YouTube Deep Summary

## Welcome and how the recruitment funnel works [00:00] Here we go. Welcome, welcome everybody. Uh this is Coach Art with uh Eagle Lock. Um and uh thank you so much for our training tonight. We thank you so much for joining us. We're excited uh to be able to present to you a a very interesting training. Uh and we have done this before, but uh you know, my my my partner in crime here, uh my special guest, but we're going to be talking about navigating the recruitment funnel. And I am just so honored to welcome uh Bart Nissan who is part of uh USA recruiting. Uh he is is been um uh you know traveling around the country and the world with so many uh so many uh um gigs for and watching so many kids out there with respect to their sports and so happened to be able to get him at the right time. And so thanks everyone for joining. uh you know I am the reaction coach. So if you can do me a favor everybody out there if you can see the navigating the recruitment uh funnel slide uh presentation if you could do me a favor and give me a heart out there because if you can give me a heart then I know everything is working fine. So I'll wait for the hearts and see if the hearts come along. If you could do me a favor and do that. Yes. Okay. I see some hearts. All right. So, we're going to go ahead and get started here. First of all, I want to welcome everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. Um, what we're going to be talking about today is something that um, you know, a bit it's it is a bit specialized, but at the same time, a lot of uh, families have asked about this where they say, "Hey, you know, my son or daughter is interested in possibly playing in college and uh, we really don't have any idea about how to navigate that recruitment funnel." So, we're going to be talking about that today. We're going to talk about what's new in recruiting. Um, we're going to talk about um the keys to uh the recruiting timeline. Uh talk about keys to success and then really kind of the next steps in your recruitment journey if you're interested. Okay. So, um first of all, I'm going to do some introductions. Uh want to introduce myself. Uh I am uh Coach Art or I'm known as Coach Art. uh been uh uh I'm the head of coaching and chief product officer for Eagle. Uh been uh initially 30 years in technology uh with um a lot of Fortune 500 companies. Um but you know 20 years of my life I really spent as a sports and life coach to students and young professionals on the side as well. um because I had um and and really I've been about eight years of college admissions and financial aid experience uh and expertise and I've helped students get placed in top 20 top 50 schools all over the nation. Um but you know my my biggest claim to fame of course is my three boys. Uh my my oldest uh he graduated from UC Berkeley last year ## Why NIL matters in today's recruiting process [03:00] with a mechanical engineering degree. Uh my middle son is going and taking his nursing degree at University of Illinois in Chicago. And my youngest son is at Biola University. Um and uh he is going for his physical therapy degree but also playing college soccer which is where I met this young man who is my special guest. So I'm going to turn it over to him and have him uh just introduce himself here. Hi Art. Thank you very much for the introduction. Um always the best. Um love working with Art. um his knowledge and expertise in in in the college academic areas is second to none. Um for us, we work we work deeply with all student athletes across the country. I've been doing this for about 17 years and um one thing that we've built over the over our period of time is relationships with college coaches throughout the country. our relationships, our credibility, um everything that we're able to do, it's been able to open up doors for kids at all schools all over the country. For example, um you know, again, the Cal Berkeleys, the Ivy's, the NASCAS, uh top academic programs, and um obviously everywhere down the line, um it's really important to understand, you know, as a student athlete, um the opportunities that are in front of you. And it's a little bit different for a student athlete than it is for a student, but it does both of them do start with the word student. Okay? And that means the better you do in school, the more doors you open up, the better you do in sports, the more opportunities you also open up. And as a student athlete, you have an advantage over a regular student if you're looking to play sports in college. We work in all sports. Our as already indicated that I've met him through the soccer part. Um, and again, we um, we're going to be here today and hopefully, you know, talk about some of the things that you should be doing to give yourself a better opportunity to be successful in the college recruiting industry. Okay? It's a little bit tricky navigating this stuff. It's a little bit different than it used to be years ago and it changes. And for us, it's important to know what those changes are so that we can help guide parents, you know, as we as they go through the process. What we do is we compare ourselves to ways, a navigation system where if there's a dead end somewhere, we know how to turn and pivot to go somewhere else. And that's what we we do with our kids. And that's the advice that we have for you as um panelists or not panelists tonight um invites us tonight to our our presentation. So, thank you Art for the presentation. And Art, I'm also proud of my three kids. I got a young I got a daughter and two boys. Um my daughter went to University of Rhode Island. My son played soccer over at University of Michigan and my youngest also played um for a period of time at one of the universities in upstate New York. Anyway, proud of my guys and you know uh I have a passion for what I do. I've been doing this a long time and it's it's the greatest ## What student athletes should do by grade level [06:00] feeling in the world when kids commit to college and and I can help