As spring seasons get rolling and the second semester of junior year intensifies, we recommend focus on those dueling priorities while also thinking and acting strategically about your critical summer ahead.
In this edition, we introduce:
One calendar tool to help you optimize June, July & August.
An insider guide to AP testing strategy for juniors.
Our friends from Antifragile Athlete Academy, ready to help you achieve wellness and optimal performance as you navigate the inevitable peaks and valleys inherent to this game and recruiting process.
🚩If you missed our first Compass Education webinar (SAT vs. ACT), we’ve got you covered with an exclusive recording below.
Your summer, optimized
📑Roadmap Resource: We’ve created a calendar template to guide Roadmap community members in building the optimal summer recruiting schedule – including a couple tips to guide your planning based on your grad year.
Why it matters:
Intentionality and proactivity in building of your summer calendar is critical to your productivity and performance when it matters most this summer.
There’s a lot to balance – and with high school seasons underway and travel ball crowding your summer calendar, YOUR personal recruiting priorities can easily slip through the cracks. You can be a great teammate while still prioritizing your journey and preparation.
Peak performance requires periods of intense effort – followed by periods of recovery. Without recovery built intentionally into your calendar, the efforts and results will be unsustainable, and you will not be at your best for teammates, coaches, loved ones and yourself.
👨🎓Student-Athlete Action: Map out your optimal summer recruiting schedule with our template summer calendar. We recommend using this tool on desktop.
Your next move: go to “File” and “Make a copy” to add this calendar to your Google drive to edit and save as your own!
No Google drive account? No fear! You can print it out or “Download” as a PDF or Excel.
Consider our recommended “To Do’s”, prioritize opportunities best aligned to your goals and make intentional decisions with your peak performance (at key times) in mind.
🚩Headfirst Heads-Up: You’ve heard that a highlight and skills video is an important way to get your name and game in front of your top college coaches. We’ll dive deeper into strategic use of video in our next edition. In the meantime, be sure to capture a range of game and practice clips to build your library!
Everything AP All at Once
One big thing: The use of Advanced Placement (AP) scores in college admissions is evolving. With the exams less than 8 weeks away, it’s time to nail down your strategy.
Why it matters: More top colleges now review AP scores in the admissions process, and a majority of them use them for placement and/or credit. Timely and targeted preparation in spring of junior year can pay off long term.
Prep smarter:
More students are starting to take AP tests before senior year and colleges report varying policies for their use in considering applicants. (1.5 minute read & cataloged policies from 150 top schools)
10% discount off all group class offerings (AP Courses & June SAT/ACT) with code: HEADFIRST. Don’t let the registration deadlines pass you by (3/31 and 3/24 respectively)!
Keep track of your accruing exclusive Compass offers across all of our Roadmap editions here.
🚩Did you miss our March 9th expert-led webinar for student-athletes & parents focused on the SAT vs. ACT? Dulcie Head and Torsten Sannar led an incredible webinar, dishing insider insight into key differences between the tests and how to choose the best one for you. Here’s the exclusive recording for Roadmap subscribers.
Close the gap
One big thing: You can close the gap between your potential and your performance by developing tools that will help you feel better, thrive in high-pressure environments and perform optimally.
To enrich the wellness & performance cornerstone of the Roadmap, we’ve partnered with The Antifragile Athlete. “TAA” was founded by Dr. Adam Wright (Director of Mental Performance, Washington Nationals) and Dr. Nick Holton (well-being and performance coach for professional and NCAA athletes).
The important spring and summer ahead can feel overwhelming as you work to balance long-term goals with countless day-to-day priorities (and distractions) competing for your attention and energy.
Yes, but: With proper attention and development, you can resist feelings of overwhelm and learn to manage these competing priorities.
🧠TAA created a workbook for Roadmap subscribers. Below, Dr. Holton guides you through three science-backed exercises featured in this resource – leading you to visualize, develop and execute upon your goals. (2 minute video)
Dive deeper:
🎞️TAA’s What to Watch: Learn more about visualization with Dr. Emily Balcetis. (1.5 hour video with timestamps)
📖TAA’s What to Read: Go from overwhelm to execution by practicing a strategy called “time-boxing”. (4 minute read)
📅Stay tuned for a Roadmap webinar in late May to continue conversations around performance with The Antifragile Athlete!
Play with joy this season. In the words of our friend, Coach Deegan (Denison Baseball, Head Coach), “Win the day.”
We strongly recommend you attend college baseball games live or watch them online this spring! Below are a couple of links to help see who is playing each day:
