Remember the original ‘Friday Night Lights’? High school football back in the day…those cold fall football games when we were in school? Popcorn, cheerleaders, the biggest guys who plod around with shoulder pads, huge helmets, and happy if muddy smiles. Win or lose, we always met after the game for burgers and our carefree high school life continued. Granted, high school sports in the Midwest were a bit more frozen than here in Florida, but they were still fundamentally the same.
Fast forward to 2009, Florida-style high school football. Those carefree memories are a fun novelty for today’s high school jock. Playing soccer today is a very serious and often expensive business for thousands of young athletes.
According to the online publication ESPN Rise: “Many people clearly believe that Florida is the best state for high school football.” Lake Mary, Florida graduate, All-American linebacker at USC, and first-round pick Keith Rivers of the Cincinnati Bengals is a perfect example of a “local kid doing his dream right” story.
But athletic success isn’t easy or cheap for most kids in high school sports today, even here in Florida. Doug Peters, athletic director at Lake Mary High School, tells me that his school alone averages 800 student-athletes a year, and only about 15 of them will attend college on athletic scholarships after graduation each year.
Though their parents may not know it yet, these young soccer players already know they need real marketing to the tune of: professionally produced highlight videos, personal coaches, and even a “scout” who contacts multiple schools on the player’s behalf. to play college football. The commitment required for today’s high school athletes is so different because it involves an even greater emotional, personal, and financial investment from the entire family.
Take 16-year-old Trevor Alfredson (full disclosure: my own teenage athlete son) as an example, who has been playing soccer and loving it since he was six. “He wanted to play Division 1 soccer for as long as I can remember,” says Trevor. And as a college sophomore, Trev’s season also involved hiring a company to do a highlight video, discussions with two different recruiting service companies, training with former NFL player Dana Sanders, and attending something called “combine”.
For those unfamiliar with today’s “athletic” lingo: High school football matches official test athletes in a number of physical abilities like speed, agility, and strength as various college coaches look on. The pressure to be noticed is incredibly strong for these children, from the age of 14! The cost of sophomore football alone, with a view to playing “division 1 football” can range in excess of $5,500.
The pressure and problems of “achieving” are not unique to soccer either. Lake Mary’s Lee Morgan is a junior who plays both types of soccer (club soccer and varsity soccer) AND soccer, so he’ll have the best chance of playing a college sport at a good school. A super talented, top-flight soccer kicker, Lee has already emailed several college coaches (part of his personal marketing plan) and received responses from some of Florida’s college coaches. For a fee, Lee is invited to summer soccer camps so the coaches can get an up-close, personal look.
As fiercely competitive as college sports have become for today’s young athletes, Lee tells us, “I’ve been playing soccer since I was 7 years old and now I want to keep all my options open.” Her educator dad, Walt, says “some of the added pressure today is because the cost of college has also gone up, which can put more pressure on athletic scholarships.”
Chip Humble from Florida works for the CSA Prep Stars and scouts players for various schools. Chip says most parents need help understanding how recruiting really works. And with the exception of those very rare “top players” like Keith Rivers, “a lot of good athletes go unnoticed and unseen because they haven’t been marketed properly.”
Professionals in the know say that the main reason many children are not recruited is that no one knows them. As Chip reminds parents on his athletic roster: “Just because your child was good in the minor leagues or excelled at his own school, it doesn’t mean he’s a ‘blue chip’ American athlete as far as college coaches go.” .”
Raising an athlete right now means a personal profile with a website; Twitter coaching tracking, verified game and combine stats and that professional-quality highlight video seen by hundreds of college coaches. Dreams don’t come cheap these days, even in high school!