kids and families realize their dream. Um and that's what we at USA Recruiting do. So that's amazing. Thank you so much, Bart. Again, I'm so honored that you're here with us tonight. I know that you kind of fit us in into your busy schedule. So, so thanks a lot. And I know we had a a little bit of a late start, so we're going to get going on here. Uh so um many of you, you know, again, we're going to be talking about the recruiting process, but I did want to bring up a little bit of what's new in recruiting and and also because we have the expert here, he can kind of chime in as well, Bart, uh about, you know, certain things that are going on in recruiting, you know, just in the in in within the a year's time or so. So, first of all, a bunch of things. Um you probably heard of uh the NIL which is the name image and likeness which really allows um students to really take part in in in gaining you know financial and and also using their likeness uh to be used when it's being advertised out um uh especially because they're in the sports in in the sports arena for their school. So before uh what happened was there used to be a case where they couldn't really understand what those deals were. uh prior to signing, but uh as of um March of 2025, the NCAA has now permanently lifted that ban on being able to discuss or negotiate uh NIL name, image, and likeness deals before the athletes uh enroll or sign. So um you know thanks to that settlement with several you know the state's attorneys general I'll say this means that recruits can now enter the recruitment um stage knowing what potential NIL earnings um that they could possibly earn and that kind of improves the transparency and the fairness within that whole system. Okay. Uh secondarily as well schools can directly pay athletes. So as of literally today uh they call it direct compensation which begins today you know uh based on a court settlement uh NCA division 1 schools okay power five and opted in conferences can now pay athletes directly wow up to 20.5 million annually per school. Um and so that is something that has you know cleared the way uh today just literally today. Another thing is that there are uh for roster and scholarship limit overhauls. So there is um again what they mentioned starting today as well, schools opting into the settlement can provide unlimited scholarship but scholarships but that is subject only to a roster cap structure instead of um a prior sports specific limits. Um as well as uh designated athletes can be designated um you know certain current athletes can be designated uh who won't count against their caps. Okay. Uh so this affects how many new recruits they can take. So for ## How early is too early to contact a coach [09:00] those who possibly were hurt and um again uh they won't take up necessary roster they can be put on the side. And again I don't know Bart if there's you you know you probably know the more specifics about that. You could probably uh comment on that a little bit right. Yeah, I think that, you know, like as a whole, um, excuse me one second, my my apologies. As a whole, one thing that I would say is that as a student athlete, there's so many things to pay attention to. The most important things that I would tell a student athlete and their parents to pay attention to is do well in school, do well on at your sport, on the field, and there'll always be a place for you. I believe there's a seat for everybody. It's just you have to navigate this thing. You know, there are some schools that um with new NIL money, they've created more opportunities in certain sports like football and basketball um for student athletes. And that's where most of the money is going to go as far as NIL money. Okay? If you're playing other sports, I wouldn't really worry about it. It's going to be very minimal if if if at all. And if you're focused on that, you're focused on the wrong things. Okay? In my opinion. Okay. I think again, focus on your academics, be the best student you can, be the best athlete you can, and you'll find your way. Um, as far as scholarships go, um, because of, you know, football, which is the big money sport for most universities, okay, they're now expanding the amount of scholarships from like 85 to 110. And by doing that, they've now indic they they've now by offering that they're now taking away scholarships from other sports because schools can't afford to just put everybody on a free ride over in the school. So, as as much as it sounds like, wow, this is great. Everyone's going to get paid name and likeness. It doesn't work that way. And and I I use an example of kind of what goes on a little bit. And last year, this past year, there was a situation where um I I'm not a big fan of my son played at University of Michigan soccer and um you know, he for whatever it's worth, he received money from the University of Michigan to be an athlete. Okay. And that was good compensation. They they paid for him to go to school at the same time. Would it be great that to receive additional monies and NIL money? The answer is yes. But they take care of the kids in a certain way that he's got a great education and he comes out of that in in a in a in a great spot with a great degree from a great university. Soccer money is not going to change that much where all of a sudden people are going to start getting tremendous amounts of money. Last year there was a quarterback situation that played for UNLV. After the third game of the year, the guy was making I think in NIL money about $3.5 million. And then he after the third game they were three and 0. He went into the athletic department and he said, "Listen, I want to get $5.5 million or else I'm leaving the university." And you know what happened? They they said, "No." And and he transferred out. And that's not good ## Email templates that actually get responses [12:00] for sports. It's not good for soccer. It's not good for for continuity for student athlete. It's part of the game. We understand it. But that's where the game has gone. And there's going to be a few people within the game that really make a lot of money through NIL money. Most of the other people are not. So again, try not to get caught up in it. If he gets great quarterback, great basketball player, I understand it. But, you know, from most of the other things, don't get caught up too much in the NIL. That's just my advice. Okay, Art. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much for that, Bar. I appreciate it. I know a lot of people out there are probably confused about that. So why don't we keep on going here and um you know I'm going to go through a little bit of the recruitment timeline here and I know Bart you can chime in as well. So uh this is those who are are not familiar necessarily with how things start. Um but first of all, you know, when we're talking about and we all our parents, we've been there. You know, we start when they're wee little, you know, little tikes. And so, but really again around the middle school to freshman year. So that's, you know, sixth grade to about 9th grade. Really all the things that that this the students can be can can think about is first of all early preparation. That is again early preparation not only athletically but also academically and and just getting the skills right getting the skills up to make sure that you can you can play the game. um uh you know doing research and and really getting exposure uh to the various schools to the again to the various even sports or so out there and as um you know uh Bart has said many many times academics matter and I can't tell you enough um how we're going to keep on repeating that tonight because schools really um are they look they look more for those students that are not just great athletes but also great academics ICS that are great students and he Bart said it right is that the emphasis is you know on student athletes. Okay. And so it's really important that you know students take care of their academics at this time and throughout the time um in their you know high school career. When we get to sophomore year this is when you're honing in on skills development. Um and frankly this is where probably and and sometimes there's initial contact prior to that but you may get much more initial contact uh with respect to uh coaches or so but remember um they can't really talk to you um necessarily and Barb probably knows this more more about this but they can't really necessarily talk to you until you're a junior uh officially but you can contact them uh and you know make them aware of who you are and and what you're doing or so Um, there's always camps and there's always showcases. If there's uh parents out there, you probably know, and I know I was a soccer dad and and golf and and basketball. There's so many camps ## What to include in your highlight video [15:00] throughout the United States, throughout the world, frankly, that you could join in um or that that will give you exposure to college coaches. But then again, academic focus, we keep on going back to that is just making sure that you take care of your academics and that you get the good grades and you're take you're taking, you know, um a rigorous schedule um to prove again to the universities that you can handle the the college rigor. Okay, now we're coming into junior year. Uh again, this is when it's active recruiting. Okay, you'll see a lot of the things step up because now uh the coaches have the ability and have the right to be able to to reach out to you and to to talk with you. Uh a couple things here is, you know, we talk about is is creating a highlight reel uh with updates and I'll I'm I'm going to defer to to Bart after I finish this one. Uh you know, go to showcases and tournaments. you know, evaluate the the, you know, your fit with uh where you fit uh within the uh within um the college, you know, the college sports uh atmosphere and then even possibly, you know, again, uh as early as, you know, scholarship offers may come if they're truly truly interested. Any any more insights on that uh Bart with respect to junior because I know that's a very active time, right, for recruiting? You know, I just want to go back for for a moment. You don't have to go back with slides or anything, but no, you don't have to go back. You know, when you talk about your your middle school, I think the important thing about middle school is to try to gauge as realistically as you can. No, is my kid a strong student? You know, does he need help to become, you know, to do better in his in in his aspiration to a achieve, you know, the the ultimate, you know, get into AP classes, get into honors classes. And I think that, you know, as far as the academics part is, no, you you can see if your kids meant for those type of programs and those programs will help you once you get into into high school. Okay. Um, athletically, it's about finding those right teams. You know, when your kids young, let them have fun, let them enjoy playing sports. You know, don't put too much pressure on them. And if you feel like they love something, give them every opportunity to get better and better and better. Okay. Um um just bear with me for one second here. Um hold on one second. One of my people just missed a flight. Well, while you're doing that, Bart, so couple of things that I want to to talk about here is, you know, um couple things when you're um there's a thing, you know, an athletic profile. So you know you want to create uh and understand um your profile which includes stats you know your achievements your GPA your test scores you know relevant experience of course I mentioned a highlight reel developing a you know a video showcasing uh showcasing skills performance highlights definitely game footage um hopefully you have some type of online presence I know that for my son ## GPA and transcript tips for recruited athletes [18:00] when he was there he had created a YouTube channel and and he had all of his videos on there so that one he had a highlight uh reel. But what he could what