CCFA

Thursday December 13, 2007

6:00 - 9:00pm (Registration begins at 5:30pm)

Each player will have an opportunity to demonstrate their skills and abilities to University Football Coaches

In addition each player will be instructed on testing procedures and proper warm up, running form, speed drills, lifting principles and techniques and position specific drills

Ø Players will be divided into two groups Varsity = Grade 10’s and 11’s Graduate = Grade 12’s and 18yr old midget players

Ø No pads, bring workout attire and shoes for activities on a gym hardwood floor

Ø Tests include 40, 10, Pro Agility, Broad Jump, Bench Reps

This is a free event sponsored by UBC Football

Please sign up by sending an email to UBC Defensive Coordinator Dino Geremia at dgeremia@interchange.ubc.ca (604-822-2295)

Please include your full name, grade, team, position, phone number and email.

We are pleased to announce the 2007 CCFA Midget Bengals coaching staff:

Derek Faggiani, Jeremy Deane, Kevin Deane, John Martins, Brian Bath and Rob Lafreniere.

Players can meet the coaches and participate in the weight and conditioning program starting on Monday February 19th at the Garage Gym @ 107-6875 King George Hwy, Surrey. The program will run every Monday and Thursday from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. Special guest coaches with National, International and Olympic power weights experience.

For more information call (604) 592-0466 or (604) 590-2774 or visit the Gym.

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Concession Manager:  Sunday July 8th, 7:00 pm.

We have a new concession manager.  Please join me in extending our thanks to Sue Pfaff for taking on the responsibilities of the manager duties. Sue is one of our new parents and is looking forward to your cooperation and support. 

Regards.

Yeera.

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Planning For Success - Part III

Part I of Planning for Success emphasized the importance of academics in college recruiting and Part II of Planning for Success focused on the importance of commitment. In Part III we will discuss the importance of marketing yourself to be recruited and avoiding the pitfalls of recruiting mistakes.

We first need to put the importance of marketing yourself t into perspective. According to NCAA statistics, the probabilities of high school senior athletes going on to play in any NCAA Division, by sport are:

• 3% or less than 1 in 35 boy's basketball players.
• 3.3% or 3 in 100 girls' basketball players.
• 5.7% or 1 in 17 football players.
• 6.1% or 3 in 50 baseball players.
• 11% of boy's ice hockey players.
• 5.5% or less than 3 in 50 of boy's soccer players.
• Statistics on other sports are not available.
  

So what do these numbers mean? First, they demonstrate just how competitive it is to play in the NCAA (and we haven't even started talking about scholarships). Second, unless you are a blue chip athlete, and by that I mean a nationally ranked athlete, you will not have college coaches knocking down your door with offers. From the coach's perspective, it's a buyer's market - there are more athletes than available roster spots.

Now here is the million dollar question; what do many of the athletes that got recruited have in common? Several things. First, they positioned themselves by having the grades to meet NCAA standards. Second, they made a commitment to train and bring their game to the next level. Finally, unless they were a blue chip athlete, they aggressively promoted their abilities to college coaches. In other words, instead of waiting to be recruited, they recruited the coach.

How to Recruit the Coach
The first thing to understand is that college sports is a business and recruiting is part of that business. Once you think of it in business terms you can begin to realize the importance of marketing yourself to college coaches. When you get right down to it, your athletic ability is a product and what is at stake is a full or partial scholarship potentially worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Getting recruited requires a lot of work on the part of athletes and their parents. Understanding the process and rules will help you save time and money and is critical to running an effective recruiting campaign. Here are ways to effectively promote yourself to college coaches:

• Communicate at all levels of the organization. It is important to establish a relationship with the head coach as well as the recruiting coordinator and assistant coaches. Coaching positions change often and you want to maintain continuity.
  
  
• Use email to communicate. Coaches prefer to communicate with recruits and prospects via email.  It is one of the best ways for underclassmen to communicate with the coaching staff as it is convenient for everyone and coaches can reply to your email. While underclassmen are free to call coaches, coaches cannot return phone calls to prospects or their parents. They can, however, reply to email.
  
  
• Maintain frequent communication with your target coaches. Had a great game against a tough opponent? Won an academic award or had a great academic quarter? Received athletic recognition? Make sure you keep your coaches up to date with an email or copy of a news article.
  
