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Recruiting is not about
waiting for opportunities,
it's about creating opportunities.
A4A became an official business on July 10th, 2010, and we took on our first client (now a professional ballplayer with the Los Angeles Dodger's) on Sept 28th of that same year. We are happy to be celebrating our 5th Anniversary.
And oh what a ride it has been! A special shout out to my son Spencer, for without his basketball prowess, A4A would not be here today. It was while going through the recruiting process with him that I saw the light...that there was no personalized, sincere help out there to guide student athletes and their families through the process. Heck, Spencer even came up with our logo with the wings. He said, "Dad, it's like you are flying these athletes to their dreams." And we have!
Fast forward five years, and A4A has athletes at 99 different colleges and universities around the country. And at 22 of those schools we have more than one. Overall, we have over 200 athletes under our guidance in 14 different sports and there is now five of us all around the Bay Area doing the coaching. While I am at it, anther special shout out goes to John Mylod, the longest tenured A4A coach who is not only the voice of KCEA 89.1, the Peninsula Athletic Leagues sports radio station, but also is the A4A man in charge of PAL athletes.
And as if our numbers were not validation enough, in the month of September alone we received ten new families to work with from your referrals. Bottom line, the college decision is not just a 4-year one, but a 40-year one and we take the responsibility of helping each athlete find their best fit very seriously.
I would be remiss if I did not urge you to go down and read the articles of four of A4A's top resource professionals (see below). They are all awesome at what they do. And if you need or know of someone that needs help with SAT/ACT test prep tutouring, sports psychology, personal training or financial counseling (specializing in college funding) look no further!
One more mention and a thank you to my wife Kathleen who urged and encouraged me to follow my dream to start Advocates for Athletes, you are awesome! And thank you to all the families that have entrusted their athletes to us and to all you who have supported and referred us along the way.
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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From the Desk of:
Tim Dempsey
Director of Athletic Training,
The Riekes Center
In my conversations with parents and student athletes the topic of sport specific training often comes up. Almost every sport involves some type of running, jumping, kicking, throwing (or stroking for the water sports) so anything being done to improve those aspects could be considered sport specific training. In the past several years we've seen a paradigm change in the high school sports scene. In years past it was common for high school student athletes to play 2, 3, and in certain states even 4 sports a year for their high school. I personally played 2 each year through high school and college. Nowadays most student athletes stick to just one high school sport, and schedules make it difficult if not impossible to play another sport. As soon as high school season is over, club starts, or "off season training" for the next year. This has also created the need for better strength and conditioning programs so that the risk of overuse injuries is greatly reduced. So if we use the traditional "sport specific training model" (Olympic lifts, plyometrics, agility drills, weightlifting etc. etc.) for strength and conditioning programs it is very possible we may be exacerbating problems instead of helping to eliminate them.
A better solution is "counter sports specific training". This type of training still uses the traditional style sports specific model, but incorporates a larger percentage of the training time doing exercises that can prevent overuse injuries, such as working on landing instead of just jumping; teaching deceleration instead of just acceleration; doing movements in multiple planes instead of just one; strengthening shoulder external rotators instead of just internal rotators; and using cross patterning, postural restoration, and other innovative techniques to stimulate the correct muscle firing patterns so the student athlete can adapt to different environments without excessive wear and tear on the body. These are techniques that we use in our classes at the Riekes Center. Advocates for Athletes and the Riekes Center have a partnership so that A4A students who enroll in RISE UP or Pinnacle classes will receive a 25% discount. A4A student athletes also receive a discount on the special athlete evaluation, that includes a biomechanical and postural analysis, and a strength and conditioning program individually designed to be used in conjunction with the school program or as a separate program. Several A4A student athletes have already taken advantage of this program. We look forward to providing strength and conditioning services to help A4A athletes reach the next level. For more information please contact Tim Dempsey CSCS,NSCA-CPT,USAW,USATF,PES; Athletic Fitness Director at the Riekes Center. 650-860-8004 or tdempsey@riekes.org.
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From the Desk of:
Beatrice Schultz
Westface College Planning
Big Congratulations for Advocates for Athletes on their 5 Year anniversary from Westface College Planning!
Parents, It's October! The financial aid application season has officially begun. The 2016 CSS Profile is NOW available. Seniors applying either early decision or early action at any of the 300 colleges that require it may have a deadline as early as November 1st for submission. Check out our Senior Scoop to learn more.
This Forbes article explains the new FAFSA rules for Fall 2017. Big changes will make students' college financial aid eligibility be based off of income from two years prior to when a student enrolls in college, not one year prior, the way the rule has been until today. This means college financial planning needs to start even earlier! Westface College Planning helps families navigate the "paying for college" process from start to finish. To learn how you can minimize college costs, call us at 650-587-1559 or sign up for one of our How to Survive Paying for College Workshops or Webinars.
Beatrice Schultz, CFP� | College & Retirement Financial Planning |
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From the Desk of:
Mr Test Prep, Michael Romano
You can always tell a Mr. Test Prep student because when the exam starts, they got SWAGGER.
Mr Test Prep
650-575-5867
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From the Desk of:
Susan Zaro, LMFT,BCB
Sports Health Counseling
Confidence:
Do you view yourself as a competent worthy person regardless of your athletic performance outcome? Too often athletes fall into the spiral of basing their confidence on their wins and losses. When athletes equate their self worth to their performance outcomes they lose a level of control of their confidence because winning and losing is not always within their control. When an athlete spends too much time dwelling on the things that are not within their control they frequently find themselves losing trust in themselves and their skills. Their energy is sapped by worry and self-doubt.
Confidence is trainable. The following are four important building blocks to confidence:
1) Honest self-evaluation: What mental and physical skills does the athlete need to learn, develop and improve upon to become more dynamic in their sport?
2) Goal setting: Set reasonable incremental daily goals. This includes making a viable plan and receiving feedback on progress towards the goals. The goals can be both mental and physical.
3) Persistence: A daily commitment to reach the goals the athlete has set out to achieve. When progress slows or is not easy, confident athletes keep looking for ways to improve, develop and keep the process moving forward.
4) Balance: Have fun along the way. Each day the journey to success is easier when it's fun and engaging to the athlete.
The Bay Area was captivated by the Warriors and Stephen Curry this past year. This video clip spotlights how Stephen Curry has cultivated confidence in himself: http://on.fb.me/1GIPchm. Not all athletes have the talent of a Stephen Curry, but the devotion to excellence is something every athlete can achieve.
Susan Zaro, is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist and is Board Certified in Biofeedback. In her sport psychology practice she specializes in working with amateur and professional athletes of all ages on peak performance, anxiety management, recovery from injury and other issues related to sports. Programs are customized for individual athletes, groups and teams. For additional information regarding confidence or any other Sport Psychology issues contact Susan Zaro, LMFT, BCB for a free 30 minute phone consultation @www.susanzaro.com
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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
*******************
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
********************
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
**********************
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
***************
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
****************
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
***************
"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
***************
"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
***************
"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
***************
"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
***************
"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".
***************
"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.
***************
"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.
***************
"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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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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Where are the A4A Athletes
going to College?
Here is a partial list.
(#) How many at that school
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(4)
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
***And our newest addition Johns Hopkins University
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