In this episode Reid Mayer discusses how his organization helps students choose the right university. Spoiler, it’s not all about the sport!!
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TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00 Introduction
This is the Your Sports Resource Podcast where each week you’ll learn actionable strategies that you can implement so the operations of your club support your coaching staff and the direction of your organization. We are committed to excellence in Youth Sports Leadership. Let’s get started.
00:00:28 Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to the Your Sports Resource Podcast.
00:00:31 Speaker 1
My name is Renata Porter and today we have a very special guest. We have Reid Mayer on with us now. Reid is the co-founder and CEO of Athletes to Athletes, and he has a great relationship with sports both personally and professionally, so I’m just going to read off this list here.
00:00:54 Speaker 1
So, we have former Division One in junior college baseball player Texas Tech him with 3rd. Certified College Counselor earned a BS in Kinesiology and earned a Masters of that in sports management at University of Texas and an independent educational consulting certificate.
00:01:14 Speaker 1
So quite a range of background and support and I think that’s pretty awesome that you’re all over in different areas. So, tell us, Reid, tell us about Athletes to Athletes.
00:01:28 Speaker 2
Thank you so much for having me, Renata.
00:01:30 Speaker 2
So, athletes to athletes is what we’re shooting for to be the best college counseling solution for high school student athletes that want to go compete in college and then helping them sort of approach this college selection journey for lack of a better term in a in a much more holistic fashion than just focusing on.
00:01:49 Speaker 2
Biggest school, biggest scholarship, you know, sort of everything falls in this athletic bucket, and we’re kind of trying to change the narrative and change the mindset around that.
00:01:58 Speaker 1
So, when you say holistic. What do you mean but what? Do you mean by that?
00:02:02 Speaker 2
So, the four kinds of key tenants that we talk about when we work with our kids are academics, athletics, personal, financial.
00:02:09 Speaker 2
So, we think about the college experience as a table or a house or whatever it might be and and you’ve got to be able to build a solid foundation or all aspects of of what that experience is going to be, I think a lot of of athletes, myself included, when I went through the process, assumed that Athletics is kind of going to hold you up this whole time.
00:02:29 Speaker 2
They think of it as a spinning plate, and that’s just really all you need is that one, that one rod and it’s just not the reality of a college experience even if you do have a successful athletic career, you know if you if you go to college and you’re not in an environment that allows you to grow into the person you’re going to be or become who ,Who you want to be because you’re too focused on.
00:02:49 Speaker 2
Impressing somebody on the field or impressing a coach and keeping the new, keeping you in or whatever it might be, then you’re doing yourself a disservice if you’re not taking a major that allows you to to move into a career filled that you’re excited about, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you’re.
00:03:01 Speaker 3
You know, taking a 25% scholarship at a private school that costs $70,000 a year when you could maybe walk on a public school that would allow you to do XY and Z, who knows the scenario there, but you’re doing yourself a disservice. So, we want to try and take all those things into consideration when when making that college decision.
00:03:20 Speaker 1
That’s great. I love it because I think that, you know, like you were saying earlier, usually the focuses solely on their athletic career. And you know, there’s not too many sports that GoPro or Pro is very different than what you may think it is, right? It may be more in name, image and likeness more than actually competing at a professional level in the sport.
00:03:41 Speaker 1
So, you know, for most of us, that was me once college was over. Now what? You know that kind of thing. So, I love the whole idea of getting them to consider, you know, your four areas before they go in. Now what? What started this? What caused you to want to provide this kind of service?
00:04:00 Speaker 2
My own personal experience as a college athlete is is kind of what spurred this on. So, I was the the principal founder of at least athletes, I guess you could say, and it quite literally spawned out of my own, my own high school recruitment in my own sort of jump through college. So, I was a fairly well recruited baseball player in high school. I was 6-4. I was left-handed.
