According to the Associated Press this afternoon: "The U.S. Post Service did not escape the effects of the economic meltdown (http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing) and suffered a net loss of $3.8 billion for fiscal 2009. After $6 billion in cost savings and $4 billion in reduced payments for retiree health benefits, the agency still employs more than 712,000 people."
What clear headed individual would think that the Postal Service SHOULD escape the meltdown? When George Washington established the Postal Department in 1792 I wonder if he actually envisioned it as the second largest civilian employer in the good old U. S. of A. Yep, only Wal-Mart employs more people than our beloved postal service. And maybe, just maybe Wal-Mart is a tiny bit more strategic and thus actually profitable. Hmmm, carry the goods that customers want, treat those same customers as though they matter to you, marginalize the competition by beating them on price and selection. What a concept!
Or you could go with the USPS model: "career" employees who behave as though every customer is a pain-in-the-butt to be sneered at or ignored, prices continuing to rise unabated while the so-called service declines, hours of operation designed by the union bosses with disregard to customer preference. But if my job was described as "career employee" perhaps I'd be inclined to ignore the people who pay my salary too. Oh okay, probably not.
Today's news about the United States Postal Service cannot come as a surprise if you've given it even a whit of thought. Aside from the tedious issue of a quasi-government job, don't get me started on either privatization or technology. And yes, I'm sure the next step will be the elimination of Saturday delivery http://blog.uspsoig.gov/ which comes on the heels of the current steady removal of the trusty blue drop off mailboxes.
Hellooooooo, anybody home? When was the last time you wrote & snail-mailed a letter? And god knows I am as change averse as the next baby boomer but I managed to leave the stone age and start paying bills on-line. We really need to ask ourselves if we still need a United States Postal Service. Do we? Really? Hasn't technology all but eliminated the need for it? And if not now, then surely soon. The framers of the consitution used the pony express and the telegraph too, but like the covered wagon some services simply outlive their usefulness.
If though, we need to look at the postal service as a contestant on Survivor, and give it a fighting chance to make it through to the next reality round, the configuration must change. Competitor Fed Ex has also had a tough year (http://news.fedex.com/) and has responded with a plan to save another billion dollars in 2010 by reducing personnel and work hours, streamlining technology and finding greater economies of scale. In their own words, "We remain focused on providing outstanding service, and will ensure that our actions do not impede our industry-leading customer experience.” Service and customers...sounds slightly like WalMart meets mailing and shipping! Could it be?
As far as I'm concerned, we are rapidly approaching the lightening round for the USPS. Either the union bends, technology is embraced, and customers are valued or it should go away. The United States Postal Service may be a memory as fond as milk-men, gas station attendants and drive-in movies.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
CALL ME CRAZY...
I've decided to participate in NANOWRIMO - which is proving to be utter insanity! Why? Because NANOWRIMO is the acronym for National Novel Writing Month. Basically a competition of sorts to write a 50,000 word novel from start to finish during the month of November. The "prize" is really only the creative satisfaction of being able to say that you did it, so technically you are competing with a hundred thousand other people but mainly with yourself. Naturally for someone as fiercely competitive as yours truly, there is nothing like a deadline and a challenge to get me fired up!
Insanity though - I have a good but fierce full time gig, I have a teenage son & a husband who both deserve some of my time, and of course I still have the broken foot! Hmmmmmmm, yup utter insanity. Kinda cool though and simultaneously mentally draining. But what would "SandiLand" be without a new sense of drama?!?
So far the novel is a behind-the-scenes look at something near and dear to my heart. Perhaps excerpts will be posted here, but only if time allows. As of this writing I still have 47,000 more words to go so I wouldn't be holding my breath if I were you. Gotta go, the story waits for no man...
-0-
Insanity though - I have a good but fierce full time gig, I have a teenage son & a husband who both deserve some of my time, and of course I still have the broken foot! Hmmmmmmm, yup utter insanity. Kinda cool though and simultaneously mentally draining. But what would "SandiLand" be without a new sense of drama?!?
So far the novel is a behind-the-scenes look at something near and dear to my heart. Perhaps excerpts will be posted here, but only if time allows. As of this writing I still have 47,000 more words to go so I wouldn't be holding my breath if I were you. Gotta go, the story waits for no man...
-0-
Sunday, November 1, 2009
NY thru new eyes
You had never seen a taxi line so long. But you'd only been in taxi's twice before and weren't particularly schooled in the ways of big cities. Pregnant, bloated and waist long hair did NOT paint you as a big city sophisticate.
You were alone again, naturally. As you had been for every adventure. Not alone by choice but by chance. And it was suddenly critically important that you not look like the country-bumpkin that you secretly suspected you were.
Lesson number one, taxi drivers do not speak much English, do not seem helpful to clueless pregnant woman and apparently never clean their cabs. But look at the skyline! The names on the signs sound like those you've grown up with watching on TV, the Brooklyn Bridge, Greenwich, Harlem, Times Square. And you find yourself watching the people, staring really inside the relative safety of the steaming, grimy, speeding taxi.
You've never seen that much black clothing, well except for funerals back home – but not clothes like that, or shoes, or makeup. The cacophony of sounds was thrilling, horns beeping like so many motorized sheep, pedestrians yelling with arms outstretched and police whistles that never pause for a moment of quiet. You step out of your yellow car and into the arms of the jostling, impatient, uniformed doorman.
But after only 30 minutes of watching you already know to the bottom of your unsophisticated heart that your best suitcase is shabby and dated. The dress that seemed so nouveau in Phoenix hangs shapelessly out of style, almost embarrassed in it's own right. But you straighten your shoulders, baby bump out in front and from some unknown well deep within your psyche you begin to mirror the haughtiness you see all around you. "It's a cheap little bag" you murmur confidently to the valet "but the silly airline has lost my Louis Vuitton and I'd love it if you could take it for me".
The person formerly known as YOU was about to be buried deep within.
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Saturday, October 24, 2009
Two things for a glorious Saturday in October
First, I'm working on an article about how to write killer commercials. Some excerpts will appear here at a later date BUT I've made an interesting discovery as a part of the research process. Remember the adage "those who can, do and those who can't, teach"? Consider that chestnut officially modified now to "those who can, do and those who can't, write how-to articles for websites"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The plethora of incredibly bad advice offered as serious instruction is nothing less than breathtaking. Now granted, there is more than one good way to approach killer copy and creative, but most of the advice is truly horrendous. Forget strategy or goals, if you use the internet as your guide, just pick out the right props and remember to write the video instructions on the left and the spoken words on the right. (For you readers who are not experienced in writing tv commercials I am being extremely sarcastic!)
This particular light bulb moment means I've begun to wonder two things:
Is this perhaps a partial explanation for all of the really awful television commercials we see now? AND, if the other "advice" on-line is this far off base it's a wonder that we as a society haven't completely self-destructed by now! Imagine all those sites that specialize in finding a job, diagnosing your own medical malady, fixing a car problem, any of the gazillions of how-to sites, pages, blogs, articles, etc...all wrong, all complete and unsubstantiated fiction. Boggles the mind my friends, absolutely boggles it.
Secondly and finally, I have officially changed the name of my blog, because as I become more serious about writing it seems apt that the URL not be quite so sassy! I'll miss "i am not a drama queen" though...it came to mark an interesting confluence of dreams and reality. The writing of it quite literally changed my life. And to be honest it was so completely random and steam of consciousness that it's surprising it could become so personally important. But thanks to my friend Jim Bernstein, who with his typical clarity pointed out that people who love writing should write. Sometimes I think that you have to be in the right place in your head and in your life to heed good advice when it whacks you upside the head.
-0-
The plethora of incredibly bad advice offered as serious instruction is nothing less than breathtaking. Now granted, there is more than one good way to approach killer copy and creative, but most of the advice is truly horrendous. Forget strategy or goals, if you use the internet as your guide, just pick out the right props and remember to write the video instructions on the left and the spoken words on the right. (For you readers who are not experienced in writing tv commercials I am being extremely sarcastic!)
This particular light bulb moment means I've begun to wonder two things:
Is this perhaps a partial explanation for all of the really awful television commercials we see now? AND, if the other "advice" on-line is this far off base it's a wonder that we as a society haven't completely self-destructed by now! Imagine all those sites that specialize in finding a job, diagnosing your own medical malady, fixing a car problem, any of the gazillions of how-to sites, pages, blogs, articles, etc...all wrong, all complete and unsubstantiated fiction. Boggles the mind my friends, absolutely boggles it.
