Saturday, May 26, 2012

TRN's Julie Knows College Recruit Videos


GET THE RIGHT RECRUIT VIDEO
TO GET INTO THE RIGHT COLLEGE

If I tell you my name is Julie and I recommend College Recruit Videos from HIGH-TECH TENNIS, you might respond with a HO-HUM. But if I tell you about another Julie (Julie Wrege) who recommends College Recruit Videos from HIGH-TECH TENNIS, I'll bet your ears perk up a little higher.

Who's JULIE WREGE? Well, she was the first full-time women's tennis coach at Georgia Tech (79-85, 92) and her two tenures earned her a spot in the school's Hall of Fame. She's also the first female to receive an undergraduate degree in physics from Georgia Tech and she later added an M.S. and a Ph.D. Clearly, this is one smart Julie...but the BIGGEST reason you should care about what she says is that she's also co-founder of Tennis Recruiting.net, a website created to facilitate the tennis recruitment process. I would say that 99% of our customers are familiar with this site! :)

We met Julie for the first time at a local tournament many years ago - probably about 2006 - and she immediately GOT it: "What you are doing is GREAT work! We'll be glad to recommend HIGH-TECH TENNIS!" We had no real idea where our journey would lead us, but we were grateful for her support because ALL support is WELCOME support, LOL, and we LOVE people who GET it!

Over the years, she has recommended us and we've kept in touch, occasionally crossing paths on the tournament trail. We're both interested in how we might join forces to really serve the junior tennis community.

UPDATE: We're attaching recruit videos to TRN profiles and, in the spirit of letting the players PLAY & letting the parents decide WHERE the players play, we're offering our popular video services at NATIONAL SHOWCASE SERIES.

During a particularly unwelcoming, unhappy experience in Cary at the NCAA Division III Tennis Championships (you'd think we'd be used to pushback - but you'd be wrong), we were surprised but incredibly pleased to receive this email from Julie:

Hi Danny and Julie –
I just reviewed and accepted a college video that you made, and it was really good. I am so glad that you are doing this for the players!
I know it takes a lot of work, but the quality certainly shows through! As a former coach, I can tell you this is exactly what the coaches want to see!
Best regards,
Julie
Sure, it seems that everybody can record video these days, but everybody cannot prepare a professional College Recruit Video! It is (and should be) short, but that doesn't mean it's unimportant! In fact, the video that gets your junior into the right college (not to mention potentially saving thousands of dollars in the process) could be one of the most important decisions they'll ever make!!!

"After all the time and money you've invested on behalf of your child,
this is the BEST money you'll ever spend to get them well-deserved exposure!! This is truly a great product and your satisfaction is guaranteed! We highly recommend HIGH-TECH TENNIS!"
Very Satisfied Parents of Junior in Duluth, GA

"I really like the way you do this video...
Having it online makes it so much easier for the coaches!"
Asst. Women's Tennis Coach at the University of Notre Dame

"The online college video from HIGH-TECH TENNIS has been a godsend!My daughter is getting emails from all over and we love having it online so we don't have to hassle with mailing stuff!"
Mother of High School Senior (and Repeat Customer Since October 2006) from Peachtree City, GA

If you ARE one of the top juniors in the country, coaches are probably already recruiting you---GOOD FOR YOU! But if you're NOT one of the top juniors in the country, you can still play college tennis...you just have to be smart about it. Just think about it for a minute. What are the chances that the coach at the college of your dreams is going to actually travel to watch you play??? Exactly - THAT is why you need a college recruit video. So why not be smart about it? Your first smart move is to contact HIGH-TECH TENNIS! :)

We use Dartfish, the world's leading video analysis software. Show the coach that you're a recruit on the CUTTING EDGE!!! And don't just send to 1 or 2 colleges...SEND YOUR VIDEO TO AS MANY AS YOU LIKE (at no extra cost) because you JUST NEVER KNOW. No matter what others might say, this is the very LAST place you want to pinch your pennies or submit something that's obviously homemade. You only get ONE chance to make a first impression - MAKE IT A GOOD ONE!!!


We CAN'T guarantee scholarships...
but we CAN guarantee your satisfaction...
and we do.
HIGH-TECH TENNIS
678.640.2723

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Monday, May 14, 2012

True Champion Sets Perfect Example for ALL

"CHAMPIONS ADAPT"

At HIGH-TECH TENNIS, we see lots and lots (and lots) of tennis. For instance, have a look at our schedule just this past weekend: AWESOME wheelchair tennis on Friday, FUN local tennis tournament on Saturday, and TERRIFIC tennis in 3rd round NCAA action. Since we decided to just say NO to National Opens and to just say NO to places where we don't feel welcome, we were grateful when the universe stepped UP to remind us of two things: 1) the world does not revolve around the same 32 players who compete against each other repeatedly and 2) players of all levels can truly benefit from using technology to their advantage. We already knew both of those things...but we certainly needed the reminder and were grateful for it! :)

To be clear, we don't actually "see" any tennis (since we're waaaaaay too busy to watch more than a random point here or there) but we definitely "see" lots and lots of other stuff. Some of it is positive, but by far the vast majority is negative - and too much of it is downright ugly. Just recently we learned (from numerous sources) about the adult coach who loudly called his player's opponent - a 12 yr old girl - a ___ing *itch, about the mother who called the tournament director to express that her MALE son was too afraid to come to the tennis center to play against his scheduled opponent, and about a 12 yr old female who refused to shake her opponent's hand at the net and instead said "I hope you lose all the rest of your matches." Oh and don't even get me started on the outbreak of booty shorts - we're talking about players AND parents. :( WHAT ARE THE KIDS LEARNING FROM EXAMPLES LIKE THIS?????

