I started working with SportsForce during the summer between my Junior and Senior years of high school. After their evaluation, I was told that I would likely play NAIA or NCAA D3 college basketball. My first introduction to college coaches was on the very first day of my Senior Year of high school. I had about 40 responses from college coaches. I began narrowing down these schools, with SportsForce’s help, of course. They guided me through the process, gave me advice on how to properly communicate with the college coaches who were interested in me. They were there every step of the way. I ultimately narrowed my list down to about 7 schools. It was then when I began making official visits to schools, doing overnights at the campuses with the basketball teams, and having lengthy calls with the coaches to discuss the possibilities for my future as a student-athlete. On March 26, 2016, I signed with the University of St. Francis men’s basketball team, committing to them, reserving my spot on the team, and accepting the athletic scholarship money they offered me. Being a dedicated student, I also received a significant academic scholarship as well…
2. What school are you going to, and why did you choose them?
Next year, I will be attending the University of St. Francis, in Joliet, Illinois. I chose them for their location, school size, feel of the school, athletic prowess, and relation to the coaching staff.
3. How did SportsForce help in the process?
SportsForce helped guide me through the minefield of the college athletic recruiting process by telling me how to handle business, and how to approach the coaches with questions or concerns I may have had.
4. What advice would you give to other players and parents with the recruiting process?
I would definitely recommend that perspective college student athletes get a head start, earlier than I did, in order to get the roster spot they may deserve before it fills up. The highlight video was a notably big part of my recruitment, so I absolutely would recommend that as well. One piece of advice for them, though, would be to choose a school where you could also see yourself attending without playing your sport. Say you get severely injured after your first year, you don’t want to be stuck there; unhappy, and have to transfer and begin the search again. Just something to think about.
5. How excited are you for your future in college?
I am STOKED for my college basketball career, and I know that I have chosen the right school for me!
6. How much money do you anticipate your family saving in college expenses because of you being recruited?
Because of the help from SportsForce, we will be saving over 50% of our college costs through my athletic and academic scholarships.
7. Would you recommend SportsForce to any other student-athletes? Why?
Yes. I would recommend it. I had no idea where I wanted to go to college at the start of my senior year of high school, which was very stressing and intimidating. SportsForce helped me find schools that wanted me, and I went from there! 🙂
Over the last five years, SportsForce has helped over 1,000 student-athletes and families successfully navigate the college recruiting and athletic scholarship process while saving families on average $50,000 in college expenses.
To greatly improve your chances of competing at the collegiate level, it’s critical to understand the importance of building and sustaining personal relationships with college coaches. This is sometimes the essential separator between two equal recruiting candidates.
Because player statistics and videos don’t tell the whole story about a student-athlete if a coach is interested in recruiting you, voice to voice contact or in-person meetings are ultimately necessary. During these moments, it’s absolutely critical to make a good impression. Always be prepared for the encounter whether over the phone or in person. The most effective way to accomplish this task is to:
1. Take time to learn about the school, the coaches, and the sports program. Go online and read about the coaching staff backgrounds along with the programs’ successes and challenges. Learn about the conference they compete in and the other teams they play against. Understand the current roster of players and where you might fit in based on your specific position, measurables or stats. Learn about the school academically and be prepared to share with the coach why it is a top fit school/program for you. Keep notes next to the phone to help remember key things you want to discuss with the coach. Keep a journal of personal notes about your calls for future decision-making purposes.
2. Ask intentional questions. Before a call or meeting, write out a list of questions that you want to learn about the school and the coach. College coaches always appreciate well thought out and intelligent questions. Some things to uncover in these conversations may include the programs’ graduation rates, team GPA, team goals, in-season and off-season training schedules/expectations, team bonding events and how the coach sees you fitting in the program.
3. Be memorable – write a hand written note. After a conversation or meeting with a coach, write a hand written note thanking him or her for their time. At the very least, send a thank you email within 24-48 hours.
4. Introduce yourself at camps. Don’t be intimidated or afraid to walk up to each coach and introduce yourself. Let them know your name, high school, grad year, position and that you’re excited to be there. To make this first introduction even easier, send the coaches in attendance a letter prior to the camp, along with your game video so they have a better chance of remembering you.
5. Stay connected. At the end of a call or meeting, ask the coach if it would be okay to email and update each other every 1-2 months. Also, ask what social media platform they prefer and keep in touch that way as well. Monitoring the success of a college program and or congratulating the coach shows you have a strong interest in their school/program.
Maintaining consistent touchpoints and building personal relationships with college coaches will typically produce very positive recruiting results. Results that will help you to determine your best-fit school, best coaching staff, best athletic/academic programs, best offer and the best future career opportunities.
Over the last five years, SportsForce has helped over 1,000 student-athletes and families successfully navigate the college recruiting and athletic scholarship process while saving families on average $50,000 in college expenses.
