Even though I never played sponsored collegiate athletics or went through the recruiting process, my mind was constantly reaching back to my high school volleyball days remembering what it was like to be a full time student-athlete. Remembering the drills that seemed to last forever, the coarse calluses on my hand, and the sweat that never seemed to escape my face. I have so many memories of that gym, that ball, and that game that gave me so much.

I was hoping to write some all encompassing, inspiring snippet about all that sports has given me and taught me, but now I don’t think I can do that. Every story is so vastly unique but also so insanely similar that it is hard to describe unless you’ve been there. That is what Athletes Wanted was for me, a chance to relive my individual experience yet share that experience with all those other athletes before and after me. I can think of no other way to summarize my Athletes Wanted story than with this. “You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a ball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.” –Former Big Leaguer, Jim Bouton.

Sport has given me so much and I hope that one day I can give as much back.

-Jim Broe

“Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that upon other fields on other days will bear the fruits of victory,” MacArthur famously said decades ago about sports’ role in the armed forces.

Unlike most employees at NCSA, I never played a sport in college. Despite not playing collegiately, athletics have played an enormous role in my life and helped me play a role in many other lives. Athletics helped me forge many dear friendships, learn how to interact with others and continues to shape my life on a daily basis. However, the single greatest gift athletics gave me was the will power and determination to participate in a charity bicycle event traveling across the United States to benefit people with disabilities.

Biking over 3,900 miles from San Francisco to the Capital steps in Washington D.C. would not have been possible without the lessons I learned earlier in life through sport. The willpower to climb mountains and endure hours on the bike were actually developed playing sports years earlier.

Most importantly the trip allowed me to help hundreds of people with disabilities all summer long. Working daily to help others allowed me the chance to really understand who I was as a person. I will be eternally grateful for the lessons I learned that summer and none of them would have been possible without sport.

As founder and CEO of the National Collegiate Scouting Association, my passion has always been to provide recruiting education for anyone and everyone who seeks it.  The mission for the last 25 years has been simple; ensure that every student-athlete, regardless of age, ability, or finances has access to the knowledge that will help them maximize their athletic scholarship potential.  That mission led to the creation of NCSA and its various educational parts (including this newsletter).

Now, I am proud to announce that I have recently finished writing my first book, “Athletes Wanted” – The complete guidebook to maximizing your child’s athletic scholarship and life potential. Athletes Wanted was born out of the idea that athletes are indeed wanted in all areas of society.  Athletes are not only wanted on college campuses to fill rosters, but also sought after by employers due to the unique skill set they possess.

Athletes Wanted includes:

- The NCAA bylaws that allow students to begin the recruiting process earlier than their competitors, even as early as the seventh or eighth grade.

- The five critical things an athlete must do and the five critical things an athlete must know to begin the process

- The biggest myths of the recruiting process

- The most important questions a student-athlete should ask a college coach

- The process for negotiating the best scholarship package

More than anything, Athletes Wanted provides a step by step plan for recruiting success that can be used by anyone.  I encourage you to read the foreword which was written by recruiting guru, Tom Lemming and also a preview of the book by clicking here.

Proceeds from Athletes Wanted will go to NCSA’s Educational Fund which will assist underprivileged student-athletes in their pursuit of collegiate athletics by defraying the costs of NCSA’s services.  Essentially, when you purchase a copy of Athletes Wanted, you will be allowing NCSA to provide recruiting education (like this newsletter and our educational workshops) nationwide for future student-athletes and families.

Writing this book has been a labor of love and symbolizes a culmination of all that I have experienced going through the recruiting process for the last 25 years.  If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Athletes Wanted, simply click here.  Thanks for your support!

There are many reasons why student athletes and families crave the opportunity to earn a college sports scholarship.  The prestige, desire to keep playing a sport at a high level, the fun, the scholarship dollars,the ability to get in a school where you might not be accepted without sports, and dozens of other reasons.  Most families are focused on the immediate returns on a  sports scholarship, however the benefits can be much longer lasting.