he did do as well is that he had his his his various games, his highlights, even his training sessions so that they could see and and really uh see how if they wanted to if they had the time and they wanted to take that time to see how he was uh with respect to his performance and how he did athletically and then of course his you know academic achievements and all that. they could see that through uh his his his correspondence with them of how well of a student he's doing. Um when you know you're initiating contact uh with coaches, you want to send introductory emails um you know include a very personalized message uh your athletic resume uh of course you know link to your highlight reel and uh and why you're interested of course in the program. Um, and you know, uh, so I'm curious and I know, um, Bart, uh, what about those initial contacts with coaches? What would what I know that for you, you guys work definitely with the with the families to customize that and and or so, but what kind of key tips would you recommend when you're sending, you know, the initial contact to coaches? Well, you know, I think, you know, um um number one is you can start communicating with coaches at any point in time. For most sports, um coaches cannot start communicating with you until June 15th going into your um junior year. So, during the end at the end of your sophomore year in high school, coaches can start communicating directly with you. They could indirectly communicate with you by telling you to come to a camp or that they can't communicate with you. they're limited as far as communication goes and that's in most sports. Okay? So, I'm trying to speak in in volume. There are some sports that allow communication a little bit earlier um you know, your sophomore year, but usually it's limited until that period of time. Um but again, you as a student athlete have a right to communicate with the coach. You can text the I mean, you can write to the um Hold on one second. Yeah. So, you can write to the coach. Oops. And so when you're writing to the coach, I know that again it's it's really really important and and uh is to really maintain, you know, uh regular communication uh with interested coaches. Um and that you want to make sure that you're responding really promptly to uh to if they definitely respond to you because that's very very important to show that you're interested. uh to show that you know that you're respecting their time because a lot of times uh the big thing I know that that we had experienced with respect to um the whole recruiting process is that um you want to make sure if you want coaches to come and see you ## The truth about D1, D2, and D3 opportunities [21:00] remember they have this elaborate schedule that they that they've planned throughout the year or so. And so if you happen to have a game tomorrow or maybe even a week ahead and you just say, "Hey, I'm I'm playing here. Can you come watch me?" That's probably um sometimes if they're if they really, you know, if they have they have a very strict schedule. And so what happens is is that uh you really want to make sure that if you have games where um where you have coaches that are going to show up, you want to tell them as far ahead as possible so that they can one put you on the list uh as well on their list to can look to take a look and see and they can fit you in because again it's very it's very difficult for them to adjust because they just have such tight schedules. I'm sure Bart you're probably familiar with that, right? Yeah. And by the way, everyone, I apologize. I have one of the one of our staff people. They they're connecting flight. They missed and and I'm trying to I already had lined something else up to them just so my my apologies. Anyway, um so here here here's the thing again. You can communicate um I apologize for losing focus here, guys. Um you can communicate with coaches, okay? Coaches are looking for the best players um that fit what their schools are looking for academically. Okay. So, again, looking for high academic schools. They're looking for the best athletes that meet that academic profile as well. Okay. Communication with them, letting them know um where you're going to be playing for tournaments, letting them know what your game schedule is during a year, letting them know what teams you're playing on are important things. All those things are important. Video is a little bit different. Okay? I think too many people put bad video out there and it takes them off the map. College coaches, okay? And you get one shot to do that right. And if you do it, you have more shots to do it right, but if you do it wrong, you're done. Okay? And I say that to you. Um, we have five video people that work for us. I can tell you what goes on. Um, in all sports, and I can tell you that there are more people that do the wrong things and take themselves off the map. It's calling a coach the wrong name when you send an email. It's sending an email to dear coaches as opposed to specific information about a coach. It's about your subject line not providing enough information. Okay? Like maybe if you have a 4.0 GPA, providing your your GPA, providing what position you play, um providing your jersey number, providing your team name, all those things are important for a college coach to see. So, if I'm working with a student athlete that's 6 foot five and and or or 6'8 and he's a basketball player, I'm putting in six foot eight right away. or a coach says, "Wow, there's a kid. Let's take a look at this kid." If he's got a 4.0, 4.0. If it's an ACT score, you know, of a 33 or 34 or 35, I'm putting them in. If it's an ACT score of an 18, I'm not putting it in. If it's a kid that's 5'8, I'm not putting it in. You ## Building a personal connection with your top programs [24:00] know, what we do is you need to learn how to market your son or daughter to their strengths. Okay? And and those little things are very, very important because too many people are taking their kids off the map. They're putting