1. Share your recruiting story and status My college recruiting process began a little later than what probably would have been ideal. I began after the summer of my sophomore year in high school, following a solid season of pitching for San Dieguito Academy. The only time I really showcased myself was when I participated in tournaments trying to get some exposure from college scouts/coaches. During my junior year in high school, I teamed up with SportsForce to get actual advice from people with actual experience in the field of recruiting. I was given LOTS of help from the SportsForce guys. I got some recruiting knowledge such as: what questions to ask coaches, how to contact those coaches, and how to effectively proceed through the recruiting process. Helpful tips for my pitching form were even given in areas that needed to be improved upon. All this eventually led me to perform in a Prospect camp that put me in contact with my future coach at Concordia. He was impressed at how well I performed on and off the field, including grades, and showed a strong interest in me for his team. I committed in October of 2015, three months after coming in contact with the coach at my school. 2. What school are you going to, and why did you choose them? I am going to Concordia University of Nebraska. The two main reasons I chose the school would have to be the baseball coach there and the strong education that I am anxious to receive in my major of Computer Sciences. 3. How did SportsForce help in the process? As I said before, SportsForce gave me an abundant wealth of advice that helped me converse and contact college scouts and coaches. 4. What advice would you give to other players and parents with the recruiting process? I’d say that one very important thing would be to start as early as you can. The first big step you should take is during your freshman and sophomore year. If you’re starting a little later, as I did, don’t panic! However, you will need to give more dedication to participating in tournaments, camps, and showcases in a shorter amount of time. 5. How excited are you for your future in college? I’m very excited about college. Obviously, I’m quite nervous for it, but feel I made a great decision going to Concordia where there are some really cool baseball guys that will be my future teammates. 6. How much money do you anticipate your family saving in college expenses because of you being recruited? I currently have a $17,000 scholarship to go to Concordia, which is half the Out-of-State cost. For four years, that is $68,000 in savings for college. 7. Would you recommend SportsForce to any other student-athletes? Why? I would recommend SportsForce to anybody willing to put in all the necessary effort for college and baseball, and then some. If you’re going to be a student-athlete with SportsForce, then grades, baseball, and family are going to need to become your top priorities to succeed in the recruiting process. Our Mission at SportsForce Baseball: We are on a mission to help our select number of qualified and evaluated players maximize their recruiting offers and make the best college decision. Started by CEO & founder Andrew Beinbrink, SportsForce Baseball is a nationally recognized college recruiting advisory group with over 40 former college coaches, players, and MLB scouts in 10 different states. During the last 11+ years, we’ve helped over 1,000 players make their college commitments. Read below, why we are different from every recruiting group in the country. Why SportsForce is Different: * View our Home Page VideoUnlike most recruiting companies, we do not just partner with anyone for our hands-on recruiting programs. Instead, we only partner with qualified players who meet our Five academic, athletic, and coachability selection factors. We evaluate between 10,000-12,000 players each summer and fall at top showcases and selectively advise, and advocate for only a limited number of players each year by directly contacting college coaches to help them maximize recruiting offers. Each of our expert college recruiters is limited to how many players they will advise so there is the best combination of hands-on guidance and personal recruiting outreach to college coaches. Social Media Exposure: We also utilize our growing Twitter following at @SportsForceBB which is followed by over 500 NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and JC coaches nationwide and growing fast. To Get Evaluated by Our Expert College Recruiting Staff:Option 1:Complete our Recruiting QuestionnaireOption 2: Email us at scouting@sportsforceonline.comOptions 3: DM us on Instagram @SportsForceBB or Twitter @SportsForceBB and share recent video, stats, or measurables (velocity, 60, exit speed, pop time, etc…) for our scouts to evaluate. Find out if Your Son’s Qualifies for One of Our Hands-On Recruiting Programs? Twitter Recruiting Education & College Needs Posts: We post ongoing recruiting education and post NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and JC needs year around. Follow us on Twitter @SportsForceBB account and join over 500 hundred NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and JC coaches nationwide that follow us and growing fast. Tagging us: If you have some good video to share with us, make sure to tag us @SportsForceBB or DM us and we will review it.
We would like to congratulate Tyler Hazlett on his commitment to Hawaii Pacific University! Here are Tyler’s recruiting story and interview after his commitment. Good luck as a Shark!
1. Share your recruiting story and status I play for a small Division 5 high school team in Temple City, California. I began participating in baseball showcases in December of my junior year. While attending a baseball camp at USC, I met the General Manager for Trosky Baseball and later that year was asked to play for the Trosky 18U team the next summer. Playing for Trosky was the best experience of my high school career and consistently put me in front of dozens of college coaches. We quickly realized that even starting the recruiting process as a junior we were somewhat behind. Some of my Trosky teammates were committing as sophomores and juniors. We felt behind in the process from the beginning. My coaches and I knew I would play somewhere but we didn’t know where. I didn’t commit until the middle of my senior year. 2. What school are you going to, and why did you choose them? I committed to attend play baseball for Hawaii Pacific University in February of my senior year. I was being watched by many colleges and actively recruited by a handful. I visited the campuses and met with the coaching staff of the schools that were actively recruiting me. This was a very important experience and all I can say is I just knew that HPU was the right college for me. I considered the education, campus, location, team, coaching staff and the opportunity to make an immediate impact. The home field is not the best and the campus is not very traditional, but it all feels right to me. I met several families from Hawaii while playing for Trosky and the love and kindness they showed me and my family also influenced my decision. 3. How did SportsForce help in the process? My mom heard a presentation from SportsForce at a college showcase and told my dad we needed to look into their service. We set up a phone call with Andrew (Beinbrink, CEO/Co-Founder of SportsForce) and he gave us some valuable advice about the recruiting process and what was required to be marketable. We decided to sign up because it seemed like Andrew really understood the process and we felt like we were already behind. My dad tells his friends that the recruiting process is another full-time job. My initial list had 50 possible schools from NCAA Division I to Division III. In baseball, there are only so many coaches and even fewer opportunities for them to see you play. Communicating to coaches when and where they can see you is the most important piece of the puzzle. SportsForce helped us email every single coach on the college staff on my target list before every game or tournament. SportsForce also helped us determine if a coach was really interested in me or just marketing their program. An invitation to a camp is not the same as a phone call or text message from a coach. 