Markel Snyder, founder of GotGameRecruiting.com, says he remembers the challenge of getting noticed by college coaches when he was a young athlete.
A former basketball player for Thomas More College in Crestview Hills, Ky., Snyder says that he was especially inspired to help smaller colleges find athletes because they generally don't have the resources to travel the country looking at top recruits the way large universities do.
That's why Snyder started GotGameRecruiting, based in Pickerington, in 2007, one of the first virtual recruiting companies in the country. Athletes use GotGame to create digital trading cards that can be viewed by coaches anywhere. The cards include the player's stats, video images, and a profile.
Coaches pay an annual $62.95 membership fee and athletes pay $99.95 to have their information sent digitally to 100 coaches. One of the most appealing offerings for coaches, says Snyder, is that GotGame verifies the information the athletes provide so that coaches don't waste time verifying it themselves, or contacting athletes who don't qualify for their programs due to false information.
Recruiting tools such as GotGame are growing in popularity because they are very cost effective and allow coaches and athletes to increase the scope of their searches, says Snyder.
Snyder says GotGame has 20 member coaches and about 5,200 athletes at present. He hopes to increase that to 1,000 coaches representing 18 sports and at least 50,000 athletes by the end of 2010. He expects to add at least two employees to his current four as demand steps up.
Source: Markel Snyder, GotGameRecruiting.com
Writer: Val Prevish