This is something I thought of while watching the season finale of Shark Tank.  On the show there were a couple of guys  who said they want to change the way college recruiting is done and help athletes take control of their college recruiting process.  Well, unfortunately, they have a lot of work to do on their business in order to achieve
that because, from what they described on the show, all they have is an online database that coaches can search.

When I heard that…this is what I wanted to say to them right through the tv…

Adding your name to an online database that coaches can search is NOT “taking control” of your college recruiting process.

There I said it.

Adding your name to an online database is NOT “taking control” of your college recruiting process.  Neither is adding videos to YouTube or going to a recruiting camp.

I’m not saying those things are useless or that you shouldn’t do them, but there’s so much more you can do.  Those things in and of themselves are just a small sliver of what you should be doing if you really want to take control of your college recruiting journey!

“Taking control” involves doing your homework.  It means:

• Knowing where you have to be academically
• Knowing what the NCAA requires of you to be eligible
• Knowing what different program require in the level(s) of play you are interested in (not always the same as what the NCAA requires)
• Knowing what type of school is a good fit for you
• Knowing what to ask college coaches
• Knowing what to ask yourself so you can find the right fit
• Knowing what you need to get done by when
• Knowing what you CAN do and when
• Making sure YOU are in contact with coaches before they are even allowed to get in touch with you
• Knowing whether or not it’s better for you or your parents to be corresponding with a college coach
• Having the information college coaches need about you in order to make a decision readily available
• Getting prepared for college entrance exams
• Having a strategy!!!
• …and so much more

Putting your name “out there” in public places and hoping to be found is not going to cut it.  That will not give you the best opportunities possible by the time your college recruiting journey come to an end. Remember – there are no re-dos. Get educated. Get informed. And if you need help, some of the best in the business are ready to walk you through it all at NCSA.

If you’re serious about playing at the college level and have been taking care of business on and off the field, you can have someone from NCSA personally give you a call by filling out the form at HERE.

And yes, for student-athletes who use that link and become part of the NCSA family, NCSA does make donations back to AAF.  However, if you do not wish for them to do that, you can also visit them at their main company link at
http://www.ncsasports.org/

Whatever your choice, you can have a real person talk with you about your options plus get a username and password to set up your own athletic resume web page with no risk and no money required by going HERE and filling out your contact information.

Wishing you the best,

Stacie Mahoe

One of the biggest mistakes I see families make as they go through the college recruiting process is not starting early enough. Now this doesn’t only have to do with getting in touch with college coaches or registering with the NCAA Eligibility Center on time. Aside from the marketing aspect, there are at least 3 other major reasons to being planning early.

1. Prepping for the SAT/ACT

Many students don’t see the point in taking prep courses until they realize they need a higher SAT or ACT score to get into the college they want to go to. By this time they’re scrambling at the last minute to take classes to learn the valuable test taking strategies that will help them improve their scores. Now imagine if you had start early and begin this test taking preparation in your freshman or sophomore year. By the time you’re junior year rolls around you begin taking her entrance exams, you’ll have had time to get really comfortable with the test taking strategies and the vocabulary words most test prep programs cover. Starting early just gives you more time to really get well prepared vs. trying to cram at the last minute.

Plus, imagine having to take that SAT or ACT as a senior knowing you need a great score and knowing that your chances are running out. That’s a lot of pressure to carry into a test! Why not get it out of the way sooner? You’ll probably perform better if your aren’t at the point where you whole college future is riding on the test you’re about to take. Can it still come down to that even with the planning? Yes. But at least if you start early and take the prep courses and tests earlier, you know exactly where you stand and what you need to do to get where you needs to be by senior year. Plus, if you start early, you’ll probably have a few years vs. just a few months to work on it.

2. The GPA Factor

Grade point averages are a lot like batting averages, shooting percentages, or per game averages. The further you get into the season and the more games you have under your belt, the tougher it is to raise your average, even with an awesome game performance. The same is true for grade point averages. The farther along you are in your high school career, the tougher it’s going to be to raise that GPA even with straight A’s. In the beginning of a softball season a 4-4 game can raise your batting average hundreds of points. Just like a GPA, if you have a perfect semester or two (or even good semesters in the beginning), your GPA will be nice and high. But toward the end of the season a great game may only raise your batting average 20 points or so, if that. By the same token it’s very tough to try to raise a 2.6 GPA to a 3.0 in just a semester or two. I don’t even know if it’s possible. I haven’t worked the numbers, but if it is, it’s certainly very tough! If you start planning early, if you know where you need to be to give yourself the best opportunities at the end of your high school years. Plus, if you keep an eye on your progress and make sure your necessary GPA is always in sight or surpassed, that just makes your life so much easier toward the end.