Secondly and finally, I have officially changed the name of my blog, because as I become more serious about writing it seems apt that the URL not be quite so sassy! I'll miss "i am not a drama queen" though...it came to mark an interesting confluence of dreams and reality. The writing of it quite literally changed my life. And to be honest it was so completely random and steam of consciousness that it's surprising it could become so personally important. But thanks to my friend Jim Bernstein, who with his typical clarity pointed out that people who love writing should write. Sometimes I think that you have to be in the right place in your head and in your life to heed good advice when it whacks you upside the head.
-0-
Sunday, October 4, 2009
MY NEW BFF
Writing is a passion, a calling, an art form, a friend, a meaningful enterprise. It haunts me when inspiration fails to strike. It is both intuitive and learned, with ever more to try or consider or hone. And a thick skin is going to be needed. Paranoia sometimes creeps in on quiet cat paws, because a significant part of any writing is really putting your self out there. These are MY words, arranged in a way logical and perfect to ME. But perhaps not perfect for anyone else.
Writing has rapidly become a good friend. Okay, weird sounding but preferable to an obsession with Facebook, Twitter, or You Tube. One of the great thing about being a writer is that it is both time consuming and brutally honest. See how that would be analogous to a best friend? Feeling guilty when neglecting it too long, vowing each morning to spend time with it in the afternoon, and then even more frustration when the day gets in the way.
I saw a t-shirt yesterday with these words on the front "keep it up and you'll end up in my novel". Thought about buying it, but am not at all certain that a novel awaits . Odd as it sounds the real fun for me can be found in more commercial writing; press releases, radio/TV copy, articles, newsletters, blogging, website copy. Perhaps that's more capitalism than art form but in the eye of this beholder it's all good.
Have a good week friends!
-0-
Writing has rapidly become a good friend. Okay, weird sounding but preferable to an obsession with Facebook, Twitter, or You Tube. One of the great thing about being a writer is that it is both time consuming and brutally honest. See how that would be analogous to a best friend? Feeling guilty when neglecting it too long, vowing each morning to spend time with it in the afternoon, and then even more frustration when the day gets in the way.
I saw a t-shirt yesterday with these words on the front "keep it up and you'll end up in my novel". Thought about buying it, but am not at all certain that a novel awaits . Odd as it sounds the real fun for me can be found in more commercial writing; press releases, radio/TV copy, articles, newsletters, blogging, website copy. Perhaps that's more capitalism than art form but in the eye of this beholder it's all good.
Have a good week friends!
-0-
Friday, September 25, 2009
GET YOURSELF NOTICED!
Hungering for attention is common to business's large and small. You want to be noticed, even applauded for your latest acquisition, hire, merger, community outreach, fund raiser, etc. etc. etc.
Much easier said than done! Haven't you wondered how those local TV stations pick out the stories that they do cover? Why can't your company ever get media coverage for anything other than a fire in the lobby? Even when it comes to your own unique trade publications, the media has to buy your story or it won't generate any attention. Is there some magic set of buzzwords that the media will respond to?
The trick is simple, but oddly missed by nearly all would-be press release writers. In journalism school we called it W.I.F.M. which is the acronym for "what's in it for me?" The "me" in question is the viewer, the reader, the listener. In other words, why should the audience or the media care about your news?
In today's simultaneously overweight-but-weight-obsessed society let's use a more relevant acronym for successful press release writing, and that is F.A.T.: Focused, Attention-grabbing & Timely. With a little forethought, creativity and basic writing skill you too can make your news announcement F.A.T. and grab a little bit of that media attention.
Focused - your press release should be tightly focused on ONE thing. Do not cram several pieces or tidbits of info into the press release no matter how interesting you personally may find those things. Ask yourself "what is one the one thing I want to have noticed?" and then ruthlessly keep your writing and your communication about that one point. As examples:
1. Two great new hires that you've snagged from competitors? Two separate press releases with some time in between.
2. You've just landed a huge piece of business that will allow you to add staff? One press release about the new client and another about your planned expansion (or even better about your planned hiring).
3. Your last fundraiser exceeded your expectations so you've already started planning the next one? You guessed it, two separate announcements
This process of focusing will help you cull your story down into its most important and basic element. Maybe you think you have two announcements, but check with a few trusted colleagues and you may discover that only one piece of information really interests anyone but you. Focus also means serious consideration of who will be interested in this news of yours and who is really likely to cover it. Your news may be perfect for online or printed trade publications, but The Wall Street Journal isn’t really going to bite on an announcement with specific industry-only terminology. A broader but even more compelling announcement must be crafted to reach the national media and even local TV and newspapers. Focus on getting the biggest bang for your writing buck, trade publications can be the perfect and most effective vehicle in many cases, even if they are not as sexy as USA Today.