YouTube channels like you suggested art before. They're putting YouTube channels with everything they do. Well, guess what? There's not one kid out there that's a perfect athlete. Okay? It doesn't matter what it is. And the more stuff you put out there, the more imperfection you put out there. So, to me, less is more. Okay? I'm not a big fan of people having all these channels and putting 20 videos out and all their games out there because all it takes is one coach to press the wrong game and all of a sudden you're done. And again, you don't want to do that. So have the experts, people that understand what that's about, looking at that stuff to guide you. So when you do put stuff out there and stuff that coaches go, "Wow, who is this kid? I want to see him." And then you get yourself in front of that coach. That's what you want. Video is a tease. Video is is just used so you can make sure you get a coach excited enough that he can he or she can come and watch you play, okay? Or your son or daughter play. And that's that's my suggestions to those things. Okay? Get it get out on the field, let them see you play. But again, that's what these things are for. Again, make sure coach's name, the school's name spelled the right way. If you're writing to a John's Hopkins, it's not John Hopkins, okay? It's John's Hopkins. Those things are very, very important because these coaches are looking, they're getting a million emails from kids that have a template that they put together that's the same thing for everyone. and they go, "Dear coaches, you know me, I'm not a big fan of writing multiple coaches in an email. If you're writing two coaches from the same school, you know, our what what I believe in and what my company is all about is, hey, if we're going to write coach A and coach B, hey, we're going to write two different emails to both of them." More in that case is better. Personalize things. Make sure the coaches know that you're just not a copy and paste guy because you know what? when they're sharing emails or when the the assistant coach is looking at the email you sent to the head coach and the assistant and they're exactly the same. They know that you're doing that everywhere. Yep. So, absolutely, you know, really really important. Okay. And junior year is, you know, between sophomore and junior year is a great opportunity to get out on fields no matter what sport you're in and let the coaches see you. find out, figure out um which schools you think would be interested in your kid to play sports. Focus on those type of schools. Be realistic as best as you can. As parents, we always want the best for our kid. Don't get caught up in names. Don't get caught up in schools that are close to your home. These are all suggestions to help you be successful as you go through the recruiting process. It's not a rule. It's a suggestion. there strong suggestions from experience from placing almost 8,000 kids in college in 17 years. So when we look at those things, ## What happens after a visit or verbal offer [27:00] we look at, you know, what are the pitfalls in college recruiting? You know, getting stuck in names. I mean, everyone wants to have that big sweatshirt that says Duke or North Carolina or Michigan or UCLA or whatever school it might be, but there's great schools out there and great things, my parents taught me, great things sometimes come in little packages. So again, whether they be educational, you know, maybe like, you know, like, you know, like a Williams or Bowden or University of Chicago, you know, or, you know, just because they're D3 schools don't mean they're not fantastic schools where your kids are going to be successful for the rest of their lives. Okay. So again, you know, that's just some suggestions that I would make to everyone that's on that's here watching us talk tonight. Thank you. Thank you so much for that, Bart. Gosh, that's I mean, wealth of information. I'm telling you guys, we got the we got the goat here, the expert. Um, just to kind of wrap it up, wrap, you know, just for the timeline here, senior year, of course, it's finalized recruiting, you know, official visits to the campuses normally is allowed in senior year for most sports. You know, you continue conversations with the coach to assess your mutual interest. You have signing periods where, you know, you're signing uh, you know, the letters during appropriate signing periods, an offer of a scholarship. uh you have final eligibility steps. You know, you have to complete with the NCAA or the NIA eligibility requirements and really and submit your necessary transcripts. And then of course transition where you engage in pre-ol training, uh maintain communication with your future coach and your teammates. All of that is really really exciting during your senior year because again you're you're finally all of the hard work that you have is culminating uh to this point, right? So important considerations and I know that we're coming out of time but we're going to we're going to be here so hopefully uh Bart you you got some time here too as well. Yeah. I just want to add I just want to add one thing in there. Sure. Sure. Of course. There's a statistic out there and and I find it to be true. 80% of student athletes don't commit to college until after May 1 of their senior year. [Music] That's that's a really good that's okay. And if that throws you off for a loot, let me explain it. Okay. You don't have to commit to college until May 1st. Every kid's or almost every kid's applying to multiple schools. They're waiting to see which one they get in. And if they get in, they have two offers from two schools. They might take one of them and not the other. And they're waiting and waiting and waiting. And some of them don't know until May 1st. And a lot of athletes aren't committed because they don't even know where they're going to go come May 1st because they're still in their spring seasons looking for opportunities to play places. The coaches haven't made their mind up. It's a it's a it's like