Tag Archives: student athletes

Information on College Recruiting Steps for Parents

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Whether you play football, volleyball, run track or you’re the best baseball or basketball player in the state, the college recruiting process is all the same.

For parents who will spend money on their very talented kid, here are some things that could be helpful:

 

1. Take the SAT or ACT tests early and often and keep trying to get a better score each time. The test scores carry more power than the GPA. Many student athletes make the mistake and wait to take the test in their senior year. At the latest, take the ACT or SAT during your junior year. You can take the practice tests, too.

2. Go to camps or events or showcases where you know there are going to be a number of college coaches in attendance. If enough college programs can see you play over a long summer then that’s a good thing. Never go to an event and there are no college coaches there.  You’ll be wasting your money.

3. Get a good DVD made. This is very important because college coaches are not coming to high school games anymore. Get a copy of a good game and mix in some highlights. Make sure you identify who it is in the DVD. I would say get 100 DVD’s made and mail them to 100 college programs.

Mix up your list of programs of big programs and small programs. Also, make sure you have the talent to play at any of these programs before you mail the DVD. Have some extra DVD’s just in case someone did not get one or you think of another college to mail to or better yet, a coach calls and asks for a DVD.  You can have tape or film when talking to a college coach. It’s all the same. Get them a DVD!

4. Have the student athlete in the family call the coach or an assistant coach and let that coach know who you are and that you have an interest in their program. If you’re a little shy, write them a hand written letter. That will make a great first impression! Email will at first get lost with all the other junk that’s out there so write to the coach.

That is just a small list of things you can do to get you going with the steps you need to make it to the next level.

 

You Don’t Have To Be a Genius To Get Recruited for College

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There is no secret formula to get recruited for college; a person does not have to acquire special talents or skills to gain the attention of college coaches.  In other words: you do not have to be a genius to get recruited for college.

To get recruited for college all you have to do as a student athlete is to somehow get in front of as many college coaches as you possibly can.  Play on a good travel team that will help you get exposure.  As a student athlete it’s a good idea to write letters to college coaches to let them know who you are.  It is also not a bad idea to mail your recruiting DVD to college coaches you have networked with in the past.

The real secret formula is for you to just stay actively involved in the college recruiting process every day.  Time is valuable and for every day that you sit back and do nothing, it’s a day lost in the recruiting process that can never be returned to you.

How does one student athlete who may have similar skills to another student athlete get all the attention from college coaches?  The answer is: maximum exposure!

Student athletes, parents and high school coaches should work together to gain maximum exposure for these high school athletes.  Networking with five, ten or more college programs is not enough and will clearly not help you as you move forward in the recruiting process.  If you don’t have at least 100 college programs that you can network with then you may be selling yourself short.  You’re never going to know exactly where that scholarship may come from.

Opportunities are everywhere but if you limit yourself to just a handful of college programs then you could be turning your back on opportunities that are available. Look further and deeper into the college recruiting process.

You do not have to be a genius to contact hundreds college programs; it does not require a high IQ to write letters and emails to college coaches; it does not take any special talent to mail out a DVD or your transcript to interested college programs.

Sometimes I believe parents feel that the recruiting process is a daunting task with too many details that must get done.  I believe if you start out small with a short list of things to get done each month, then you will not overwhelm yourself.

My advice for parents is to get started early with recruiting; don’t wait until the senior year to begin the college recruiting process.  By waiting until the senior year then you will be required to become a genius to get it all done in a short amount of time.

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High School Ballplayers Are Not Conversationalist

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At some point, the high school student athletes will have a conversation on the phone with a college coach. It will happen, trust me it will! Many high school athletes struggle with phone calls from a college coach and it’s only because they are kids. It’s no big deal for parents to get on the phone or make a phone call and/or carry on a conversation with a college coach. Most parents are aware of how important the recruiting process is to their child.

The phone call in the college recruiting process is one of the most important parts of recruiting so, how you sound on the phone could mean everything to your success. I’m sure the coach does not want to have a conversation with someone when all he or she can say is “yep” or “nope” or “I don’t know” all through the conversation.

