Headfirst Recruiting Roadmap

By Headfirst Honor Roll ● Oct 17, 2023

Smart Brevity^® count: 7.5 mins…1994 words

Welcome back!

As the fall sets in 🍂 and the school year jets off🛫, it’s time to think critically about the off-season as a period of continued development.

In this edition, we:

• Offer an exclusive-to-subscribers 1:1 virtual coaching session focused on your current recruiting status, performance metrics and video. Inform your next move in this process!
• Share a new study reinforcing the lasting impact a collegiate athletic experience can make on personal development and post-grad professional life.
• Preview an upcoming Roadmap Roundup Q&A featuring trusted Headfirst coach partners diving into the latest off-season performance training trends.

Let’s go.

The Final Stretch

📣Calling all uncommitted 2024’s!

One big thing: If you have not yet found your fit, you are not alone! Stay positive – and proactive.

• Concentrate on tangible actions that can enhance your chances of playing at the college level. Opportunities still exist, but you may have to look a bit harder to seize them.

🎫We’re offering uncommitted Seniors a free one-time process check-in and coaching session with our friend, Stan Exeter. Exclusive to Roadmap subscribers.

• Stan was a 25-year college Head Coach with an 11-year stint at Ursinus College – following his time at Arcadia & Swarthmore.
• He’ll assess your current recruiting status, performance metrics and video – and review them with you in a private 45-minute Zoom session.

The bottom line: You’ll leave your Coach Ex session with personalized insights, aimed at providing direction and purpose to these next steps towards the dream you’ve set out to accomplish.

What’s next: If you complete this form, we’ll connect you to Stan within 48 hours of your submission to schedule your 1:1 session! Parents are of course welcome to join.

A Read and Two Recs

📑The results of a paper published this month suggests that “non-academic human capital developed through athletic participation is valued in the labor market and may support the role that prior athletic achievement plays in admissions at elite colleges.”

Why it matters:

• The study compared the careers of Ivy League athletes to those of their non-athlete classmates from 1970 to 2021, examining both post-graduate education, career choices and career outcomes.
• The authors from Duke, Harvard & Georgetown found that Ivy athletes outperform their non-athlete counterparts in the labor market in terms of both earning and attainment of senior positions. The wide success of the student-athletes following graduation was tied to athletic participation – which supported their development in management, leadership, strategic planning and more.
• Student-athletes from more socioeconomically diverse sports teams and from teams that have lower academic admissions thresholds have higher career outcomes than non-athletes.

Go deeper: Read the study. And keep studying!

🚩 Meanwhile, two Senior year fall recommendations:

1.    Complete the Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as soon as it opens in December.

2.    Keep watering the bamboo – a friendly reminder if you’re gearing up to take your final SAT or ACT. 🖋: Denison’s Mike Deegan

Next-level Performance

One big thing: The accelerating role of data & analytics in sports has also impacted off-the-field performance training methods and expectations at the next level.

• We’ve asked two trusted friends to help you look, work & stay ahead.

At this summer’s Headfirst events, we offered players & families focused conversations led by subject-matter experts.

• These “Roadmap Roundups” shared relevant information about specific elements or nuances of the recruiting process, while encouraging student-athletes to think broadly about their own journey.

Stan Exeter will host a virtual Roundup for Roadmap subscribers featuring Manhattan Baseball Pitching Coach & Recruiting Coordinator, Steve Rosen.

• Steve is a rising star in the college ranks, having spent time at Georgia State, Notre Dame and University of Alabama, en route to Manhattan.
• The discussion will focus on the latest trends in off-season training at the collegiate level, coaches’ expectations of recruits and incoming players in 2023, and how to assess your own current plans and program against these standards. 💪

📺 Tune in here and unlock our exclusive webinar with Steven Rosen and Stan Exeter.

• Submit specific questions or topics for Coach Rosen and Coach Exeter here.🙋

We 💕 your feedback. Thanks for coaching us!