FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Silver Vasquez
Corporate Communications Manager
Recruit U LLC
(817) 335-1112 x103
svasquez@recruitu.com
Recruit U Helps Athletes Make the Team
www.recruitu.com simplifies college sports recruiting process
With a team of athletes who were overlooked by big universities, Appalachian State University’s win over nationally-ranked football powerhouse University of Michigan proves that successful teams can be built without hefty recruiting budgets.
Recruit U has launched a new college sports recruiting website to help college coaches identify talented players and to make it easier for athletes to market themselves to sports recruiters. The site – www.recruitu.com – encompasses 26 different sports and is free to all college and university scouts and recruiters. It is designed for male and female athletes who hope to play at the collegiate level.
"Despite their talent, most athletes don’t get the attention of college recruiters – they never get the chance to prove their value," says Mike Popovec, president & CEO of Fort Worth, Texas-based Recruit U LLC. "Recruit U helps athletes increase their exposure to college coaches, giving athletes their best chance at making a college team."
At the same time Recruit U helps athletes, it also makes it easier for colleges and universities to identify the best prospects for their sports programs. By using Recruit U, small and mid-size schools can compete with large universities that have hefty recruiting budgets.
"Not every college has a recruiting budget to help their coaches look beyond their own region for quality athletes," Popovec says. "For non-revenue producing sports like volleyball and golf, the process is even more difficult. Recruit U helps college coaches create the perfect team and streamlines the recruiting process – one that has traditionally been inefficient and costly. With Recruit U, coaches have the opportunity to overcome the geographic and financial boundaries that have prevented them from finding the best talent for their teams."
RECRUITING IS A SNAP
Recruit U offers a unique service to both athletes and recruiters and should not be confused with social networking sites like MySpace.com®, Facebook or Takkle. Unlike these sites, Recruit U provides a safe and secure environment for athletes to post profiles, photos and game footage. This information is accessible only to college coaches and recruiters, who can easily find athletes by name or by searching Recruit U’s athlete database using criteria such as weight, position played or location.
"Social networking sites can be a lot of fun for athletes, but they’re not the best way to get the attention of college recruiters," Popovec stresses, adding that the content on these sites might help athletes make new friends but doesn't help them connect with recruiters.
Recruit U also sets itself apart from other college recruiting sites. "While other sites focus almost exclusively on football and men’s basketball, Recruit U believes other team and individual sports such as swimming, wrestling and volleyball are just as important," says Recruit U COO Jennifer Duell. "And, we are equally and passionately committed to recruiting for women’s sports."
Subscribing to Recruit U allows athletes to create personal player profiles for 26 different sports. Each profile contains athlete information including high school, SAT and ACT scores, GPA, height and weight, sports statistics, a personal bio, photo and several video highlights. Most importantly, each profile will be tailored to the sport(s) the athlete plays, making the site user friendly for both athletes and recruiters.
Coaches and recruiters must register with Recruit U to gain access to the company’s national database of high school and junior college athletes. The registration process is very simple, and every coach who registers on Recruit U will be verified by a Recruit U team member to ensure privacy for athletes and recruiters. Recruit U has already pre-registered more than 20,000 college coaches across the U.S.
Once recruiters have registered and gone through the verification process, they can view player profiles free of charge and can perform specialized searches to aid them in finding the perfect player for their program. For example, a volleyball coach from California can log on to Recruit U and search for athletes who are taller than 5'10'' with a GPA of 3.4 or higher.
Coaches even have the luxury of creating and downloading a virtual roster of athletes, and they can contact athletes directly through the Recruit U site as long as they follow NCAA and NAIA recruiting guidelines.
"Many universities spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to create the same technology that Recruit U provides to coaches for free," Popovec points out. "Recruit U evens the playing field for recruiters who lack a sophisticated, efficient recruiting process."
Aside from the advanced search functionality, Recruit U’s site offers editorial content on topics ranging from baseball pitching techniques to tips for parents to help their child through the recruiting process.
FREE 15-DAY TRIAL
To celebrate the launch of www.recruitu.com, Recruit U is offering a 15-day free trial to all athletes who visit the site and complete their profiles. Recruiters will have access to the profiles during the free trial period.
And, all athletes who purchase a six or 12-month subscription plan will be automatically entered into a drawing to win a free iPhone®. Details of the promotion are available on www.recruitu.com.
"College sports recruiting doesn't have to be a frustrating process – for athletes or coaches," Popovec says. "By bringing coaches and athletes together, Recruit U is building winning teams."
ABOUT RECRUIT U
Launched in October 2006 by a former athlete, Recruit U LLC is devoted to helping athletes find the best opportunities and to providing college coaches and recruiters with access to a pool of athletic talent that would have otherwise been impossible to find. Recruit U offers a unique service to both athletes and recruiters through its website www.recruitu.com. The company is based in Fort Worth, Texas.