NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

College Coach’s Corner: Lincoln University (PA) Baseball Coach, Anthony Pla’

1. How would you describe yourself as a coach?

I am a hard working coach that coaches each player individually.  I do not believe that each athlete is the same and they should be coached as such.  I am 100 percent concerned about my players academic progress because I want all of them to graduate with a degree.  I am a hands on coach that works out with the team during practice and lets them play during the games.  I only began building this program a year and a half ago and we have made many strides but still working to get over that hump.

2. What is unique about the experience at your school?

This is my first experience at an HBCU but there are so many wonderful opportunities for everyone to be involved with throughout the campus.  We are right in the middle of a rural area which makes it difficult for students to go off campus and do things, but the students make it worthwhile staying on campus with all of the events they put together throughout the year.

3. What do recruits need to know about you?

I am firm but fair and expect each student-athlete to give me 100 percent all of the time.  If all they have is 75 percent left in the tank, I want 100 percent of that 75 percent to get the max out of them.

4. What do you look for in recruits?

I look for players that like to work hard, do not question what they are doing, ask questions about getting them better, and are willing to put in that extra effort when no one else will no matter how hard they worked that day.

5. What is the one thing every recruit needs to do with the recruiting process?

Make sure they keep contact with me.  I am recruiting many players and it is hard to keep up as I am the only coach here.  As long as they keep contact with me, I will know how interested they really are and make sure they get everything I can give.

6. What sort of questions do you really like to hear from recruits?

What kind of coaching style do you have?  Do you like to play small ball?  Would I be able to get help with my studies?

7. What turns you off when you are recruiting a student athlete?

I get turned off when their main concern is about scholarship money, not playing or getting an education.

8. What do you think your program is the most successful at?

Fighting through adversity and working hard in the classroom and on the field.

9. Why should a recruit consider your program?

Recruits will have the opportunity to play here as long as they do what they are asked from the day they step foot through our campus doors until the day they leave.  The campus is colorful and it is growing each year.  With all of the new additions being made to the school from the new Cultural Center, the new athletic facilities and the new academic buildings, it is going to be the place to be!

10. If a recruit is interested in your program, how should they reach out to you?

Recruits can call me or email me.  I will always get back to someone who sounds interested in my program.  If they are sending a blanket email to 50 coaches, I am more than likely not going to respond.  I am a personal coach that likes to know where the recruit stands with where they would like to be for their future.

Ben Cullen
Assistant Head Coach – D. Coordinator / D. Line

1. How would you describe yourself as a coach?

Laid back

2. What?s unique about the experience at Fort Lewis?

It’s a great outdoor sports town (Ski resort, fly fishing, hiking, whitewater rafting, mountain climbing, mountain biking, etc…).  Being nestled in the mountains with an elevation of 6700 feet.

3. What do recruits need to know about you?

We will push you to be your best.

4. What do you look for in recruits?

Good grades and a non-stop motor on the field.

5. What is the one thing every recruit needs to do with the recruiting process?

Investigate all opportunities.

6. What sort of questions do you really like to hear from recruits?

Questions about the direction of the team.

7. What turns you off when you’re recruiting a student athlete?

When the parents do all the talking.

8. What do you think your program is the most successful at?

It’s hard to say right now, I just got hired in January and we have an entirely new staff.

9. Why should a recruit consider your program?

Best player plays.

10. If a recruit is interested in your program, how should they reach out to you?

Email is usually the best.

NCSA is proud to announce the commitment of Jacob Podolnick to theAir Force Academy.  Jacob is a 2010 graduate from Flanders, New Jersey where he attends Mt. Olive High School. He was recently featured in the  Daily Record “ Mt. Olive’s Podolnick taking game to Air Force ”  Jacob is an outstanding kid that will serve our country well.  NCSA wishes him the best in his future endeavors.

This week SportsCenter is counting down the Top Moments of the Decade.   You might think that they would be dominated by  household names, however the moment that stood out to us at NCSA is what could be considered the college play of the decade.  The coolest part is that it occurred at Division III.  The play and the enthusiasm evident on the field is proof that College Sports are College Sports, no matter what the level.

