Lifting an athlete

Remember the original ‘Friday Night Lights’? High school soccer in the day … those cold fall soccer games when we were at school? Popcorn, cheerleaders, the biggest guys fighting with shoulder pads, huge helmets, and happy, muddy smiles. Win or lose, we always got together after the burger game and our carefree life in high school continued. Of course, high school sports in the Midwest were a little bit more frozen than here in Florida, but they’re basically the same.

Fast forward to 2009, Florida-style high school football. Those carefree memories are a fun novelty for today’s high school athlete. Playing soccer today is a very serious and often expensive business for thousands of young athletes.

According to online publication ESPN Rise: “Many people clearly believe that Florida is the best high school soccer state.” Florida graduate Lake Mary All-American linebacker at USC and first-round pick Keith Rivers of the Cincinnati Bengals is a perfect example of a “local boy who does his dream well” story.

But sports success is not easy or cheap for most young people in high school sports today, even here in Florida. Doug Peters, director of athletics at Lake Mary High School, tells me that his school alone averages 800 student-athletes annually and that only about 15 of them will attend college with sports scholarships after graduation each year.

Although their parents may not know it yet, these young soccer players already know they need real marketing in the vein of: professionally produced featured videos, personal trainers, and even an “explorer” who contacts multiple schools on behalf of the player to to play college football. The commitment required for today’s high school athletes is very different because it involves an even greater emotional, personal, and financial investment by the entire family.

Take 16-year-old Trevor Alfredson (full disclosure: my own teenage son) who has been playing soccer and loving him since he was six years old. “I’ve wanted to play Division 1 soccer for as long as I can remember,” says Trevor. And as a college team sophomore, the Trev season also involved hiring a company to make a featured video, discussions with two different recruiting service companies, training with former NFL player Dana Sanders, and attending something called “harvesters”.

For those uninitiated in today’s “jock” lingo: High school football officially combines test athletes into a range of physical skills like speed, agility, and strength, while various college coaches watch. The pressure to be noticed is unbelievably great for these children, as early as age 14! The cost of sophomore soccer alone, with a view to playing “Division 1 soccer” can range over $ 5500.

The pressure and problems of “getting it” are not unique to soccer, either. Lake Mary’s Lee Morgan is a young man who plays two types of soccer (club soccer and school soccer) and soccer, so he will have the best chance of practicing a college sport at a good school. A talented first football kicker, Lee has already emailed multiple college coaches (part of his personal marketing plan) and received news from some of Florida’s college coaches. For a fee, Lee is invited to summer soccer camps so that coaches can look up-close and personal.

As fiercely competitive as college sports have become for young athletes today, Lee tells us, “I’ve been playing soccer since I was 7, and now I want to keep all my options open.” His parent educator Walt says “part of the additional pressure today is because the cost of college has also increased, which may put more pressure on sports scholarships.”

Chip Humble of Florida works for CSA Prep Stars and is looking for players for various schools. Chip says most parents need help understanding how recruitment really works. And with the exception of those very rare “blue chip players” like Keith Rivers, “many good athletes go unnoticed and are not seen because they have not been properly marketed.”

Professionals know that the main reason many children are not recruited is because no one knows them. As Chip reminds parents of his track list: “Just because his son was good in Little League or his own school doesn’t mean they are a ‘blue chip’ when it comes to college coaches.”

Raising an athlete at this time means a personal profile with the website; following coaches on Twitter, verified game and match stats, and that outstanding professional-quality video watched by hundreds of college coaches. Dreams are not cheap these days, even in high school!

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