We would like to congratulate Ryan Friedman on his commitment to Hamilton College! Here is Ryan’s recruiting story and interview after his commitment. Good luck as an Alex!

1. Share your recruiting story and status

I did not know how to go about contacting or being seen by coaches so I employed SportsForce to help guide me along and after about a year and a half I gave a verbal commitment to play lacrosse at Hamilton

2. What school are you going to, and why did you choose them? I am going to Hamilton because they have a beautiful campus, very strong academics and an open curriculum as well as a dedication to athletics as part of NESCAC.

3. How did SportsForce help in the process?

SportsForce helped educate me on what colleges I should consider myself a prospect for as well as what kinds of schools they were. Chad Hadlock, who helped me personally as an advisor with SportsForce regularly gave me advice on how to approach any aspect of the process from skill specific workouts to how to show myself at tournaments to how to speak to college coaches on visits. SportsForce also helped me maintain relationships with all the coaches I was interested in playing for as well as reminding them where and when I will be playing.

4. What advice would you give to other players and parents with the recruiting process?

I think highlights and early communication certainly help, however some players develop later than others, such as myself; make sure you are doing the things necessary in order to catch a coach’s attention.

5. How excited are you on your future in college?

I’m very excited! I could not be more pleased with the school I have committed to.

6. How much money do you anticipate your family saving in college expenses because of you being recruited ?

If I had not been recruited I would likely not have known about this school, which is going to be giving us a large amount of financial aid, which I may not have received at a different institution. Likely several thousand dollars per year.

7. Would you recommend SportsForce to any other student-athletes? Why?

Yes they help you remain relatively stress free during the process and help maintain your confidence as a prospective athlete. They also help keep you very organized and make sure you do not lose track of any communication or interest from college coaches.

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.

When a student-athlete becomes serious about playing their sport in college, it helps to understand when a college coach is truly recruiting them. Many families have difficulty interpreting the various types of correspondence from college coaches. They just can’t tell the difference when a coach is genuinely interested in developing a relationship versus one who is just marketing their school’s sports program.

Understanding this difference is not only vital to your success, it saves you valuable time, money and resources on chasing opportunities that will never be realized. When your efforts are focused on the coaches and schools that really have an interest in you, the results tend to reflect more offers, higher scholarship amounts and a shorter recruiting cycle.

At SportsForce, we like to help our families visualize this process. The diagram below shows a person climbing a mountain. This represents your son or daughter. They’re ascending the college recruiting mountain with possibly several hundred thousand other student-athletes also competing for a college roster spot for their particular sport. But on average, only about 5-6% of those few hundred thousand make it to the top of the mountain with an offer or scholarship.

The areas listed on the right are the basic steps and communication that takes place along the way. More specifically, the areas in red are what we call “Base Camp One” on the mountain. That’s where a lot of student-athletes stop in terms of their college recruiting. At this point, they have no contact with college coaches. Another key indicator of being at Base Camp One is they might attend or be invited to a big tournament, combine or camp. They might also receive generic emails, questionnaires or form mailings from a coach. But that’s about as far as it goes. The red color means they have not advanced their recruiting progress.

The key to knowing when you’re being “actively” recruited, is when your son or daughter have an ongoing personal dialog with a college coach. The area in yellow highlights some of these types of activities and communication. If they’re receiving personal texts, phone calls, emails or hand-written notes, this means they’re being actively recruited. If they are invited for an unofficial visit or Junior Day event, this also aligns with active recruitment. The yellow color means caution. Just because your student-athlete is actively communicating with college coaches does not automatically mean they will receive a written offer from them. College coaches are also pursuing other players, not just your son or daughter.

Once in the green area, student-athletes (if they have not already) may begin receiving verbal offers. Those may lead to further official visits, which may produce written offers and ultimately a signed National Letter of intent. The green color means go and your student-athlete is receiving offers and probably achieving their college recruiting goals.

Where is your son or daughter on the college recruiting mountain? Do they need assistance in building personal relationships with college coaches or deciphering their communication?

Contact us today for a personal college recruiting evaluation. Our highly trained team of college recruiting advisors have either played or coached their sport at the college level. Our entire team of professionals dedicates their passion, time and attention to properly evaluating, educating and successfully guiding qualified student-athletes and their families through the college planning and recruiting process.

For a personal college recruiting evaluation and honest estimate of your potential to compete at the next level, contact us at:

Phone: 1.888.9787084
Email: scouting@sportsforceonline.com

Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter!

Lucas Barra, a former team member of SportsForce, created Dreamchasers to help give millennials the tools, resources, and inspiration to create a life of their dreams. The Dreamchasers podcast is the place to go to get inspired, hear from the upcoming stars like you, pursue your life goals, and help you take your life to the next level.