4. What advice would you give to other players and parents with the recruiting process? The process is different for every single person, start early but don’t be discouraged if you do start late. It’s hard to believe early means freshman year or earlier for some, but that’s what it means in baseball. A highlight video is a must and has to be short and focused, but playing or showcasing in front of coaches is most important. Be flexible, schools I thought I wanted to attend didn’t feel right when I actually visited the campus. Grades are also extremely important. A GPA of 3.5 and above puts you in a different category for coaches and impacts the amount of academic money a college can offer you. A coach has a lot more flexibility when he can rely on your academic achievement. My offer was stacked with an academic scholarship and an athletic scholarship. The process is not easy! Responding to emails from coaches can take hours after a game or tournament. You need to be organized and I relied on my parents a lot. My dad had his friends call me as mock college coaches so I would be prepared when the phone calls came. Research the schools you are interested in and be able to talk about yourself and what you like and don’t like about a school. Be honest with the coach and yourself and make sure it feels right to you. 5. How excited are you for your future in college? I am extremely happy with my choice and look forward to a great college experience. I love the campus, the coaches, the people and the food. And hey, the location is Hawaii. 6. How much money do you anticipate your family saving in college expenses because of you being recruited? My offer is for $18,000 a year, so we will save $72,000 over the four years. 7. Would you recommend SportsForce to any other student-athletes? Why? I play for Trosky Mizuno and we play and travel a lot in the summer. My Dad said we would not have been able to manage the email communication without SportsForce. SportsForce started out sending over two hundred emails at a time for me when we started. Darrell (Mazon, Co-Director of Client Team at SportsForce) kept me on task and made sure I got my emails to coaches in time so they would be able to schedule a time to see me at games and tournaments. When communication and offers started coming in, Andrew was there to provide advice. One of the best parts was that I was able to see which coaches watched my video and which coaches opened my emails. Our Mission at SportsForce Baseball: We are on a mission to help our select number of qualified and evaluated players maximize their recruiting offers and make the best college decision. Started by CEO & founder Andrew Beinbrink, SportsForce Baseball is a nationally recognized college recruiting advisory group with over 40 former college coaches, players, and MLB scouts in 10 different states. During the last 11+ years, we’ve helped over 1,000 players make their college commitments. Read below, why we are different from every recruiting group in the country. Why SportsForce is Different: * View our Home Page VideoUnlike most recruiting companies, we do not just partner with anyone for our hands-on recruiting programs. Instead, we only partner with qualified players who meet our Five academic, athletic, and coachability selection factors. We evaluate between 10,000-12,000 players each summer and fall at top showcases and selectively advise, and advocate for only a limited number of players each year by directly contacting college coaches to help them maximize recruiting offers. Each of our expert college recruiters is limited to how many players they will advise so there is the best combination of hands-on guidance and personal recruiting outreach to college coaches. Social Media Exposure: We also utilize our growing Twitter following at @SportsForceBB which is followed by over 500 NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and JC coaches nationwide and growing fast. To Get Evaluated by Our Expert College Recruiting Staff:Option 1:Complete our Recruiting QuestionnaireOption 2: Email us at scouting@sportsforceonline.comOptions 3: DM us on Instagram @SportsForceBB or Twitter @SportsForceBB and share recent video, stats, or measurables (velocity, 60, exit speed, pop time, etc…) for our scouts to evaluate. Find out if Your Son’s Qualifies for One of Our Hands-On Recruiting Programs? Twitter Recruiting Education & College Needs Posts: We post ongoing recruiting education and post NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and JC needs year around. Follow us on Twitter @SportsForceBB account and join over 500 hundred NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and JC coaches nationwide that follow us and growing fast. Tagging us: If you have some good video to share with us, make sure to tag us @SportsForceBB or DM us and we will review it.
It’s your son or daughter’s senior year in high school. They just received an official visit invitation from a college coach. The dream of playing their sport in college is within reach. Given the intense competitiveness of college recruiting, the invitation is a special honor. It means your student-athlete is being recognized for their hard work, dedication, and achievements. There’s no doubt this college coach is very interested in having them become a member of their team.
However, waiting until your child’s senior year and hoping for an official visit invitation may be inadvertently risking their ability to generate offers from other coaches/colleges.
NCAA guidelines provide high school recruits two basic types of college visits: unofficial and official visits. The abridged definitions are as follows:
The unofficial visit is any visit by you and your parents to a college campus paid for by you or your parents.
During an official visit, the college can pay for transportation to and from the college for you, lodging and meals. Before a Division I college or university may invite you on an official visit, you must be a senior and will have to provide the college with a copy of your high school transcript and ACT, SAT or PLAN score and register with the NCAA Eligibility Center.
There are three main factors driving the importance of the unofficial visit in college recruiting today.
1.) Early Verbal Offers
College coaches are recruiting younger and younger student-athletes every year. Although each sport has its own NCAA recruiting guidelines and nuances, it’s not uncommon for high school freshman and sophomores to receive D1 verbal offers. These earlier recruiting cycles mean that college coaches cannot risk losing a top recruit by waiting until a prospect’s senior year to offer them an official visit. As a parent, it makes sense to want to minimize your costs and hope that an official visit invitation materializes in your son or daughter’s senior year. However, by not actively pursuing other realistic roster spots, you’re potentially diminishing their ability to generate verbal offers from other coaches/programs that are recruiting much earlier than that.
2.) College Recruiting Budgets
College sports programs have limited resources to locate and attract proper-fit high school student-athletes. Although each college and university establish their own recruiting budget and allocation per sports program, let’s look at the University of Notre Dame as an example.
A few years ago, the Fighting Irish had one of the highest annual college recruiting expenditures in the nation, spending approximately $2,000,000.00 for all of their sports programs. To add perspective, Notre Dame’s $2,000,000.00 figure easily doubles, triples or quadruples that of many other low to mid-NCAA DI programs. Relating Notre Dame’s recruiting expenditures to NCAA DII and DIII programs would be like comparing the gross national product of the U.S to that of Denmark. There simply is no comparison.
