Photo Credit: KAYLA LOKEINSKY
BY BRANDON SLOANE
For many high school athletes, their ultimate aspiration is to play for a college team. However, college athletics are more competitive than ever before, and getting a chance to play has become extremely difficult. To earn a spot on a college sports team, an athlete has to be recruited. Being able to separate yourself from the tens of thousands of other high school players and get recognized by college scouts is a daunting task, and in most cases, it takes more than just sheer talent to get noticed. Cooper City High School athletes have come up with their own unique methods to get recruited and help achieve their goal of playing college sports.
Impressing scouts can be a challenge, especially since most players only get a few opportunities to play games while recruiters are in attendance. This means that they must be on their “A” game whenever they get the chance to show college coaches what they are capable of.
“In any sport, it is important to play hard and give 100 percent effort every play,” varsity football coach Arthur Taylor said. “Never taking a play off is one of the best things you can do to impress a recruiter.”
Some students however, are not waiting for the scouts to come to them. They are taking matters into their own hands and getting noticed using their own techniques.
Junior Simon Shuham, the starting goalie for the boy’s varsity soccer team, has worked towards his goal of playing collegiate soccer by participating in camps and tournaments at prospective schools and networking.
“As of now, some schools that I would like to play for are Princeton University and Wesleyan University,” Shuham said. “I have gone to many camps and tournaments to hone my skills and have talked with various coaches about playing for their schools.”
Another thing Shuham has done to get noticed is make his own highlight film. Throughout the year, he has recorded his games and practices and is editing them into a video that shows what he can do on the field.
“Right now a family friend is creating a highlight film for me that I am going to send out to schools,” Shuham said. “This way I can really show the teams what skills I can bring to the table.”
Senior Matt Girello, who plays for CCHS’s club hockey team, is also working on his dream of playing in college. Over the years, Girello has played both travel and high school hockey. In addition, he attended a national high school hockey showcase in Pittsburgh where he got to show off his skills to scouts from across the nation. Now that he is a senior, his window of opportunity to get signed is closing and Girello has been training harder than ever to get to the next level.
“I train five days a week, where I either workout with private trainers or go to practice with the team,” Girello said. “Also, I have been sending my statistics to schools that have expressed interest in me.”
Even though the process is a daunting, Girello feels confident that the training, dedication, and hard work he has put in over the years is enough to secure a spot on a college team.
“Right now, some schools that I am looking at are Boston University, Boston College, John Hopkins University, University of Connecticut, and University of Florida,” Girello said. “I feel like I can and will play Division 1 hockey no matter what school I attend because of how hard I have worked to get here.”
Getting recruited to play college athletics is no easy feat. It takes skill and the ability to get the attention of recruiters. You can be sure anyone who has ever gotten the opportunity to play sports at the collegiate level had to work tirelessly to get there.
“Once I finally got on campus I felt like an all-star,” former CCHS softball player Jessica Lokeinsky, who went on to play softball at Stetson University, said. “It felt like all my years of hard work finally paid off.”
