Brett Erlenbach, Director of Partner Development
Beloit College
(312) 205-7479
NCSA Marketing and Events
By the time I reached high school, I was already well aware that I wanted to compete athletically at the college level, specifically with baseball. I attended Holy Cross High School (River Grove, Illinois) where I was a four-year starter on the varsity baseball team. We won back-to-back regional championships in my junior and senior seasons with teams that had a combined 12 players go on to play in college.
The recruiting process for every single one of us was quite unique. I was foruntate enough to be selected to the ESCC All-Conference team as a junior, which came with a selection to the top premier college showcase in Illinois. Following the event, I started receiving recruiting questionnaires from coaches at colleges of all sizes, different division levels and from all over the country. Fortunately, I was undecided about what I wanted to study and was pretty open to learning more about any possible opportunity. So, I completed and sent back every one that I received. This led to receiving phone calls from coaches that often came with invites to visit. Ultimately, I chose to attend Beloit College. I had never heard of Beloit prior to receiving their initial recruiting questionnaire. In the beginning, I was not too keen on Beloit, and the only reason I took an official visit was to get the coach to stop calling me. However, the visit went great, and I fell in love with the campus.
I always like to share my recruiting story with college-bound student-athletes for a couple reasons. First, due to my day job, I now know that those initial recruiting questionnaires I received were sent to thousands of other athletes across the country. Using Beloit as an example, had I not responded, the coach would have moved on to all those that did and I would have never heard from them again. And second, I was able to find a college that I never knew existed just over an hour from home. Most importantly, I ended up missing out on two seasons due to injury and surgery but was still able to be at a college I enjoyed attending.
I have been able to share my story as a member of NCSA since January 2009. I have found great fulfillment in being able to help other student-athletes better understand the recruiting process and how to reach their dreams of competing at the college level.