The two sports programs in any school that normally dominate recruiting budgets are football and basketball. The simple reason: they typically produce higher revenue generating opportunities for their school. At Notre Dame, 75% or approximately $1.5 million dollars was spent on 3 sports programs: football and men’s/women’s basketball (with football consuming the lion’s share at $1,000,000.00).
There are almost 8 million high school student-athletes in the U.S. Roughly 65% of all college recruiting expenditures to go towards travel costs (i.e. airfare, hotels, transportation, entertainment, and on/ off campus recruiting activities). Given these figures, and knowing that most colleges have far less money to spend on recruiting than a school like Notre Dame, it’s easy to see why college sports programs have a difficult time locating and evaluating all of the talented high school student-athletes in the U.S and abroad. They simply do not have the resources to accomplish the task. This is even more evident if your student-athlete competes in sports outside of football and basketball.
3.) Building Relationships
An unofficial visit allows the opportunity for your son or daughter to begin building a personal relationship with a coaching staff outside of stated contact rules and windows.
From the coaches’ perspective, these visits provide an invaluable opportunity to meet with a recruit face to face and learn more about their backgrounds, upcoming competition schedules, and personality. It allows the coach to legally meet a recruit outside of established “contact” rules and does not adversely impact their minimal recruiting budgets. A coach knows that when a family pays to travel for an unofficial visit, they probably have a genuine interest in their school/sports program and are not just fishing for an offer.
For the families, these visits provide invaluable information as to the viability of a school and sports program being a potentially good fit for their student-athlete. It’s one thing to see and learn about a school and sports program on-line and quite another to see it all first hand by meeting the coach, walking the campus, visiting a classroom, eating the food and meeting with administrators. If time permits and the travel costs fall within the family budget, an unofficial visit can produce tangible outcomes and results. It may ultimately provide your son or daughter a distinct advantage over other recruits that have not personally met with the coach.
In the previous blog post, we discussed that waiting until a child’s senior year to receive an official visit invitation may be risking their ability to generate offers from other coaches/colleges. Instead, there is still the opportunity to make unofficial visits.
In order to ensure a productive visit for your student-athlete and the college coach, we collected some important guidelines:
Honest and Accurate Evaluation
If your student-athlete has not already heard from a particular college or coach of interest than prior to scheduling an unofficial visit, get an honest and accurate evaluation from a club or high school coach. Ask them to assess their abilities and what level they may see them playing in college. Sometimes, in order to get reliable feedback, it also may be necessary to contact local coaches from different teams/organizations that have seen your child compete or where you may send a highlight tape. Try to get multiple evaluations to paint an accurate assessment and take the emotion out of this process. Then begin matching your child’s athletic and academic abilities to the proper collegiate sports divisions (DI, DII, DIII, NAIA or Junior Colleges) and schools. If your child is strongly dedicated to playing their sport in college, don’t waste your family’s time and money by taking an unofficial visit to a school where the sports program or school is not a potential match for them athletically or academically. (Unfortunately, this is the point where many families don’t accept the reality of their child’s collegiate potential and continually chase “dead-end” options.)
Scheduling an Unofficial Visit
Do not just show up on campus unannounced and ask to meet with the coach. If you do, more likely than not, you will be handed to an assistant coach who is being pulled away from a project or deadline and will have little time for you. This may end up as a less than ideal visit.
Have your son or daughter email the college coach approximately 2-3 weeks before your planned visit and provide your schedule availability. In the same email, share specific athletic and academic background information, video and grad year. In the email, ask if the background matches the coaches’ recruiting needs. If the coach sends a generic response, politely responds there is not a match at this time, or does not respond back to one or two email attempts, don’t schedule the visit. If the coach responds in the affirmative, schedule the visit. Then be prepared to ask the coach well thought out questions about him/her and their program. Be prepared to answer questions the coach will ask you. Be able to articulate why this school is a potentially good fit for you. Other important things to do on the visit include: scheduling a meeting with admissions, financial aid, or academic departments of interest, visiting a dormitory, sitting in a classroom, eating in the cafeteria and taking an official tour of the campus. It is wise to visit colleges at different division levels to gain a clearer perspective of their offerings and opportunities. Beginning this process as a freshman or sophomore provides ample opportunities to visit and meet coaches at realistic target schools.
Most families have limited travel budgets. So pick your unofficial visits wisely. Save money by trying to coordinate visits with your club team’s tournament travel schedule or family vacations. This recruiting strategy may ultimately help your child play their sport at a college that best meets their athletic, academic, financial, social and geographic needs.
We at SportsForce would like to congratulate Joel Brown on his commitment to Chapman University! Here are Joel’s recruiting story and interview after his commitment. Good luck as a Panther!
1. Share your recruiting story and status
I wasn’t up to speed with the recruiting process until the middle of my junior year. My dream has always been to play baseball at the collegiate level and to stand out on teams I play on. When I started playing with Trosky Baseball in the summer entering my senior year I began to realize how behind I was in the recruiting process when I realized the majority of my teammates were committed already. The reality of my current position in the recruiting process didn’t come easily to me because I had the mentality that I had to go to a D1 school. With the advice and knowledge passed on from Coach Ryan Thompson, I was able to sign on with SportsForce and dive into the recruiting process head on. We did research and selected at least fifty different schools that fit my interests. After my first email campaign, I was amazed at how many schools/coaches were interested in me and how many positive responses I received. I followed the instructions I received from SportsForce and created dialogues with numerous coaches. Eventually, I was able to showcase my skills in front of many of these coaches at tournaments and showcases. After the first month or two, I received my first offer and soon after I received 3 more. None of these schools were D1 colleges, but it didn’t seem to matter anymore. I realized the most important thing was a good education followed by a great degree. I found a school with a perfect social fit, location and baseball program. I am confident that I will be able to stand out and be an impact player in their program. I am thrilled that I committed before my senior season started because it is extremely stressful not knowing where you are going after your senior year. I am now able to completely focus on my last year of high school baseball and just have fun.
