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Friday, September 26, 2008
"ENOUGH"
I get emails with touching little anectdotes seemingly daily.
I am blessed that people think enough to include me in their left-clicks. Today, I recieved one that really hit the
target with me. I like the message and want to share it you. It follows...
Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced
the departure.
Standing near the security gate , they hugged and the mother said , 'I love you and I wish
you enough'.
The daughter replied , ' Mom , our life together has been more than enough. Your love
is all I ever needed. I wish you enough , too , Mom'.
They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked
over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude
on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking , 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be
forever?'.
Yes , I have,' I replied. ' forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'.
'I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will
be for my funeral,' she said.
'When you were saying good-bye , I heard you say , 'I wish you enough'.
May I ask what that means?'.
She began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other
generations. My parents used to say it to everyone'. She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it
in detail and she smiled even more. 'When we said , 'I wish you enough' , we were wanting the other
person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them'. Then turning toward me , she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter
how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you
enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of
joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough
loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
She then began to cry and walked away.
They say it takes a minute to find a special person , an hour to appreciate
them , a day to love them but then an entire life to forget them.
TAKE TIME TO LIVE.....
To
all my friends and loved ones, I WISH YOU ENOUGH
5:32 pm cdt
Thursday, September 4, 2008
How to send a College Coach an email...
One of the best ways to get the attention of college coaches is to email them.
The problem is most recruits don’t know exactly how to go about doing that. From my own experience, I’ve whittled
contacting coaches down to an effective formula. Here are some tips on how to email college coaches for maximum results:
- Have
a legitimate sounding email.
It looks better to be
emailing a coach with an email address that has all or part of your name in it. The goal is to be professional here, and it
isn’t too professional if a coach is receiving an email from “kick_ass_badass@hotmail.com”. Don’t
hesitate to create a free email account on Yahoo! or Hotmail with your firstname_lastname@website as an email specifically
for your recruiting emails. It will help you keep track of all your contacts.
- The subject line. You want the coach to open your email. Simply putting “read this” at
the subject line probably won’t do it. Provide a little bit of your information in the subject line. For example, write
something like “Mitch Thompson, LHP Prospect from Rockford, IL”. I’ve found that providing your name, your
position (you should put down any position that you play, multiple positions look better to a coach), and your location.
- Pack that email with recipients. search for “athletic directory” on Google. This will give you many, many schools at all levels with coaches you can email. Upon finding the coaches’ emails on
your page of interest, copy and paste them into the recipients section. Make sure to go after assistant coaches too; they’re
more likely to check their inbox. I would often send out emails to 100 coaches at a time. They really don’t care if
there’s a lot of other recipients listed because they do the same thing when emailing their recruits.
- Introduce yourself. Don’t jump straight into a pitch about why you’re
the next million-dollar bonus babyr. Remember, this coach probably still has no idea who you are. Repeating the information
from the subject line is a good start: “Hey Coach, my name is Mitch Thompson and I’m a 6’2”, 200 pound
LHP from Boylan High School in Rockford, IL, class of 2009.”
- List some
of your athletic credentials. Start with some of your athletic feats. How many years have you been a starter?
Do you have any honors such as all-league, team captain, etc.? Any other statistical claims (i.e. led the team in steals
last season) as well as a 60 time (if it makes you look good) should be included as well, but don’t be so quick to list
the results of every single showcase skill out there. Some mystery can be a good thing...
- Move on to academics. You’ve got to be honest here. Coaches want to know how you’re
performing in the classroom, and they have to know at some point, so it’s best to not have any surprises. List your
GPA (weighted if possible), test scores (ACT, SAT) and any other relevant academic info you can put in there, such as honor
roll, AP/IB classes, etc. You have to present yourself as a kid who can appeal to the admissions office as well. Coaches want
the whole package.
- Leadership. Any other way you
can demonstrate your leadership and character (i.e. volunteering, Boy Scouts, involvement with church) will make you more
appealing to a coach and an admissions office. Again, coaches want the whole package.
- Link any other resources you have available. This is why I recommend setting up a free profile
with AcademyELITE. You can post all your stats, info, pictures and even some highlights. That way, if your email interests
a coach, he can visit your profile to find out even more about you. Say something along the lines of “For more information
about me, here is my AcademyELITE profile: (link here).
- Don’t make it an essay. That’s why it’s good to have a AE profile.
You don’t want to write several pages about how awesome you are. Just a paragraph with a few key points about why you
would be a good fit for their program, a place to find out more about you, and ways to contact you (include phone numbers,
cell phone especially).
Thank them for their time. College coaches are busy
guys. While they should be interested in finding out more about potential recruits, they didn’t have to read your email,
so thank them for doing so. - Tell them how to contact you.
When emailing coaches, provide name, address, phone numbers, and email address (again). Make it as easy as possible
for them to contact you.
- Follow up. If a coach requests
additional information, a copy of your transcript, and/or video, don’t hesitate to send it, even if you’re not
too interested in the school.
12:56 am cdt
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VISIT OUR FRIENDS AT SLAMMERS, Lake Forest
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| L to R: Coach Fine, Coach Towsend, Coach Bennett |
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