Attention Grabbing
The headline, the opening paragraph, and the leading sentence absolutely must be attention grabbing or your announcement is on the fast track to the delete button. Headlines should be short, less than two lines and very succinctly summarize the announcement. You must force yourself to tell this “story” in one sentence. As my own recent examples:
• Bubbles the Chimp will NOT inherit Jacko’s Millions
• Looking for Orlando’s Youngest TV Reporter
• Pink Slip Party Rides to the rescue of Job Seekers
You don’t have to be a journalism school grad to realize that complete sentences are not necessary in writing headlines and can very comfortably be avoided. What is necessary is an active, interesting statement. Often times the headline should be the last thing written. The press release itself, if written correctly will almost tell you what the headline might be.
This first paragraph comes directly under the headline, can be 2 – 3 sentences long and should be a strong summary of your “news”. Finally, your lead sentence really needs to read like “a lead”. This lead sentence is the first sentence in what will be the body or the “meat” of your announcement. For lead writing reference pull out a newspaper, magazine or news website and spend a few minutes reading different leads. While there is an art to writing a great lead, most people can write a perfectly competent lead with a little bit of focused brain power.
Timely
Creating a timely announcement really means positioning your news as relevant and current. This can best be done by stepping outside of your own little world and honestly asking why anyone would be interested in this piece of information. This becomes easier with practice, but as a starting point consider what is going on around you locally, regionally, nationally, and industry-wise that you can tie in to. As examples:
• Breaking ground on an addition to your warehouse? Your expansion is great news for a sagging local economy
• Starting your own new business? Becoming an Entrepreneur is the newest solution for would-be job seekers
• Landed a new account? Your employees are demonstrating outside-the-box thinking in tough economic times
• Wrapped up a successful fundraiser? The right cause still resonates even when people are cash strapped
So there you have it. Of course, there are a lot of extremely talented writers available, and the art of the successful press release comes a little more easily to them, yours truly included. But in a pinch, or even just to test your chops give this a shot. When it comes to media attention FAT is where it's at, baby!
Much easier said than done! Haven't you wondered how those local TV stations pick out the stories that they do cover? Why can't your company ever get media coverage for anything other than a fire in the lobby? Even when it comes to your own unique trade publications, the media has to buy your story or it won't generate any attention. Is there some magic set of buzzwords that the media will respond to?
The trick is simple, but oddly missed by nearly all would-be press release writers. In journalism school we called it W.I.F.M. which is the acronym for "what's in it for me?" The "me" in question is the viewer, the reader, the listener. In other words, why should the audience or the media care about your news?
In today's simultaneously overweight-but-weight-obsessed society let's use a more relevant acronym for successful press release writing, and that is F.A.T.: Focused, Attention-grabbing & Timely. With a little forethought, creativity and basic writing skill you too can make your news announcement F.A.T. and grab a little bit of that media attention.
Focused - your press release should be tightly focused on ONE thing. Do not cram several pieces or tidbits of info into the press release no matter how interesting you personally may find those things. Ask yourself "what is one the one thing I want to have noticed?" and then ruthlessly keep your writing and your communication about that one point. As examples:
1. Two great new hires that you've snagged from competitors? Two separate press releases with some time in between.
2. You've just landed a huge piece of business that will allow you to add staff? One press release about the new client and another about your planned expansion (or even better about your planned hiring).
3. Your last fundraiser exceeded your expectations so you've already started planning the next one? You guessed it, two separate announcements
This process of focusing will help you cull your story down into its most important and basic element. Maybe you think you have two announcements, but check with a few trusted colleagues and you may discover that only one piece of information really interests anyone but you. Focus also means serious consideration of who will be interested in this news of yours and who is really likely to cover it. Your news may be perfect for online or printed trade publications, but The Wall Street Journal isn’t really going to bite on an announcement with specific industry-only terminology. A broader but even more compelling announcement must be crafted to reach the national media and even local TV and newspapers. Focus on getting the biggest bang for your writing buck, trade publications can be the perfect and most effective vehicle in many cases, even if they are not as sexy as USA Today.