2. What school are you going to, and why did you choose them?
I will be attending Chapman University. I chose Chapman because of a handful of reasons. I like that it is a medium size student body so I won’t have to walk around campus and see the same faces every day. It is located an hour away from where I live in Southern California so my family and friends can come watch me play whenever they want, and it’s a ten-minute drive to the beach. Chapman offers a fantastic education and a variety of different degrees. The baseball program is a top D3 program where I know I will be able to excel and be coached by experienced coaches who know how to coach a championship team.
3. How did SportsForce help in the process?
SportsForce started off helping me by giving me the truth to the reality of recruiting. We then identified schools that would be the right fit for me academically and athletically. SportsForce did an amazing job at helping me create custom emails to send to coaches. SportsForce has a great staff that includes guys who were pro athletes and collegiate coaches so they know what specifically should and shouldn’t be said in an email. SportsForce also really helped in the dialogue process with coaches. When I didn’t know how to reply to a coach, I was always able to ask for help and I would always receive an immediate response.
4. What advice would you give to other players and parents with the recruiting process?
I would say to start off with a quality highlight video that includes batting and your position. Create dialogues with coaches as early as your sophomore and even freshman year because it is never too early to start. Don’t be afraid to call coaches and ask them where you currently stand with them in their recruiting process and how you can proceed with them. Understand the realities of recruiting and keep an open mind to any division of a school because you may fit a lot better in a school you may never think you would go to. Go somewhere where you know you can play and not sit on the bench for 2 or 3 years.
5. How excited are you for your future in college?
I couldn’t be more excited to go to Chapman. The reality of my commitment hasn’t even set in yet. It still feels unreal. I couldn’t be happier with my decision to commit there. I found a college where I will be happy for the next 4 years.
6. How much money do you anticipate your family saving in college expenses because of you being recruited?
D3 schools don’t offer athletic scholarships, but I received a 40,000 dollar grant and the coach is helping me find other ways I can save money. On top of the 40,000, I expect to save double that.
7. Would you recommend SportsForce to any other student-athletes? Why?
I would recommend SportsForce to any other athlete because recruiting today is entirely different than it was 10 years ago. You can’t just be a star athlete on your high school team or have a good weekend at a tournament and receive a college scholarship. You have to go out of your way and contact as many schools as possible and SportsForce makes sure you are able to successfully do this. They helped me receive opportunities I wouldn’t have been able to receive on my own. SportsForce is the way to go if you are serious about playing college athletics.
Over the last five years, SportsForce has helped over 1,000 student-athletes and families successfully navigate the college recruiting and athletic scholarship process while saving families on average $50,000 in college expenses.
If your high school son or daughter is seriously interested in playing their sport in college, then they have already begun climbing the college recruiting mountain.
If your son or daughter are:
• not hearing back from college coaches, • attending top showcase tournaments and camps, or • only receiving questionnaires and generic coach email responses…
this means they are NOT being “actively” recruited by college coaches. It also means they are at the base of the recruiting mountain and may have a considerable journey ahead of them to reach the top and secure a roster spot or scholarship offer.
One of the keys to successfully climbing the college recruiting mountain and securing multiple offers is to begin developing meaningful and ongoing relationships with college coaches.
Listed below is an email sent last week from a NCAA DI college coach in Southern California to a SportsForce client that illustrates this point:
“We have heard great things about you. I wanted to let you know that we are very interested in building a relationship with you and your family.
I would love to get on the phone with you today or tomorrow. Please pass this message along to your parents/guardians, as I would love to speak with them as well.
Let me know a good time to call.
This is my cell number so please lock me into your contacts and feel free to call/text anytime.”
The SportsForce client that was the recipient of this email has scheduled a college visit and has begun building a strong relationship with this coach and staff. Although it may take some additional time to ensure there is a mutual fit between this coach and our student-athlete, they are clearly off to a great start on their journey to the top of the college recruiting mountain.
In the 1990’s, the surge of competitive youth sports and club teams exploded in the United States. Since that time, joining a competitive club team and attending showcase tournaments or camps have become the dominant choice of more serious middle school and high school student-athletes. The driving motivation is typically to improve their skill sets, compete year round and ultimately enhance their college recruiting opportunities.
Due to NCAA recruiting restrictions and minimal recruiting budgets, college coaches have relied heavily on the ability to evaluate student-athletes at large tournaments, showcases, camps and combines. For the past 20 years, most families of high school student-athletes, have (knowingly or unknowingly) aligned their approach to college recruiting with the club team and tournament experience to look like the model listed below:
Freshman Year: The student-athlete has a high level of passion and desire to excel in their chosen sport. They commit to spending additional hours on personal training and skill work, or hire a sport specific specialist to help. At this point, they have most likely already joined a club or travel team to compete outside of the high school season and are often attending numerous tournaments, camps, combines or showcases annually. As the year progresses, the student-athlete goes on to play for their high school team. The hope is that their improved skills and abilities catch the eyes of college coaches in attendance at one of their competitive events.
Sophomore Year: Repeat the process/cycle
Junior Year: Repeat the process/cycle
Senior Year: Repeat the process/cycle
The tragedy taking place today, is that most student-athletes and families are still following this outdated 1990’s approach to college recruiting, or what we call the “hope” strategy.
Why can this recruiting approach be so limiting and usually ineffective for the more than 8 million high school student-athletes in the U.S.?
The importance of joining a competitive club team or playing in appropriate tournaments is not in question here. They can greatly help to advance your son or daughter’s skills in the off-season, or possibly assist in being evaluated by a college coach at a large showcase event. The club team coach may even know a few college coaches they can call on behalf of your son or daughter to provide additional feedback.
