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Between work with all our athletes (over 130 now) and
getting my youngest son off to college, it has been a whirlwind summer. The term "empty nester" has now entered my wife and my vocabulary. Have to say I am not a big fan. Loved the hustle and bustle of the kids in and out, high school sports, the drama and stories of the teenage life, and just having them around to watch and talk about sports with. It's way too quiet! Enjoy the high school years with your kids while you have the chance, they go by way too fast!
So now that I am an "empty nester", many people have asked me what am I going to do with my time? My time? I have never been busier and never been happier. I would like to share with you the testimonial I received last week from the mother of our most recently committed now college athlete - it helps explain why I do what I do.
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Steve,
Thank you for all your guidance and help in assisting my son find his way on to a college campus with a ball in his hand a scholarship in his bank account!!
Your attention to detail and your true desire to help him made the world of difference in his life. While Zayn is a smart, strong, quite young man who is silently confident your guidance and coaching helped him to openly and willingly be confident to speak highly of himself, sell himself, and take ownership of his achievements. These are enhanced skills he will take with him throughout the rest of his life.
Your willingness to meet him near his school and job and accommodate his very busy schedule was appreciated. Also your efforts of continuing to check in and make sure he was on track was one of the keys to his success.
Zayn achieved his dream of transferring to a university that would afford him the academic excellence he demanded as well as be a part of a system were he could be a key contributor.
I have to also thank you for all the talks you had with me and your prompt communication throughout the whole process. I was often unsettled and concerned about his future and you never gave off a negative or discouraging message.
Your faith in Zayn and his abilities academically and athletically will never be taken for granted or forgotten.
I am envious of your position to help families and student athletes achieve their dreams because I know there is a demand for this. I am now your advocate! I will do anything I can to help you if you ever need it... and will recommend you to everyone I know going through "the process".
Wishing you continued success,
Susan Kirkendoll
***************
I do what I do because I love it. Getting letters like this is what motivates me to spend roughly 30 hours on each athlete to ensure that the best college fit will be found. It has been said that if you find a career that you love doing then you can't call it "work". I agree!
Thank you again for all your support and referrals. I wish you all a great school year!
Steve
Steve Britschgi
President
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What We Do
Advocates for Athletes (A4A) is a local, hands-on consulting and coaching business created to help educate and guide student athletes and their families through the college recruiting process, with the ultimate goal of obtaining a college athletic scholarship and/or admittance to a school of their choice because of their sport.
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Who We are Talking To:
Below is a partial list of the colleges that our athletes are either attending, committed to or are speaking with:
Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Brown, University of Penn, Bucknell, Columbia, Georgetown, Fordham, Colgate ,Duke, U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, Wake Forest, U Conn, Notre Dame, Stanford, UCLA, USC, CAL, Arizona, Arizona State, LMU, Santa Clara, University of Washington, Washington State, University of Oregon, Oregon State, University of Portland, Portland State, USF, USD, UOP, Davis, Gonzaga, University of Denver, University of Nevada-Reno, Sacramento State, San Jose State, Fresno State, UCSB, Cal Poly, San Diego State, LSU, Clemson, Auburn, Ole Miss, BYU, TCU, University of Utah, Saint Mary's, Montana, Montana State, Boise State, University of Hawaii, Colorado State, Northern Arizona, American University, Elon, University of Florida, University of Alabama, Rutgers, Tulane, Providence, Duquesne, Rice, UC Irvine, Eastern Washington, Cal State East Bay, Cal State Bakersfield, Southern Utah, Stony Brook, University of Massachusetts (Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell), Sonoma State, Chico State, Cal Poly Pomona, UCSD, Humboldt State, Cal State Monterey Bay, Chaminade, Hawaii Pacific, Seattle Pacific, Dominican, Colorado Mesa University, Western States College, Grand Canyon, Dixie State, Colorado State-Pueblo, Central Washington University, Northwest Nazarene, University of Puget Sound, Tufts, Williams, Amherst, Bates, NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Kenyon, Haverford, MIT, Hamilton, Middlebury, University of Chicago, Springfield, Clark, Swarthmore, Colby, Vassar, Trinity (Connecticut and Texas), Brandeis, Smith, Lesley, Claremont Mudd Scripps, Pomona Pitzer, Occidental, Redlands, Whittier, Willamette, Western Oregon, Menlo College, Washington and Lee, UC Santa Cruz, Lewis & Clark, Westmont, Carroll College, Azusa Pacific, Point Loma Nazarene.
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From the Desk of Michael Perez; Qwerty Education Services
We Never Saw That in Class: Familiarity vs. Mastery"
At the start of a new school year, we like to remind students that the demands placed on them in the new year will probably be greater than the ones they faced in the last year. That means teachers will increasingly expect students to be able to make connections in the material that is studied, sometimes even when it hasn't been explicitly covered in class. Here's a useful bit of information for students that feel like their teacher has asked them things on a test or quiz that they have "never seen before."
Often times, your teacher is trying to assess whether you have really mastered a subject. This may mean asking you to answer a question that requires you to take what you know and extend it to a situation that is different than what you've seen in your homework. Students that find these situations difficult often remark that, "we never saw this in our homework" and, they are right, but that doesn't mean your teacher won't ask you to do it anyway. The trick to dealing with this situation is to honestly and regularly ask yourself whether you have truly mastered a concept, or have you just familiarized yourself with it. These things are not the same. When we ask a student to show us that he knows something, we make him prove to us that he can actually do work associated with the concept. Students often confuse having "done problems like that" with being able to do those problems, right here, right now. It's great that a student can do a particular problem in a section of a book, but that doesn't mean the concept is mastered. How do you know when a concept is mastered? One measure is when you recognize that there are patterns in problems. When you see a problem and can say, "that reminds me of the other problem we did," even though the new problem is different, you are on your way to mastery.
Michael Perez, M.S. is Center Director for QWERTY Education Services in Menlo Park: http://www.qwertyed.com
(This post originally appeared on the QWERTY Education Services blog: http://www.qwertyed.com/ive-never-seen)
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Interesting News From the NCAA
Academic Philosophy of DII vs DIII
Division II's academic philosophy calls for a comprehensive program of learning and development in a personal setting. Division II provides growth opportunities through academic achievement, learning in high-level athletics competition and development of societal attitudes in service to community. The balance and integration of these different areas of learning opportunity provide Division II student-athletes with a path to graduation while also cultivating a variety of skills and knowledge for life ahead.
Academics are the primary focus for Division III student-athletes. The division minimizes the conflicts between athletics and academics and keeps student-athletes on a path to graduation through shorter practice and playing seasons, the number of contests, no red-shirting and regional competition that reduces time away from academic studies. Student-athletes are integrated on campus and treated like all other members of the general student-body, keeping them focused on being a student first.
Division III is engaged in division-wide discussions about implementing an Academic Success Rate in the near future. The NCAA has collected and reported graduation rates since 1991 for all students (using the six-year federal methodology) and for all student-athletes receiving athletically related financial aid.
While Division III students have been included in this process, a separate report on student-athletes in Division III has been absent because the division does not award athletics grants-in-aid. While many Division III institutions and conferences have tracked the academic success of their student-athletes, they have used a variety of criteria (for example, graduation, grade-point average, class rank).
However, Division III recently completed a two-year pilot academic-reporting program that produced data from a representative sample showing that student-athletes graduate at higher rates than those of their student-body peers. Division III members will decide soon whether a division-wide academic reporting structure that produces an annual Academic Success Rate is appropriate
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Recruiting Question
of The Month
When is it too late for DI recruiting?
Good question, tough to answer! Why? Because you have to keep in mind that recruiting timelines differ for every college program and every sport. However it is typical that most D1 coaches as a general rule will have offers on the table during junior year and wrapped up by the end of summer entering senior year. It is a domino affect from that point on with DII finishing next and so on.
So, if you are a senior and determined on playing DI, it's time to start worrying and at the very least time to start working the process....hard!
There have been more early commitments this year than ever before that's why it's never too early to start.
Remember, you need to be proactive and build relationships with coaches at schools that are the right fit for you. And - many experts have pointed out that the majority of recruits separate themselves from their recruiting competition during the freshmen and sophomore years.
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Testimonials
Dear Steve,
I am so grateful to you for giving our daughter Rachel the confidence to go after UCLA. She is going down for orientation this week and she is still thrilled with her choice. This last weekend at a swim competition, it was fun to share with another swim parent the value you added to the college search experience. Without your assistance, I don't believe we would have found the complete match in both school and team.
Thank you again,
Alicia Owen,
Mother of Rachel-committed to UCLA, for the fall of 2013
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Steve:
Conner and I wanted to send you our hearty thank you's for all your help with Conner's college application/positioning, and more importantly, for the enormous role you played in the successful results he had in his process! As you know, he used this process to finalize his choice (he got into his first two; and decided not to apply to any more, with glee), to finalize the size/division of school to go to, to develop relationships with coaches at several division levels, and to narrow down his search to the school that really hit him in all the right places.
The steps you helped him through, as well as your personal involvement, were spot on. Conner may be one of the more stubborn humans on the planet, but he followed through really well on this. He succeeded in the early application process in getting great coach support (along with good grades and exceptional SAT's), and being completely done with the madness of college admissions at about the same time most of his friends were just starting with the frenzy. He is extremely excited about both school and baseball at Lewis & Clark. We recommend anyone thinking about college and athletics, at D1, D2, or D3 levels, to talk with you as we have an extremely high level of trust in you and in the process you took Conner through. It helped in a broader way than just the nightmare of the college application process, and as a parent I have huge appreciation for that.
All the best-I am happy to talk to any perspective clients about the good work you do.
Best, Bob
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"A4A was a godsend to our Student Athlete. Steve provided invaluable guidance on the recruiting process, advice throughout and the all-important ongoing check-ins with our son. We had no idea how long and how difficult the journey of getting recruited to a Division 1 football program would be. Steve and A4A helped us objectively evaluate our son's potential and match his goals to achievable results.
You definitely need an "Advocate" in your corner during the recruiting process - and they don't get any better than Steve and A4A. We can't thank you enough for being there for us day or night, and making it all happen. The end result of all of the hard work is that our son, Shane, committed to play Defensive End at the United States Naval Academy. We are all very happy with this result and highly recommend A4A!"
Steve and Tammy Artim
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"We wanted to take the time and let all of you know how grateful we are to have spent the past year working with A4A.
Steve, never would I have imagined that a word, "Process" would ring so true in regard to helping our daughter navigate the NCAA/Academic institutions.
As a result of A4A's extensive knowledge, patience and understanding, our daughter Lilly will be attending and swimming at a division one school in the fall of 2013!
Your knowledge and guidance created a low stress, less worry atmosphere in our household thus allowing our family to enjoy the college journey. The consistent support and advice you provided to our daughter along the way has made her more confident and smart about her choices. The experience has taught all of us that patience, persistence and following the "Process" pays off in the end.
Thank you for believing in our daughter and for providing such a valuable and knowledgeable service."
All the very best,
Robin and John Nelson
Redwood City, Ca
Parents of Lilly, Duquesne University, Fall of 2013
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"Navigating the student athlete college recruiting path can be a daunting and confusing process. We were fortunate to have A4A's services to help with this process for our daughter who plays soccer. Steve was very professional and extremely flexible in working one-on-one directly with our daughter, while keeping us abreast of current activities. Steve was also extremely helpful in the final stages of discussions and negotiations with the top schools on our list. The process was ultimately successful in that we had several options available for our daughter to play soccer in college at both the Division I and Division II level. I would recommend A4A's services for anyone looking to get professional guidance and assistance with the recruiting and college selection process."
~John and Kim Miller
Parents of Lauren-committed to Cal Poly Pomona for the fall of 2013
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"Thank you for all your guidance and help throughout this process. We couldn't have done this without you!! "
~Karen Bruneman
Mother of Brooke-committed to Lesley University for the fall of 2013
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"Steve, I am a true believer in your program and in A4A and what you have done. If you remember we came to you late in the game. Bemi was a great athlete in football (All-Conference as a junior and senior) but had zero, I repeat zero, interest from any school. More importantly, he had no one helping him or telling him what he needed to do even to have any colleges look at him.
You sat down with us over lunch, laid out a very simple game plan and then you pushed to execute it. From the basics on what to do with ensuring Bemi focus on improving his SAT scores, to making a highlight video and then mapping out the schools that fit a major that he wanted to do with his life. I was impressed by how much 1-1 time you committed to with Bemi, how you coached him on what to do, how to send the emails to the college coaches, how to talk to the coaches, and how to follow-up. More importantly, you stayed on top of everything. You have a "failure is not an option" attitude and its contagious. It is also clear to me that you really care and you work to ensure that the kids you take on are successful and get a chance at a scholarship and more importantly a future education.
As you know we just got back from a weekend trip to Western State College in Colorado where Bemi has received a scholarship offer to play football there. There is no doubt if anyone wants to go to college to be a student athlete, your program is the way to get them that visibility and a chance. I will be happy to recommend your program to anyone. Please send any doubters my way.
Thanks again for all your efforts".
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"When our son decided that he wanted to play sports in college, we weren't sure of how to go about getting information out to college coaches. After countless hours of searching and feeling overwhelmed by the whole process, we decided to seek help, and that is when we contacted Advocates for Athletes (A4A).
After our first session with A4A, we felt like a huge weight had been lifted. A4A gave us so much information that we would have never been able to obtain on our own. With the expert knowledge and information they provided, and the one-on-one help, it made the whole recruiting process a lot easier. A4A gave our son the confidence and tools not only to sell himself to college coaches, but a confidence that he will be able to use throughout his life.
Thanks to the great service they provide, our son has signed with a great college, and is looking forward to being a college athlete. I would recommend A4A to any high school student that is interested in playing sports at the next level. Working with A4A was one of the best things that our family has ever done."
~Mother of a former St. Francis High School football player recruited to University of San Diego who has since transferred to play at Colorado.
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"The A4A program has helped my son tremendously. My son has given a verbal commitment to Fresno State this past summer as a Junior, and has already taken an unofficial visit to the school.
The program that A4A customized for my son utilizing the Advocates for Athletes playbook has been a huge help during this crucial time in his life. If I could summarize the changes that I have noticed in his approach to everyday life, his time management would be number one. The A4A program has really helped him prioritize his day to day activities. I have noticed that he is "goal setting" much more than before and incorporating many of the strategies that Steve and my son worked on.
The program works and Steve's diligence and genuine caring for his student athletes is very apparent."
~Tom Paroubeck
Father of Jordan, the 69th pick of the San Diego Padres in the 2013 Major League Baseball draft.
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"I wanted to share with you our family's appreciation for the service that Advocates for Athletes has provided us. A year ago the task of selecting the right school for our daughter was overwhelming. Frankly, once we met with Steve and learned about the extensive research he had done on this issue and the process he had developed based on his findings we knew we made the right choice. An important side benefit in all of this is that our daughter has taken ownership in what will become her future. It has been a great lesson in learning for our family and his deliberate approach has taken much of the anxiety out of what is an otherwise difficult and complicated process. You can count us among the "advocates" for Advocates for Athletes."
~David Bartoshuk
Father of Megan Bartoshuk. Carnegie Mellon, fall of 2013
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Thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to read our A4A Newsletter. If you have any questions or comments please contact us.
Please forward this Newsletter on to anyone you feel might be in need of our services or interested in the college recruiting process.
Sincerely,
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A4A Resource Partners
*The Riekes Center for Human Enhancement
*Michael Romano, "Mr. Test Prep"
*BAWSI, Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative
*Susan Zaro, LMFT, Sports Health Counseling
*QWERTY Education Services
Westface College Planning
Prep2Prep
Performance Hoops, John Folonis
The South Bay:
Extreme Fitness&Sports(Campbell)
Crossfit Los Gatos
Tutoring Club(Almaden,Cupertino,Los Gatos and Willow Glen)
For details and contact information on each of our Partners please visit our website @ www.advocates4athletes.com.
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