The following is a Guest Post by former NFL Cornerback, Charles Dimry of Velocity Sports Performance Carlsbad

Less than 5% of high school athletes will ever play in college and those that want to must have a three part plan: They must be eligible; they must be visible; and they must be able. Effort in the classroom will make you eligible. Working with SportsForce will make you visible. To make sure you’re able to play at the next level, you must be willing to do extra training. Trainers appear to be everywhere. The key is identifying which trainers and facilities can provide the injury prevention and improvement that high school athletes need. Here are a few tips that will help you make an educated decision when choosing a trainer or facility:

• What is the background of the trainer? If you are going to trust and pay a coach, you have the right to ask about their qualifications. Look for facilities with degreed and certified speed and strength coaches. A personal trainer specializes in improving appearance. A speed and strength coach specializes in improving performance. These are very different things.
• Where does the training protocol come from? Be wary of companies or individuals who do not have a consistent methodology or training protocol. Just like an academic tutor, an athletic training program should follow a proven curriculum.
• Is technique priority number one? – Don’t worry about how much weight your athlete is lifting, worry about the technique they use. Good coaches always have athlete safety on their mind and an exercise done improperly is not worth the time spent doing it. Athletes should be supervised and corrected.
• Do they have a system for measuring results? Each company or trainer should have an objective way to show you gains made during their training program. Athletes use this data to gauge their own improvement and performance coaches use this data to measure the efficacy of their training curriculum.
• Can they provide you with testimonials? High school athletes need to improve performance, not appearance. Can the trainer point to experience doing what YOU need? College coaches want quick, powerful athletes. Make sure your trainer knows how to combine strength increases with speed increases.

Remember, the goal for high school athletes is to improve performance, not appearance. A health club trainer who primarily works with adults is not the most qualified person to train athletes. More than anything else, athletes need to be quick and powerful. Make sure you chose a trainer and facility that have a history of doing just that.

For a list of SportsForce’s Training Partners, including Velocity Sports, CLICK HERE

Guest post by John Matich – Director – www.kickingsystem.com

Updating the recruiting list for the 2011 class jogged my memory about a few stories that may help demonstrate the reality of college football recruiting for kickers and punters. Here’s one about a student I’ve been working with for a few years, who I’ll call Joe.

Joe was contacted late in the recruiting process (January) by a solid Division 1 school—one on the verge of becoming a national presence—to discuss coming in as a walk-on. He’d been getting recruited by a number of other strong programs, but this school had always been his number-one choice.

After a few emails and phone calls from the coaching staff, Joe was ready to visit this school. He’d found out they were looking at another kicker who was offered a scholarship, but was struggling to get through the admissions process. Joe went on his trip, had a great time, and was told numerous times by the assistant coaches that “we want you and you will get into our school.”

Joe felt confident about what they were telling him and was waiting on admissions. In the meantime, he didn’t follow up with any other schools; he stopped recruiting, due to the fact he’d been told he was guaranteed admission at his first choice. A few more weeks went by with no word…

I personally called the coaches. They even told me, “we like the kid, we are hoping to get him in.” A few more days went by and I heard the kicker who’d been offered a scholarship got into the school. Joe was a little confused, and never really heard back from the school about his admission. He even received an email from the head coach about how much he was looking forward to working with him.

By now, signing day had passed and it was the middle of February. Although many kickers get signed or find a home as late as May, Joe knew the schools he’d been looking at had already used all their admissions spots. We had to scramble and find some schools that were willing to even look at him, including some local universities. As I write this, we’re still actively looking at schools.

The moral to this story should be obvious: don’t ever stop marketing yourself, regardless of how much you’re told you’re wanted. Coaches are looking for the best possible players and will stop recruiting a kicker in a heartbeat. Continue the recruiting process until you sign on the dotted line or get that admissions letter telling you that you’re in.

John Matich, is a former NFL and NCAA kicker and now owner and director of The Kicking System, which offers Camps & Private Kicking Lessons in San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles.

Visit www.kickingsystem.com for top level football kicking videos, recruiting tips, tools and upcoming kicking events.