade his recruits. For example, Nick Saban looks at height, weight and speed as he evaluates his recruits. The kids that have all of these aspects in his top tier receive a GRADE of 1 in each area.

Why is this important if you are recruit? A lot of coaches will tell you, “You are our number one recruit,” when in fact you may be there number 2 or 3 recruit. They do this to keep you excited about their program just in case their REAL number one recruit does not accept their offer.

By knowing where you stand on a coaches recruiting board will give you GREAT knowledge and power with other schools that are recruiting. What it means to be a number 2 or 3 recruit is that if their number 1 guy does not accept their offer then you are next in line.

When talking to a coach about the recruiting board, just ask him to be honest with you. Even if you are the number 2 or 3 guy, at least now you know and you can use this knowledge to your benefit as you continue to play the game of college recruiting. I would encourage you to use this information to leverage it with other coaches and schools.

Another great question to ask a college coach, is to find out what would have to happen for you to be their number one recruit at your position. You will get all kinds of different answers to this question, and again it may give you very valuable information to empower you during the recruiting process.

At the end of the day, you are trying to do what is BEST for your future, so be bold when you ask questions. Be confident when you speak with college coaches, and just ask them to be honest with you about where you stand on their recruiting board.

The key to raising awareness on behalf of your client is to take advantage of massive online, targeted traffic available to benefit the client. The solution to the ultimate challenge of targeting exposure is to corner the web properties that are popular information sources for the decision makers that hold the key to that next step in the evolution of your client. Match your client with the needs of the decision maker.

Demonstrate empirically how your client’s athletic ability can cure the ailments of the coach or personnel director who is in a position of need. Gently corner, the decision maker and hook them with catchy titles that will embed themselves in their memory.

It’s crucial to add that you should communicate the role of your client for a singular position while leaving the ultimate decision of their qualities to the need of the coach or individual assigned to recruitment. This identical process can be used for a college and even high school athletes with ambitions to gain entry into a top tier university program competitor.

85% of recruitment of an athlete pivots around the exposure achieved through media hype. Hype is a process that can easily be created with the proper internet strategy which normally has a combination of press releases, article distribution, photo distribution and video clip promotion on video hosting sites.

These unique and ultra powerful media genres will gain huge chunks of exposure that has a centralized geographic feel that will command national attention. When raising awareness for an athlete who has intention of pursuing big dreams it’s the publicist’s job to pave the way through various combination’s of exposure strategies, the rest of the burden falls on the shoulders of the athlete to perform to maintain the interest that you’ve help generate.

The best time to sign up for the NCAA Clearinghouse is at the end of your academic Junior year. The Clearinghouse is imperative if you are going to compete at the D I or D II level.

Many people ask me, “What exactly is the NCAA Clearinghouse?” I simply direct them to the definition on the NCAA website:

NCAA Clearinghouse: It is a registration process that qualifies and certifies student-athletes so college coaches can be confident that the student-athlete has completed certain academic requirements for eligibility. The Clearinghouse basically acts as a stamp of approval of student-athletes for college coaches. It helps coaches qualify student-athletes for their University.

Division I and Division II coaches are sorting through hundreds, if not thousands, of players every year trying to find the best talent academically and athletically. The Clearinghouse is an easy way for a coach to know that a student-athlete has met basic academic requirements that qualify he/she to play at the collegiate level as a freshman.

To sign up for the NCAA Clearinghouse go to: www.ncaaclearinghouse.net

QUICK NCAA CLEARINGHOUSE STORY

I know of a student-athlete that had a full-ride basketball scholarship to a school in Northern California, and the coach assumed he was cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse because the student-athlete came from a prestigious high school. The student-athlete started his fall semester on campus, he was getting ready for his upcoming basketball season, and the coach just happened to find out that the student had not registered with the NCAA Clearinghouse. It nearly cost him his scholarship, even though he was a “qualifier.”

Registration with the NCAA Clearinghouse is IMPERATIVE. If you want to play as a frosh, YOU MUST BE REGISTERED! It may cost you some money, and there are ways to get it subsidized.

As you can see, it is very important to get yourself registered with the NCAA Clearinghouse at the end of your Junior year. Study hard and keep your grades up…that is the KEY!

When you are looking to improve your swing in baseball you should start practicing with pitching machines. When you use one for practice, your batting will improve - as well as your speed and accuracy. Many techniques can really be developed from practicing on pitching machines. You should start practicing your swing with pitching machines right away.

If you want to start developing your hitting mechanics at game speed, you should buy the best machine that you can afford. Most machines will allow you to pick the speed that you would like the pitch to be. You may also choose to use it to fix any flaws in your swing.

When you need to get better timing, a pitching machine will help you a lot. You will be able to have the machine throw the ball at a specific velocity. This will help you with speed and improve your swing tremendously. You next game will show very good results. Your team mates will be very impressed.

Practicing your swing based on your pitch location is very important. The machine will be able to throw outside your strike zone a little bit on a few pitches so you can hit more balls. This is a great option and you should look for a pitching machine that can do this.

Having more quality pitches per minute is really easy when you practice with a pitching machine. Changing up your pitch location can really help with this. When you change out the type of balls it will also help a lot because it will not be so predictable.

Start practicing today on a pitch machine. Your swing will improve a great deal and it is a good way to have a lot of fun. It really can be fun it you love to play baseball. It is great for using in between practices. Your game can really get a lot better.

When you want to buy a good machine, go online and find one with all of the features you want and then look for a good price. Many sites will have them on special and you will love the fact that you won’t have to spend as much money. Go online today and get the pitching machine that is right for you. The best way to develop your swing is to use a pitching machine. You will notice a huge difference that will improve your whole game.