NCSA recently had a chance to attend the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) National Convention held in Nashville. The time at the convention allowed NCSA staff to network with the college coaches and build on those relationships allowing us to help our NCSA student-athletes find the right college fit. NCSA speaker, Bridget Venturi, joined me in attending the convention meeting over a 100 coaches on the two days of the exhibitor event.

Talking with the coaches at the event to find out what needs they have and where they are in the recruiting process was very valuable. A topic with many of the college coaches was about communications during the recruiting process. It reinforced the things that we at NCSA teach our student-athletes in our coaching sessions:

Coaches emphasized:

• They do want to hear from the student themselves – the high school athlete needs to be prepared to talk and communicate with the college coach by answering questions thoroughly and having some questions of their own to ask. Some coaches have mentioned that they have stopped recruiting students when parents are too involved and the students are not the ones communicating with the colleges.

• Getting back to the coaches in a timely manner and also providing information that the coaches request from the student-athlete.

• Grades are essential and coaches emphasize the students taking the honors and AP classes through out high school.

• Be honest in communication – hear the coach out before saying ‘no’. Learn enough about the college and softball program before declining an invitation for a visit. Best is to take a visit to know for sure if the school is a good fit or not.

• Coaches said the intangibles such as: character, maturity, leadership and how they treat their teammates are often the best way to separate potential recruits.

• It is more about overall fit with the student-athlete and the college than just about how much money that the school gives them to play softball. They want student-athletes who want to come to their school and want to be a part of their softball program for all the right reasons.

Much of the information we received from the college coaches reaffirmed the value of finding the right overall fit. This means looking at the college for the right

I had a chance to talk to University of Indianapolis women’s golf coach Ken Piepenbrink to get his thoughts on the recruiting process. He has turned the U of Indy into one of the Division II national powers. One of his golfers, Lindsay McBride, was the individual National Champion not too long ago. Here is what he had to say:

“Charlie, I am getting recruiting letters from freshmen in High School. They tell me what tourneys they will be in and get me video, which is very helpful. I see where they are skill-wise. When I go to Junior Tour events and see a list of who is competing, their name jumps out and I watch for them.

Recruiting has accelerated. Here in Indiana, the girls State Tournament is over in September. I start hearing from seniors then. Well, I was done recruiting their class in August before their senior year started. I already have a short list of juniors. It is about starting early, especially if you want to compete at a high level.

Summer Tournaments in golf are very important. It’s what you do in the Summer. To me, it shows how committed you are. I put kids on my recruiting list and if they keep improving, they get more stars. If not, they get knocked off. I am looking at attitude and at sportsmanship. You are selling yourself. I really pay attention to parents. If they are overbearing then I think that this could be a problem down the line.

I like young people that show an interest in our University first and then the golf team. Academics are very important. Just about all the girls on our golf team get full tuition paid for because of their academic success.”

Coach Ken Piepenbrink

University of Indianapolis Women’s Golf Coach

Charlie Adams

Speaker, NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network

cadams@ncsasports.org

To Talk with a College Recruiting Expert on How to be Successfully Recruited by College Golf Coaches click here

My name is Megan Mayfield and I’m going on a softball scholarship to Lynn University.  Being recruited isn’t something that just happens overnight and you can’t just rely on talent alone, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes.  Between team and individual practices, the hours spent on the practice field are uncountable. If you’re struggling with something, work on it until you get it. Go out with a coach, a parent, or even one of your teammates and practice it until you get it. Playing softball is only part of the process; you can’t be recruited if no one knows about you.  You have to get your letters out, get them out early, and make them personal. No coach wants to get a mass email; if you can’t take enough time out of your day to personally contact them, why do they want to take time out their day and personally come watch you?  When you get to the tournament, you can’t do anything more so relax and just do your best.  Make yourself standout from the rest of the team, my coach will tell you that the only reason she started watching me was because she saw me take off on a dead sprint to my position in outfield. Do something to get yourself noticed, be loud, be focused, hustle, or wear bright crazy sunglasses anything to make them look at you, because they’re looking at you they’re watching you.

