STEP # 1 – Talk to Your Coach

The first thing we recommend is talking to your high school and/or club team coach. Most often, these coaches have been involved in this process for a long time and have coached student-athletes that have been through the recruiting process before. Their experience will give them a good idea of what potential level you could play at in the future.

Parents and student-athletes need to ask their high school or club team coach what level they should look at for playing beyond high school. Often, the coach will give you an idea of your skill set and abilities athletically and academically. You must use your high school and club team coach as a resource to get an assessment, advice and then a recommendation. Remember, they’ve often already been through this same process with other athletes, and can be a good evaluator of your skill level because they have seen many other teams and players compete.

STEP # 2 – Watch

The next step in picking the right collegiate level of play is watching. Look at colleges from all levels of play (Division 1,2,3, or Junior College) and try to figure out when they’re going to be playing in your local area. If you can, go to a game and watch them in person. Try and scout college freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors to see how they’re playing and what their skill set is like physically. This will give you a good idea of where you fit in best. SportsForce recommends that student-athletes and parents attend a few local games to get an idea of their caliber of play.

If you can’t physically attend a local game you can also watch a number of games over the Internet. Again, it is important that you evaluate the caliber of play for each collegiate level. For example, if you’re watching a Division I football game, you can get a solid idea of how good the quarterback is at USC or how good the running back is at University of Alabama. Once you understand this you can ask yourself if you stack up with that level of size and athletic ability.

STEP # 3 – Research

It is also essential that you visit the websites of your potential colleges and look at their team roster. For example, go to a number of Division 1, 2, and 3 team websites and look at the size and background of their players. What do they look like physically? What kind of academic or athletic awards did they receive in high school? Try to match your physical traits and athletic and academic success with the right collegiate level of play.

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For more College Recruiting Tips and specific details on our proven Step-by-Step College Recruiting and Athletic Scholarship system contact one of our college recruiting experts at 858.350.5889 or visit www.sportsforceonline.com

TIP # 1 – Understand Their Circumstances

In order to best deal with recruiting coordinators you must try and understand their frame of mind. A college recruiting coordinator is typically in their late 20s or early 30s. They are working 60 to 100 hours a week trying to manage the recruiting process and develop a successful team simultaneously. They travel 15 – 25 weeks a year and are juggling a lot of moving parts. It is important to realize that some recruiters get sometimes over 100 emails a day while receiving anywhere between 20 to 50 phone calls.

In simple terms, they are often overworked, underpaid, and constantly traveling, leaving them with a limited amount of time and attention span to interact with parents and student -athletes.

TIP # 2 – Keep it Simple

When you send an email, keep it short and to the point. Be sure to provide a clear and compelling subject line (ex. Josh Smith – 2013 – QB – 3.8 GPA – All-League with 20 TD’s). You see how that subject line is like a HEADLINE of the player to grab the attention of the recruiter. We’ve created sample email templates of what college coaches prefer to maximize our families recruiting communication efforts.

If you send them a highlight video make sure it is between three to five minutes in length; make it to the point, easy to identify yourself and quality enough video. Also, remember to always provide them with all of your contact information at the bottom of your email. Their time is precious and they’re looking for efficiency and effectiveness. You need to make it easy for them to recruit you.

TIP # 3 – Keep Them Informed

Lastly, it is really important that you keep the recruiting coordinators informed. You need to tell them when and where you’re going to be playing. For example, if you are playing in an upcoming recruiting tournament or showcase that they’re going to be traveling to, make sure that you let them know what team you’re on, what your schedule is, what position you play and what jersey number you wear. Send them an email with all this information along with a quick update on your athletic and academic status. This will improve your chances of being evaluated by them at the tournament or showcase that they’re traveling to. Most coaches have a list of players they want to see but you can improve your chances of being added to that list of prospects to evaluate.

