Right now is a very important time for high school athletes graduating in 2012. The majority have some varsity experience and are starting to actively look at their college options. In order to ensure they have options, all should be introducing themselves to college coaches, creating interest and getting on schools recruiting radar prior to their senior year. After all, a college program can only recruit an athlete they know exists. By the time the 2011-2012 school year kicks off, college coaches have the majority of their class of 2012 targets already in mind. Make sure you do what it takes now, so you don't miss out on a potential opportunity!
2012 Graduates To Do List
1) Create a list of potential target schools
2) Introduce yourself to the coaching staff
3) Consistent communication with interested schools to stay top of mind with coaching staff
4) Stay on the radar, Be Accessible
If you have not started the process above as a 2012 graduate you are behind the 8 ball. Get started now, before your senior season starts you should have initiated contact with the programs that interest you, determine mutual interest and have a plan for the schools with mutual interest to ensure you have options come signing day!
If you need help getting this process started or are interested in learning more about maximizing your recruiting potential visit www.upperhandpromotions.com and create your free athlete profile.
Class of 2012, move quickly, make yourself visible and if you need help...that's what we are here for...Email us with questions at info@upperhandpromotions.com!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Do Not Get Taken Off "The List"
Every college coaching staff, in almost every sport, has "The List" when it comes to recruiting. Each staff has their own way of organizing, adding/removing prospects and deciding who to make and who not to make scholarship offers to each year. The goal of a high school athlete is to get on as many lists as possible, stay on the lists and receive several offers to leave themselves options come signing day.
Upper Hand Promotions offers several programs and tools to help high school athletes get on "The List", at schools they are interested in attending. Equally as important however, once you make the list, how do you stay on it to receive an offer at the end of the recruiting process?
4 Suggestions to Improve Your Odds of Remaining on "The List"
1) School/Grades: Make sure that your transcript is easily accessible, never hide or hold back your academic information. If your grades are not where they should be, acknowledge the issue and share your plan for improvement with interested coaches. A coach finding out information you tried to hide, will lead to your removal from "The List".
2) Skills Video: Let's face it your athletic ability will play a major role in receiving an athletic scholarship offer. So, you must have the proper tools to showcase this ability to college coaches. All athletes interested in competing at the next level, should have a highlight tape and at the very least one full game tape available at all time. When coaches are discussing a prospect with a recruiting coordinator or scout, if video is not available, your odds of being placed on or remaining on "The List" are slim to none. Give the coach a reason to want to pursue you!
3) Scouting Report: An evaluation done by a trusted third party gives the college coach a different viewpoint and might point out something they missed or haven't had the opportunity to witness. Again, give the college coach a reason to want to pursue you!
4) Parents: I know, what do your parents have to do with you in regards to the recruiting process? Simple...A college coach has thousands of talented high school athletes interested in playing at the college level. When reviewing their recruiting lists, if a prospect's parent has been identified as a potential issue, another prospect at that position with similar talent jumps over them on "The List". An example of parent issues could include: openly questioning coaches, complaining to other parents, challenging conditioning or training methods etc...Make sure your parents are aware that their behavior can impact your recruitment!
The hardest part of the recruiting process is making the initial introduction of high school athlete to college coach, catching their eye and earning a spot on "The List." However, getting on "The List" is just the start of the process. Make sure you educate yourself to stay on "The List", once you get there!
Email info@upperhandpromotions.com with any questions you may have about this post or the recruiting process in general.
If you are ready to start introducing yourself to college coaches across the country, improving your odds of getting on "The List" at schools you are interested in attending...
Create Your FREE Athlete Profile on http://www.upperhandpromotions.com/ today!
Upper Hand Promotions offers several programs and tools to help high school athletes get on "The List", at schools they are interested in attending. Equally as important however, once you make the list, how do you stay on it to receive an offer at the end of the recruiting process?
4 Suggestions to Improve Your Odds of Remaining on "The List"
1) School/Grades: Make sure that your transcript is easily accessible, never hide or hold back your academic information. If your grades are not where they should be, acknowledge the issue and share your plan for improvement with interested coaches. A coach finding out information you tried to hide, will lead to your removal from "The List".
2) Skills Video: Let's face it your athletic ability will play a major role in receiving an athletic scholarship offer. So, you must have the proper tools to showcase this ability to college coaches. All athletes interested in competing at the next level, should have a highlight tape and at the very least one full game tape available at all time. When coaches are discussing a prospect with a recruiting coordinator or scout, if video is not available, your odds of being placed on or remaining on "The List" are slim to none. Give the coach a reason to want to pursue you!
3) Scouting Report: An evaluation done by a trusted third party gives the college coach a different viewpoint and might point out something they missed or haven't had the opportunity to witness. Again, give the college coach a reason to want to pursue you!
4) Parents: I know, what do your parents have to do with you in regards to the recruiting process? Simple...A college coach has thousands of talented high school athletes interested in playing at the college level. When reviewing their recruiting lists, if a prospect's parent has been identified as a potential issue, another prospect at that position with similar talent jumps over them on "The List". An example of parent issues could include: openly questioning coaches, complaining to other parents, challenging conditioning or training methods etc...Make sure your parents are aware that their behavior can impact your recruitment!
The hardest part of the recruiting process is making the initial introduction of high school athlete to college coach, catching their eye and earning a spot on "The List." However, getting on "The List" is just the start of the process. Make sure you educate yourself to stay on "The List", once you get there!
Email info@upperhandpromotions.com with any questions you may have about this post or the recruiting process in general.
If you are ready to start introducing yourself to college coaches across the country, improving your odds of getting on "The List" at schools you are interested in attending...
Create Your FREE Athlete Profile on http://www.upperhandpromotions.com/ today!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Must See TV...
More and more high school athletes are having highlight videos created, with the hope of improving their odds of getting noticed. However, creating a highlight video is just the start of the process.
When a company has a commercial made, do they post the completed video somewhere with the hopes of a customer finding it? How much business do you think the business will receive, if the commercial is never viewed by their targeted audience? I know, easy question...NONE.
High school athletes are posting their highlight video all over the internet, hoping a college coach spends their time to search and find this hidden video. College coaches do not have the time to search hour after hour, watch hundreds of videos, to find the athlete they are looking for to fill a roster spot.
In order for a highlight video to be effective, the athlete must put their video directly into the hands of a college coach and grab that coach's attention within the first few seconds. The highlight film is important, but the target audience and quality of the video is even more important.
Put the highlight video to work for you, do not just let it sit out in cyber space!
For more information on how to effectively use video to maximize your recruiting potential...
Email us at: info@upperhandpromotions.com
When a company has a commercial made, do they post the completed video somewhere with the hopes of a customer finding it? How much business do you think the business will receive, if the commercial is never viewed by their targeted audience? I know, easy question...NONE.
High school athletes are posting their highlight video all over the internet, hoping a college coach spends their time to search and find this hidden video. College coaches do not have the time to search hour after hour, watch hundreds of videos, to find the athlete they are looking for to fill a roster spot.
In order for a highlight video to be effective, the athlete must put their video directly into the hands of a college coach and grab that coach's attention within the first few seconds. The highlight film is important, but the target audience and quality of the video is even more important.
Put the highlight video to work for you, do not just let it sit out in cyber space!
For more information on how to effectively use video to maximize your recruiting potential...
Email us at: info@upperhandpromotions.com
Monday, March 14, 2011
Upper Hand Promotions Athlete of the Week!
Each week an athlete is selected from hundreds of high school athletes for the honor of Upper Hand Promotions Athlete of the Week! The UHP athlete of the week is featured on our blog, which is potentially read by hundreds of college coaches. The athlete also selects 10 college coaches that he or she wants to receive a promotional email highlighting their accomplishments. The Upper Hand Promotions team designs and sends the emails directly to the selected college coaches for the athlete.
This week's Upper Hand Promotions Athlete of the Week is..............
Dakota Jones, a 6' 180lbs linebacker from Waterford High School in Waterford, CT.
This week's Upper Hand Promotions Athlete of the Week is..............
Dakota Jones, a 6' 180lbs linebacker from Waterford High School in Waterford, CT.Dakota has started at linebacker on varsity since his sophomore season. His 4.6 40 time allows him to do what he loves best...track down and attack the ball. Dakota's work ethic and passion for the game is second to none! His goal is to continue to compete on the field in college, while pursuing his degree in Sports Medicine or Journalism.
Interested college coaches can request his upperhandpromotions.com athlete id to view Dakota's complete athlete profile and highlight videos.
Please send an email to info@upperhandpromotions.com with his name as the subject.
High school athletes interested in being considered for next week's UHP Athlete of the Week, please send an email to info@upperhandpromotions.com before 3pm Friday. The email should contain current athletic stats, GPA and why you should be featured in next week's blog!