00:04:24 Speaker 2
Yeah, so, so on the outside I I looked appealing from a picture standpoint and it it caught some people attention when I would go places and whatnot and so that allowed me to sort of have a a pretty wide-ranging recruiting experience in high school and you know, I’m, to put it bluntly, I had a lot of resources when I was a kid.
00:04:42 Speaker 2
I went to a private school. I had a college counselor. I at my school I had coaches who cared about me and who who wanted me to do well and and took an interest and and me as an athlete. And I still kind of got my **** kicked by the whole thing and it it was sort of shell shocking to me. I got Texas Tech and I signed with them because.
00:05:02 Speaker 2
It was the largest scholarship at the largest school that I could go to, they they were offering me a 55% scholarship to go Play Division One Big 12 baseball and with baseball only have 11.7 scholarships available. You know, for the whole team that to me was was huge and so I made the decision based on that I showed up to Lubbock.
00:05:22 Speaker 2
I didn’t know my major was literally until my first day of classes. My athletic advisor handed me my classes and was like, this fits with the practice schedule so,you’re an exercise science major? So that was, that was how I got my major. OK.
00:05:35 Speaker 2
Pics right out of college, you know, I went from being, you know, the guy at my little private school that graduated with 94 kids to being a guy on this Texas Tech team from these folks that were from all over the country and and you know, got selected for this, for this program. There was a coaching change over the summer before I got there and so there were just a lot of things that that I wasn’t really prepared for and I hadn’t taken into consideration because all I cared about was I signed with Division One program, rock on.
00:06:02 Speaker 2
And so that sort of Began my I jumped through the college experience and I ended up going to four schools in four years, ultimately ended up graduating. Yeah, yeah, quit my sport halfway through.
00:06:14 Speaker 2
So, after my sophomore year I I went Division One program, walked on to junior college because this was pretransfer portal, and I didn’t want to lose a year of playing time. Moved a little closer to home. Them and honestly burnt myself out of my sport. I had a really negative relationship with my sport. It was causing mental health struggles. It was causing physiological struggles for me.
00:06:37 Speaker 2
I wasn’t motivated in the classroom, I wasn’t motivated in the field, and so I actually ended up stepping away from baseball entirely to be a full-time student at the University of Texas.
00:06:45 Speaker 2
And so, for me a lot of it was trying to answer the question in my last semester my undergrad of what went wrong and how could I have avoided this and is this a me problem or is this a student athlete problem and from sort of figuring it out myself and then speaking to all of my my friends who were still student athletes, either at the same school or had graduated or transferred or whatever it might be, came to realize that it was a a student athlete problem.
00:07:11 Speaker 2
You know, my experience was unique and and other and other folks are as well, but sort of the same general principle of where we’re all kind of reacting to recruiting, we’re all kind of just doing what our coach says and and kind of go into the school that makes the most sense or makes gives you the most follows or likes on Twitter or whatever it might be and and not really considering everything else that goes into that decision making process.
00:07:33 Speaker 1
Yeah, that’s amazing. Cause, I think. I mean, I did the same thing, right? I was just a narrow scope. I was like, you know, OK, that sounds good and didn’t like really didn’t really think about it at all. You and I are kind of aligned in the way that I got really disheartened I needed another surgery and I just Oh, I just couldn’t fathom adding another year to my swimming.
00:07:55 Speaker 1
I’ve been swimming for so long and I did the same thing. You know, I took a break, I went back into it, but I took a break and dumb, but I gave no thought process to Mike, it was Who’s paying for it
00:08:10 Speaker 1
Yep, you sound good. That was about it. Uhm, so what are some? I mean, maybe you’ve already touched on this, but what are some of the mistakes that athletes or families make when going through the like maybe what’s the biggest mistake that families make when they’re going through the selection process?
00:08:31 Speaker 2
Yeah, I think touched on a little bit, but can certainly expand on this topic, and it was my my main issue is putting all of your eggs in the athletics basket, for lack of a better term.
00:08:44 Speaker 2
For some reason we have decided that college athletics, athletics in general is this weird haven where where it’s OK and sometimes even socially promoted to, to sort of sacrifice everything else in your life to better this one piece of your life or this one piece of your existence.
00:09:01 Speaker 2
And it it really shines through in the college recruiting process and I think a lot of that obviously has to do with the financial incentives that come with, with athletic scholarships and some things.
00:09:09 Speaker 1
It’s hard to ignore.
00:09:11 Speaker 2
Yeah, and and and now you have NIL name, image, likeness, and there’s. There’s certainly things that are that are pulling you in that direction, but I try to talk to especially parents to to help them gain some perspective.
00:09:21 Speaker 2
When you think about it. You know, would you do? In this scenario in your life, would you effectively liquidate all of your assets? You know, put your house up, sell everything, and buy lottery tickets? cause, that is effectively the gamble that you’re playing on right here ’cause yeah, you might get school paid for.
00:09:38 Speaker 2
And that’s great. But if you leave college and you don’t have a plan and you don’t get picked up by that league, that’s gonna hold onto you. And you don’t make it past the on average, what is it year and a half that most people land in professional sports and you don’t sign that second big contract?
00:09:53 Speaker 2
Then what was that trade-off for? Folks wouldn’t do it for a job. They wouldn’t do it in their family life. They wouldn’t. So why would you then gamble that? Same in that same vein with your child’s college career. And I think that, you know, kind of keys into to what we talk about there.
00:10:13 Speaker 1
So, when you meet these, I’m assuming its parents who reach out to you. Maybe it’s maybe it’s student-athletes that reach out to.
00:10:18 Speaker 2
Primarily parents.
00:10:20 Speaker 1
So how do you get them? Well, maybe if they’re reaching out to you, they’re not hyper-focused on the aport, but like how do you get them to broaden their thought process and not just be so hyper focused on their kid going into sport and they want them to have that opportunity for that professional life.
00:10:38 Speaker 1
You know like you said it’s it’s such a small percentage in window but how do you get them to look at the broader picture and understand that the sport is just a piece of it.
00:10:52 Speaker 2
So yeah, like you said, when when folks reach out to us, they’re they’re generally in a more receptive mindset because they’re looking for, for something other than just get your kid recruited. We send all these kids Division One.
00:11:03 Speaker 2
And you know kind of the same mantra that you hear in all these different place cases, but even for parents that don’t necessarily find us organically or we go and speak to at a conference or a panel or whatever it might be, certainly we we talk about what we just talked about, right, where, why make that trade?
00:11:19 Speaker 2
Why make that gamble? That’s one. A second one, I think, is, you know, we’re very we try to be as transparent as we possibly can in this process. Then we speak to a lot of coaches, we speak to a lot of players, we speak to a lot of current and former college athletes. Another thing that we like to bring up to is, you know, it doesn’t matter who’s on your team at the end of the day that coach is is paid to win games or paid to win meets or
00:11:43 Speaker 2
They’re not paid to develop you, they’re not paid to make you a better person. They’re based on they’re paid on the results of their team and their families livelihood is dependent on that. Their ability to live comfortably in a city is dependent on that.
00:11:55 Speaker 2
And so if somebody comes in, whether they’re ahead of you or behind that player or that individual is, you know, gives that Coach A1 to 2% better chance of maybe winning that game or wanting that meet or or whatever it might be they don’t know you anything, so you can
00:12:11 Speaker 2
You cannot rely on that being your your foundational pole to the to the school, to the program, to whatever it might be cause, at the end of the day, it’s one of those things where, you know, listen, it’s not personal, it’s business and that is a reality in college athletics right now when you think about the economy.
00:12:26 Speaker 3
Of college sports, regardless of whether it’s football, swimming, whatever that that is an element now in a factor and and how that decision making process is done and and you can’t ignore that And so we definitely talk about that but the biggest one that seems to key in with families is, you know, think about how hard it is to if your child wants to put their belt on with you know the the Bangalore whatever on the right side and you think he needs to put it on the left side.
00:12:53 Speaker 2
Something as simple as that if you try to convince your child that they need to do it this way. Because you think it’s the better way. They may ultimately do it, but what is that gonna are they gonna now just are they going to avoid putting belts on altogether because they don’t want to deal with that hassle?
00:13:08 Speaker 2
Do they not want to, they don’t want to admit that you one, they don’t want to. They’re not going to come talk to you and get your opinion on things because they feel like you’re just imposing your values and your will on their life and certain things. And if you do that at the college level, I mean, just take this.
00:13:22 Speaker 3
Felt, you know, metaphor and extrapolate that out to quite literally your college experience and the springboard into adulthood for for that child, right? I mean that is kind of what we’re what we’re talking about in that in that essence and so.
00:13:38 Speaker 2
If you want to do that, and you want to tell your kid how they’re supposed to go to college and what they’re supposed to do, then, then that’s a different conversation to be had. But they need to intrinsically get excited about this process, take ownership in this process, learn how this process works and take a proactive approach to it.
00:13:54 Speaker 1
So, let’s talk about the process a bit so. Do you kind of whether you’re their client or you’re just talking to people about this, like do you get them to kind of prioritizing those 4 buckets and like what is, what is cause, I mean each families priority in those four areas might be a little bit different.
00:14:12 Speaker 1
How do you get them to do that kind of hat sorting exercise so they are able to match up the right university as best they can according to Their desires or wishes.
00:14:25 Speaker 2
For sure. So the the first thing that we do in kind of the court Senate of our advising program is we have a yearlong minimum that families have to work with us.Because I don’t think that there’s an easy one trick pony gold silver bullet solution to this whole process. There’s not a one-size-fits-all as much as some other places may want you to think that’s the case.
00:14:48 Speaker 2
It it really is a personalized approach and so we need to take some time to understand what those family values are, what those student goals are, really get a realistic idea of where we stand academically, athletically, personally and and build a relationship with that family but certainly that student athlete and
00:15:07 Speaker 2
They had been feeling comfortable sharing with us what it is they really want out of this process and and kind of assessing those things out and then helping be occasionally a mediator or translator between parents and students in certain situations when when needed.
00:15:19 Speaker 2
So, I think certainly the the timeline that we spend with families makes a huge difference cause we’re able to build that relationship over time and not just hand them a couple of handouts and go alright.
00:15:28 Speaker 2
Do these quizzes and you gotta handle it’s fixed cause It’s just not that simple, unfortunately. But the the the thing that we do right off the bat, which does tend to throw some families up occasionally as we basically tell them.
00:15:39 Speaker 2
Listen, take the sports side of what we’re talking about, put it in a box and stick it up in the shelf. We’re not even going to talk about it for the first couple months ’cause at the end of the day, if you’re finding someone like me, or if you’re pursuing college athletics, wherever, it might be that passion for your sport and that desire to want to play at the next level is.
00:15:57 Speaker 2
There like that isn’t established that. For me, I see it almost as a completion grade as far as like, do you want to do this or do you not want to do this? If you want to do this, then we already know that we know that’s going to be a factor in your decision-making process.
00:16:08 Speaker 2
So stick it up in the corner. We’ll bring it back later, and now we’re going to focus on understanding what college is, what the values are, what it can provide for you. Understanding how a major works. Understanding how going and living outside of your comfort zone and out of your parents’ house works.
00:16:22 Speaker 2
You know, breaking down what all these things are and integrating their interests and helping them discover what their interests are with just that in mind.
00:16:31 Speaker 1
That’s amazing. I didn’t realize you did the teaching side of it. Like to give them exposure as to what to expect.
00:16:38 Speaker 1
I assumed it was a, you know, what are the things that you’re looking for right in your personal life, in your professional life, as you get older and kind of leading down that path? I didn’t realize that you gave them insight too. Yeah, what is college life and what to expect when you show?
