Nationally acclaimed student-athlete college recruiting seminar coming to Notre Dame, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017, 7 p.m.
The road to college for athletes is no longer lined with traditional mile markers. It used to be that batting averages, points per game or yards per carry paved the way for sports stars. Nowadays, one more percentage is carrying more and more weight. It’s called the grade point average.
The days of athletes dreaming to “Be Like Mike” and parents’ dreams of having it pay for an education and a lucrative future for their child-student-athlete have vastly changed over the last generation or so. In fact, there is a lot more work to hitting a home run than just hitting home runs.
A seminar to prepare parents and athletes for the recruiting road ahead — complete with all its bumps — will be held on Thursday, January 19, 7 p.m., at Notre Dame Preparatory School.
“Guiding the College-Bound Athlete” will provide information and topics for every student-athlete in middle and high school and their parents to educate and prepare them for opportunities and careers after graduation. Many student-athletes who aspire to play at the college level are not familiar with the ins and outs of academic requirements and eligibility as they need to be in order to pursue their goals.
“Guiding the College-Bound Athlete,” a program designed by Rick Wire, president of Dynamite Sports, a Pennsylvania-based corporation, is the father of nine-year NFL veteran Coy Wire. This seminar will provide families with information about the availability of athletic scholarships and the realities of the college recruiting process.
According to his press release, Rick Wire found himself looking for answers when his then 8-year-old son, Coy, started talking about being a college football star. Wire hadn’t attended college himself and decided he had better start preparing for the future. He questioned other parents who had been through the process, looking for pros and cons and ways to prepare financially. In the end, his son, Coy, earned his scholarship to play football at Stanford University. Then in 2002, Coy was drafted in the third round of the NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills where he played for six seasons and then finished his career for the past three seasons as a captain and player rep with the Atlanta Falcons.
Rick Wire used his study to become a speaker and expert in college athletics and its recruiting process. Then he created the Dynamite Sports Educational Recruiting System, which combines academic preparation and athletic training with marketing and recruiting strategies to navigate through the process. The plan provides direction to high school athletes and parents, and staff development training and resources to high school coaches and counselors to help all parties make knowledgeable choices and decisions in college athletics and recruiting.
Wire will present an hour-long seminar at 7 p.m. in the Notre Dame’s cafetorium. Interested participants are asked to come early, if possible, to receive a number of handouts and watch a pre-program video. For information about Dynamite Sports, go to www.dynamitesports.com.
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." The Marist Fathers and Brothers sponsor NDPMA's Catholic identity and manages its educational program. Notre Dame is accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools, the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.