Attention Grabbing
The headline, the opening paragraph, and the leading sentence absolutely must be attention grabbing or your announcement is on the fast track to the delete button. Headlines should be short, less than two lines and very succinctly summarize the announcement. You must force yourself to tell this “story” in one sentence. As my own recent examples:
• Bubbles the Chimp will NOT inherit Jacko’s Millions
• Looking for Orlando’s Youngest TV Reporter
• Pink Slip Party Rides to the rescue of Job Seekers
You don’t have to be a journalism school grad to realize that complete sentences are not necessary in writing headlines and can very comfortably be avoided. What is necessary is an active, interesting statement. Often times the headline should be the last thing written. The press release itself, if written correctly will almost tell you what the headline might be.
This first paragraph comes directly under the headline, can be 2 – 3 sentences long and should be a strong summary of your “news”. Finally, your lead sentence really needs to read like “a lead”. This lead sentence is the first sentence in what will be the body or the “meat” of your announcement. For lead writing reference pull out a newspaper, magazine or news website and spend a few minutes reading different leads. While there is an art to writing a great lead, most people can write a perfectly competent lead with a little bit of focused brain power.
Timely
Creating a timely announcement really means positioning your news as relevant and current. This can best be done by stepping outside of your own little world and honestly asking why anyone would be interested in this piece of information. This becomes easier with practice, but as a starting point consider what is going on around you locally, regionally, nationally, and industry-wise that you can tie in to. As examples:
• Breaking ground on an addition to your warehouse? Your expansion is great news for a sagging local economy
• Starting your own new business? Becoming an Entrepreneur is the newest solution for would-be job seekers
• Landed a new account? Your employees are demonstrating outside-the-box thinking in tough economic times
• Wrapped up a successful fundraiser? The right cause still resonates even when people are cash strapped
So there you have it. Of course, there are a lot of extremely talented writers available, and the art of the successful press release comes a little more easily to them, yours truly included. But in a pinch, or even just to test your chops give this a shot. When it comes to media attention FAT is where it's at, baby!
Raising a Jock
Remember the original ‘Friday Night Lights’? High school football back in the day…those chilly fall football games when we were in high school? Popcorn, cheerleaders, the biggest guys lumbering around with shoulder pads, huge helmets, and happy-if-muddy grins. Win or lose, we’d always meet up after the game for burgers and our carefree high school life continued. Granted, high school sports in the Midwest were slightly more frostbitten than here in Florida, but still fundamentally the same.
Fast forward to 2009, high school football Florida style. Those carefree memories are a funny novelty to the high school jock of today. Playing football today is a very serious and often expensive business to thousands of young athletes.
According to online publication ESPN Rise: “Many people clearly believe Florida is the best high school football state.” Lake Mary, Florida grad, All-American linebacker at USC, and first-round draft pick Keith Rivers of the Cincinnati Bengals is a perfect example of a ‘local-kid-makes-good-on-his-dream’ story.
But sports success does not come easily or inexpensively for most youth in high school sports today even here in Florida. Doug Peters, Athletic Director at Lake Mary High School tells me that his high school alone averages 800 student athletes annually and only about 15 of them will go on to attend college on athletic scholarships after graduation each year.
Although his parents may not be aware of it yet, high school football players already know that they need real marketing to the tune of: professionally produced highlight videos, personal trainers and even a “scout” who contacts multiple schools on the player’s behalf in order to play college football. The commitment required for today’s high school athletes is so different because it involves even greater emotional, personal and financial investment on the part of the whole family.
Take 16 year old Trevor Alfredson (full disclosure: my youngest child) who has been playing football and loving it since he was six years old. “I’ve wanted to play Division 1 football for as long as I can remember” says Trevor. And as a high school sophomore varsity player, Trev’s season also involved hiring a firm to make a highlight video, discussions with two different recruiting service firms, training with former a NFL playerDana Sanders and attending something called “combines”.
For those uninitiated in the “jock” lingo of today: high school football combines officially test athletes on a number of physical skills like speed, agility, and strength while various college coaches look on. The pressure to get noticed is incredibly heavy for these boys, as early as age 14! The cost of sophomore year football alone, with an eye toward playing “division 1 football” can range upwards of $5500.
The pressure and problems of “making it” aren’t unique to football either. Lake Mary’s Lee Morgan is a junior who plays two kinds of soccer (Club Soccer and high school soccer) AND football so he’ll have the best shot at playing a college sport at a good school. A super-talented and first string football kicker, Lee has already emailed a number of college coaches (part of his personal marketing plan) and heard back from some of the Florida college coaches. For a fee Lee’s invited to summer soccer camps so the coaches can get an up-close-and personal look.
