Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Recruiting: The Vast Unknown: Part II

PART II: DEVELOP YOUR GAMEPLAN

Having a game plan! Get YOUR act together!

In Part 1, I briefly discussed several important factors that make up the whole recruiting process. Now that we have figured out that your son has skills and MIGHT be considered a recruitable athlete, where can you go from here?

Have a GAMEPLAN!

A game plan? What kind of game plan? How can a parent or player really be prepared for the entire recruiting process? When do you start?

Research! Learn more!

As mentioned in Part 1, you need to learn as much as possible about the entire recruiting process. Besides visiting the NCAA website and speaking to your son's High School head coach, what else can you do? Plenty!

So what is your son's goal? To play in the SEC or ACC? To run out onto the field to "2001" at South Carolina or rub the rock and run down the hill at Clemson? Or how about the Big East, Big-10, or PAC-10? While these are the dreams of EVERY player in High School, the reality of this happening as well as the overall chances of this dream coming true is SLIM at best. The odds of having a kid accept a full scholarship to a MAJOR Division 1 school is about the same as hitting the Lotto. This is reality. Part 1 of YOUR game plan must be based in some serious REALITY! It's great to shoot for the moon and the stars, but reality tells me that you should keep the goals in recruiting attainable. If your son wants to continue to play football after high school, this should be goal number 1. Paying for this? This should be a goal as well, whether a full blown ride to Enormous University or some serious Financial Aid to a smaller school. Another goal? Keep all doors and opportunities OPEN!

Every parent and player wants to play for Enormous University. But what MANY players and parents don't realize is that while a smaller school might not offer the "atmosphere" of a Monsterous State University, the smaller school can offer as good if not a BETTER education than the larger schools. Many 1-AA and smaller DII schools might not offer the "full ride" or the glory, getting 50/60/70/80 percent of your education paid for playing a sport that your son loves is a pretty good route to a degree. Again, I have seen too many players in the past who "blew off" these smaller schools waiting for Enormous State to call and unfortunately, in most cases, EU never calls, and the smaller school has moved on! Remember...keep ALL DOORS OPEN!

Prepare prepare and prepare!

So we are fully into the off-season, and many of the players are getting to get surveys and questionnaires in the mail. Most colleges and universities send these out en mass. Yet filling these out is a MUST! If you receive 15 of these in the mail, send back all 15! If a college has your info on file, they know that you are actually interested. If a college asks/requests information, send it back! The sooner the better! Now....what information can YOU prepare?

Create a bio of your son/player

This is a cheap and easy yet effective way to have all of your son's information on hand if this is requested. While I have seen a million different styles, just a simple one page bio with a picture is the most effective. What is on this bio? Name, address phone number, sizes, position, any awards won, basic academic info, anything that YOU want a college/university to know. Look at this bio like a resume for your son. Sell and use his strengths, but don't get too carried away, keep it to one full page. This is an effective way to have all of this important information on hand if requested.

Have Tape Available!

Part III of this series will go into details about having a video-tape ready on your son! I will cover the so-called "ideal" tape as well as what NOT to do!

Pictures! Have some pictures!

It amazes me how many parents do NOT have any pictures of their kids available. Make sure that you have at minimum a head shot of your son. Recruiters and schools want to at least see what your son looks like! Some goofballs like myself will attempt to use EVERY picture that we receive. I also ensure that these are seen in HIGH traffic areas of the website as well!

Take care of the essentials!

This seems VERY obvious, yet because of the importance of recruiting, I feel it's important to mention??.grades! Despite what you have seen or heard over the years?.very few if any schools will offer a basket-weaving degree. Grades matter. Your son will be considered a STUDENT athlete for recruiting purposes regardless of his athletic skills. You MUST have your academics in order. Take your SAT early! Study, study and study some more. If you need to boost your test scores?..get help! Remember?..grades do matter!

The best word of advice I can give is to NEVER give a college a reason to NOT recruit your son! If his grades are bad, you have limited your opportunities. Does he have a behavioral problem? Or has your son ever had a run-in with the authorities? Schools and colleges will find out, if the press and recruiters don't first! Be honest and up front with the coaches.

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