Another thing for parents to keep in mind is periodically updating them with their son or daughter’s athletic progress. So, let’s say your child was recently named all country or all state. It is a great idea to send an email to the college recruiting coordinator saying, “Hey, you know my son John was named all state and here’s his final season statistics.” After this, provide them with a quick wrap up of some of the highlights from his season.

*For more College Recruiting Tips and specific details on our proven Step-by-Step College Recruiting and Athletic Scholarship system contact one of our college recruiting experts at 858.350.5889 or visit www.sportsforceonline.com

To get started today take advantage of our FREE 30 Day Trial.

Many parents and student-athletes believe that once they receive a letter from a college coach they are being actively recruited. In reality these letters are apart of a large marketing process where college coaches send letters to hundreds and often thousands of other student-athletes and families across the country.

What does being actively recruited really mean?

Typically, being actively recruited means you are receiving PERSONAL emails or letters. It is important to realize the difference between a personal email from a coach and a mass marketed letter to thousands of students. Further, if you receive a call from a college coach after July 1^st of your junior year, you are getting actively recruited. However, if you are a football or basketball player you can receive phone calls in April and May of your junior year. Families and student athletes must realize that just getting letters in the mail does not mean you are being actively recruited.

A SportsForce Story

One of our staff members, Nate Nelson who was the college recruiting coordinator for Stanford and Princeton’s football programs and played football at University of California at Davis (NCAA) fell victim to the actively recruited myth. Nate came out of San Diego and was a very solid football player in the class of 1997. He started getting letters from colleges as a sophomore and junior and thought he was for sure going to get recruited his senior year. Suddenly, his senior football season passed and he was left with nothing. No schools interested, no opportunities, and he had to scramble to find a school that would be a good fit for him.

Nate did receive letters from UCLA and USC his sophomore and junior years but their interest fell off. Bottom line, he wasn’t on their recruiting board. He was NEVER getting actively recruited and was only getting marketed to by college programs. The school that he ended up going to was a Division 1-AA School called UC Davis. It did end up being the exact right fit for him athletically and academically. But, the stress that him and his family had to deal with because he was an unsigned senior is easily preventable.

You don’t want to fall into the same trap that thousands of families do each year during the college recruiting process.

Here the final 5 tips for shooting a college recruiting video.

VIDEO TIP #6: DON’T ISOLATE

Often what we hear from college coaches is that their biggest pet peeve is when a parent sends them a game or highlight video that is completely isolated on an individual player. This leaves the coach with no idea of what else is happening on the field and they will not be able to understand the flow of the game.

VIDEO TIP #7: KEEP UNDER 5 MINUTES IDEALLY

Remember you do not have much time. In three to five minutes your highlight video needs to show a coach your son or daughter’s all around ability. Ideally the highlight video needs to capture their capabilities and skill set in the first 30 seconds so that a coach will review the rest of the video and know if they are interested in your son or daughter and likely want to request a full game video.

VIDEO TIP #8: BE QUIET WHEN VIDEO TAPING

Another key thing to keep in mind when recording game video is to be quiet. We often get videos that are submitted to us by parents who are continuously loud and yelling in the background. We recommend that if you are filming you should try to find a relatively quiet location. But in the worst-case scenario, you should always get video from the best visual location and worry about the audio last. Quality video is always priority number one.

VIDEO TIP #9: LEVEL SHOT

In order to record the highest quality video don’t forget your tripod. When setting up your tripod make sure that it is level and you’re getting a good overall frame of what you’re filming. Also, make sure that you have the tripod loose enough where you can pan from left to right and follow the game effectively. Your tripod should also be placed on a flat surface. But, if you happen to be in a stadium where there are stairs or surfaces that are uneven, try to adjust the legs to make sure that you’re able to position the camera at a level angle.

VIDEO TIP #10: SHOW THE GAME

One last key component in filming game video is to try and make sure you zoom as you follow the play. For example, in a basketball game the point guard is bringing the ball up, you want to make sure that the point guard is positioned on the far left or far right of your camera framing so that you’re able to see the rest of the open court in front of the player. In other words, the point guard is in the back side of the frame and you’re leading majority of it toward where the rest of the players are and where the next play’s going to develop.

