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:

• Suggest tips for evaluating your current skillset in relation to your goals. Effectively map a progression towards them!
• 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.

Off-season Magic

One big thing: Fall realities can spur off-season magic🌟.

Think back↩️: In our first 2023 Roadmap edition, we shared a Finding Your Fit tool to help you assess key information about school & program types.

Go deeper: One element of this assessment is a consideration of the level of athletic play to which you aspire. After a packed summer of baseball activity, you’ve reached an inflection point. There will be plenty!

• “How am I stacking up as a player to the target programs on which I’ve set my sights?”

🔍It’s time for a candid evaluation of your skillset in relation to your goals, so you can effectively map a plan to progress toward them. Some tips:

• Assess yourself honestly: Identify your strengths and challenges from this past summer. What sets you apart, and where can you clearly improve?
• Seek objective feedback: Contact a trusted coach* for objective feedback on your current level of play and projectability. Ask how you compare to recruits and players at the level you desire.
• Catch a glimpse: Make time to catch a college practice in-person or check out a live stream of a program you’re targeting to asses their physicality and caliber of play. How do you think you stack up?
• Reset goals and expectations: It’s ok if what you originally set out to accomplish has shifted now that you’re more informed. Allowing yourself to mature throughout this process will enable you to better find your fit.
• Improve your game strategically: Use your honest evaluation of where you stand to inform the work you’ll put in on specific areas of your game this off-season.

🎫ISO an objective assessment? We’re offering subscribers a free assessment of where you stand and recommendations for focus this off-season with our friend, Stan Exeter.

• 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 Sophomore year fall recommendations:

1.    Meet with your academic advisor and ask how the classes you’re taking (or considering) align to potential college requirements and aspirations.

2.    Keep an eye on the SAT/ACT testing days – and remember our partners at Compass Education are a great resource to support your prep.

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. 💪

📺 Stay Tuned: This Roundup will be shared exclusively via video link with Roadmap subscribers at the end of October!

• Submit specific questions or topics for Steve and Stan here.🙋

We 💕 your feedback. Thanks for coaching us!