THE 3 SCHOLARSHIP HACKS EVERY ATHLETE NEEDS BEFORE THEY TURN 12 YEARS OLD!
To keep things simple for this blog post, the language I use will be directed towards the Athletes. If you are a Parent or Coach reading this, this will apply to you as a Parent/ Coach for your kid(s)
Before we dive in, I want to explain what the goal of this Booklet is. There’s nothing that gets me angrier than Books, Blogs, Videos, etc that teach you some things but do not give you actionable steps that you can take away and use immediately.
I am not here to waste time! I am here to give you 7 things young Athletes can use to increase their chances of landing College Scholarships! And when I say increase their chance, I mean REALLY increase their chances!
For too long society has put D1 Scholarships on a pedestal but this booklet will do the exact opposite. The first thing I want you to understand is a D1 Scholarship is beyond attainable if you know how to search for it properly!
I set out on this mission because I was not recruited like I should have been when I was in High School. I threw 88-90 MPH from Shortstop, and ran a 6.4 60 yard time (or a 4.38 40). I was undersized, but had all the tools!
I actually still have access to my old emails I used to send to College Coaches and believe it or not, on more than one occasion – I emailed a Coach and didn’t even have his name spelled right! I am embarrassed to even look back at how I was communicating with the Coaches.
When sifting through these emails, a lot of Coaches got back to me with a cookie cutter response! I wanted to see if I could figure out a way to reach out to Coaches, get their attention, stay in front of them, and eventually get a scholarship.
I did just that. Fast forward a few years and I took an Athlete by the name of Chris James under my wing. I trained him 4-5 days per week and helped him with his recruiting. When I met him he was your typical Freshman in High School (5’9 170 lbs running a 5.1 40 time). No one from his High School had actually ever had a D1 scholarship offer.
The odds were definitely stacked against him…So with the Twice The Speed Training System and The Full Ride Finder Method we were able to: Get CJ to 212 lbs running a 4.38 40 time. This obviously is appealing to Coaches Right?
WRONG!
His Freshman year he ran a 4.4 40 time and he still didn’t get any attention from Col- leges. You would think an Athlete of this caliber would have Coaches begging for him to come play for their team, but that’s not how it works.
This is where the 7 hacks to earning scholarships comes into play. Even though CJ was a phenomenal Athlete, I had to hit the drawing board to really get him noticed, and OOOH did I get him noticed…with over 5 Million views on Youtube, and 20+ full ride offers by his Junior year.
Since I met CJ when he was 15 years old, I used to say to myself…“I couldn’t imagine helping a kid who was 10, 11, 12 years old” – it would literally be unfair to have this knowledge at such a young age. This Booklet is my way of giving back and sharing 11 years of Knowledge to help you or your kids set yourself apart from the masses to give yourself the BEST shot at earning FREE COLLEGE!
Hack #1 - Develop The Relationships Young
For Athletes who are under the age of 16 years old, I could not stress more that you NEED to develop relationships with Coaches. I would personally say to start having your kids do this around 10 years old.
This is fairly easy because everyone knows how to develop a relationship, you first have to meet them! The more times a Coach meets your Child when they are younger, the likelihood that Coach will eventually offer them a scholarship.
This is a very long term play if we are talking about a 10 year old, but bare with me be- cause each one of these Hacks will build off one another. One of the hacks “Spiderweb Hack” is derived from hack number one, so you MUST take this serious.
Going to College Camps is a GREAT way to start to develop great relationships with Coaches. Most Sports have what’s called “One Day Camps” where you go to the Univer- sity for a day and your kid plays in front of the Coaches.
Even if they are 10 years old, trust me they are watching the Kids on more than just theirAthleticism. (Hustle, Intelligence, Awareness, Size, Speed, Strength, Confidence, Etc).
If you’re worried about your kids being overmatched, don’t because I got you covered on that a little later on! Besides going to College Camps, a great first step would be to just send their Coaches an email asking them for information on their upcoming Camps. This will get the conversation started and you can go from there.
Hack #2 - Avoid High Ticket Camps, Showcases, Combines
If the Camp, Showcase, or Combine costs more than $200, then you are most likely being ripped off. They will overpromise and underdeliver I can almost assure you.
If you want the most for you money you NEED to stick with the College one day Camps. Make a road trip out of it, and spend your money on a cool trip with the Family, not some $900 camp where “scouts will be there”. You do not need to go to those camps, I can promise you!
Often times when you hear “scouts will be there” or “College Coaches” etc…just be weary of what the camp is really all about. If you could find other Athletes, Parents, or Coaches that have had any experience with that particular Camp, it would be good to ask them what they thought. If they tell you it was great, analyze on your own if you think it actually changed anything for them, or helped them in any way.
You will never go wrong going to College Camps…that being said, there are some Colleges that do “sleepover camps” – I would also avoid those. The entire Goal of this is to set yourself up to earn FREE College in the future, not to overpay for a slumber party.
Hack #3 - Be Prepared For Your Camp
There’s nothing worse than not being prepared for a camp or combine. Here are some of the things that Coaches will be looking for:
- Speed And Agility Hustle
- Size
- Strength
- Skills in whatever Sport Knowledge Of The Sport Competitiveness
- Confidence
- Enthusiasm
- Leadership
- Promptness (be on time!)
Depending on the Sport the first thing Coaches want to see is your Athleticism outside of the skill side of the Sport. In Baseball for example you run the 60 yard time before they even watch you throw, hit, or field. In Football, you go through a combine (40 yard, 5-10- 5 Shuttle, Vertical Jump, Broad Jump, and Bench Press depending on your Age).
A couple things you can do prior to having to perform in front of Coaches:
– A Dynamic Warm Up
– Properly Activate Your Muscles
– Don’t Eat A BIG MEAL That Morning
– Hydrate
– Watch What You Eat Leading Up To The Camp (Clean Food)
By “Clean Food” I mean, do not eat Chips, Fast Food, Soda, etc leading up to the Camp. You need your body firing on all cylinders so you have every little advantage possible!
I could go on and on, but the first thing these Coaches want to know is “how Athletic is this kid!?”. If you already are a Speed Training Customer of ours, then you should be good to go there! We consistently drop kids Sprint times, and increase their athleticism to make them stand out at these Camps, Showcases, and Combines.
Anyways…the biggest takeaway from Hack #3 is you need to be training leading up to the event. Even if you are 10 years, you need to be doing things that are setting you apart from everyone else. This could be as simple as working on your Balance on a daily basis.