recruiting is a process. Um applying to school is different. you know, when you're working with art and and his ## Transfer portal changes and how they affect new recruits [30:00] focus on education, his job is to, you know, you know, I'm not gonna say what his job is, but he's gonna be there. He's going to be there to assist you and help you get into the college colleges that you aspire to play it to go to. Our job is on the on the sports end to help you connect the sports with that college. you know, if if Art and you know, in his business does his job, he's going to prepare you so that you get into, you know, whatever those schools are that you're looking for. From an athletic standpoint, it doesn't mean all those schools are going to want you as as as a player for their university. So, our job is to continue to work while they try to figure out who they're going to add to their rosters. Okay? And it's, you know, there's an academic part, there's an athletic part, and there's a combination over here. And it's tricky. And that's why 80% of student athletes don't commit till between May 1st and July 31st of their senior year. There you go. Thank you so much. That gosh, again, another golden nugget there. Um, so when we're thinking about uh important considerations first of all and and uh Bart had had mentioned this already, each sport has specific rules and dates for contact periods, evaluation periods, you know, dead periods or so. So be, you know, it's really important that for your specific sport, you're aware of those. be aware of of these calendars to really maximize opportunities for exposure and communication. Um, for some sports like even like football and basketball, recruiting may start even earlier, okay, due to the high level of competition. Uh student athletes should really actively drive the process um by reaching out to coaches, attending events, staying organized um and always prioritize again we always say this academics because that is essential for eligibility you know and long-term success. Now when you're looking at the the kind of the mind shift okay uh that makes this this mind shift of yours really makes all the difference because if we talk about like for example one one mind shift or one thought of is you know if I'm good enough they'll find me. Well actually not it's really I need to get in front of them. Okay so because many athletes assume that talent alone will attract recruiters and that's not that's not true. In reality, even top athletes must proactively market themselves to coaches through emails, the videos, uh, you know, camps, showcase participation. And I know that I know that Bart is definitely agreeing with that because again, you could be the best person, but if you don't mark yourself right, they're not going to see you. Okay? They have so many people they got to see u, and so many uh, you know, individuals that they're trying to they're trying to attract. Another one is, I want to play D1. Well, no, no. I want to pick uh I want to find the best fit. And coach and and and Bart definitely mentioned that, you know, D1 uh the D1 dream is common but often limiting because, you know, success can come with athletes expanding ## Final reminders for staying consistent, prepared, and confident [33:00] their view to include D2, D3, NIA, and JO options, uh which is the, you know, junior college route where they might thrive academically and athletically and personally. And you know with the whole transfer system they could do really well in the lower and then move up. Okay. So there's that's another option. And then lastly a mindset of you know recruiting is about performance. And really no recruiting is about visibility and fit. And you know a great stat line isn't really enough. Okay. Coaches also look for attitude. They look for coachability and how you're going to impact the the team culture. Character is really often often closes the deal. And I'm going to turn that over to Barb because I'm sure he has a lot of comments on this, but do you agree, Bart, on on what I'm talking here? Yeah, 100%. I think that, you know, those are reasons why people aren't successful. Stay open-minded in your recruiting process. I I think it's really important that addresses the second thing here. Get in front of the coaches. Let them see, you know, let them see you. It's not who you know, like, you know, it's not like I know that school and this school and that school and this school. Make sure the coaches know you and make sure they want you. Let them know that you want to play there. Get in front of them. Go watch them play. You know, let them know that you're coming to watch them play. And then, um, you know, again, there are a lot of factors involved. You know, um, sportsmanship, you know, you know, the families, where you live, where you're from, you know, the type of school you go to, you know, again, student athletes that are pushing themselves, like if you want to go to a school like MIT, they're not looking for a good student. They're looking for kids that can change the world. Okay. So, when we talk about changing the world, they're looking for kids that if they offer algebra 1 2 3 4 and five, and you're not taking 1 2 3 4 and 5 in high school, they don't want you at MIT. Okay? They want you to strive to be the best in everything that you do. And that's what they look for. Okay? So, um again, you know, understanding um that it, you know, again, you have to go out there. This isn't something you should be stressed about. It's just something that you should understand. Okay? And I think understanding it and stressing are two different things. There's a lot of anxiety because for most of you, assuming that you're all parents that are watching this right now, um for most of you, the most important thing is your kids in your life, which is what it should be. So, you want the best for your kids. And that's why you're sitting here speaking with us and listening to Coach Art and and and Coach Bart. Um we rhyme, by the way, Art and Bart. and uh