3. The Physical Factor

Another aspect to take into consideration is the physical factor. You simply aren’t going to go from average to elite in 1 year. For instanc, if a softball players is running a 3.4 second home to first time and she needs to be at 3.0 or better by senior year, wouldn’t it be better to begin working on that from her freshman year and give her a good amount of time to really improve? It’s certainly much more attainable than trying to go from 3.4 in the middle of junior year to 3.0 by the start of senior year. Some things are just about physically impossible. Again, early planning can give you the best chance of being where you need to be when you need to be there. Plus it’ll give you ample time to prepare and work toward those goals. That makes the journey less stressful and more successful. So don’t wait! Start that process of preparing for the future as soon as high school begins! If you need a little help, check out some of the free college resources at http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/freeresources.html.

—

If you’re serious about playing softball in college, get help with your own personalized college recruiting plan with NCSA.  It’s college recruiting simplified!

I hope you had a great weekend.  Mine was quite busy with the Bill Hillhouse pitching clinic and as usual, it always amazes me how people can come to a clinic (not just this one) and be so close minded to what’s being presented.  Now it’s true that you may have just been told/taught one thing for so many years that anything to the contrary can seem almost unbelievable.   So I do have to consider that point.  But if you’re going to a clinic, you really do have to go in with at least a little bit of an open mind or with at least a small intent to learn something new…Especially when the people/person putting on the clinic can show you and demonstrate to you how much sense what they are saying makes.

It’s just very interesting to see how some people, even after seeing with their own eyes why and how something works, will still insist upon questioning and resisting the information.

I’m not saying you will always agree 100% with what a clinician or instructor is saying.  Just remember, if you can pick up ONE thing, just one that can help you or your player(s) down the road, then it’s worth it.

It’s like one dad at the clinic was saying…even if the coach/instructor/clinician is a jerk (not exactly his choice of
words, but you get the idea – and this was in no way a reference to Bill), if there is ONE thing that you can take away from the experience, then it was still a worthwhile experience.  Take that one thing, be thankful for it, and run with it!

On that note, I hope you have a wonderful week!
—

P.S. – If you’d like more information on Bill Hillhouse, want to
pick up one of his DVDs, or would like information on how you can
bring him to your area, check out his website at
http://www.HouseOfPitching.com.

Please note that I do not get any kind of “kickback” or commission
or referral fee from Bill by sending you over to his site.  I just
think his stuff is awesome and find him very easy to work with.  So
if you’re looking for pitching help or guidance, there’s a lot of
good stuff at http://www.HouseOfPitching.com.  If nothing else, sign
up for the f.r.e.e newsletter, read all the f.r.e.e articles, and
take a look at the f.r.e.e video clips available there.

Yesterday I told you about Marc’s Super Softball Sale.  He’s offering a lot in that crazy big bundle of resources, but my absolute favorite, the one I thing is super duper cool…is the Softball Playground Workout video.

That just sounds like so much more fun than a “lets-hit-the-weight-room” workout.  Plus, you may not have easy access to a weight room or gym for softball training.  However, you probably do have access to a local playground.

No time?  No money?  No equipment?  No problem.

In Marc’s Softball Playground Workout video, you’ll discover how you can get stronger, faster, and more powerful using innovative, yet simple exercises that you can do in minutes (for FREE) at your local playground!

Right now this 3-part video is included as part of the 12 cutting edge products Marc is offering at 77% off.  But he has less than 100 bundles left (out of 200).  Make sure you go over and grab yours today!

I don’t normally post anything here on weekends because everyone is out at the field, not on the computer reading softball articles, but this is a time sensitive announcement (I’ll explain more later) that I don’t want you to miss out on.

It’s not like I have a “Deal of the Week” every week, but I heard about this one and had to tell you about it TODAY.  Like I said, I’ll explain why later.  Anyway, the thing is Marc over at Softball Performance is having a Crazy Super Softball Sale.

I’m not going to bore you with a lot of hype.  I’m just going to tell you what you get and why I had to tell you today.

What You Get

In a nutshell, you’re getting 12 of Marc’s Hot, Brand New, Cutting-Edge, Never-Released Before Products at 77% off including:

Yeah, that’s a lot of stuff!

Why I Had to Tell You Today

Marc is only giving all these products at the Super Softball Sale Price to 200 people.  His rules, not mine.  I know, that may sound like a lot, but I got an e-mail from Marc on Saturday letting me know that he’s more than half way through is “sale” inventory.  That’s right, over 100 people have already grabbed this packed bundle of softball peak performance goodies.  If you want to take advantage of this limited offer, Click Here before it’s gone.

The topic for today’s Focus Friday is nutrition.  I think just about everyone, including you, can make at least one (if not many) positive change in their nutritional habits.  However, sometimes it’s easier to make these changes, and stick with them, if you take baby steps.  So, for today’s Focus Friday, I want you to choose ONE change you will make to improve your nutritional habits.

Here are 10 ideas for you in case you need help thinking of something:

• limit fast food meals to just one a week (instead of one a day)
• stop drinking soda/pop (or limit your intake)
• have something healthy within 30 minutes of working out
• eat breakfast
• eat breakfast within an hour of waking up
• stop eating at least 3 hours before you go to bed
• no more deep fried foods
• eat at least one serving of fruit per day if you don’t already
• try juicing – one glass of fresh juice per day
• no more candy bars (or limit intake)

So, what ONE positive nutritional habit change will you make starting today? Leave a comment here to share!

So, not long ago, Coach Dan of BaseballStrength.com posted a video of these pushups on his blog.  I showed it to my daughter and husband and they just had to try it.  Like Coach Dan said, these are core, shoulders, and hips all in one push-up.  Nuts!

Of course, we didn’t have time until after we had done all our running around on this crazy hectic day, so the lighting isn’t the best, but here’s their first try at these crazy pushups, plus some other family fun push-up stuff.

Before this year I had no idea so many different kinds of push-ups existed.  These are one of the coolest I’ve seen (not the ones with multiple people…the ones shown with just one person in the picture).

This week’s Focus Friday is simple because it requires that you just think of ONE thing.  That’s right, we’re going to get super focused today so that you can get RESULTS.  Have you ever felt like you had so many things to do that you just didn’t know where to start.  Then because you didn’t know where to start, you just never really did anything at all.  Well, obviously, that’s not going to get you the positive changes you are looking for.

The only way to start making headway and get results sooner rather than later is to get focused!

So, my question to you is: What BIG problem will you tackle this week?

Notice the word problem is singular.  Just think of ONE thing, ONE issue that you need to and can take care of this week.  Think of one change that can make a big positive impact on your current situation.

Now, it doesn’t only have to be softball related.  Why?  Because I’ve found, that there are times when issues “off the field” affect our performance on the field.  As much as we try to keep those things separate, there are times when it’s very difficult to help.  Those “off field” issues can be as much of a distraction or challenge as your opponent in a game.  Sometimes you have to take care of a bothersome or pressing issue off the field so that you can focus better and perform with less worry and anxiety on the field.

So, what is the ONE big problem you are going to tackle this week (before next Focus Friday comes around)?

Leave a comment below and share the one obstacle/challenge/issue you WILL overcome in the next 7 days.

As I’ve mentioned before, I believe that what you focus on has a significant impact on your quality of life and on whether or not you are successful (in sports, in business, in relationships, in general).  One thing that happens often with athletes is, we get caught up focusing on our weaknesses, all the things we need to work on.  While it’s great to know what you need to work on and it’s great to dedicate time to that, you must ALSO remember what you CAN do.

Focusing too much on your weaknesses can leave you with a sense of incompetancy. You may begin to doubt your ability, maybe even your value, as a player.  This, in turn, can lead to lack of confidence and I’m sure you know what happens when your confidence level drops…so does your level of performance!

So again, while it’s great to identify and work on your weaknesses, it’s also very important to remember your strengths, what you’re good at, and what you CAN do.   Even the best in the world, whether it’s in sports, or business, or in any other area, has weaknesses.  However, these people are VERY good at accentuating their strengths and making sure they are the best at what they do well – so much so that their weaknesses are often overlooked because they are so far overpowered by their strengths.  Focus less on what you can’t do and focus a little more on what you CAN do.

For today’s Focus Friday, I want you to list 5 things you’re good at or do well.

Here are mine:

1. Enjoying the game of softball
2. Sharing what I know with others
3. Encouraging others
4. Moving past mistakes and learning from them
5. Making Strawberry Banana Smoothies

What’s your 5?  Leave a comment below and share them!

P.S. – Tom Hanson talks about Focus in his 7 Success Secrets for Baseball/Softball CD. If you haven’t picked up your complimentary copy yet (just pay $4.95 shipping), get it HERE.

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wadem/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

There’s something I want you to think about on this Monday which I’ve renamed “Motivation Monday.”

What is it that you want SOOOOO bad that you can taste it?

…and what are you willing to do to get there?????

That’s what I want to know today.  Leave a comment here and share what ONE thing you want most out of this year or this season (or even a few years from now if you have a bigger goal in mind).

• What is it that’s driving you each and every day to do what you do?
• What are you aiming for?
• What is it that you want and what are you willing to do to get it? (no cheating allowed!!!!)

Leave a comment here and share!