Growing pains are painful (ouch!) but the times, they are a'changing. We're doing lots of different things and several weekends ago, after we COULD NOT GET ANY COOPERATION whatsoever - not even a returned phone call!!! - from two TDs in SC, I had an ephiphany: who wants to go to SC anyway is what I say...and they certainly won't have to worry about HIGH-TECH TENNIS begging them to let us enhance their tourney next year---SORRY, PLAYERS---SC is off the list (except CARLOS LOZANO at Topspin, nuestro amigo muy bueno). Instead, we went to a local tournament and it was FANTASTIC!!! We received an incredibly WARM WELCOME to the tournament (what a concept) and we made loads of nice, new friends in such an amazing atmosphere with NO DRAMA whatsoever - no cheating players, no stressed-out parents, none of that stuff that we see ALL THE TIME. Instead, just a bunch of parents, trying to do the right thing for their kids, without growing BROKE in the process of endlessly chasing ranking points. The players played, the parents supported, and EVERYBODY WON. Hmmm....what a concept.

When you stop and think about it, the chances of any player actually making a decent living on the pro tour are about the same as their chances of winning the lottery...three times!!! So it's really not about who wins or who loses - IT'S ABOUT HOW THE GAME IS PLAYED. Cliches contain words of wisdom, if only we listen, and in tennis, I hate that there's such a focus on winning and losing! It makes me sad when I ask a young player how the match went and they sheepishly look down and say "I LOST." My response is always the same - "I didn't ask you whether you won...It's o.k. if you didn't win - but did you compete well and did you try your very best?" THAT'S THE IMPORTANT THING. Do you think the top players in the world win every single match they play??? When two players walk on the court to play a tennis match, we all know that only one player will win in the end - but that DOESN'T MEAN the other player lost. He (or she) just didn't win and that's it.

You can't win 'em all! I just made that up, lol, but think about it: it's soooo true. Playing tennis is about trying your best, competing well, developing your skills, and winning or losing with grace and dignity. When players and others get too wrapped up in who won and who lost, who cheated, who left the tournament early because they didn't want to finish what they'd started after they lost and went to the consolidation draw, it defeats the purpose: Tennis is a GAME, not brain surgery, and junior players are CHILDREN, not mini-professionals. Junior tennis is a JOURNEY, not a destination...You might as well ENJOY IT! :)

Last Friday, we witnessed some of the best tennis we've ever seen from the best wheelchair tennis players in the world. Many of these players traveled from other countries to the Dunwoody Country Club in Dunwoody, GA and aside from the chance to win the prize money, you better believe these players ALL wanted to win or they wouldn't have made the trip. We saw ZERO drama and just tons of good, clean, quality tennis competition. FANTASTIC!!! At the local tournament on Saturday, we witnessed a pleasant day of honest-to-goodness fun tennis with ZERO drama. And yesterday, at Emory University, we witnessed an exciting event where the players all supported each other with loud calls and cheers (and some excellent tennis too). Once more, ZERO drama.

Finally, though I couldn't watch it live, we saw a TRUE CHAMPION rise above conditions that were less than perfect in Madrid. "It has been a tough tournament. Tough to move, but YOU'VE GOT TO TRY TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT." Turns out, Roger Federer wasn't a huge fan of the blue clay either. Like others he found it difficult to move on the surface, but unlike Nadal and Djokovic, he didn't throw his toys out of the pram (or cry and whine like a spoiled child). "OUR JOB EACH DAY IS TO ADAPT TO THE CONDITIONS THAT WE FACE."

wowowowowowow-----What a magical tennis player AND what an extraordinary human being. THIS GUY GETS IT and he is such an excellent role model for junior tennis players (and for PEOPLE) everywhere! The lesson we can ALL take away from this? That life is not always easy and it's not always fair, but that's exactly when true champions step up and show what they're made of.

Sorry to go off on such a long, long rant...but it seems like sometimes things need to be said so that positive change can occur. The very last thing we want to do is generate any controversy whatsoever......but if at least one person stops to think about kind of lessons the CHILDREN are learning from behavior that has become far too common, it'll be a step in the right direction.

Great thanks to sooo many for such amazing support and PLEASE KEEP IT COMING, lol! CHEERS and hope to see you soon! :)

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