Most experienced college coaches understand that they are talking with shy teenagers who are better at having a conversation with there peers. That’s why Facebook and Twitter are so popular; you can write your thoughts and get your point across better.

There is so much pressure these days on high school student athletes to perform in the classroom every day. They must have good grades, they must be great athletes, they must be great in their community and they must get to the next level, all of which is a lot of pressure. On top of all of this is the phone call from a college coach. Up until now, most of theses kids just had to deal with the day to day part of being an athlete without much outside intrusion.

The phone call is as much to recruiting as the official visit. At least on the visit you have your parents with you as a back-up but on the phone with a college coach, it’s just you and no one else to back you up or jump in when you get stuck on something.

What can you do to make having a conversation with a college coach an easy process?

Preparation: have a list of questions to ask when the phone rings and it’s a college coach on the other end waiting to talk with you. That way when the phone call does come in, you are ready and not all that nervous or slow with your answers. Another great idea is to have your list of questions by the phone, that way you are ready to go the moment the phone rings and it’s a coach.

In the beginning, the coach will be the one asking the questions so make sure you give good answers and not a bunch of one word answers that will make you look or sound bad. One-word answers are not good. I think the more you can add to the conversation with a coach, the greater it will be for you and will make you stand out over some other nervous kid whose going through the same thing.

Practice what you’re going to say to a college coach when they do call; use your parents or a teammate to play the role of the coach. Role-play the phone conversation and write out possible questions that may be asked by the coach. If you’re not sure what a coach may ask you, I would talk with your high school coach and get their feedback on this or better yet, talk with other student athletes who may be going through or have gone through the same process. They can be a good source of valuable information.

The reason the phone call is important is because the coach is going to ask you questions about your grades or your season and stats and there could be a question about who is recruiting you and always be honest in your answer, never lie to a college coach because there could be an offer made or the coach may ask you if you’d be interested in coming in for an unofficial visit or, maybe a little down the road, come for an official visit.

Keep in mind, not many student athletes will get a phone call from a college coach. This is a big step in determining your interest in that school’s program and if your answers to their questions seem slow and or you sound uninteresting to that coach they just may cut the conversation short and you may never hear from that program again.

Never close any doors to college programs because you never know how the recruiting process will end up for you. Many student athletes hoping for maybe bigger college programs to call, sometimes act distant on the phone. Never do that because nothing has been guaranteed to you in terms of a scholarship.

Keep the doors of the college recruiting process open. Student athletes you can make the call first to a college coach. I would bet that many high school student athletes do not realize that they can call a college coach. Yes, the high school student athletes who may have a list of college programs that you think you have a realistic chance of playing at, you can call the coach.

Don’t wait for them to call you. Calling a college coach shows that coach that you are serious about your athletic future, that you are a mature high school student athlete and also you can get right to the point with that coach by asking this question: “are you recruiting me?” or even better: “will you be recruiting at some point?” Use the phone to your advantage.

During most of their young athletic lives, it has been someone else’s job to pick for them. It’s been the high school coach’s job to tell the players what to do and more or less when to do it. So is it really any surprise that many high school athletes who are being recruited for the first time are not totally trained to handle the conversation even one that is as serious as dealing with their high school athletic futures.

These days, with the high cost of a college education and the value that is placed on an student athlete to win that scholarship, don’t you think more should be done in helping prepare the “golden ticket” we call athletes for that conversation? In most high schools they have many elective classes surely, they could have a class that covers the right or wrong way to deal with college recruiters.

Sports at some high schools is a big deal. The high school players are talked about in such a way that they are treated as celebrities; we want to know everything they do from how they played in the game to who’s recruiting them. Every aspect of their athletic lives is scrutinized in such a way that they are not real. Even though they are just kids, sometimes we look at high school athletes as something more.

We want them to go to a great college or maybe the college we attended, we want that school to win games, we want that player that we have followed for years to have big-time success in college and we care what happens to that player once his high school days are over.

The conversation with a college coach is the starting point that can lead to a scholarship at a major college program and to maybe a pro career, who knows.