However, the approach families take to college recruiting is being challenged in three key areas.
1.) First, most club teams simply do not possess all of the necessary tools, time or resources needed to personally mentor and guide each of its players over a two, three or even four year period, let alone helping them to secure and manage multiple offers.
2.) Second, the majority of parents do not understand how to effectively promote their son or daughter to right-fit college coaches and programs.
3.) Last, families are spending thousands and thousands of dollars each year to attend multiple ID camps, tournaments, showcases, or combines in the hopes of generating interest or “looks” from college coaches for their son or daughter with too often, little or no results.
Unfortunately, most parents don’t fully understand how coaches evaluate and recruit at these events. There are normally several hundred, or maybe over a thousand players in attendance at a showcase tournament and college coaches do not have the ability to scout every player.
John Wooden, former UCLA basketball coach and the creator of the Pyramid of Success is a huge inspiration to many coaches, players and parents across the world. Thinking about the college planning and recruiting process, it struck me to create a “Pyramid of College Recruiting Success” diagram. The purpose is to help make crystal clear what the different stages of the climb up the pyramid are, and the keys to its success.
This pyramid presents families and their student-athletes with the opportunity to begin taking more control over their college recruiting options and choices. The biggest difference between this approach and the one started in the 1990’s is the importance of creating a comprehensive college recruiting game plan. It should include specific goals and strategies that may ultimately help to generate multiple offers from best-fit schools. The initial target list schools should at least match your son or daughter’s athletic skills, academic abilities, potential playing time opportunities, academic goals/majors, school location/size, and financial budget (note: most scholarships are not full-rides).
The other major focus point is centered on the importance of the student-athlete taking the time to begin building and sustaining relationships with college coaches as early as possible. A student-athlete should be developing an ongoing and “personal” dialogue with 10-12 college coaches, or maybe more. As college coaches and student-athletes advance through the recruiting process together, it is only natural that some coaches will be more interested in certain players over others. The opposite also takes place as student-athletes begin to narrow their choices of schools/sports programs that best fits their needs. Too often, student-athletes make the fatal mistake of placing all of their recruiting focus and energy on one or two colleges, only to be left out entirely when offers are made because the coach recruited and offered a roster spot or scholarship to a different player.
One of the least efficient and most costly ways to being recruited is by attending all of the tournaments, camps and showcase events you hear about. That can be a very expensive and time consuming endeavor for your entire family. The goal, rather is to pinpoint those competitive events where your potential best-fit college coaches will be in attendance and to build a relationship with them prior to the event. Again it’s important to outline what a best-fit school and sports program looks like for your son or daughter. As previously mentioned above, these priorities should include things like: athletic and academic abilities, potential playing time, opportunity to turn professional in their sport (if desired or realistic), available majors, future career networking opportunities, location, size and potential financial obligations or savings.
It’s very important to ask yourself what your family’s college recruiting game plan is, and if it is clearly defined. Everything starts with an honest evaluation with where you and your child are in the process.
If done properly, this new approach could exponentially increase your son or daughter’s chances of being recruited and may ultimately help in securing multiple offers from their best-fit schools.
SportsForce is a College Recruiting Advisory Group based in San Diego, CA. Our entire team of college recruiting advisors dedicate their passion, time and attention to evaluating, educating and guiding qualified student-athletes and families through the college planning and recruiting process.
We at SportsForce would like to congratulate Austin Ruiz on his commitment to Azusa Pacific University. Here is Austin and his family’s recruiting story and interview after his commitment. Good luck as a Cougar!
1. Share your recruiting story and status Austin: The process was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be especially for my parents. They wanted to make sure I would find the college that was right for me. I just played the game I love and knew that I would end up with the right college. I feel that my selection to play at Azusa Pacific University is definitely the right place for me and I signed the National Letter of Intent on November 11, 2015. Parents: As a parent, all you want is what’s best for your child. The college process today is much more complicated and a lot more nerve racking then when we went to college. We also feel it’s a lot more stressful for the parents. Not only do you want the right fit academically and athletically for your child you also want to hopefully get the best deal financially so it’s affordable. In baseball, it’s rare to get more than 35 to 50 percent and even then that’s a lot. So as parents you really need to make sure you approach the search with your child with realistic expectations. It may be a great school but if they only offer you 35% and you have to shell out the rest, can you afford it? Your child has to also understand your limitations as well and sometimes that’s more difficult than actually finding a school. 2. What school are you going to, and why did you choose them?Austin: Azusa Pacific University is the school that I chose. I wanted a small private/Christian school with a good baseball program and one with great coaches who will take the time to help me get to the next level. I also wanted a school with a football team, and a sports science-oriented major program. With APU, I’m getting all of this, every time I talked with coaches they talked to me like I’m already there and everything they told me about how they run their baseball program seems to fit with the way I play the game. APU has the major that I’m interested in called “Applied Exercise Sciences”, which I’m excited about. Parents: This question is one that should be asked up front at the beginning as well as half way through the process. Parents and children have different wants and those wants also change as the process evolves. For example when we first started Austin wanted to go to a school that was nationally ranked and always in the limelight. This school just happened to be on the other side of the US. No big deal right? Maybe/Maybe not! What about going to the games? Do we have a travel fund? How often can we go? Does he really want to be that far away? Etc. etc. That one idea sparked many questions. Answer them now and be honest. We wanted him to go to a prominent west coast school known for its academics as well as for baseball. All of the schools that both he and we picked were big with big campuses, tons of students etc. When we started to go visit these schools it became quite apparent that Austin didn’t like the feel of a big school. He loved the coaches and the baseball program but we could tell something was out of place. He just didn’t react the way we expected? Why? We never asked him right away. After visiting approx. 