Local parent
introduces
free recruiting service
"Showcase My Sport.com"
launched
© East County Sports.com
SANTEE (5-20-08) -- Sports services abound
which claim they will get your student-athlete
a scholarship to continue playing at the
next level at a college somewhere across
the country.
There are only two problems: the services
are costly and they can't guarantee success.
“Getting your kid recruited is expensive,
between club team dues and all of the travel
required,” said Debbie LaChusa, who
spent years investing in order to gain a
softball scholarship for her daughter, former
West Hills High standout Brianna LaChusa,
who now attends Kenyon College in Ohio.
“We got lucky and my daughter got a
nice package, but not everyone gets that
or knows how to do it on their own.”
The nightmare going through the marketing
and recruitment process led to LaChusa and
her neighbor, who also has a daughter starting
for her high school team, to find a better
way. In a website set up similar to MySpace.com,
they soon launched a completely free website:
www.ShowcaseMySport.com.
"It allows players to create online
profiles, feature skills videos, and connect
with college coaches," LaChusa noted.
"We are marketing it to travel coaches,
college coaches and high school players.
While we have started with softball, we
hope it will grow to include many sports."
"That's how the idea was born."
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"Really, why invest more than you need
to."
In LaChusa's hands are a pair of binders,
each standing 3-inches thick with correspondence
between her daughter and colleges coaches.
"I spent 1.5 years helping my daughter
market herself to coaches," she recalls.
"But trying to get a get a 17-year
old to write and mail letters and videos
back was difficult."
However, electronic correspondence is second-nature
to most high school students, if not their
parents.
Introduced in January 2008, ShowcaseMySports.com
is quickly gaining acceptance throughout
the industry. Several club tournament directors
are allowing LaChusa's firm, DLC Marketing,
Inc., to promote the service at events,
including the America 's Finest City Showcase
in Escondido and a major tournament in Boulder,
Colo.
"We've had a great response from the
travel ball community, and the college coaches
like it, too," LaChusa added. "Our
goal is to get the word out in softball
this summer, then expand to other sports."
Similar to hardcopy profile forms distributed
by players to college coaches to potential
recruits, the website includes a biography
page, a place to embed video. photos and
statistics, along with academics information
including SAT scores,
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with links to communicate to one or dozens
of college coaches through a private messaging
system.
And the system works in both directions.
"Players can send their profile to
coaches, while coaches can make a watch
list of players, creating direct links to
all the players they're watching, tracking
how they're doing -- all the facts are in
one place."
"We hope to be on the leading edge
to manage the process online."
It certainly beats the alternative, especially
when it comes to the family budget.
"I spent so much money taking my daughter
to travel tournaments and paying travel
club fees," LaChusa noted. "I
didn't want to spend more money for someone
to market my kid for me -- enough money
gets invested."
And with www.ShowcaseMySport.com
the bottom line gets achieved: ballplayers
get connected with college coaches.
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