Parents just want to be helpful but these are kids and sometimes you just have to let them keep that phone in their hands. Remember, it is just a conversation you are having with someone else over the phone. Just be cool and relax.  It’s only your whole athletic future that’s riding on that phone call! (Just a joke there!) It’s all a conversation, that’s all!

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The Al Woods Blue Chip Report

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The Al Woods Blue Chip Report is for high school student athletes who are star athletes looking for major exposure to college programs. The Al Woods Blue Chip Report is sent out to hundreds of college coaches all across the country.

To be a part of The Al Woods Blue Chip Report is totally free to high school student athletes and easy to sign up for. >>>> Click here to fill out the Athletic Questionnaire.

Student athletes: once you have completed the Athletic Questionnaire, we will review your information and verify all information for accuracy.  You will then receive a phone call from a member of our staff along with an email all of which is to ensure that all information is true for your inclusion into The Al Woods Blue Chip Report.

We’re only looking for high school student athletes who can play at the Division I, Division II, Division III, college levels and the NAIA college level.

The goal of recruiting is exposure to as many college programs as possible.  The more college coaches become aware of who you are as a student athlete the more you will increase your chances of being recruited by a large number of college programs.

Information is always very important in the college recruiting process. We also offer a free weekly newsletter that highlights information about recruiting and sometimes we have reviews of athletic products and gear. >>>> Click here to become a member of our newsletter.

Thank you,

Al Woods

President

Woods Recruiting

 

 

High School Players: Are They Unstoppable?

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Would you agree the term “high school student athlete” brings on extra responsibility?

Just having an extra title on top of ‘student’ brings added pressure to high school ball players.  Because you’re a high school student athlete you are expected to be different, to be special and to be unstoppable.

That last sentence is talking about the pressure and the added responsibility of high school student athletes.  There are some high school students that only want to go to school, do their class work and go home but if you are an athlete, then all eyes are on you. 

Some high school athletes can handle the added responsibility of being an outstanding student and a superior athlete.  I believe many of the successful people in this world have an athletic background.  Many of our top government leaders, businessmen and women, who were once unstoppable student athletes.  This is why I believe these kinds of people have always achieved great success in their lives.

The only reason I believe high school student athletes receive full athletic scholarships is because they are unstoppable.  The superstar athletes are the first ones at practice and the last ones to leave. They’re always doing extra things to get better whether in the classroom or the weight room, these athletes are the unstoppable ones.

The unstoppable high school student athletes are the ones who find a way to get the job done and never make excuses.  To achieve a high level of success every single day, you can’t make excuses because it will only hold you back.  The unstoppable student athletes are always first in everything; you can always tell who they are by how they dress, the words that they use, what they say in the classroom and how they respect their teachers, teammates and coaches.

The unstoppable high school ball players always show leadership skills.

To be an unstoppable high school player regardless of the sport is a privilege.  Very few athletes can accomplish that goal.  Many of these athletes do not have the attention to detail in the classroom.  There are many players that don’t have the passion for their sport.  Any of these qualities that you may be lacking makes you a non-relevant factor in sports.

A successful student and a successful athlete will always be a success in life and will always be unstoppable.

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Is The NCAA In The Way Of High School And College Sports?

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Are there too many rules and regulations set by the NCAA that slows down the college recruiting process?

Are there too many ridiculous NCAA rules that hurt college sports?

We all know that the NCAA is the governing body of all of college athletics. The NCAA has their hand in high school athletics as well.  I think the NCAA is a little bit slow and outdated when it comes to the modern world of athletics.

I understand there has to be rules to protect the student athletes and I’m really OK with that part of the NCAA.

A college coach making too many phone calls to a student athlete that they are trying to recruit to another college program, I don’t see why that would be considered wrong.  The NCAA has penalized college programs for excess phone calls to recruits; they’ve also penalize college programs for having barbecues where potential recruits were in attendance and again, what’s wrong with that?

There’re restrictions on phone calls, there’re restrictions on texting student athletes, there’s close scrutiny with Facebook and Twitter and I say what is the big deal?

All of these things mentioned are very harmless. I know you can’t give money to high school recruits or gifts to persuade a student athlete to your college program; we all know that’s illegal and wrong.