For their first podcast, Lucas interviewed our CEO, Andrew Beinbrink, regarding entrepreneurship, goals in life and his passion for helping student-athletes reaching their goals.

In the interview, Andrew gives tips on navigating the recruiting process for student athletes, how to set life goals, and creating great habits. He emphasizes how important it is to ask for help when you need it, as well as, creating a game plan in order to achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself. Further, he explains that the first step to being successful in life is to have faith in yourself. He recommends to always see yourself at your best because when you re-engineer your self-image, it improves your energy, how you connect with other people and how you show up in relationships and in life.

Here are a couple more key tips Andrew goes over regarding the college recruiting process:

– You must build the faith muscle to be successful. We underestimate the importance of faith in creating a winning mindset. Create affirmations around building faith and utilize them on a regular basis. For example, “I will have a successful phone call with this client”. Repeat a few times and it will help to increase your faith

– The college decision is one of the most important decisions in someone’s life. Take the time to make the right choice for you.

– We are all entrepreneurs at heart. If you can take ownership as the CEO of your life and build from the inside out, success will come.

You can check out more informative and inspirational content on the Dreamchasers website.

What does it look like when a professional and those with less experience try to secure college offers, earn significant scholarships and play their sport in college?

Let’s highlight some of the key differences in the two approaches.

Professional Approach

• Meets with certified counselor to ensure high school courses are in line with NCAA core course eligibility.
• Analyzes best classes to take in order to maximize GPA while maintaining an appropriate strength of subject content. This is based on the academic requirements of their college target list.
• Analyzes and determines the best test to take (either SAT or ACT) based on individual strengths and focuses on studying for one test. Uses professional help/guidance in studying for tests.
• Receives proper athletic evaluation. Creates and executes a customized game plan to begin the recruiting process. Targets appropriate colleges that match student-athletes academic, athletic, geographic and financial desires and abilities. As a result, enjoy shorter recruiting cycles. Begins in the freshman or sophomore year.
• Develops ongoing and strong personal relationships with multiple college coaches. Makes it easy for college coaches to communicate and interact with them. Understands when a college coach is genuinely interested in them, or if the coach has no interest in making them an offer.
• Executes their game plan and secures multiple offers from best-fit schools.

Inexperienced Approach

• Does not understand core course NCAA eligibility requirements. Does not regularly meet with certified counselor to properly track high school course load.
• Only takes mandatory courses or classes of interest with no link to specific target college academic requirements.
• Studies for, and takes both the ACT and SAT tests. Then determines what might be the best test to take again. Does not use prep testing services.
• Sits back and waits for college coaches to contact them. Hopes to be discovered by college coaches at a camp/tournament/showcase. Rely on outside factors such as club or high school coaches to help them be recruited. Receives and acts on poor advice from well-intentioned people. Gets serious about recruiting late in the junior or senior year.
• Wastes time trying to communicate with coaches that have no desire in recruiting them
• Wastes a lot of money and time on attending multiple camps/tournaments with no idea if these are the appropriate ones to participate in.
• May secure an offer from a school they are not strongly interested in, or may not secure any offers at all

Managing the recruiting process like a professional is not easy. Most know that they will experience this event only one time and making mistakes are costly. It’s competitive and hard work. It requires focus, sacrifice, determination and the appropriate resources. The professional is prepared and committed to achieving their goals over the long haul.

Inexperienced people typically do not take control of the recruiting process. They usually fall short of achieving their college recruiting goals. They lack a well-conceived game plan and find it difficult to execute basic strategies. They typically repeat activities that are ineffective and unsuccessful. Inexperienced families and student-athletes do try their best. Even though they sometimes may achieve incremental gains, much of their success is left entirely to chance.

Of the 8 million students playing their sport in high school, approximately 94% or 7.5 million never go on to compete in their sport in college. The competition is too fierce, the roster spots and scholarships are too limited, the process is too complex, the college recruiting budgets are too small and the stakes are too high to manage this process without the necessary tools, guidance and professional support.

You don’t have to go it alone. As the nation’s premier college recruiting advisory group, SportsForce provides families with a highly trained team of college recruiting advisors who have either played or coached their sport at the college level. Our entire team of professionals dedicates their passion, time and attention to properly evaluating, educating and successfully guiding qualified student-athletes and their families through the college planning and recruiting process. We can help you too.

For a personal college recruiting evaluation and honest estimate of your potential to compete at the next level, contact us at:

Phone: 1.888.9787084
Email: scouting@sportsforceonline.com

Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter!