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Recruiting is not about
waiting for opportunities,
it's about creating opportunities.
Proud of all the A4A alum out there at the 97 different colleges and universities around the country. But wanted to share with you Lilly Nelson's (Sequoia, Class of 2013) story that she wrote while doing her internship this summer. A journalism major, Lilly is well on her way! Way to go Lilly!
By Lillian Nelson, Swimming World College Intern
You're headed into your senior year. You've got a stack of mailed-out recruiting questionnaires on your desk from a list of schools you may or may not have ever heard of. Maybe you've gotten a few calls from coaches encouraging you to consider their program for the next four years. It may feel as though you're being pulled in a hundred different directions. The opportunity of swimming in college is fast approaching, but worry not. It is not at all uncommon to feel a little overwhelmed and indecisive.
You know you have trained crazy amounts, sacrificed going to Homecoming for a swim meet, always been the kid that smells like chlorine, and the excuse "I can't, I have practice" has become all too familiar to your non-swimmer friends. All of the blood, sweat, and tears have been shed, and now is your time to make a very important decision.
Which college will be the right fit for you? This decision is not something to take lightly. However, the process of the college search should most definitely be enjoyable, exciting, and fun! If you are a naturally indecisive person, like myself, there may not be one clear choice
I never had a "dream school" so when I took the time to make this decision, I had my work cut out for me. My parents, extremely supportive in every way possible, had never helped someone through this process, as I am their eldest child. So they found an amazing organization to help me make the most well-informed decision possible.
Advocates for Athletes provides insightful guidance to young athletes intending to compete in their sport in college. I was lucky enough to work hands on with their President, Steve Britschgi. I started off with over 50 schools on my list, and through many meetings, pros and cons lists, and introspective conversations, he managed to help me narrow it down to just one.
If I learned anything from the process, it is that you should never count any school out right away. Growing up in California, I had always assumed I would end up going to school in state, because...I mean, it's California. So you can imagine my surprise when by the end of the process, I ended up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (a city I had never even thought twice about) at Duquesne University (which I didn't even know how to pronounce until the coach had called me and said it out loud). Now I am headed into my junior year here and have not regretted my decision once. I have a wide range of academics to explore, an amazing team and a coaching staff that I would not trade for the world.
Among the many aspects Britschgi laid out for me to think about, such as location, size, facilities, and division, one of the most valuable pieces of advice he shared that really stuck with me in the process was "Would you be able to see yourself there if you were no longer playing your sport? If the answer is no, don't go!" Having swimming be the only reason you choose a university is a recipe for disaster. The other aspects and draws of the school should be just as important to your choice as the athletic portion.
That being said, the team and coaches can make or break your college swimming experience. Britschgi always reminded me that if I wasn't feeling the "love" from the coaching staff, that that was never a good sign. You should want to be a part of a program where you are wanted and supported. College swimming is not an easy journey, and having a solid team and coach behind you is extremely important to succeeding in your four years.
So when going through the process of choosing a home for your years of eligibility, I urge you to take your time, consider all aspects, keep an open mind, and know that you have earned everything you have worked for.
Thanks for all your support and referrals!
Steve
Steve Britschgi
President
Advocates for Athletes, LLC
650-255-0766
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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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Where are the A4A Athletes
going to College?
Here is a partial list.
Colleges
The U.S. Naval Academy
Providence University
Princeton University(2)
UCLA (2)
Amherst
Tulane University(2)
Loyola Marymount University(2)
Lewis and Clark University(2)
Dominican University(2)
Western State College of Colorado
U.C. Berkeley(2)
Texas Christian University
Brown University (2)
University of Utah
Cal Poly Pomona
Claremont Mudd Scripps
Georgetown University(2)
Carroll College
Tufts
Chaminade University
Kenyon College
U.C. Merced
U.C. Davis(3)
Carnegie Mellon University(2)
Pomona Pitzer University(3)
Duquesne University
Southern Illinois University
Fresno State
University of Redlands (4)
Notre Dame De Namur University
University of San Diego
University of Colorado at Boulder
Colorado College(2)
Cal State East Bay University
Washington State University
Trinity College (Conn)
Leslie University
Willamette University
Rochester Polytechnic Institute
Cal State Dominguez Hills
Dennison University
U.C. Santa Cruz
Chapman University
Sacramento State
San Jose State (2)
University of Washington (2)
Lafayette University
Arizona State (2)
Davidson University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
University of Pacific
Cal Poly
University of Puget Sound
University of Hawaii
San Diego State
Holy Names
St Mary's
Santa Clara University
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From the Desk of:
Mr Test Prep, Michael Romano
"Some people are just not good test takers." Have you heard this phrase before? Have you used this phrase before?
This is one of the most common reasons given for why the SAT is not a good indicator of college readiness or future college success. According to research regarding stereotypes, it appears that this label alone may be one of the biggest barriers to performing well on the SAT.
http://tinyurl.com/pxxay8z
Mr Test Prep
650-575-5867
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From The NCAA:
There are more than 460,000 NCAA student-athletes, and fewer than two percent will go pro in their sports.
For the rest, the experiences of college athletics and the life lessons they learn along the way will help them as they pursue careers in business, education, athletics administration, communications, law, medicine and many more fields. Education is a vital part of the college athletics experience, and student-athletes treat it that way. Overall, student-athletes graduate at higher rates than their peers in the student body, and those rates rise each year.
The chart below shows the probability of competing in athletics beyond high school - both college and professionally. These percentages are based on estimated data.
| Student-Athletes | Men's Basketball | Women's Basketball | Football | Baseball | Men's Ice Hockey | Men's Soccer |
|---|
| High School Student-Athletes | 538,676 | 433,120 | 1,086,627 | 474,791 | 35,198 | 410,982 | | High School Senior Student-Athletes | 153,907 | 123,749 | 310,465 | 135,655 | 10,057 | 117,423 | | NCAA Student-Athletes | 17,984 | 16,186 | 70,147 | 32,450 | 3,964 | 23,365 | | NCAA Freshman Roster Positions | 5,138 | 4,625 | 20,042 | 9,271 | 1,133 | 6,676 | | NCAA Senior Student-Athletes | 3,996 | 3,597 | 15,588 | 7,211 | 881 | 5,192 | | NCAA Student-Athletes Drafted | 46 | 32 | 254 | 678 | 7 | 101 | | Percent High School to NCAA | 3.3% | 3.7% | 6.5% | 6.8% | 11.3% | 5.7% | | Percent NCAA to Professional | 1.2% | 0.9% | 1.6% | 9.4% | 0.8% | 1.9% | | Percent High School to Professional | 0.03% | 0.03% | 0.08% | 0.50% | 0.07% | 0.09% |
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From the Desk of Beatrice Schultz:
Westface College Planning
It's July, a time for soaking in warm summer rays and enjoying some well-deserved R&R. Summer break continues, and as your student basks in the bliss of their vacation, it's the perfect opportunity to get them ahead of their college financial planning game (even if only to dip their toe in the college financing water).
At Westface College Planning, we work with families to help you plan for and navigate the "paying for college" process.
We teach you how to minimize your out-of-pocket expenses, maximize financial aid eligibility, understand the best way to navigate through the college selection process and prioritize your sources of college funds to protect your life savings.
You next step is building your college funding plan, and I'm here to help. Sign up for a workshop or give me a call today!
Beatrice Schultz, CFP� | College & Retirement Financial Planning
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Testimonials:
Last year our son Riley decided he would like to play football in College if it was at a very high level academic school. We didn't know how to make this possible on our own and really wanted to make this happen for our son because he had such a strong interest in playing in College and worked so hard to achieve this goal. We had heard about Steve's company Advocates for Athletes, LLC. and contacted him.
Steve came to our house, met with my wife and I and our son initially to plot things out. After that Steve met exclusively with Riley and they went through a whole process of matching his academics and playing ability level to the many different schools he had interest in. They met several times and finally came up with a workable list of schools to contact. At that point Steve wrote a template email tailored for Riley that we could send out to these schools along with who to contact (coaches).
After the initial email blast, Steve was there every step of the way for both my wife and I and all our questions but more importantly for Riley. You could tell this was more than just a business for Steve by the passion and energy he brought to the process. It was a long drawn out process with the emails, calls, Junior Days at the various schools, Summer Camps and was really nice to have Steve as a sounding board to bounce our questions and ideas off of as the recruitment went on. When there was any doubt on something, we would just say to ourselves and our son " ask Steve " what to do.
After many months, we got the answer we had hoped for. Riley got accepted into MIT to play football there. Frankly, without Steve and Advocates for Athletes, LLC. this wouldn't have happened. The fee we paid Steve was well worth it and we can't say enough good things about Steve and his company. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Steve and his company Advocates for Athletes, LLC.
Feb 8, 2015
Dear Steve,
Thank you for your guidance, mentoring, clear process, and discipline. You transformed a mysterious and potentially daunting multi-year recruiting process into manageable steps with clear goals. As parents trying to navigate the complex world of DI football recruiting, we were so glad to have you there at every step along the way. Your confident, can-do, upbeat approach made us feel like we had a calm and competent coach in our corner at all times. You helped Ben set goals, develop a list of target schools, understand the many NCAA rules and regulations, draft letters to coaches, and create a great resume and highlight reel. We appreciated your advice on the myriad of football camps and junior days, and so much more. You were phenomenally responsive and always happy to answer our questions and offered a calming influence when things heated up and decisions needed to be made. Without your experience and wisdom, we would not have had a clue where to start and we are confident it would have been a much more stressful process. In the end, Ben had four Pac-12 offers, numerous Ivy League offers, and many other options.
Thank you Steve and A4A for your help!
Mary Lea Kirven and Busy Burr
Parents of Benjamin, U. Washington, Fall 2015
Advocates for Athletes, LLC
February 2015
I highly recommend Steve Britschgi, his valued team, and Advocates for Athletes. Often times as a parent of an athlete, there is a great deal of information in the market as to what is the most appropriate plan to gain exposure for your student athlete. Plainly stated, it is very confusing.
Steve Britschgi and Advocates for Athletes truly offer a value added program that guides the athlete in the most efficient way to gain market visibility which is turn will provide results. The ownership of responsibility is put upon that student athlete, which clearly provides a goal oriented path as to what the athlete claims he or she wants to be a part and parcel of. The individual sport in not the main concern - The process is.
His coaching around identifying schools, sending out letters, and the follow up associated with that is wonderful. Indeed Steve and his team are advocates for your student athlete.
Sincerely,
~Steve Papapietro
Father of Christopher, committed to University of Pacific 2015
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Hi Steve!
Just wanted to say hi and thank you again for all your help! I have been at Carnegie Mellon for two weeks now and today was our season opener. Check it out at http://athletics.cmu.edu/sports/wsoc/2014-15/releases/20140829hpgpi0. It has also been great to play with Megan Bartoshuk again - she is the one that referred me to you! Anyway, I really believe this is a fantastic fit for me, for school and for soccer, and I really appreciate your process that brought me here.
Hope all is well,
~Sienna Stritter
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Hi Steve!
I just wanted to let you know what a wonderful fit UCLA has been for me! I absolutely love the campus, my swim team, and the education I am receiving. I am really happy to say that I am sure that I made the right choice in choosing this school. I am definitely looking forward to swimming my sophomore year too! Thanks again for all the help you gave me, I can truly say I would not be here if it wasn't for you.
~Rachel Owen
Previous A4A Student Athlete
Graduated Spring, 2013
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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 and 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 who 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
Mother of Zayn, Carroll College
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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- UCLA, Fall 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 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- Cal Poly Pomona, Fall 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- Lesley University, Fall 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 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
Performance Hoops, John Folonis
The South Bay:
Extreme Fitness&Sports(Campbell)
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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