  
• Maintain your electronic profile/website. Provide coaches with a single point of reference to get information about you and stay up to date with your season.
  
  
• Send your video. Coaches are most interested in athleticism and mechanics and a skills video is the best way for coaches to assess your ability. Keep your video to 3 minutes, and highlight your best stuff within the first 30 - 60 seconds. Make sure to edit out misses cues, providing coaches with a quick pace of information. Forget the flash, fancy graphics and music - just keep it simple. Game footage is ok as long as it is done professionally and limited to a few edited highlights. Start by sending a skills video and then follow up with game highlights during your season.
  
  
• Send coaches your schedule. Coaches can't see you if they don't know where and when you'll be competing.
  
  
• Go where the coaches are. Get to combines, tournaments and showcases where coaches will be instructing or observing. Click here for a list of camps and showcases.
  
  
• Pre-sell yourself. If you are participating in an event that college coaches attend, get a list of coaches that attended in the past and email them a copy of your profile/weblink and let them know you will be there competing. Why go to an event hoping to get noticed? Get noticed before you get there.
  
  
• Get coaches to your events. Let's say you live in Ohio and you will be competing in an event in North Carolina. Find out what colleges are in the area (within 2 hours), provide them with your information and let them know you'll be there. If you are going to be there for several days, arrange for a college visit and meet the coaching staff.
  
  
• Don't be afraid to pick up the phone and call the coach. Rule #1, coaches want to talk with recruits, not their parents. Rule #2, if the parent must call, avoid the temptation of telling the coach what a great athlete your son or daughter is. Instead, focus on the intangibles: committed, great work ethic, disiplined, etc. Their athleticism will speak for itself.
  
  
• Respond quickly to requests for more information and follow up. As obvious as that sounds, coaches have complained to me about the lack of follow through by recruits. It gives the impression that you are not interested and coaches will move quickly on to the next prospect.
  
  
• Have your coach follow up with colleges. If you get a letter of interest from college coaches, have your coach follow up with a phone call to the head coach. Additionally, ask your coach if he has any college contacts and if so could he help you. Your coach is a vital component of your recruiting campaign and can be a great resource.

Recruiting Mistakes to Avoid - Tried and true ways to find your self as part of the majority of high school athletes.

Next Issue: Training and Nutrition, Speed Drills

Coaching Clinic:

Health News:

Sudden Death

Monday, May 14, 2007

Some young people don’t know they have heart problems, which could increase their risk of sudden death during intense exercise. That's why an updated 12-step screening process is so important.

“It’s not very common, but it sure makes an impression when it happens. It's devastating,” says Dr. Bill Mackie.

That's why some researchers suggest young athletes at high risk should undergo a health screening before taking part in sports.

But how do you know if your child should be tested?

“The red flags are things like if their child faints when they're being vigorous or if they complain about an irregular heartbeat.” Dr. Mackie explains.

If that's the case, undergoing screening may be a good option.

“It’s a process of asking questions.” Dr. Mackie says.

The new 12-step screening guidelines from the American Heart Association includes:

•  Taking a family history - are there relatives who have died of heart disease before age 50?

•  A personal history - is there chest pain, excessive fatigue with exercise, or high blood pressure?

•  Also, a physical exam - to check for things like a heart murmur.

Depending on the answers, Dr. Mackie says, “Either everything is normal at this point, whether further tests are to be ordered or whether there should be some restriction in physical activity.”

Recent studies have shown this type of screening can reduce the incidence of sudden death in young athletes by almost 90%. Countries such as Italy have made screening of young athletes mandatory.

It's an easy way to catch health problems and prevent tragedy.

“They can be brewing and that's the sad thing, that they aren't picked up and recognized,” Dr. Mackie adds.

Dr. Rhonda’s Additional Comments:

Sports participation, by itself, doesn't increase the risk of sudden death.

Those who unknowingly have underlying heart disease, which could have been brewing for years, are at risk. Only a fraction of these are diagnosed before tragedy strikes.

Overall sudden death in young athletes is not very common; it’s about 1 in every 200,000 active kids.

Your child may not know that what they're feeling is normal or not.