and and and and frankly, you're you're sitting here because you are here probably because you want to give your kid every opportunity to be successful in life. Okay, I get it. I'm a parent. Art gets it. He's a parent. You guys get it. You guys are parents. And for some of you going through this the first time. So again, these are some great suggestions, some pitfalls to to pay attention to. Um you know, don't ever think your kid's good enough. Just keep keep working to be the best you can. I always told my kids when they grew when I raised them, I said, "Guys, you be the best that you can be. If you're not an A+ student, you're not an A+ student. If you're a B+ student, that's what you are. As long as you give 100% effort." And I leave you with this comment like, and I'm not leaving this this setting right now as a panelist, but I go hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. In everything we do, we believe in hard work. in everything you should be the message you should send to your kids is work hard and you will be successful in everything you do. Okay, again hard work beats talent. I love it. I love it. Um amazing. I mean again amazing words. Um a couple of you know strategic tips here really quickly. We're almost done here. I know that we're past time but uh we will leave some time for for uh for questions as well. So, please uh hopefully you can stay on uh if you can give me if you got can you guys give me give us like maybe 10 more minutes if you can please give me a heart reaction because we got um again we got the goat here that that has so much information for us. Um so thank you. Okay, thank you so much. That'd be great. So really again strategy-wise you know build a target list of schools based on fit not just brand. Okay, so you want to create that list of schools, you know, in tiers and think about location, academics, you know, their playing style, their roster needs, you know, potential scholarships, you know, most overlook athletes only chase about five to 10 name brands programs when again it's really more important about fit and because again, you may be a college athlete, but if something happens where you're no longer a college athlete, are you going to be happy being at that school because it, you know, it doesn't necessarily fit you. So, it's really important again build your target list on on fit, not just brand. Um, you know, personalize your outreach. And again, coach, I mean, coach Bart, he talked about it. You know, coaches can definitely spot a generic email instantly. So, you you got to definitely personalize your your message and all of the amazing um, you know, advice that uh, Coach Bart uh, provided to us as well. And, you know, your video, you got to optimize it. Again, Coach Bart talked about, you know, it's it's really you want to make sure that your videos are, you know, in the best quality uh in shape that they can be. Um because it it really is the case, you know, how they say um you can you only have one time to make the best and or first impression. Well, that's very true with a video as well is that you want to make the best impression with the quality videos. And you know, make sure you're tracking your communications, you know, um, and and make sure that you have a spreadsheet, you're and you're making sure that again, uh, you track the coaches that you contacted and the replies and the follow-up dates. And, you know, you got to treat this like it's a job hunt. It's your, you know, and your first real campaign. And you, you want to take this seriously. You don't want to let emails go without being um, you know, answered to or answered in professionally. Okay. Now, here are some again what no one tells you, but you need to know. Okay? Coaches recruit based on gaps in their roster, not just talent. Okay? Uh, a school might not need another point guard or outside hitter, no matter how talented you are, because, you know, they always research a team's current depth chart and find out what their kind of the commitments are. But they'll also look for talent, but not they'll also need g, you know, to try to fill the gaps. Um, remember you're being watched off the field as well. And what I mean by that again is coaches are following, you know, they're looking at your by line. They're looking at how you interact with your parents or at games and and your fellow teammates. You got to be consistent. You got to be mature. You got to be authentic, you know, online and in real life. Um, recruiters does a recruit a recruited doesn't mean offered. Okay? Just because you're talking with a coach, it doesn't mean you're guaranteed a spot. Okay? Real recruiting begins when there's clear communication about an offer, about roster spots, about visits. So, don't assume, you know, ask direct questions. Your junior year is critical because, but your sophomore year is a setup. So, coaches, you know, they start tracking early. If you wait until, you know, junior year to get serious, um, you know, you may be behind, but again, start building your brand, outreach plans, you know, around, as we mentioned, 10th grade. And admissions still matter. And and and you know, coach Bart definitely mentioned this, okay? Uh a coach may love you, but if you are not academically admissible, it's done. It's over. That's it. They don't want to have a student that is that is not good in, you know, good doesn't have good grades or is going to struggle in class because if that's the case and they become, you know, academically ineligible, you're not playing. uh as well as um you know they want to be able to see is that if you are really good academically you might be able to get even academic scholarships on top of you know um athletic scholarships. So that's that's another thing right okay so really if I can I'd like to add something in Sure please. Um the culture in in college sports has changed a lot. It it's um I don't really love it. It's I got to deal with it all the time. It's just part of what goes on. Um yeah, there's the transfer portal. Okay. And