Having quality video and a recruiting highlight video has become a significant part of the college recruiting and athletic scholarship process. Your goal is to guarantee a recruiting evaluation from target college coaches and maximize your college recruiting and athletic scholarship opportunities while saving time and money by not having to travel to each college to get evaluated.

Looking to maximize your recruiting exposure, you need a professional highlight video.

Contact us to learn more about our custom highlight video packages at 858.350.5889 or visit www.sportsforceonline.com.

WHY IS VIDEO HELPFUL FOR COLLEGE RECRUITING?

Video has radically changed how the college recruiting process works today. Many college coaches are now requiring players to send them game or highlight video. College coaches do not have the time, budget, nor recruiting days available based on NCAA limitations to personally evaluate many players. This is why videotaping your son or daughter is a critical part of the recruiting process.

VIDEO TIP #1: GET A TRIPOD:

In terms of how to videotape your son or daughter, if you’re going to do it yourself; get a tripod. You can get an inexpensive tripod at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or almost any electronic store. Make sure you purchase a decent tripod; prices can range anywhere between $30-$50. The better the tripod, the easier videotaping will be. For example, a tripod that has a fluid head costs between $100-$200 but, will make a huge difference in the quality of video recorded.

VIDEO TIP #2: HARD DRIVE CAMERA:

Another key component with recording your own video is to get a video camera where files are shot straight to a chip or hard drive. This will greatly simplify the process because you can now simply shoot video, come home, and directly load it onto your computer where it can be reviewed and burned to disk.

VIDEO TIP #3: IMPORTANCE OF PROPER EDITING

Often it is easy for families to shoot video and get it onto a DVD. Many times the most difficult part is taking that game video or workout and actually editing it. There are many editing programs out there such as Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere. Programs such as these are very expensive and take either a class or a professional to properly utilize them. Here is a link a tutorial video we produced summarizing our video editing process.

SportsForce Recruiting Video Editing Process

If you feel you are incapable of editing your own game video, SportsForce offers a variety of Custom Edited Highlight Video Packages to help maximize your son or daughters recruiting exposure.

VIDEO TIP #4: PROPER VIDEO ANGLES

Another big thing to keep in mind when you’re videotaping your son or daughter is to make sure you are getting the right angles. Visit to our websites athlete’s section www.sportsforceonline.com/athletes and look at some sample videos in your son or daughter’s particular sport. Whether it’s football, baseball, soccer, softball or lacrosse, take note of the different angles. For example, if it’s a field sport like lacrosse, football, or soccer, the goal is to get as elevated as high as you possibly can in the stands. Try to get near the middle of the field, in other words, for football, the 50-yard line and for lacrosse and soccer, the mid-field line. Use the mid point of the field as your center and try to get as high as you can in order to shoot from an elevated angle.

VIDEO TIP #5: GET ELEVATED

If you’re not able to shoot from an elevated angle and are at ground level, make sure that you’re focused tight enough on your son or daughter but wide enough to show the sequence of plays happening else where on the field.

If you have any questions or you would like to learn more about the college recruiting process and our custom highlight video packages contact one of our college recruiting experts at 858.350.5889 or visit www.sportsforceonline.com.

As the school year winds down, many students start to get a little tired and start looking pretty hard towards summer. High school seniors are so notorious for this that there is even a word for it: senioritis. Just because you’ve been accepted to a college and cleared for graduation is no reason to let your grades and academic and athletic performance slip. Read on for some tips to help you enjoy your senior year without tarnishing your record.

Avoid the Schedule: Gym, Lunch, Gym, Pottery

Don’t set yourself up for a lackluster semester by not challenging yourself. Sure, badminton can be challenging and so can making a clay pot, but how will these look on your transcript? There’s no reason not to take classes you have been looking forward to all high school in your senior year, just don’t let this be your entire course load. Keep yourself challenged to stay engaged and show colleges that you are a serious student. Consider taking and AP class if you have not already, if you work hard and pass the AP test for a certain subject, you’ve already taken care of some college credits.