Specifically ask them, when they exercise, if they’ve ever felt their heart was beating way too fast or irregularly. Also, do they feel unusually tired - or have they had any episodes of fainting or near fainting during vigorous exercise, or also any chest pain or shortness of breath.

If they have any of these symptoms, they'd need an EKG or an echocardiogram, and possibly a referral to a cardiologist.

The big thing is being aware.

The Next Step:

Unfortunately, when it comes to the NCAA and recruiting, most people do not have a an idea of what they need to do or where to start.  Here is some information to help guide you through the process.

Planning for Success - Part 1
How successful do you think you would be if you were placed into a competition where you had little or no knowledge of how to play the game? 

How many champions do you know of that after winning an event they said they didn't do anything to prepare for their success - no practice, no training, no planning,  - that it just happend?

What about businesses?  Is it by accident that people like Bill Gates build huge and successful companies like Microsoft?  Obviously not, like any successful athlete or team, businesses prepare for success.  They have a plan. 

Look at yourself and how you prepare to succeed in your sport.  You practice, train, and prepare yourself mentally before a game.  During the game, you evaluate the situation at that moment and plan your next move.  There's one out and the winning run is on third and you're at the plate.  Your plan is to look for a pitch you can drive to the right side to win the game.

The bottom line is that those who are prepared and have a plan to succeed do so more often than not. 

Getting recruited to play college sports requires that same preparation for success you have for your game.  Long gone are the days that you could sit back and wait for college coaches to come knocking on your door, scholarship in hand.  Long gone
are the days that you can get into college solely on your athletic ability.  The NCAA has established minimum academic standards for all athletes wishing to participate in Division I and Division II sports.  Additionally, with the growing popularity of sports
and skyrocketing tuition costs, competition for scholarships is fierce. 

Therefore, in order for you to succeed in getting recruited and hopefully earning a scholarship, you need to prepare and have a plan to succeed.  It is no different than anything else in life that is worth having.  You earn it with hard work and preparation.

Where to Start

The first thing you need to do is assess where you are academically.  For example, the NCAA requires you to have a minimum grade point average (GPA) coupled with a minimum SAT or ACT score.  For example, athletes wishing to compete at the Division 1level must have a minimum 2.0 GPA and a minimum 1010 SAT or 86 ACT.  Your GPA is based on 16 core courses that you must have completed by your senior year.  Here's
the rub, the higher your GPA, the lower your SAT or ACT score has to be.  A 3.5 GPA requires a minimum 400 SAT or 68 ACT score.

As mentioned, the NCAA requires 16 core courses to have been completed (4 units of english, 3 units of math, etc.) that are the basis of your GPA.  Courses such as religion, many computer science courses, physical ed, health, etc. do not count towards your core courses and core GPA.  This is also true of almost all colleges and universities.

A great resource for academic requirements is the NCAA Clearinghouse.  There you will find the Guide for the College-Bound Student Athlete.  Download it and print out the
academic requirements and meet with your guidance counselor to ensure you are on the right track academically.  You don't want to get half way through your senior year only to find out that you are missing courses.

When an "A" is a "B" and a "B" is a "C"

If your school gives numerical grades you need to verify that the numerical grading system your school has established is in line with the NCAA.  Many times it is not.  For example, in your school a "B" might be an 82.  However, the NCAA may consider an 82 from your school to be a "C".  Additionally, many colleges have their own conversion formula.  I know of universities that consider a "B" to be a minimum grade of 86.  You can also find your school's grading formula on at the NCAA Clearinghouse site.

Register in the Clearinghouse

In order to participate in Division I & II athletics you must register in the clearinghouse. You should do so by the end of your junior year.  The Clearinghouse follows NCAA bylaws and regulations in analyzing a student's high school academic record, ACT and/or SAT scores and key information about amateurism participation to determine a student's initial eligibility.

The Clearinghouse staff is very helpful and responsive to any issues.  Like anything, you have to stay on top of it since it is your responsibility to correct any deficiencies or provide missing information.  A common issue is when high schools do not submit course changes to the Clearinghouse.  Since it can take up to 60 days to resolve issues such as that, you want to be sure you are preliminary qualified by the spring of your senior year.