yeah, um you know, when we look at the transfer portal, kids that aren't playing for the most part always looking to leave and go somewhere else. Kids that are um at a school where it's maybe not a as strong a school as they would hope to play in like it's not that big name school that do well, they're looking to transfer. So, what in our business where I am and what we see on a day-to-day basis is we see opportunities for student athletes all the time. Kids that work with us, we pay attention. We speak to every coach in the country. We know what's going on. We know when they're losing players, we know when they're gaining players. We know when guys are transferring to them from them. And what happens is because of that as as Art alluded to in one of the slide um topics over there, it said that we look for what schools are looking for in a position. So for example, if it's a point guard, if it's a um a goalkeeper in soccer, or if it's a kicker in football. Um um just one more sec. Yeah, you know, that's that's where we give one second. Um, what happens is it's important to know that so that you don't start chasing everything where there are dead ends everywhere you go. And there are a lot of dead ends there. I'll give you an example. Um, for example, if you're a soccer person and you're looking to play soccer at Notre Dame University and you're in the graduation year of 2026, they have a lot of camps coming up, but they're done recruiting for 2026. Okay? So, if you have a a soccer player that's interested in playing men's soccer over there and you're going to go to their ID camps, you're probably not walking away with a good, you know, thing at the end of the day. That's all. Okay, that's it. Yeah. You know. Yeah. Thanks. That's ex That's again great great advice really. Just our our last, you know, kind of what are kind of some key things. First of all, at the top of the list, we always say excel academically. That's just a given. You have to do well academically. develop those athletic skills, you know, understand uh the recruiting rules. That's so important. That's where, you know, again, a a valued partner like USA recruiting can help because they're familiar with the recruiting rules. Create an impressive athletic profile. Research and target, you know, the right programs that are right for you, not just brands, but right for you. You know, proactively communicate with coaches. Attend camp showcases and tournaments. utilize your high school and your and your club coaches, you know, to help you as well because they're they're they can be a key resource as well. Always demonstrate character and leadership because that's what, you know, the coaches are looking for. Not just a great athlete, but someone that has great character and leadership and can be an example um for their fellow teammates and for the school, frankly. And lastly, stay persistent and resilient. This is this is not a sprint. This is a a marathon of of sorts in which you have to invest the time uh like I said like a job hunt in which you are constantly communicating, staying on top of communication, staying on top of all the deliverables, making sure you're doing the right thing academically, um activities wise, you know, making sure you do the right thing with respect to your your college applications as well. Okay, so that all fits within what we what we provide. And then of course on the sports side from what um coach Bart uh also provides. So with that said um you know we we want to open it up for questions just really quickly. But you know if a couple two things if you um you you know me uh we've been doing this for so long. If you are looking for a free 15-minute assessment for college admissions, uh please um you know, type the word book B at 9497758 uh65. Uh or if you're looking for con college recruiting consultation with again, Coach Bart here, uh bartusaarecruiting.com 631-388-2350. Okay. So, with that said, I'm going to open this up if you have any questions. And again, I know that there was so much information here um that we we kind of poured on you. You might be overwhelmed, but does anybody have any questions? I know that we have a lot of our participants tonight and thank you so much for joining us. We're just so appreciative that you're here. Does anybody have any questions at all? I wonder if they're shy here. Uh, Coach Bart, any anybody have any questions? Okay, maybe it's because we've gone a little bit long. So, no, if anyone has any questions, you know, contact Art directly or contact me directly. Um, know we're here to we're here to answer your questions whether they be, you know, on this, you know, at this presentation tonight or whether you'd like to do that privately, that's fine. Absolutely. Absolutely. So again, if you are interested in a 15-minute assessment for a college admissions advisor, which we know is our expertise at Eagle, uh, type the word book, B at 949775865. And if you're looking for college recruiting consultation with, uh, Bart Nason here, uh, Bartus Recruitering.com 631-388-2350. So with that said, I first of all want to thank my special guest uh Bart Nason who is again a wealth of knowledge. I always love it when he comes along and and and does these uh presentations because again I learn something every single time that uh he's he's here. Um secondarily as well, thank you so much uh for for attending. I know that, you know, with all your busy schedules, you can uh go out with your friends, your family, or do something really interesting, but you choose to be with us, and that we're we're so very grateful for that. So, thank you so much for joining um our training tonight. And uh I'm here every Tuesday at 6 p.m. doing training. So, again, join us next time and uh good luck uh especially if you have uh daughters and sons that are interested in college sports and college uh recruiting. So, have a wonderful evening and we'll talk to you later. Thanks a lot everyone. Have a wonderful wonderful. Thank you Bard. Appreciate it. Have a good one. Bye-bye.