Stay Engaged by Doing Things You Love

It’s easy to get bored senior year and try to forget about high school and look at your college years ahead, so find projects that will keep you engaged in your high school life. Working on the school newspaper or yearbook is a great way to do this. These will help you stay up to date and involved in your school. Also, just because you’re graduating doesn’t mean the school paper will stop going out, so being held to deadlines will keep you in the right frame of mind and keep you from slacking off. As a bonus this extracurricular activities are great experience as you build your resume.

Search Out Academic Options

In your final months of school, you may feel like you’ve got high school mastered. So why not take a college course or two early to challenge yourself and stay ahead of the game. Try the local community college for these classes. Many high schools will count this college course credit towards your high school credit and some schools even allow for early dismissal from regular hours to attend college courses. Check with your guidance counselor for your options, you may even be able to knock out a Gen Ed or two. Just make sure your future college will accept these credits, so you don’t end up taking the same class twice.

Stick with Sports, Even if Your Main Season is Over

If practice is the only thing getting you through your day as the school year winds down, then so be it. Just don’t let that fall to the wayside, too. Sports can be a great motivator to go to school, so even if you’re major season isn’t the spring stay involved with any spring sport as an incentive to go to school and stay in school those final days of your college career. Remember, colleges don’t stop looking at you once you’ve been accepted, that final transcript matters, so don’t tarnish it with senior skip days and sliding grades. Enjoy your senior year, just not too much!

Be sure to visit our Education Page for more resources for student-athletes and parents.

To get more advanced recruiting tips, strategies and advice, visit our website and sign up for our complimentary SportsForce College Recruiting Guide and updates below.

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Article courtesy of SportsForce, Home for professional College Sports Recruiting Profiles, Highlight Videos, Tips and Tools – www.sportsforceonline.com

In an article written by Doug Hix of Youth Fitness Magazine, we come to see that being a successful athlete doesn’t mean making it big time. In all reality being a successful athlete is setting personal goals and pushing yourself to your full ability to reach them. Read on to find out more about this:

1. Set Goals

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” -Henry Ford

Over the past 12 years, I have trained some of the greatest athletes in the world. Men that have won Super Bowls, gone to the Pro Bowl, starred in Major League Baseball, reached the Olympics, won the Heisman Trophy and so on. Each of these great athletes had one quality in common: they had a vision for the greatness they were working to achieve.

There is scripture that says without vision the people are unrestrained. Setting goals helps establish the vision that one is hoping to attain. During tough times, this vision helps one overcome the obstacles that can potentially derail goals. For example, if one truly wants to become an elite athlete, training is a major component and in order to train the hardest every single day, you must fuel your body properly. Sleep is also a critical aspect to recovery, so don’t let your friends keep you out late at night. Goals will give you the discipline needed to achieve a vision of greatness.

2. Work a System

“First we make our habits, then our habits make us.”
-Charles C. Noble

Too many young athletes place their hopes and futures in the hands of inconsistency. Many have no real game plan on how to reach their full potential. Numerous athletes set goals, yet lack a fundamental plan or system to achieve them. At the youth level, this burden shouldn’t fall on the athlete since they have yet to receive the knowledge.

A system is defined as a comprehensive assemblage of facts, principles and doctrines. The system I have developed over the past 12 years training athletes is built on hard facts and principles that relate directly to athletic success. I am tired of seeing young athletes not fulfill their potential by refusing to apply a system to their athletic development. My professional athletes are successful and achieve stardom because they have a year-round game plan—a system that they follow daily, weekly, monthly and even yearly.

3. Stay Motivated

“People say motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
-Zig Ziglar

There are over 7 million athletes competing nationwide for 75,000 annual scholarships. That’s a pretty daunting task with plenty of external forces to battle against. It’s important to surround yourself with positive people that believe your goals can be reached.

