New nationwide company to market student-athletes to colleges and universities

College Bound Athletes vision is to market student-athletes merits to as many universities and colleges as possible based on five available marketing packages. Its goal is to allow collegiate level coaches and/or recruiting coordinators to gain awareness, generate interest in, and ultimately offer a scholarship to that student-athlete.

Media Contact:
Brett Hanavan -- Zero Silence Networks
(858) 748-7192; cell (858) 354-2115
bhanavan@zerosilencenetworks.com
For immediate release

New nationwide company to market student-athletes
to colleges and universities

SAN DIEGO (April 3, 2002) - There is no denying it. Todays American society is fast-paced and competitive. It takes keener effort, focus, and dedication to succeed in business just as in the classroom. For high school-aged students, the challenges of balancing education with competitive sports take a certain level of aspiration. Students who excel in sports competitively at the high school level often aspire to achieve big dreams of competing athletically at the collegiate level.

This is where young entrepreneur Daniel Wallace enters the picture. Wallace is launching College Bound Athletes, a new nationwide high school student-athlete sports marketing company.

College Bound Athletes vision is to market student-athletes merits to as many universities and colleges as possible based on five available marketing packages. Its goal is to allow collegiate level coaches and/or recruiting coordinators to gain awareness, generate interest in, and ultimately offer a scholarship to that student-athlete.

There are nearly 20,000 high schools in the U.S. ¾ The percentage of high school athletes that go on to play at the collegiate level is slim...the very competitive nature is intimidating. So many student-athletes and their parents turn to marketing companies to get the word out about their abilities, both scholastically and athletically.

With these reasons in mind, Wallace created College Bound Athletes.

College Bound Athletes has been designed to provide professional and personal recruiting assistance for high school and junior college student-athletes," Kevin Brennan, Chief Athletic Consultant, said. We are definitely the answer to those student-athletes that are looking to play at the NCAA or NAIA collegiate level but simply lack the recruiting exposure."

Brennan will serve as College Bound Athletes Chief Athletic Consultant. He is familiar with the student-athlete recruiting process. So is Wallace. Both were high achieving prep athletes in San Diego County in the mid-1990s. Now, both are submersed in the business world and both motivated to make it a better experience for student-athletes.

Of Wallace, Brennan said, Daniel was the basketball co-player of the year in the Metro Conference [San Diego] in 1994 after averaging 20 points per game. He held more than a 4.0 grade point average. He was not recruited at all. He never got to live out his dream of playing basketball at the college level."

Brennan, however, was the 1992 San Diego Union-Tribunes Kicker-of-the-Year and gained Los Angeles Times All-League honors as well. He played two years of football at Grossmont Community College and was named First Team All-Foothill Conference and also gained All-State honors in 1994. He kicked 18 field goals and scored 123 career points. Brennan eventually earned a scholarship to play at Portland State University in 1995 and 1996.

I had the opportunity to play at the Division I-AA level," Brennan said. What I found frustrating is that I thought I was often the number one guy being recruited by a university. At least that is what these coaches and recruiting coordinators tell you, and little do you know you are the number five or six recruit on their list. Typically, they have you on their list in case the student-athletes in front of you don't sign a letter of intent with them. Therefore by increasing your exposure to as many colleges as possible increases your chances of being the number one recruit at some schools."

College Bound Athletes is opening its doors nationwide on April 1, 2002. Its first focus will be in Southern California, a hot bed of prep recruiting. It will begin with satellite offices in the San Francisco Bay Area of California and in Cleveland, Ohio.

Southern California is a recruiting heaven for college coaches and recruiting coordinators," Brennan said. They can run the spectrum of talent there. There are hundreds of high schools with talented athletes throughout Southern California."

College Bound Athletes will base its business model on an Internet platform. Its Internet home is www.collegeboundathletes.net. By basing it on the Internet, College Bound Athletes allows coaches and recruiters real-time access to data within its site and to begin recruiting talented student-athletes it represents. Coaches and recruiters can log on, choose the student-athlete by gender, by the sport they are recruiting, and view the student-athlete's athletic and academics statistics. It is a non-fee based process for coaches and recruiters. Coaches and recruiters can also inform College Bound Athletes what type of athletes it has a need for.

College Bound Athletes will provide personalized marketing by identifying target schools from hundreds of universities who receive athletic profile mailings," Wallace said. These target schools will be determined by comparing the student-athletes preferences and qualifications to university requirements. In addition, the College Bound Athletic Consultant will provide assistance for the student-athlete and their parents throughout the recruiting process."

College Bound Athletes also uses mass mailing methods to represent student-athletes to college and universities that are matched through its extensive database. The College Bound Athletes database contains more than 1,000 universities and colleges. In addition, College Bound Athletes provides personal consulting for the student-athlete and their parents.

College Bound Athletes uses an online questionnaire to gain information from prospective student-athletes. The form is simply completed and submitted then a representative from College Bound Athletes contacts the family and the process begins.

We will not simply just take a payment from the parents to market their kids and disappear. Brennan said. We train our athletic consultants to create a personal relationship with the student-athlete and their parents. We consult and market them through the entire recruiting process. Our packages are not only more cost affordable, but we believe them to be more effective in getting student-athletes recruited. Most of our athletic consultants are and will be ex-college players and have personal experience in the recruiting process."

Within 2002, College Bound Athletes plans to expand by adding Athletic Consultants in Orange County, Los Angeles, Houston, and other major U.S. cities.

It will be a challenge to get the College Bound Athletes name out there as the premier recruiting company for high school student-athletes but I am confident that with the team I am putting together it will happen," Wallace added.

College Bound Athletes will offer five different student-athlete marketing packages within its products/services line. It will also offer video resume services and has partnered with Zero Silence Networks (www.zerosilencenetworks.com), a Southern California-based communications company, to offer digital photography of student-athletes.

11 reasons to use College Bound Athletes (it should have been 10, but well toss in a bonus reason):
• We get results. Our hands on approach is personal and accentuates the high school competitive and educational process for the student-athlete.
• College Bound Athletes athletic consultants understand the competitive collegiate athletic environment.
• While College Bound Athletes is a new venture, its representatives are experienced entrepreneurs and former high school and collegiate athletes themselves.
• College Bound Athletes satisfies its customers. And, while a scholarship is not guaranteed for each client, maximum exposure is gained for the student-athlete and the experience is quality one!
• Another goal we have: To be the industry leader in high school student-athlete marketing to colleges and universities.
• Our services are affordable. Prices were designed with customer cost effectiveness in mind.
• The student-athlete marketing and recruiting process is quite important. Dont expect to just let your grades and performance speak for themselves.
• Fast service. Once a student-athlete questionnaire is submitted and the business process takes place, student-athlete information is posted on CollegeBoundAthletes.net within 48 hours.
• Confidentiality. We (and any of our business partners) would never think of disclosing your name to any person, company, or institution other than the universities and colleges we are marketing you to.
• We keep it simple. Our site is easy to navigate, packed with vital information, and our business process is easy to go through.
    

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