As fiercely competitive as college sports have become for high schoolers today, Lee tells us that “I’ve been playing soccer since I was 7, and now I want to keep all of my options open.” His educator father Walt, says that “part of today’s added pressure is because the cost of college has also risen, which can put more pressure on athletic scholarships.”
Florida’s Chip Humble works for CSA Prep Stars and he scouts players for multiple schools. Chip says that most parents need help understanding how recruiting really works. And with the exception of those very rare “blue chip players” like Keith Rivers, “lots of good athletes go unnoticed and unseen because they haven’t been properly marketed”.
The pros in the know say that the main reason many boys are not recruited is that no one knows about them. As Chip reminds the parents of his athletic roster: “just because your child was good in Little League or a standout at her own school it doesn’t mean they are a ‘blue chip’ All American athlete as far as college coaches are concerned.”
Raising a jock right now means a personal profile with website; following coaches on Twitter, verified game & combine stats and that pro-quality highlight video looked at by hundreds of college coaches. Dreams don't come cheap these days, even in high school!
Fast forward to 2009, high school football Florida style. Those carefree memories are a funny novelty to the high school jock of today. Playing football today is a very serious and often expensive business to thousands of young athletes.
According to online publication ESPN Rise: “Many people clearly believe Florida is the best high school football state.” Lake Mary, Florida grad, All-American linebacker at USC, and first-round draft pick Keith Rivers of the Cincinnati Bengals is a perfect example of a ‘local-kid-makes-good-on-his-dream’ story.
But sports success does not come easily or inexpensively for most youth in high school sports today even here in Florida. Doug Peters, Athletic Director at Lake Mary High School tells me that his high school alone averages 800 student athletes annually and only about 15 of them will go on to attend college on athletic scholarships after graduation each year.
Although his parents may not be aware of it yet, high school football players already know that they need real marketing to the tune of: professionally produced highlight videos, personal trainers and even a “scout” who contacts multiple schools on the player’s behalf in order to play college football. The commitment required for today’s high school athletes is so different because it involves even greater emotional, personal and financial investment on the part of the whole family.
Take 16 year old Trevor Alfredson (full disclosure: my youngest child) who has been playing football and loving it since he was six years old. “I’ve wanted to play Division 1 football for as long as I can remember” says Trevor. And as a high school sophomore varsity player, Trev’s season also involved hiring a firm to make a highlight video, discussions with two different recruiting service firms, training with former a NFL playerDana Sanders and attending something called “combines”.
For those uninitiated in the “jock” lingo of today: high school football combines officially test athletes on a number of physical skills like speed, agility, and strength while various college coaches look on. The pressure to get noticed is incredibly heavy for these boys, as early as age 14! The cost of sophomore year football alone, with an eye toward playing “division 1 football” can range upwards of $5500.
The pressure and problems of “making it” aren’t unique to football either. Lake Mary’s Lee Morgan is a junior who plays two kinds of soccer (Club Soccer and high school soccer) AND football so he’ll have the best shot at playing a college sport at a good school. A super-talented and first string football kicker, Lee has already emailed a number of college coaches (part of his personal marketing plan) and heard back from some of the Florida college coaches. For a fee Lee’s invited to summer soccer camps so the coaches can get an up-close-and personal look.
As fiercely competitive as college sports have become for high schoolers today, Lee tells us that “I’ve been playing soccer since I was 7, and now I want to keep all of my options open.” His educator father Walt, says that “part of today’s added pressure is because the cost of college has also risen, which can put more pressure on athletic scholarships.”
Florida’s Chip Humble works for CSA Prep Stars and he scouts players for multiple schools. Chip says that most parents need help understanding how recruiting really works. And with the exception of those very rare “blue chip players” like Keith Rivers, “lots of good athletes go unnoticed and unseen because they haven’t been properly marketed”.
The pros in the know say that the main reason many boys are not recruited is that no one knows about them. As Chip reminds the parents of his athletic roster: “just because your child was good in Little League or a standout at her own school it doesn’t mean they are a ‘blue chip’ All American athlete as far as college coaches are concerned.”
Raising a jock right now means a personal profile with website; following coaches on Twitter, verified game & combine stats and that pro-quality highlight video looked at by hundreds of college coaches. Dreams don't come cheap these days, even in high school!
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