You may find some motivation from the team of professional athletes we have assembled to answer your questions online. Each has practical experience and has had to overcome some tough odds. Hearing about the obstacles these athletes have overcome will help inspire you to never give up.

Youth Fitness Magazine

Youth Fitness Magazine was created by SKLZ Team Member Doug Hix, with one mission in mind: to educate parents with knowledge and training tools that will help them make the best decisions for their children’s sporting/fitness routine. To get the latest tips in training and nutrition, information on sports injuries and sports specific techniques, sign up at www.youthfitnessmag.com.

It’s quite the rarity in Southern California, but in most parts of the country moving your workout inside because it’s raining, sleeting, or snowing too hard outside is a very real thing. Even if practice is cancelled and the field is flooded, your workouts don’t have to suffer. Below you will find some helpful tips for moving your workout indoors.

Choose the right cardio

Your endurance shouldn’t suffer just because you can’t run suicides up and down the field outside. Take moving your workout indoors as a chance to switch up your cardio and challenge your body in new ways while giving some muscles a rest. The treadmill is the obvious old standby to get your heart rate up and increase endurance. Be sure to add some elevation to the machine to mimic what it would be like to run outdoors as the movement of the belt on the treadmill can actually make your run easier than if it were off the treadmill.

Hit the stars. Maybe you’re a distance runner or a soccer player, and running long distances is a piece of cake. Try the step mill or Stairmaster for a challenging cardio session. Your body may be trained for distance, but once you add gravity to the situation, there is a whole new challenge. Expect your heart to be pumping fast in no time. Beware of the step mill if you have knee issues. The bike may be a safe choice, but for some even the bike can be irritating to sensitive knees.

Pool workouts are an amazing total body workout. Try getting a day pass to your local YMCA if you aren’t lucky enough to have access to a pool at your school or gym. You can do a traditional swimming work out and build a swim plan HERE or try pool running to give your body a great work out with almost zero stress on your joints.

Remember the weights

Many of us, women especially, are guilty of ignoring our weight training regimens. No matter what sport you play, weights should be part of your training. Depending on your work outs you can develop muscles to build speed, core strength or overall muscle endurance. Being forced to take you workout indoors is a great time to get back to the weight room.

Find a training center

SportsForce is partnered with training centers throughout San Diego; take a look at our partners page to see ones that might fit your needs. These are a great way to move your workout indoors during the winter months and step up your game with the assistance of some great trainers.

Switch up your sports to use different muscles

Moving indoors is a great chance to switch up your sports and challenge new muscles while giving the overused ones a rest. Try playing soccer at an indoor field. Play volleyball indoors, play some pick-up basketball or hit the batting cages. The options are endless. Sites like MeetUp.com can help you find a pick-up game in any sport.

Even though practice may be canceled due to rain or snow, don’t look at it as an excuse to bum around on the couch, see the opportunity to mix things up and challenge your body in a new way. Enjoy!

Be Sure to share your indoor workout tips in the comments.

To accelerate your education on the college sports preparation and recruiting process I recommend signing up for our FREE SportsForce College Sports Recruiting Guide.

* FREE Sign up click HERE

SportsForce premium members have an over 80% college sports success rate with an average of more than $50,000 in college scholarship & financial savings per family.

Click HERE to learn more about our programs.