8-10 of these schools we finally asked him which one? He said he didn’t feel comfortable at any of them? As a parent, you can just imagine how we felt. What? How could you not feel comfortable at….. What we finally realized after many questions later, what our son really wanted was a smaller more academic-minded school with a great baseball program. Well, that definitely changed the next few months for us. We switched gears and started researching. That is where SportsForce really assisted us. 3. How did SportsForce help in the process?Austin: SportForce helped with getting emails out to the coaches, bringing them to my site online where SportsForce outlined my sports web page which gave coaches instant knowledge on who I am and how I play the game. Their staff worked with me getting to know me and understanding what I wanted and then pointed me in the right direction. I worked one on one with Andrew and he took the time to get to know me as a person, a student, and an athlete. He really helped me to understand the process and how to talk with coaches about what I wanted in order to make the best choice for me. Andrew called me and we practiced and he helped ease my nerves. Parents: As you can imagine as parents even though you have a great relationship with your child and think that you communicate perfectly you find out that sometimes you really don’t. Not because there is something wrong but more from the standpoint that your kid thinks you want one thing and doesn’t want to burst your bubble and vice versa. You see all this time we thought Austin wanted a big national school and he thought that’s what we wanted? When all along all we wanted was for him to find the best school for him and he wanted a smaller school that fit his personality and a good program where he could still improve, evolve and hopefully get to the next level. SportForce helped bring this out of both of us by having one on one conversations with Austin as well as with us. Andrew took the time to truly understand us, what we all wanted and helped articulate that with each of us. Once we all understood what was important from an academic, athletic and financial perspective it was a lot easier to develop a good list of schools. This made the process a whole lot easier and a lot of our concerns and worries just went away. We then started visiting these campuses and when Austin stepped onto APU and after he talked with the coaches he came home and said that’s the school and those are the coaches I want to play for. Everything just seemed to fit. As a family, we couldn’t be more proud and happy with our son and with the choices & decisions that he made. I want to emphasize this, “the choices that he made”! In the end, it has to be your child’s choice. It’s time to let go and allow them to grow and learn without the safety net. In the end, they are going there not you! 4. What advice would you give to other players and parents with the recruiting process?Austin: To the parents don’t put pressure on your children to get a scholarship as soon as they can and let them decide what school they want to go too. God has a plan for when and what school will come across that they like and when it does take advantage of it. To the players, definitely get started on videoing yourself as soon as you can, especially if you want to go to an out of state college and start putting yourself in front of college coaches as soon as possible. Also, don’t get nervous when a coach comes out to see you, just relax and play the game you love the way you know-how. The way you have been playing your whole life. It’s a game! SportForce and my parents helped me with the above and they can help you too. Parents: The process of finding a college for your kid can be a fun and exciting one as well as a frustrating and disappointing one. My biggest advice is remembering that to the college it’s a business decision and to you and your family, it’s very personal. Prepare yourself for disappointment and don’t let yourself get so caught up in the school that you lose sight of the real goal and that’s you and your child finding the right college that will give your child a great education for you at the least amount of money out of your pocket. After all you have spent thousands getting them to this point. They are your investment and you have done a great job getting them here. Contact SportsForce or a company like them early on. The money you spend with them will save you thousands in the long run. We found them after we had already spent countless hours and money looking at the big schools which were just a turn off to our son and the earlier you figure out what you really want will save you a lot of frustration later on. SportsForce is designed to flush out what’s important for your child as well as your family before you start, so take advantage of their years of experience and expertise. Having someone that your child can talk to other than you is invaluable. Andrew is a former collegiate baseball player and could relate to what our son was feeling and going through and he was able to get Austin to focus on what he wanted and what was important to him rather than what he thought we all wanted. I can’t thank Andrew enough! 5. How excited are you for your future in college? Austin: I am super excited about my future in college. I believe that God has some great things waiting for me in the near future through my college experience at APU. Parents: My son couldn’t have said it any better above. If you let go and let God good things happen. He wants you to be prepared and educated and that’s where SportsForce came in but in the end there is a school and a place for everyone. You have to trust and believe in that and let the process happen. We have friends that forced it to happen only to find out that it was the worst decision they had made. Their children have either left those schools or are miserable and unhappy. Don’t let that happen to you and your family. College is supposed to be a fun positive experience that helps set you up for the rest of your life. Trying to force your kid or trying to force a coach or college to take your kid is a recipe for disaster and no one will be happy. Our experience ended up being a very good and happy one and for that, we are extremely grateful. 6. How much money do you anticipate your family saving in college expenses? Austin: My parents will be saving a minimum of $25,000 a year from being recruited plus any other grants or additional money I am eligible to receive. Parents: Well it’s up to Austin but based on what he has been awarded and looking out over the next fours years it’s going to be over $100,000.00. We are excited for the next chapter in our son’s life and look forward to watching him excel and play in college. 7. Would you recommend SportsForce to any other student-athletes? Why? Austin: I would definitely recommend SportsForce to other student-athletes because they helped me with getting coaches to pay attention to my skillsets and ability. I believe APU came out and took a look at me as a result of my work with SportsForce. SportsForce helps with getting the schools you want to come out and see you and knowing how to talk to them when they do. Parents: I highly recommend getting involved with Andrew and his talented team as early on in the process as you can. It will save you a lot of frustration and money in the long run. His team is very knowledgeable and they can help in many ways. It was money well spent and we thank you guys for everything you have done for our son as well as our family. Jenna is next! Our Mission at SportsForce Baseball: We are on a mission to help our select number of qualified and evaluated players maximize their recruiting offers and make the best college decision. Started by CEO & founder Andrew Beinbrink, SportsForce Baseball is a nationally recognized college recruiting advisory group with over 40 former college coaches, players, and MLB scouts in 10 different states. During the last 11+ years, we’ve helped over 1,000 players make their college commitments. Read below, why we are different from every recruiting group in the country. Why SportsForce is Different: * View our Home Page VideoUnlike most recruiting companies, we do not just partner with anyone for our hands-on recruiting programs. Instead, we only partner with qualified players who meet our Five academic, athletic, and coachability selection factors. We evaluate between 10,000-12,000 players each summer and fall at top showcases and selectively advise, and advocate for only a limited number of players each year by directly contacting college coaches to help them maximize recruiting offers. Each of our expert college recruiters is limited to how many players they will advise so there is the best combination of hands-on guidance and personal recruiting outreach to college coaches. Social Media Exposure: We also utilize our growing Twitter following at @SportsForceBB which is followed by over 500 NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and JC coaches nationwide and growing fast. To Get Evaluated by Our Expert College Recruiting Staff:Option 1:Complete our Recruiting QuestionnaireOption 2: Email us at scouting@sportsforceonline.comOptions 3: DM us on Instagram @SportsForceBB or Twitter @SportsForceBB and share recent video, stats, or measurables (velocity, 60, exit speed, pop time, etc…) for our scouts to evaluate. Find out if Your Son’s Qualifies for One of Our Hands-On Recruiting Programs? Twitter Recruiting Education & College Needs Posts: We post ongoing recruiting education and post NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and JC needs year around. Follow us on Twitter @SportsForceBB account and join over 500 hundred NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and JC coaches nationwide that follow us and growing fast. Tagging us: If you have some good video to share with us, make sure to tag us @SportsForceBB or DM us and we will review it.
