By Dr. Shayne Baylis, Doc Hockey
Would it not be great if you had all the athletic talent in the world and agents were approaching you at every tournament, letters were filling your mailbox every month from universities across the country, and scouts were leaving messages in your voice or email box?
If this is your life, then your name is going to be right up there with Bo Jackson, Dave Winfield, and Deion Sanders. Unfortunately, I was not one of those premiere superstars, so I can relate to all those who had to battle it out and do everything to get noticed.
One of my favorite stories I heard while playing NCAA hockey myself at Niagara University was how former NHLer Nelson Emerson ended up getting a scholarship to Bowling Green University. Nelson’s lockermate was receiving letters from numerous universities, which he was just discarding since he’d already committed to Michigan State University. Nelson asked his teammate for the letters and filled out the applications, sending them to the corresponding schools.
This was his own self-promotion to make contact with several teams and their coaches. This story really got me thinking how important it is to market yourself and pull out all the stops – a big part of making it to the big show.
Recently David Chilton from Dragon’s Den (also known as the Wealthy Barber) said: “it is one thing to have your product on the shelf, but it is another task to get someone to take you off the shelf.”
Similar to this, we are all playing our sports at a high level and competing against the best players, but how do we get people to buy into the fact that we can make a difference for the team you desire to play for? Mr. Chilton also said that business is all about the details, and sport is definitely run like a business.
So let’s get to the details. How does a player get noticed and what do the recruiting teams want to see? Here are a few tips:
- Create a well-written resume where you tell the school why you want to be a part of their university. Research and find out what gives this university an excellent reputation (flatter them) and why you would be a good fit as a student-athlete. Get a college application or request one online and use that information as the outline for your letter. Free web sites like athleticscholarships.net can help create great profiles for connecting with schools.
- Videotape your games and edit just your shifts (all of them) and have a link in the resume to where it’s posted on a web site like youtube. Be sure that the game reflects your abilities and what you bring to the table.
- Academics: have good grades in school; mention honour classes, GPA, accomplishments and prepare to take the SATs for U.S. schools since some sport scholarships can be compensated by academic bursaries, thus less taken from the team’s money pool.
- Get to know connectors and mavens in your community. These are the people who are well-connected to the hockey world – skill developers, scouts who have experience and relationships with high-level athletes, teams and coaches. Mike Pilon of Endeavour Sports has a great program geared to this area of skill development, and provides mentorship on topics like making the decision of playing in the OHL or U.S. college hockey.
- Compete in prospect and highly-scouted tournaments in order to get your name out there. Parents, if you get a chance, ask scouts what they are looking for, and get to know them on a personal level. You never know when they may have inside information to help guide your future decisions.
- Provide current hockey statistics –height, weight, position, and position-specific stats, and how you compare to your league. Include your coaches’ names, their contact info, and your schedule, to help recruiters make plans to see you at their convenience.
- Collect reference letters from respectable coaches and other hockey personnel.
- Provide an outline of your Training Program, which should be geared towards explosiveness, and strength development of the muscle groups that pertain to hockey and the position you play. Post your fitness test scores (chin-ups, push-ups, bench, squat, broad jump, vertical jump, V02 max – evaluatory tools similar to those used at NHL draft combines), and if possible, your improved scores, which would be very impressive.
This is not mandatory information to provide, but good data points for teams to consider if it strengthens your resume.
To achieve these goals, you must stay healthy, and it is very important to have injuries treated before they become chronic and inhibit athletic progression. For explosive strength, hockey training, and injury prevention and treatment, consult Doc Hockey via dochockey.ca or call 613-371-4774.