Former WNBA player Val Whiting recently sat down with Microsoft executive Lisa Brummel to talk about the advantages athletes have in the business world.

It is no coincidence that more than 80 percent of the female executives at Fortune 500 companies described themselves as former athletes.

Companies seek employees who can stand out in pressure situations, demonstrate leadership, and react positively to the instruction of superiors.

Lisa Brummel displays these qualities as senior vice president of human resources for Microsoft.

“The single biggest asset I have is not my education, not my experience, but my athletic background,” Brummel said in a phone interview.

“If you look, you will find people doing well in business and who were also athletes. You need stamina and pacing in corporate America, having the stamina to be able to perform.”

Brummel often asks managers to look for athletes when hiring.

“Athletes in companies are universally respected as high performers,” Brummel said. “Playing on a team, the understanding of team dynamics and roles, knowing when to step up or when to let someone else step up, and collaboration – if you come from team sports, you know these things already.”

Its clear that athletes enjoy a wide variety of advantages in college, but it is the longer lasting benefits that truly set athletes apart.

Playing college football was a passion since as long as I can remember and I always dreamed of playing college football. Growing up on the west coast, I had dreams of suiting up for UCLA and the University of Washington. By the end of my senior season, my high school football coach told me I was too small to play college. With no offers to play at the collegiate level, I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. During the next four years of my life, the Marine Corps instilled discipline, responsibility and a hard-working mentality. In the summer of 2001, while overseas, I taught myself how to long snap.  

In 2002, after being honorably discharged from the Marine Corps, I looked around at several schools on the West Coast. While coach after coach told me I was too small to play, I found a home at Scottsdale Community College. After almost being cut, I worked hard to get sufficient game film and marketed myself to over 100 colleges. I then made phone call after phone call to college coaches hounding them for a scholarship or at least a chance to play at their college. After a three month period of coaches telling me “No”, I found one college in Louisville, KY (University of Louisville) who was looking for a player to long snap. I never in my wildest dreams thought of playing football in Kentucky, but three years later with an NCAA record in one hand and the Orange Bowl ring in another, I would not have traded my college experience for anything in the world.

Ever since I could remember, basketball has been a part of my life. It’s a love that I can never seem to get over. Being born and raised in Chicago, I idolized Michael Jordan and wanted to be the female version of him, dreaming of playing for the WNBA when I grew up. Starting off practicing my dunks on the Little Tikes hoop in the basement (tongue out of course), then promoting myself to one-on-one sessions with my dad in the backyard, I finally started playing organized ball in 7th grade. In high school, I made the Junior Varsity team as a freshman, and played Varsity the rest of my high school career.  

Looking back on it, I didn’t really start thinking about playing college basketball until junior year. I didn’t go to a huge program that was a powerhouse for athletics so I wasn’t really informed about the recruiting process. I kind of just went with the flow and figured whatever happens, happens. I didn’t care, I just wanted to play. Then when my parents asked me if this was something I wanted to pursue in college, I had to say yes, because I just couldn’t picture my life without basketball.  

This is where Chris Krause and the materials in Athletes Wanted comes in! I enrolled Chris’ NCSA program, I believe after my junior season and soon enough, letters from all different colleges started pouring in. I had to talk to coaches, send out game tapes, log everything I did, write emails etc. I’m not going to lie, it was a lot of work, but I knew I needed to do it if I wanted to play, and that was something I was committed to doing. Chris got my name out there, guided me through what I needed to do with all these schools, and ultimately made me a collegiate basketball player.  

Making a final decision on which college to attend was probably the most difficult part of the process. I came to the realization that I would have to relinquish my hoop dreams of making it to the WNBA, so I based my decision on academics as well as athletics. I ended up going to the University of Chicago which is a Division III program in a very competitive conference. I feel as though I got the best of both worlds, getting a degree from one of the best universities in the world, while also being able to play the game that I love. The guideance that Chris and Athletes Wanted gave me made all this whole experience possible for me and I am glad I have the opportunity to do the same for today’s athletes.