Take Control and Find A Place to Play!
Every year thousands of high school athletes make a huge mistake in the recruiting process...The athlete depends only on their high school coach to find a place to play at the next level. High school coaches play a very important role in the recruiting process, providing the BEST and most respected feedback to interested college coaches. However, the high school coach is limited on time...So, what often happens is they reach out to their immediate contacts at the college level. This is a good thing, but limits the opportunity of a high school athlete looking to maximize their recruiting potential.
A typical high school coach has a handful of personal contacts at the college level, yet there are hundreds of schools that offer athletic scholarships in most sports. If you depend only on your high school coach, all your hope lies in their immediate contacts. Take control, develop a personalized promotional plan and directly reach out to all the colleges you are interested in attending. Just like advertising, the more people you reach out to, the better your response rate will be...
For example, every NCAA Division 1 and 2 baseball program has 11.7 scholarships available for their program. If your high school coach knows and reaches out to 5 programs, you potentially have access to 58.5 scholarships. However, if you reach out to 50 programs and drive that coach to your high school coach for his recommendation, you potentially have access to 585 scholarships. It's a numbers game, the more introductions you make, the better your odds are of finding a coach interested in an athlete with your skill set.
Upper Hand Promotions has programs designed to provide you with the college contact information and assist in the design of promotional material needed to reach out to and catch a coach's eye...Or we can develop and execute a complete promotional plan for a high school athlete!
Increase your odds, take control and find a place to compete at the next level!
For more information, visit http://www.upperhandpromotions.com/ or
If you have questions or you are ready to get your program started email: info@upperhandpromotions.com
A typical high school coach has a handful of personal contacts at the college level, yet there are hundreds of schools that offer athletic scholarships in most sports. If you depend only on your high school coach, all your hope lies in their immediate contacts. Take control, develop a personalized promotional plan and directly reach out to all the colleges you are interested in attending. Just like advertising, the more people you reach out to, the better your response rate will be...
For example, every NCAA Division 1 and 2 baseball program has 11.7 scholarships available for their program. If your high school coach knows and reaches out to 5 programs, you potentially have access to 58.5 scholarships. However, if you reach out to 50 programs and drive that coach to your high school coach for his recommendation, you potentially have access to 585 scholarships. It's a numbers game, the more introductions you make, the better your odds are of finding a coach interested in an athlete with your skill set.
Upper Hand Promotions has programs designed to provide you with the college contact information and assist in the design of promotional material needed to reach out to and catch a coach's eye...Or we can develop and execute a complete promotional plan for a high school athlete!
Increase your odds, take control and find a place to compete at the next level!
For more information, visit http://www.upperhandpromotions.com/ or
If you have questions or you are ready to get your program started email: info@upperhandpromotions.com
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Upper Hand Promotions Athlete of the Week!
Each week an athlete is selected from hundreds of high school athletes for the honor of Upper Hand Promotions Athlete of the Week! The UHP athlete of the week is featured on our blog, which is potentially read by hundreds of college coaches. The athlete also selects 10 college coaches that he or she wants to receive a promotional email highlighting their accomplishments. The Upper Hand Promotions team designs and sends the emails directly to the selected college coaches for the athlete.
This week's Upper Hand Promotions Athlete of the Week is..............
Elijah Short - Shortstop from King High School in Houston, Tx
In his last full season, Elijah hit .359 with 5hr, 14sb and an on base percentage of .439. He was selected as district MVP and received the King High School Heart Award!
Interested college coaches can request his upperhandpromotions.com athlete id to view more information about Elijah.
Please send an email to info@upperhandpromotions.com with his name as the subject.
High school athletes interested in being considered for next week's UHP Athlete of the Week, please send an email to info@upperhandpromotions.com before 3pm next Friday. The email should contain current athletic stats, GPA and why you should be featured in next week's blog!
This week's Upper Hand Promotions Athlete of the Week is..............
In his last full season, Elijah hit .359 with 5hr, 14sb and an on base percentage of .439. He was selected as district MVP and received the King High School Heart Award!
Interested college coaches can request his upperhandpromotions.com athlete id to view more information about Elijah.
Please send an email to info@upperhandpromotions.com with his name as the subject.
High school athletes interested in being considered for next week's UHP Athlete of the Week, please send an email to info@upperhandpromotions.com before 3pm next Friday. The email should contain current athletic stats, GPA and why you should be featured in next week's blog!
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!
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!
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