00:16:56 Speaker 1
I mean, that’s amazing because, you know, I don’t think it’s ever changed from when I was young till now. I mean kids, I mean, they might have a lot more exposure of being independent now than when I was coming up.
00:17:10 Speaker 1
You know, there’s a lot of mistakes made in that first year of freedom. I’ll just leave it at that. So, but I think that but I think every athlete goes through it, right?
00:17:21 Speaker 1
And and every student goes through that, right? And there’s more freedom that they’ve ever had. They have more opportunities to make their own choices. There’s not someone standing there. Really to lean on to answer questions or problems.
00:17:35 Speaker 1
So, I think giving them that exposure is pretty amazing. I think that’s. So do you start with them when they you know that early freshman, sophomore year in high school is that is that your your goal is to start with them that young when they’re starting to get into the commitment pocket?
00:17:54 Speaker 2
So, our wheelhouse for lack of a better term, would be sort of second semester, their freshman year in high school through that sophomore year and and and that’s mainly because we can make the biggest impact again.
00:18:05 Speaker 2
You know, we’re with them for a year minimum, and we we can stay with him through graduation and that actually includes application assistance, financial aid assistance, all things like that.
00:18:13 Speaker 2
But our core or group or core advising structure of how we work. It is a year minimum.
00:18:19 Speaker 2
So, we love to get him early a lot of times just to be able to change that mindset earlier in that process. We we don’t like to work with first semester freshman because we’re in the firm believers that listen, you gotta learn how to be a high school kid, go be a kid, make friends, learn this stuff.
00:18:33 Speaker 2
Don’t have one more thing on your plate. Focus on that. And then once we get into that second semester, freshman year, once we get into sophomore year, let’s start talking about how we can make some foundational changes in how we approach school and how we approach the recruiting process and how we approach.
00:18:48 Speaker 3
Evaluating schools to better prepare ourselves. When we do get into that sort of really key recruiting pocket, you’ve taken care of your grades, you’ve taken the PSAT, you’ve taken at least one test so that you can show Coach is sort of where you stand on a universal scale, cause
00:19:03 Speaker 3
That’s another like, you know, there’s so many families now post COVID that, you know, test optional. There’s absolutely nothing, and a lot of schools will accept it, but not all the scholarship money is available to you if you don’t do the test, and coaches still have that as a sort of universal.
00:19:18 Speaker 2
Measure of if you can cut it in their school and whatnot. And a lot of coaches don’t really know what to do with you until they see, you know, literally if you got into the school or not, because GPS are different from school to school.
00:19:29 Speaker 2
Ones, uh, 50 ones, uh 401 out of 100 scale. You know, some places let you take XYZ, so they don’t know how to gauge that. So just different things like that to be better Paired we can make a bigger impact the earlier we get you in the process.
00:19:43 Speaker 3
Once we get into that junior year, a lot of it is OK what can we do with the, with the materials that we have?
00:19:49 Speaker 2
We’re not going to make sizable differences in GPA. We’re not going to necessarily make sizable differences and the relationships that you built with teachers for recommendations and things like that. But let’s take the information that we have and make the best decision we can moving forward.
00:20:02 Speaker 1
Yeah, it’s awesome.
00:20:04 Speaker 2
And I’m sure navigating those differences between universities too, when you when you’re really like doing those choices that that’s that can be a bit of a struggle.
00:20:13 Speaker 1
Cause, it’s not the same like you said, you know, why is it so high here? And it doesn’t matter on this side and yeah, so that’s interesting.
00:20:21 Speaker 1
So, what about each athlete coach is there ways that they should be kind of preparing their senior athletes for these efforts like I know that the
00:20:34 Speaker 1
Coaches are, you know, obviously they’re going to be focused on the sport itself, but there are things that the coaches can be doing to help support these kids as they’re starting to progress towards university in choosing a university
00:20:49 Speaker 2
Yeah, I think the biggest thing that coaches can do cause and I’m coming from a weekend, are you biased mindset, right?
