While at the 2013 US Lacrosse National Convention, SportsRecruits.com/News caught up Chris Meade and Matt Wheeler, Co-Founders of SportsRecruits.com.
SportsRecruits.com, US Lacrosses Official Service Provider for Recruiting, was founded by Chris Meade and Matt Wheeler two former Wesleyan University lacrosse players in 2008. The site currently boasts over 4,000 members and has grown exponentially since its launch.
Following is the video and a transcript of our conversation with Chris and Matt, who touch upon the US Lacrosse Convention, the recruiting scene and what they have learned since launching their site almost five years ago.
On their experience at the convention:
Matt Wheeler: It is always a good few days to catch up with people in the lacrosse community and a lot of people Chris [Meade] and I have talked to on the phone for the last few years about the product but have not met before. It is always fun to put some faces to names.
Chris Meade: It is a great opportunity to get out in front of the lacrosse community, support US Lacrosse and everything they are trying to do, and then as Matt [Wheeler] said, make some of those connections that we have established over the past couple of years and get a feel for what is going on in the game right now.
On the differences between their last convention visit in 2009 and this one:
Wheeler: When we launched in 2008, the idea of having an online profile was still somewhat novel. But now with Facebook and lots of other things, it is a lot more mainstream. Our tent space is now bigger [at the convention], it is now 20 by 10 vs. 10 by 10 a major improvement. We have more staff [in 2009], it was just Chris [Meade] and I, his dad, and an intern. This year, it was really good to bring the whole squad down and show up in full force and make sure people know we are serious.
Meade: One of the big changes has been the addition of club coaches at the convention where a majority of the coaches we were talking to were high school coaches in 2009. We definitely see a larger percentage of club coaches and more events I think it just goes hand-in-hand with how the recruiting process has changed and how the game has grown.
On what advice they would give players looking to get recruited:
Wheeler: We tried to make sure our members are always prepared. Being prepared starts with doing your research and first finding the list of schools you are interested in. You really have to drown out a lot of the noise that is out there. People start to go crazy with all of these different things that are going on in the recruiting space, but at the end of the day, it is your choice as to where you end up going to college. Sometimes, players forget that. But you have to be honest with yourself, do your research and work hard in school. But no matter how many tournaments and camps there are, you need to connect with your target list of schools. It does not matter how many of the camps and tournaments you go to its about going to the right events for you.
Meade: I like to emphasize the education aspect. It is still the most important thing. Being an educated consumer, understanding the right club teams and events. You have a little amount of time and resources, so it is about making sure you are doing the right things. Making sure you have people who know the process that you can ask questions and get reliable answers. It is really making sure you are doing the right things; not trying to do everything.
Wheeler: That is the great part about being a SportsRecruits member. We want our members to feel like they are in control of their own process, and that they are not being reactionary. They know what they are doing, they know what events they are going to and we are always there to answer questions that come up. We learned early on that not many people understood our product until they were educated about the process. So the more educated you are about the process, the more valuable our product becomes. As a member, we always make you feel like you are prepared and one step ahead of where the game is going.
On feedback of the coaches on the site:
Wheeler: Some of our best feedback is from coaches. The University of Denver being based in Colorado, they cannot just get in a car and see St. Anthonys vs. Chaminade [on Long Island]. Being able to have access to all of the video, it works for the schools outside of the hotbeds. For the coaches trying to get the talent from the developing areas, it is just a way for them to have everything in one place. The sport is growing so fast. Peter Baum was the number one pick in the MLL Draft this year and he is a Seattle product. That is pretty crazy. If someone told you that five years ago, you may have scratched your head. But the talent is coming on. For those athletes, the site is a perfect way to get you in front of the coaches. So it levels the playing field somewhat for those players in the developing areas.
Meade: The use of video in the recruiting process has become more and more essential for coaches from the Division I level down to Division III. As a former Wesleyan player, it always amazes us how many different regions our head coach is able to recruit from. A lot of that is based off of video analysis, taking time to watch highlights and full games as opposed to seeing someone four or five times in person to maybe only needing to see them once or twice. That is a big difference. You have more and more coaches who are willing to use technology and online video resources to fill their needs.
On updated website they are launching:
Wheeler: Yes, we have Version Two coming out. We have learned a lot from our members both on the player and the coach side of things they would like to see. That is forthcoming. We have some exciting stuff that will help club programs. Chris [Meade] mentioned earlier the growth of the club game that was not something that was around when we were going through the process. So there are some exciting things to help the club coaches in the process. The new site will also give the player more stats and the numbers never lie. Whether its your SAT scores, the number of profile views or video views, you will have a lot of data at your fingertips that before you did not have.
On growing the business across sports:
Meade: We are super excited. On top of the club functionality that is coming out in Version Two of our [SportsRecruits.com] platform, we are looking to launch FieldHockeyRecruits.com this coming spring. We are really excited about that upcoming opportunity because of the demographic. The growth of field hockey throughout the mid-Atlantic and Northeast has really paralleled the growth we have seen in lacrosse over the last four years. With over 4,000 members, about 50 percent of that are high school girls. Out of that number, 60 percent are also playing field hockey. A large percentage of those girls are trying to get recruited for college field hockey as well. So we feel like our lacrosse and [upcoming] field hockey product really work well together. The opportunities in that sport right now really mirror what we saw in lacrosse in 2008 and 2009. It is something we are really excited about and are looking forward to the new product.
On if they have run into any members of their site at the convention:
Wheeler: In 2008, we didnt even know what our product was. We had a parent come by yesterday and tell us her daughter committed to Columbia, and wanted to make sure we got her on our update ticker. That was not something that happens in 2008. A bunch of members have come by and said hello. Some of them we have met before at events. Others were from developing areas like Florida that signed up, had a great experience, and wanted to come say thank you. So it is always good to see our members. They are obviously the lifeblood of our business. So it is a mini-homecoming.
Meade: It has been a lot of fun to be around over the past two days. We get to interact with our members on a day-to-day basis over email and we see them at events. But actually coming to a convention and having someone bump into you and say arent you one of the SportsRecruits guys? You then hear they had a son who used the product in 2010 and now their daughter uses it that is a sophomore in high school. It is just a really great feeling. Also, around the lacrosse industry as a whole, just having people come up and say I remember when it was just you and Matt [Wheeler] driving around to meetings. In 2008, we were doing anything we could to build a business. We are finally at a point where we have a strong brand. We have had a lot of success, and we are able to help out some of the new upstarts the same way we were helped out four years ago. It is just a really great community feeling, and we are happy to be a part of it.