The Woods Recruiting blog is about providing information on the college recruiting process to high school student athletes, parents, high school coaches and anyone who wants to know about going from high school athlete to college athlete and who’d like to join in on the conversation. I provide a weekly newsletter for free where I give college recruiting tips and information. Please feel free to subscribe.
My name is Al Woods. I am the Publisher and Chief Editor of Woods Recruiting in Cleveland,Ohio. The Woods Recruiting blog is about providing information on the college recruiting process.
I offer my insight and opinions on the step by step process of going from a high school athlete to college athlete. We want to promote high school athletes on our blog, free of charge, by writing athletic profiles and doing online interviews.
My Background
I’m fromVirginia Beach,Virginia where I played high school basketball at Bayside High School in the late 1970’s. I went on to play college basketball at West Virginia State College and from there I played overseas in Buenos Aires Argentina, South America.
After my basketball career was over, I wanted to stay involved with sports and I realized I could do some good for high school athletes that don’t get a lot of exposure coming out of high school so I started a college recruiting service back in 1989. From 1989 until about 2009, I ran my college recruiting service consistently helping high school student athletes get into college. By 2009, I became somewhat burned out and began to look for a new direction in helping high school student athletes and parents.
I decided to write my thoughts and opinions about the college recruiting process based on the thousands of hours of phone conversations I have with parents, student athletes and college coaches during my career as a college recruiter.
I have seen the frustration and disappointment in the eyes of high school student athletes who did not get recruited for college. I’ve had conversations with many parents who had their own frustration about the recruiting process and just could not understand how the process works. I understand what it’s like to be a high school athlete trying to get involved in the recruiting process. I understand the pressures of trying to maintain high athletic performance while continuing to be an excellent student.
Many of the things high school athletes and college athletes have gone through I’ve also experienced as well. My blog is about having a conversation with people about recruiting. My experience totally comes from living it every single day for my entire life. I have even seen the end result of the disappointment of college recruiting and how it can have a devastating affect on a young person’s life. The athletic world is littered with thousands of former high school ballplayers who for one reason or another could never reach the college level. I’ve seen firsthand what that has done to their lives.
As a college athlete, the pressures and responsibilities are more intense because every player on your team was the best player on their high school team, so there is a great deal of pressure to maintain athletic excellence.
I understand the academic side of being an outstanding college student and how it is so import to get your college education. The most important things I’ve learned from all my years of experience as a basketball athlete was that the work that was required of me every day to be the best and because of that dedication, I ended up getting a contract to play professionally in South America.
My goal with the Woods Recruiting blog is to help parents, student athletes and anyone else with learning the college recruiting process. I have firsthand knowledge on how the process works from the very beginning to the very end.