SportsForce’s college baseball advisor, Chris Emanuel, gives high school baseball players tips for their off-season:
With 2015 in the rear view mirror and temperatures dropping, I thought this was the perfect time to take a look recruiting events for college baseball and where they fit in our calendars.
In the last decade or so, a number of camps/showcases/tournaments/club teams has grown exponentially. Year round baseball has become the norm, even in colder weather states. This goes for high school and club teams. The number of players getting injured or burning out at a young age are increasing along with this trend. The volume and accessibility of events/teams/programs aimed to aid with development and exposure to college coaches have become a blessing and a curse.
More players are getting opportunities to be recruited by schools they would never have, even 10 years ago. Players are able to be recruited on a national level much easier than in the past, which gives them a chance to find their best-fit college program. Players are getting more informed about and exposed to different levels and divisions of college baseball. In general, it is easier to find a good athletic/academic/financial match than in previous years.
The biggest issue and challenge that we all face as players and coaches have to do with timing/schedule. The LEAST convenient and LEAST realistic time for colleges to see you play is during your high school season. Coaches occasionally make it to a local game or to a game while on a road trip. But they are consumed with their own seasons and competing, which puts a live evaluation on the back burner. So naturally, coaches are most actively recruiting and evaluating from late May-January. And naturally, the bulk of quality recruiting showcases and tournaments are scheduled during that period as well.
The most elite baseball players/athletes in the world compete from April-Sept/Oct. They rest from Oct-Dec, and typically begin SLOWLY building themselves back up physically and preparing for the grind of the next season around Dec-Jan. And then they have a full month or more to work back into game shape/condition during spring training or pre-season.
SO WHY ON EARTH DO SO MANY HIGH SCHOOL PLAYERS THINK IT’S OK TO HAVE A LONGER SEASON & LESS REST THAN PROFESSIONALS???!!! They are not done growing/developing. They have likely not prepared themselves physically to handle the strain they are putting on arms/bodies. They haven’t given their arms/bodies any sufficient, extended period of time to heal/rest/recover/grow.
The biggest mistake for families is to just say “Yes” to nearly everything and not make time for rest/recovery. It may be private lessons, camps, showcases, tournaments, club teams, training programs or other specialty events. Families are dedicating (and wasting) more and more dollars & time every year hoping to find that golden ticket that gives their kid a baseball scholarship. It is not uncommon to see HS players who never take a break from playing games or high-intensity camps/showcases for longer than a few weeks.
Coaches, scouts, and instructors are all guilty of helping facilitate this as well. We want to see players when it is convenient, and we want to keep our calendar full with more recruiting/scouting opportunities. And let’s face it, coaching/scouting doesn’t pay much. So these events often supplement the incomes of their families. It’s hard to fault or blame them for that. But things would be much better with more planning, education, and communication.
What is the solution??? The events/teams are not going away anytime soon, and likely they will only continue to increase in number & frequency. So the burden of this really lies on players and their families to make smart, responsible decisions. Each player’s calendar will likely be unique to his situation. Here are some tips to help set you up for success and health…
– Plan your calendar in advance for the entire year. Start with the active playing season(s) (high school/club), and carefully select additional events and training as they fit in your schedule. – Do not enter an event where you are expected to perform at max speed/intensity without preparing physically. Proper preparation takes consistent weeks/months of throwing/arm care. – Plan multiple periods of multiple weeks/months rest at a time throughout the year. http://m.mlb.com/pitchsmart/ is a great resource and guide, especially for pitchers. – Rest your arm sufficiently. That doesn’t only mean stop pitching! True rest is when you LITERALLY do not pickup and throw a ball whatsoever. – Use your down time for strength/conditioning training, arm care, and light baseball activity. Get back to fundamentals and lower intensity drills aimed to maintain and develop skills/mechanics. – JUST SAY NO!!! It is flattering to be invited or chosen to play or participate in many events. However, it is not necessary. Plan in advance and avoid spur of the moment decisions on events you are not ready for physically/financially. – PLAY MULTIPLE SPORTS! It creates a natural off-season. Even if it is recreational or your kid will never play in college, it gives their mind/body a break. In most cases, the skills and coordination learned in other sports translates to you being a better athlete and ball player.
