We at Sportsforce would like to congratulate Tyler Kleva on his commitment to Trine University. Here is Tyler’s recruiting story and interview after his commitment. Good luck as a Thunder! 1. Share your recruiting story and status.   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 Video Unlike 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 Questionnaire Option 2: Email us at scouting@sportsforceonline.com Options 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 Kyle Joye on his commitment to Chapman University! Here are Kyle’s recruiting story and interview after his commitment. Good luck as a Panther!   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 Video Unlike 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 Questionnaire Option 2: Email us at scouting@sportsforceonline.com Options 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.

In the last decade or so, a number of camps, showcases, tournaments and club teams have grown exponentially. Year-round lacrosse has become the norm, even in colder weather states. This includes play for both high school programs and club teams. With this trend of the ever-expanding season, there has been an increase in a number of players either getting injured or burning out at a young age. In this regard, the volume and accessibility of events, teams, and programs aimed at aiding with development and providing exposure to college coaches has been both a blessing and a curse.

With this newfound accessibility and today’s technology, more players are getting opportunities to be recruited by schools they would have previously never considered, even 10 years ago. Players can be recruited on a national level more easily, which gives student-athletes a better chance to find their best-fit college program. Players are getting more informed on the recruiting process and exposed to the different levels and divisions of college lacrosse. In general, it is easier to find a good athletic/academic/financial match than in previous years.

Our “regular season” is typically where we want to be at our best, as we have a daily practice and can play a brand of lacrosse more like the college game. The challenge that we all face, as both players and coaches, revolves around the schedule. The LEAST convenient and LEAST realistic time for colleges to see you play is during your high school season. Coaches may occasionally be able to make it to a local game or to a game while on a road trip, but they are consumed with their own seasons, which puts a live evaluation on the back burner. So naturally, coaches are most actively recruiting and evaluating from late May-January. As it happens, the bulk of quality recruiting showcases and tournaments are scheduled during that period as well.

The most elite professional athletes in the world have a schedule that includes stretches of time devoted to rest (not complete inactivity, but a break from the repetitive motions required to compete). It’s literally scheduled into their training plans by most professional sports teams’ training staffs. So why do so many high school lacrosse players think it’s ok to have a longer season and less rest than professionals? High school athletes are not done growing and developing. They have likely not prepared themselves physically to handle the strain they are putting on their bodies. They haven’t given their bodies any sufficient, extended period of time to heal, recover, and grow.

It’s a good idea that physical and mental rest be factored into every family’s plan for their growing student-athlete. Whether it be private lessons, camps, showcases, tournaments, club teams, training programs, or other specialty events, sometimes the correct answer is no. Families are dedicating increasing amounts of time and money every year hoping to find that golden ticket at the next event that gives their son a lacrosse scholarship. It is not uncommon to see high school players who never take a break from playing tournaments, high intensity camps, or other showcases for longer than a few weeks.

So what is the solution? These events/teams are not going away anytime soon, and likely they will only continue to increase in number and frequency. The burden of this responsibility 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…

1. Plan your calendar in advance for the entire year. Start with the active playing seasons (high school/club) and carefully select additional events and training as they fit in your schedule.
2. Do not enter an event where you are expected to perform at max speed/intensity without preparing physically. Getting ready to play requires at least a week or two of cardio, agility, and flexibility workouts.
3. Plan a few periods of consecutive (2-3 minimum) weeks of rest throughout the year.
4. Use your down time for strength/conditioning training, stick skills, and light lacrosse activity. Get back to fundamentals and lower intensity drills aimed to maintain and develop skills/mechanics.
5. It’s ok to say no. It is flattering to be invited or chosen to play or participate in many events. Sometimes, however, it is not necessary. Plan in advance and try to avoid spur of the moment decisions on events you are not ready for physically, mentally, or financially.
6. PLAY MULTIPLE SPORTS! It creates a natural off-season. Even if it is recreational or you will never play in college, it gives your mind and body a break. In most cases, the skills and coordination learned in other sports translates to you being a better athlete and lacrosse player.

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!

We would like to congratulate Matt Stearns on his commitment to California State University, Dominguez Hills! Here are Matt’s recruiting story and interview after his commitment. Good luck as a Toro! 1. Share your recruiting story and status A few weeks ago. The process was exciting. I had the opportunity to choose from three schools. 2. What school are you going to, and why did you choose them? I chose Cal State Dominguez Hills. The fit was the best for me and my family. The coaching staff is really great there and I get to stay in SoCal playing baseball. 3. How did SportsForce help in the process? Ryan and Darrell were super helpful and the insight they gave us was invaluable. Sportsforce helped us get noticed by a lot of schools. Ryan advised us on which showcases and tournaments I should attend to maximize being seen by the schools I was interested in. 4. What advice would you give to other players and parents with the recruiting process? Start early, find the schools that will be the best fit for you and your family. 5. How excited are you for your future in college? I am super excited about taking my game to the next level and playing College Baseball. 6. How much money do you anticipate your family saving in college expenses because of you being recruited? I believe it will be close to $50,000 7. Would you recommend SportsForce to any other student-athletes? Why? I would recommend Sportsforce to help others with the recruiting process. I learned a lot from Sportsforce on how to communicate with coaches and find the best fit for me.   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 Video Unlike 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 Questionnaire Option 2: Email us at scouting@sportsforceonline.com Options 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.

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.

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.