This generation of high school athletes is totally different from players 30 years ago.  These young players today expect something in return, other than a full athletic scholarship, for their athletic ability that generates millions of dollars to that university.  The players are not blind; they see the amounts of money being made because of what they do on the football field, the basketball court or anywhere else money is being made.

Just about every day when I watch ESPN there’s always a story about the NCAA opening an investigation about a college athletic program.  Sometimes the infractions, like with the OhioStatefootball program, are major and other times the infractions are so small that it makes no sense to even mention them at all. Getting a tattoo in exchange for an autographed football helmet is enough to destroy an entire football program and get the coach to resign.  Why?? How is this a crime? Who, in this entire scenario, is being victimized?

When the NCAA does decide to punish an athletic program it’s only hurting the student athletes who are still there and who’ve done nothing wrong to receive such punish. That is totally unfair to them.  What the NCAA should do is fine these college programs millions of dollars and the coach must be fired or banned from coaching for a particular period of time.  In the situation atOhioState, the university should be fined millions of dollars and the coach must lose his job for a certain amount of years.

John Calipari, the head men’s basketball coach at Kentucky, is the coach who had major NCAA violations at the University of Memphis and at the University of Mass.  But the entire school was punished. It had to give up victories and was put on probation but the coach received no punishment at all.  Coach Calipari was free to leave those programs and get another coaching job without any problems. John Calipari can break the rules, leave the school and the players he’s leaving behind have to serve his punishment.  That is totally wrong and unfair to college athletics overall.

There’s going to come a time where big-time major college programs are going to get sick and tired of the NCAA and form their own league and create their own governing body.  Any time major college football programs can switch to new conferences or even think about switching to another conference makes it a possibility that the top 30 college programs in this country can form a new league.

The University of Texas has a television network called the Longhorn Network. This will create millions of dollars for the University of Texas.  Many other major programs might end up starting their own TV networks so they can have more control of their money which will give them more power to do what they want to do.

I can see a time where there will be separate college conferences away from the NCAA where the players will receive some type of compensation and there will be more modern and updated rules to accommodate this generation of student athletes.

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What’s The Next Step For Student Athletes Once They Reach College?

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What’s the next step for student athletes entering their freshman year of college?

I believe the answer to that question is, to work harder than you’ve ever did in your entire life because the competition level is greater than it’s ever been.  There always will be consistent adjustments to new student athletes entering college. I would think being away from home for the first time and for a long extended period of time will be a huge adjustment.

Other adjustments for brand new college freshmen are the athletic and academic expectations.  The bottom line is you’re there to get a college education and to help that college program win games no matter what.

At the high school level it doesn’t really matter as much if your team won a lot of games, won a few games or that your team was just average.  The high school athlete would still be on the team, would still be a student at that high school and would still go home to their parents every night.

Once in college, student athletes should still study every single day to make a long-lasting impression; student athletes should be the first to class, be the last one to leave class and should always sit in the front row.  Student athletes should always consult with their college instructors for help on any assignments or projects.  I’m sure many college athletic programs have study halls and various programs where freshman student athletes can receive extra attention towards their education.

For some strange reason, parents and high school athletes have this impression that once they’re in college they don’t have to do any work and everything is done for them when it comes to the academic side.  Also for some reasons, parents and student athletes are misled into believing that all they have to do is show up for class and they’ll be given good grades even though they’ve done no class work.  Of course all of that is not true and it is a ridiculous misconception. Believe me when I tell you, if you do not do well academically they will get rid of you in a heart beat and replace you with another more deserving student athlete.

On the athletic side of things, practices are longer, the workout sessions are long and the attention to athletic detail is extremely structured.  Many college programs practice 20 hours per week which is within the guidelines of the NCAA, but some programs may extend those practice hours by calling it an unofficial workout or practice session.  It can be an extremely exhausting period of time for new college freshman having to adjust to the disciplines of college athletic life.

I think the role of the parents, in this situation, should be supportive and encouraging with weekly phone calls and visits during the season.  Help keep the student athlete focused on their objective to be a superior student athlete.

College athletics is a once in a lifetime experience and student athletes should give it everything they’ve got because the memories will last forever.

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