00:20:56 Speaker 2
I’ve got my college counseling certification. I I know how much goes into that piece of it, so I would not ask or expect a coach to dive into that part of the world and be able to do that, just like I wouldn’t be asked to go and stand on a football field coach, I’ve seen that from a sideline.
00:21:12 Speaker 2
I’ve seen that present fan. I mean, it’s that is a world that I that is above my head, well above my head.
00:21:17 Speaker 2
But I think something that coaches can do across the board and it may not feel good in the moment or and make it a little bit of pushback from parents early on and things like that but be.
00:21:28 Speaker 2
Be very transparent and honest with your students about where they stand and the things they need to do to improve. I think a lot of, especially at the club level, less so at high school because you’re not paying for that either. You know they’re involved in that voluntarily.
00:21:45 Speaker 2
Club coaches especially, I feel like have discovered that they can retain more kids when the parents feel as though. So, the coach values them possibly even higher than what their talent level allows for in the in the moment.
00:22:00 Speaker 1
Oh, OK.
00:22:00 Speaker 2
And so basically, you know, I I think a lot of times they don’t want to upset parents cause they Understand parents, the ones who are paying me thousands of dollars every summer or fall or or whatever that season is to beyond that name and you know my kids great, and I want to hear that my kids great and things are going well.
00:22:17 Speaker 2
We’re going all these tournaments and really that’s putting you in a tough spot because now you you may be laddered, or you may be expecting something that just isn’t really a reality for you at the college
00:22:26 Speaker 2
Level. So, every 1415-year-old kid starts out basing their college decision process. When it comes to athletics, on who do I see on TV? Who’s in the top 25? Who do I read about on on ESPN or Sports Center or whatever it might be?
00:22:41 Speaker 2
And so you’re now working with the top 25 programs in the country and that’s where they think that they need to go.
00:22:45 Speaker 2
And parents love their kids, and they want to support that, or they have a lump. You know, they’re alumnus of certain places that they’re big fans of and that’s kind of how your first college list gets made as an athlete, as is this massively high bar at the Division One level for the most part.
00:23:01 Speaker 2
And coaches can feed into that for personal reasons or for monetary reasons or whatever it might be, and I think it’s important and coaches that sort of eventually rise at the top are comfortable telling kids like, listen.
00:23:16 Speaker 2
This is where you’re at right now, based on the kids that I’ve worked with, your ID two guy and that that that’s where I ladder you. But here are the things that I’m seeing you can improve on.
00:23:24 Speaker 2
And these are the areas that if you were to turn this into a plus attribute of what you’re doing or improve this aspect, that’s where I see you being able to rise in the ranks.
00:23:32 Speaker 2
Now we tell our kids don’t just bucket yourself based on where Coach tells you where to go for both good and bad reasons, but if you have a realistic idea of where you are and what you can do to improve an actual thing you and work on.
00:23:44 Speaker 2
That is going to benefit you so much more than a coach just being like your great Johnny. We love it doing, doing great. It’s awesome. It’s $3500 for the summer. You’re like, OK.
00:23:57 Speaker 1
And then they show up to wherever they’re going, and they have to re learn or unlearn, you know, bad habits or whatever it may be or, you know, they realize that ladder is massive for them to climb up in order to make it on the field r, you know my case in the water, not riding the bench, right? So I think that’s great.
00:24:16 Speaker 1
So, is there things that is probably an unfair question, but are there things that the universities and colleges could be doing a little bit better throughout this process?
00:24:26 Speaker 1
I know so much is left to the UNI coaches, right, but I was just wondering if there’s again, it might be a very unfair question, but are there things that the universities? Could be doing a little bit better to help student athletes as they’re being recruited through the process.
00:24:42 Speaker 2
I personally would love to see colleges do a little better job or or take a vested interest in connecting recruited athletes to advisors at the school, college admissions reps, Athletic academic advisors, whatever it might be.
