Monday, February 28, 2011

Become our Athlete of the Week!

Recognition and Awards play a key role in getting noticed...Whether it be All Tournament, All District, All State or even being recognized as an Athlete of the Week!  All of this recognition can be placed on your athletic resume to help you stand out from the other athletes competing for scholarships.

The Upper Hand Promotions program has been developed to help high school athletes increase their visibility.  So, to go along with the awards piece of increasing visibility we have decided to award one athlete a week as our UHP Athlete of the week.

Every Friday, we will review all nominations we receive and feature the selected athlete on our Blog.  The award will be for their statistics or accomplishments for the week, not yearly accomplishments.  The email for nominations should include the following: Dates of Games played, who the games were against, stats from the game, a picture of the nominated athlete and why you feel you or the person you are nominating should receive the Athlete of the Week Award.

To go along with the feature on our Blog, we will notify 10 college coaches of the selected athletes choice, of the award and weekly accomplishment.

The first Athlete of the Week will be awarded on Friday March 4th.  Nominations must be submitted to info@upperhandpromotions.com by 3pm CST, Friday March 4th. 

We look forward to recognizing our first  UHP Athlete of the Week!  The selected athlete must have a FREE athlete profile on http://www.upperhandpromotions.com/, so create your profile today!


Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Hear it from a fellow High School Athlete...

This week I want to change things up a little and share with you a story straight from one of our clients. A few days ago, one of our current clients posted on our Facebook Wall.  His testimonial is in regards to our new limited space program.  The program is an online promotional program, designed to give high school athletes the information and tools needed to promote themselves directly to college coaches.  In addition, we reach out to 10 coaches on their behalf each month!  The goal of the online promotional program is to make the initial introduction of high school athlete to college coach...The most difficult part of the recruiting process.

Here is what Dakota Jones posted on our wall:
"To everyone that has not joined Upper Hand Promotions, do it NOW. I have been with it for about a month now, and UHP helps me a lot. During the month of time, I have received emails from Division 1 schools, and Division 2 schools. They want me to go to prospect camps for their college. It's a great opportunity for you and your community. If you want to play the next level, Upper Hand Promotions is here to help. So email them and get started. Thank you!"

If you are serious about improving your odds in the recruiting game...

Visit http://www.upperhandpromotions.com/ and create your free athlete profile!

If you have any questions about the recruiting process or the limited space online promotional program, email UHP at info@upperhandpromotions.com

The UHP team hopes to hear from you soon...We are here to help!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Cleared for Takeoff!

    Every high school athlete knows they have to work hard and take care of business both in the classroom and on the field or court.  However, in order to be eligible to play at the next level, there is one more step all high school athletes must take...Getting cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse.  In order for a student athlete to compete at the division 1 or 2 level, the athlete must register and be cleared by the clearinghouse.

What is the NCAA Clearinghouse?
    It is an organization that reviews a high school athlete's academic record, SAT or ACT Scores and amateur status, to determine if a high school athlete conforms with NCAA regulations.

When should a student athlete register with the NCAA Clearinghouse?
    The NCAA recommends that a high school athlete register at the start of their junior year.  There is no deadline to register, however a student athlete must be cleared prior to receiving an athletic scholarship or competing at the Division 1 or 2 level.

How does a high school athlete register?
    Students can register at the NCAA Clearinghouse Website.  At this website, the student athlete will enter personal information, athletic background and pay a registration fee.  The student athlete will need to have their high school transcript sent to the clearinghouse.  The transcript must be mailed directly from their high school.

Once a high school athlete is cleared by the clearinghouse, they will be eligible to receive athletic scholarships, as well as compete at the Division 1 ans 2 level.  The next step for the high school student athlete is introducing themselves to college coaches and finding a place to play...

Upper Hand Promotions specializes in the introduction process.  Let us help you increase your visibility and introduce you directly to the coaches at the schools you want to target!

Visit http://www.upperhandpromotions.com/ and create your FREE athlete profile to get started!

If you have any questions about the clearinghouse or the recruiting process in general, do not hesitate to contact us at:  info@upperhandpromotions.com




   
   

Monday, February 7, 2011

Recruiting Is A Contact Sport!

   When a high school athlete starts the recruiting process, the athlete and parent must attack the process like a job search.  Plan, Prepare and Execute...If you want to maximize the high school athlete's recruiting potential.  Just as a person would do when searching for a job, contact as many potential suitors as possible.  Recruiting is a contact sport!  The more schools you introduce yourself to, the better chance you have to find a coach looking for an athlete with your skill set.

Plan: 
Compile a list of schools that interest you both athletically and academically. Complete this prior to your junior year. These don't all have to be NCAA Division I-A schools. Several professional players played in lower division schools and still got noticed.  Take for example, the Super Bowl MVP from last night...Aaron Rodgers started his collegiate career at a junior college.  Yes, he ended up at California, but he got that chance because he took an opportunity and made the most of it.  When creating your list, include schools that may not be your top 5 picks, because the best offer may come from a school not in your top 5 or 10.





Prepare:
Once you have a list of potential target schools, start researching these schools.  This can be a very time consuming process, but it must be done if you are going to effectively get on college coaches radar.  The biggest mistake a high school athlete makes, is waiting on a coach to find them.  A high school athlete must find the name and contact information for the coaches at the schools you decided on in step 1.

Execute:
Now you have a list of potential schools and contact information, a large list, as we have already stated, recruiting is a contact sport.  The larger the list, the more opportunity you will create. The next step is reaching out to these schools using a variety of different methods, email, letters, etc...Do not sell yourself short. The school you may not have considered initially, may end up making you the best offer!

In the recruiting game, you can never reach out to enough coaches...Put your helmet on and be ready for the contact, do not shy away...You will regret it in the end!

Upper Hand Promotions can help walk you through the steps above, provide the needed information and can even execute the plan for you, if you are like most high school athletes and do not have time to effectively carry out the plan!

Visit http://www.upperhandpromotions.com/ today, to create your FREE athlete profile!  We will contact you and help you develop your plan to reach out to as many potential schools that meet your needs!

Contact us at info@upperhandpromotions.com, if you have any questions or need helping creating your athlete profile.

We look forward to hearing from you! 

While you are here, become a follower of our blog...Every Monday we have a blog post that will provide more information on how to effectively promote yourself to college coaches!