There are ups and downs to be recruited.  Being denied is the worst part about the recruiting process and I was denied like there was no tomorrow.  I’ve been told that I was too small to play college ball since I was a kid, but when a college coach says it, it can be discouraging. However, I was determined to get recruited so I shook that stuff off and kept doing my best. The first time a coach waits behind the dugout after your game to talk to you is the most exciting part of being recruited. In your mind you’re thinking I did it, I got recruited and now all those practices, games, batting slumps, everything else pays off. The NCSA did the best they could’ve done for me, they put reality in perspective. They made me realize how competitive being recruited was and they helped me have a chance in that competition by telling me what I needed to do. They gave me an upper hand on all the other athletes that didn’t have someone walking them through the long process.  The only thing I can tell anyone wanting to get recruited is never give up, hustle everywhere you go, be competitive,  challenge yourself, and most importantly have just have fun.

Nobody enjoys writing about saddening events, especially when these events occur in the world of sports. Sport, at its very core, is merely a game played by people of all ages. Regardless of the ability or the age, anyone involved in a sport is there for their passion and love of the game. To mix sports with tragedy is seldom necessary, but when it occurs, it should be discussed to learn valuable lessons. I feel compelled to write about a recent piece of news that has shocked the sporting world across the country and it occurred on the campus of the University of Connecticut. UConn junior cornerback Jasper Howard was killed over the weekend, on campus, after a school event had let out. Apparently, Howard and a few of his teammates were involved in an altercation and he was stabbed to death. Howard was only 20 years old.

Again, this is a sad and tragic story that has left an entire football team, an entire campus and an entire nation in mourning. Perhaps Howard wasn’t the most known player in the NCAA and maybe he wouldn’t have gone on to play professionally, but he was a student-athlete just the same as any other kid playing at the collegiate level. However, there are lessons to be learned from this horrible event and these lessons can be applied not just to sports, but to everyday life.

Everyday, we here at the National Collegiate Scouting Association help high school student-athletes fulfill their dreams of playing their sports at the collegiate level. Remembering back to my youth, I was ecstatic to be playing the sport I love at the next level. I can only hope that today’s student-athletes share the same passion and fervor that I had when it came to playing sports. With that being said, student-athletes need to realize the importance of maximizing every opportunity they are given, whether it’s on the playing field or in the classroom. If a coach gives you the opportunity to perform, play like there is no tomorrow and make the most of it. If a teacher gives you an extra credit opportunity, take full advantage of it and boost your grade in the class. If your parents are willing to give you opportunities like playing a sport or attending a certain school, embrace that opportunity with open arms.

I feel I can say this having played my last collegiate baseball game, but there will come a time in every athlete’s life when they are no longer playing the game they grew up with. I had been playing baseball since the age of 5 so when I played my last collegiate baseball game at age 22, I felt a huge emptiness afterwards. After I graduated I took a summer off of baseball for the first time in 17 years and concentrated on my professional endeavors. This turned out to be more difficult and painful than I had ever imagined as I yearned for the game more than ever. What the time away from the game showed me was that I was so glad that I had no regrets when it came to maximizing every opportunity I was given from family, teachers, coaches and friends. From my parents introducing me to the game to getting an early opportunity to fill in for a struggling upperclassmen my freshman year at college, I took full advantage of every opportunity to play the game I love.

It is truly unfortunate that it usually takes something drastic and eye opening to bring us back to reality and realize how grateful we should be for everything that we have. In this case, it happened to be the death of an NCAA athlete that makes us realize how lucky we all should be. For all student-athletes out there, take advantage of the opportunities you have been given and don’t ever take anything for granted. Always carry yourself with respect and humbleness because there will be a time in your life when you no longer have the sport you play to fall back on. Someday your priorities will shift drastically and you will want the confidence and knowledge that you have no regrets about the way you went about it.

I would like to personally send my condolences to the family of Jasper Howard, the UConn football team and the rest of the UConn student body. They may never read this article or receive these condolences, but the message of Jasper’s untimely death is clear; make the most of your opportunities and abilities, be humble and respectful and be appreciative of the time you are able to spend playing the sport you love because there will be a time when you no longer have that sport to play. Make the most of it!

Patrick Dayton has been nominated our NCSA Baseball Student-Athlete of the Month for September. He is from Archer City, Texas and graduates in 2010. Patrick is a 6’0” 180 pound infielder who was named to the All-State Honorable Mention Team as a junior after hitting .500 in 54 at bats. He was also named to the All-Area 1st Team his first two years of high school hitting .394 his freshman year and .438 his sophomore year.

If you can believe it, Patrick excels more in the classroom. He has a 4.34 GPA on a 4.0 scale, is ranked #1 in his class, and scored a 1460 on the two-part SAT (including a perfect 800 on the math section). On top of baseball and academics, Patrick’s math and science teams have placed in the top 6 in four different math and science competitions. Patrick is looking to study engineering in college and NCSA is very proud to name Patrick Dayton our NCSA Baseball Student-Athlete of the Month for September.

In the summer of 2003 I made a pilgrimage to the place that every high-school baseball player looking to play in college should go. I had always wanted to go to this place and I still look forward to the time when I will return. The place I speak of is Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska, home of the College World Series. My summer travel team was competing in a tournament in Omaha and by design, we purchased tickets to go watch a weekend’s worth of college baseball at the highest level of competition. I remember everything about that trip from stealing 2nd base during a game of my own and, in the process, tearing open my chin (I still have the scar) to standing next to ESPN’s Kenny Mayne at a urinal in one of the bathrooms at Rosenblatt. The College World Series is college baseball and from then on I knew that not playing baseball in college was not an option.

 At the time, and partly due to my amazing experience in Omaha, my expectations were unrealistic. My summer coach asked me for a list of schools I’d like him to send my information to and I quickly scribbled down a list of top Division I programs I had seen playing at Rosenblatt. For me to think that I had an opportunity to play at some of these top schools was very unrealistic for me in terms of my recruiting process and my abilities as a baseball player. In other words, I was a DIII player looking to play baseball at the Division I level, except I wasn’t aware of this. When I soon realized that I would be playing baseball in college at the DIII level, I was slightly disappointed. But looking back, I understand why I was a DIII player and I don’t regret the decision I made to play baseball in college at that level. Not only had I not gotten enough exposure at an early enough age or been aware of such services such as the National Collegiate Scouting Association, but plain and simple, I just wasn’t good enough. Looking back on this I can’t help but smile at my own naivety and the fact that I am 100% satisfied with the decision I made to play baseball at John Carroll University. I may have never gotten the chance to play in Omaha or get interviewed by Erin Andrews after a big win, but I did get to play the game I love at the collegiate level. I did get to forge bonds and friendships that will last a lifetime and I did become a better all-around person by learning the values of hard work, dedication and teamwork.

We all tune in to watch big time college football programs compete on Saturdays during football season, and everyone loves the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament come March, but for those of us who won’t ever compete at that nationally acclaimed level, take pride in the following facts:

1. You train just as hard as anyone to compete at your full potential in the sport that you love.

2. You attend class just like every other student in every other college, except you have made sacrifices to prepare for games and practice as well.

3. You will form life-lasting bonds with teammates that are just as strong as those bonds that are formed at higher levels of competition.

4. You will become a better all-around person for the hard work you dedicate to your team and to your school work.

So, in my situation, while playing baseball in college was very different than someone playing baseball at a big time DI program, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. The memories I have of the experiences I went through during my playing days in college will last forever and no one can take that away from me. What I want to stress to all student-athletes is to be realistic about their expectations when it comes to playing their sport at the collegiate level. The sooner that you do this, the sooner you can embrace your future experiences as a collegiate athlete, whether it’s playing for a top tier DI program or competing for DIII school. Please believe me when I say it’s not about the recognition, or the television highlights, or the contracts with Nike and Adidas. It’s about putting on the same uniform as your teammates and competing in the sport you all love to achieve one common goal…winning. A win is the same at the DI level as it is at the DIII level and for a serious student-athlete looking to compete in college, winning is all that should matter.