00:25:02 Speaker 2
To give kids an opportunity to get a very clear picture of what can and can’t be possible at that. I think that a lot of times is what catches a lot of people off guard. I don’t know how many kids I played with or how many guys I played with who came in, and this was a Texas stack as civil engineering undergrads or chemical engineering undergrads, and by the time they’re juniors there.
00:25:23 Speaker 2
Undergraduate studies, and they’ve got, you know, a minor in engineering, a minor in history and a minor in public communication because at the end of the day, when you play for a division, one Big 12 program. Practice comes first and your schedule is going to be going to to be adjusted based on that.
00:25:40 Speaker 2
Or you’re going to prioritize academics and certain things and your playability may fall. You know there there’s a trade that happens, there’s a sacrifice that happens with those things.
00:25:54 Speaker 2
However, if you go to Colorado School of Mines, right, that is an engineering school, or Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, that is an engineering school. They know the kids they’re getting when they go there, so understanding the schools is really helpful.
00:26:06 Speaker 2
But I think helping kids just have transparency on one of my options when I come here as a as a student, what are realistic options?
00:26:14 Speaker 2
I’m a college counselor, sort by trade, and so I visit schools every year to try and better understand campuses, make relationships. I visit close to 20 to 50 schools a year to to do that.
00:26:24 Speaker 2
I have a tough time as somebody who does this for a living, getting schools to help me understand where the majority of their athletes are based on where I go to school if I if I go visit a big division one school. For some reason, those statistics don’t exist.
00:26:38 Speaker 2
They can’t help me understand where all the football players are for a major, where all the baseball players are for a major. But if I go to for example, I went to Colorado school mines, and that’s a little different cause they’re heavy on engineering, but they could tell me pretty easily in a spreadsheet where all those kids are and what and what degrees they’re pursuing and what they’re doing.
00:26:55 Speaker 2
So, you know, have a little more transparency about where these kids are and what they can do and help kids understand what their what their actual college opportunities or if they’re going to go play for that team at that school.
00:27:06 Speaker 1
Yeah, the cynic in me believes that they’re just focusing on the dollars they rate, and that’s unfortunate. They don’t really care about where the kids land.
00:27:14 Speaker 1
So, if if that’s the cynic in me, then maybe on recruiting trips should be athletes be requesting time with a counselor or something when they go on their recruiting trips, you know, because it shouldn’t all be about what’s up facility.
00:27:31 Speaker 1
One of my coaches, like let me meet some of the current athletes should also be, hey, I want to make an appointment to talk to a counselor on campus, right?
00:27:40 Speaker 2
Absolutely, yeah. We tell our kids, right you, you are valued in that school just as much as that coaches evaluating new. It needs to be a fit on both ends, so we encourage our kids to take a campus tour that doesn’t involve coach cause.
00:27:55 Speaker 2
You’re not going to be on the golf cart and you’re not going to see all the nicest facilities. You’re not going to go inside the locker room. You’re going to see the communications building that was maybe built in the 90s and you’re going to see an admissions Rep who talks about things other than sports.
00:28:07 Speaker 2
You’re going to see the school from a different angle. You’re going to be in a group of of potential students, of kids that are not on a baseball team, on a football team or a swimming team or whatever it might be that are interested in this school and and culturally.
00:28:21 Speaker 2
Fit with what they’re what they’re trying to push and promote at that at that certain university. Go meet with the advisor that is in the college that you’re interested in, or 8 columns that you’re interested in, and.
00:28:31 Speaker 2
Ask them how many students I’ve done that before I’ve walked into. Let’s say I went to the nursing school at TCU probably a month ago, literally just walked into the advising office and said, hey, can you pull up and tell me how many student athletes you have in in the program right now and they’ve got.
00:28:46 Speaker 3
It absolutely they can tell you that they may not want to tell you that, depending on what you’re coming in what context.
00:28:51 Speaker 3
Umm, but those are the kinds of things that if you if you don’t ask the questions, no one going to volunteer this stuff that isn’t the new locker room or the new to pool or whatever it is like it’s on you.