Article courtesy of SportsForce, Home for professional and affordable College Sports Recruiting Tools, Tips, Online Profiles, Highlight Videos and Premium Services.

www.sportsforceonline.com

info@sportsforceonline.com

858.350.5889

In an article written by Doug Hix of Youth Fitness Magazine, we come to see that being a successful athlete doesn’t mean making it big time. In all reality being a successful athlete is setting personal goals and pushing yourself to your full ability to reach them. Read on to find out more about this:

In my opinion, John Wooden is the most successful basketball coach to ever step on the hard wood. In 2009 the sporting news agreed with me by naming Coach Wooden as the “Greatest Coach of All Time”. His accomplishments are so many that I don’t even want to try to list them all. Of all his great accomplishments and words of wisdom there is something that Coach Wooden said that really inspired me. It’s a quote of his that states, “Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

I think this speaks so strongly to what success really should look like. So many of you think success is starting on Varsity, getting a college scholarship, or making it to the pros. Those are successful attainments, however, that’s not the measurement of success in your own life. Success is measured against the ability you have been given and how much you have done with it. Everyone is given a different measurement of ability and your success is dependent upon what you do with your measure (share).

Let me share an example of this for you. During training one day I paired a really fast guy up against an athlete that was a little slower. I said the “loser has to do an extra rep… one, two, three, GO”! They were off racing around cones and the fast guy began to pull away. After about 20 yards of running he had a 3-yard lead, he slowed down as he crossed the finish line and thought he was the winner. The athlete that was a little behind ran all the way through the line and finished strong but frustrated because he thought he had lost. However, I declared the faster athlete the loser and the other athlete the winner. The faster athlete said “what, your kidding right?” I explained to him being a faster athlete does not make you a winner. A winner is someone giving everything they have all the time, not just part time.

I think success first should start with the basic premise that winning or losing is not a measurement of success. A common term used in track and field is PR (personal record). After every track meet in college our coach would announce when someone set a PR and everyone would clap. We knew that person competed at their best and was successful. Every workout and every game focus on setting a PR, then you will always be a winner and possibly achieve more than those with greater ability than yourself.

Coach Wooden was quoted as saying “never mistake activity for achievement”. If you are NOT giving your all every day in every way, then you are not maximizing your ability.

Youth Fitness Magazine

Youth Fitness Magazine was created by SKLZ Team Member Doug Hix, with one mission in mind: to educate parents with knowledge and training tools that will help them make the best decisions for their children’s sporting/fitness routine. To get the latest tips in training and nutrition, information on sports injuries and sports specific techniques, sign up at www.youthfitnessmag.com.

What most student-athletes, parents and coaches don’t realize is that DI offers less than 20% of the college sports opportunities for most sponsored college sports. The reality is most DII, DIII and NAIA recruiting budgets are small and thus the student-athletes and parents have been even more proactive in the process of getting evaluated and recruited.

3 Quick Tips to handling the DII, DIII and NAIA recruiting process:

1. RESEARCH: Research which schools offer the academic and athletic fit you are looking for at the DII, DIII and NAIA. There are plenty of great college programs at these levels. Use these two websites to help:
   1. College Coaches Online – www.collegecoachesonline.com (Contact us about a discount to their membership)
   2. College Board – www.collegeboard.com
   3. NCAA Rules & Regulations – Click HERE
2. KNOW THEIR LIMITATIONS: Since smaller programs don’t have a large recruiting budget you have to make sure you provide them an opportunity to evaluate you. A highlight video is critical for them to evaluate you as well as potentially attending one of their camps. Also DIII does not offer any athletic scholarship money. However they can put together a great financial package using financial aid and academic scholarship money.
3. BE PROACTIVE: Create a list of target schools and market yourself to those schools. Be pleasantly persistent and make sure you provide them a completed resume and highlight video so the coaches can easily evaluate your skills. Your goal is to get evaluated and know where you stand with each school you are interested in.

To accelerate your education on the college sports preparation and recruiting process I recommend signing up for our FREE SportsForce College Sports Recruiting Guide.

* FREE Sign up click HERE

SportsForce premium members have an over 80% college sports success rate with an average of more than $50,000 in college scholarship & financial savings per family.

Click HERE to learn more about our programs.

Article courtesy of SportsForce, Home for professional and affordable College Sports Recruiting Tools, Tips, Online Profiles, Highlight Videos and Premium Services.

www.sportsforceonline.com

info@sportsforceonline.com

858.350.5889