My senior year of high school was the most stressful time of my life. I was a 17-year-old kid, and all I knew was that I wanted to play hockey in college. Hockey was my passion and my life revolved around this sport. I HAD to play college hockey. Not only did I want to play hockey in college, I wanted to play for a Division 1 program. I also wanted to attend school on the East Coast, particularly a top academic institution. I suppose you could say I had pretty lofty goals, but regardless of how impossible my ambitions seemed, these were my dreams and I was determined to achieve them. Now where did I begin? 

Knowing what you want to accomplish, and knowing how to do it are two entirely different concepts. I knew I wanted to play hockey in college, but I wasn’t sure how to attract coaches’ attention, or which schools might be good fits for me. I was fortunate, however, because women’s hockey at that time was a relatively small sport, and I had a short list of schools to choose from. These factors made it possible for me to send a resume to every woman’s college hockey program and attend a few showcases and well-known tournaments. My skills and grit got me noticed, and the next thing I knew, my mailbox was filled and the phone was constantly ringing. Still, I was completely overwhelmed. 

Coaches at some of the most elite colleges and hockey programs in the nation were telling me I would be accepted to their schools. High school guidance counselors told me that all coach’s lie, and I should stop communicating with them. I could go on and on but the point is, I needed some guidance! I needed someone to tell me what to say to coaches on the phone, what to look for on my visits, how many schools to apply to. For me, this mentor did not exist and my head spun. 

I am very lucky. My recruiting story has a happy ending. I was accepted at, and ultimately chose to attend, Yale University. I had a fabulous life and hockey career at Yale, and if I could turn back the clock I would make the same decision. 

But this story is not about me. My time in the spotlight has long since past. Now it is your turn, and it is my job to make sure you have the mentor that I yearned for. The college recruiting process should be exciting and informative. I am eager to help guide you every step of the way. Where you attend college is one of the most important decisions you will make in your life. Don’t leave it to luck.

I started playing soccer at the age of five in a small recreational league in Lake Orion, Michigan. After trying baseball, basketball, and football I knew soccer was my sport. By age thirteen I made my way onto the best travel team in Michigan, Vardar Soccer Club. At that point I knew I was on the right track to play college soccer, so I set my goals high shooting to play at a Division I program.  

Neither my family nor I had any idea on what the recruiting process was all about. I thought I was on the right track by going to showcase tournaments and playing on a premier team. Little did I know, that was only a small part of the recruiting process. I put together a profile of myself which included an introduction letter, a list of my accomplishments, newspaper clippings, and contact information. The next step was mailing my profile out to about 20-25 schools. The mistake I made was that I never followed up with these coaches asking them if they received my information. I didn’t send one email or call a single coach; I thought they would contact me, that wasn’t the case. I received a few letters from schools, but was not heavily recruited out of high school.  

The only schools I visited were because of the relations I had in the soccer community. I knew a player at Cleveland State University and I knew the coach at Eastern Michigan; those are the only two visits I took. Luckily, the Eastern Michigan coach offered me a spot on their roster. If my family didn’t l know this coach, I don’t know where I would have ended up. You can say that I was lucky to find a school that wanted me.  

Going into my freshman year of college I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect. The first week of practice, I had to sit out because one of my classes from high school wasn’t cleared by the Eligibility Center. This was extremely frustrating because I thought I had completed everything correctly. After a few days of sitting out, I was cleared to play; it was just a minor set back.  

After my sophomore year at Eastern the athletic department discontinued the soccer program. My teammates and I were devastated with no where to turn. I still had two years of eligibility and I knew that I still wanted to play. I had to start the whole recruiting process all over. Again, this is where luck struck me for the second time. I knew a player at Western Michigan University where I eventually landed and played those final two years.  

If I could sum my recruiting process up in a few words I would say: “Challenging but Rewarding.” I hit a lot of road blocks, had a lot of headaches, but eventually I found the perfect fit for myself.