00:29:00 Speaker 1
The flashy to recruit you.
00:29:02 Speaker 2
Yeah, that’s there’s a game to it. There’s a reason that they’ve got all these people that are recruiting coordinators and whatnot on staff and they’ve got budget for these things.
00:29:04 Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah.
00:29:09 Speaker 2
It’s on you to go and find everything else about this school that they may not want to tell you about all the time.
00:29:16 Speaker 1
Yeah, it’s great. I love it. I love it, Reid.
00:29:19 Speaker 1
I love the fact that you’re trying to get these families, these kids in these families, to think about college as the really, the springboard for the rest of their life instead of justice the next little stage they’re trying to meet, right?
00:29:37 Speaker 1
So, it’s a springboard to set them up for their future and not just, so I’m just going to go play ball or do whatever and then I’ll figure it out after that and it’s it’s amazing and that’s why so many kids like come out of college and they don’t.
00:29:52 Speaker 1
They don’t stay within their chosen degree, right? They some of them don’t even know what the heck they want to do with themselves without sports.
00:30:00 Speaker 1
And I think that your organization providing them an Ave to consider this a journey instead of just like a hurdle and then think about it later, I think is amazing. Thing so where, where? Can people find out more about you?
00:30:15 Speaker 2
Yes, the easiest place I would say is our website www.athletestoathletes.com TO in the middle, not the number 2.
00:30:21 Speaker 2
I think there’s a place that has the number 2 as well, so that’s obviously the easiest place you can find us on Instagram, Athletes to Athletes. Twitter, Facebook, it’s all the same thing there.
00:30:33 Speaker 2
You go any that you go any of those places, you can see all the information about us, you can see everything that we’re sort of about philosophically, and you can actually schedule a free session with yours truly.
00:30:42 Speaker 2
If you go to the website and want to learn more about what we’re doing, you will, you will have a conversation with me and we’ll and we’ll talk about kind of how this process works and then how we can help your student athlete in your family. So that’s kind of the easiest ways to find US.
00:30:56 Speaker 1
Wonderful, wonderful. This point. Any last thoughts for the audience?
00:31:01 Speaker 2
Man, I just think for for any parents, any coaches, any student athletes that are listening. I think one of the most important things that we talked about and I’ve I’ve been on a terror of it recently.
00:31:11 Speaker 2
So, my co-founder probably listen to this and roll his eyes cause he’s heard it so many times. But you know, we so want to promote to the kids that we work with and to really any student athletes to unapologetic Lee yourself during the recruiting process. I think it’s so easy as a 1516 year old kid to sort of fall into this phase of May.
00:31:30 Speaker 2
And these coaches have influence and these coaches are on TV and I’ve heard about this person and they like me and then I need to really try and shift who I am or mold my personality to fit what I think this coach wants me to be or fit.
00:31:41 Speaker 2
But I think this school wants me to to do and you know, college is is this amazing opportunity for you to become the person you want to be.
00:31:51 Speaker 2
And if you spend all four years or three or five or whatever that number is trying to be the person that you think this person wants you to be, you’re doing yourself a disservice and you’re not allowing yourself the ability to grow into this amazing individual that that you have the potential for.
00:32:07 Speaker 2
So, we tell our kids, be unapologetic. See yourself. It’s not easy to do. I’ll I did a bad job of it. I’m trying to figure it out right now, but it’s amazing how far that will take you in the process if you sort of trust your gut in that capacity and and really lean into that that mindset.
00:32:25 Speaker 1
Well, thank you for coming on. I love your, I love how you serve. I love people who can serve other people to be better in their life and and set up their future.
00:32:34 Speaker 1
So absolutely wonderful. So thank you very much. I appreciate it.
00:32:39 Speaker 2
Yeah, thank you for having me. This is an absolute blast.
00:39:38 Speaker 1
Wonderful.
