Looking for a Full Ride

This is the Elevate Polk Podcast, and I'm your host, Chrissanne Long. And with me, as always, is Rob Arturi. Today, we're hearing from a veteran college coach, keynote speaker, trainer, consultant, and author of the book, Looking for a Full Ride: An Insider's Recruiting Guide. Coach Renee Lopez is also a friend of mine, and she's been named Coach of the Year. She's had 30 all-conference players, multiple team academic, sportsmanship, sports ministry awards, 3 All-Americans, and she's reached conference and regional championships. Wow, that's a lot. She regularly appears as a guest on podcasts, and so she's here with us today, blogs, magazines, and even has been featured on SiriusXM Radio as well as on ESPN Radio.

Well, now you've arrived because you're on the Elevate Polk podcast, right?

We're taking you to new heights. Um, she's also been on USA Weekly with the National Alliance for Youth Sports. She's a certified speaker, trainer, and coach for the John Maxwell Team, John Gordon Company, Positive Coaching Alliance, and she's been on multiple stages for sports ministry with Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Welcome to the show, Renee.

Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here with you guys today.

So it was really exciting when we launched the podcast and we, we put out on social media that we were looking for some guests that wanted to come in and share their stories with us. So So we're excited to have Renee as our inaugural guest, and we're also excited about the subject matter because I think it's relevant to a lot of parents and families in Polk County. So we're really going to dig into what the book is about and a lot of things that parents of student athletes can learn about how they can get their student athlete into college with a scholarship.

And you know, the other day was National Signing Day. Yeah, a bunch of students from Lakeland High School A lot of good athletes come out of Lakeland.

Yes, they do.

It's a very relevant, very relevant topic here to us.

And it doesn't surprise me that I'm in a room full of— well, it doesn't surprise me when I sat down with my Florida State bag and Renee had to give me, you know, her, you know, hey, you got your Florida State bag. I'm like, yeah, I know. It's okay. She's a Gator. I'm an Ole. You're an Ole.

It's good.

We can all get along, right?

Of course. Unless it's the last Weekend in November, right?

Just one day out of the year. So Renee, you've been coaching college sports for 14 years on all levels. Is it one sport or have you also coached other sports as well?

I've been a college soccer coach, but I have coached on both men's side and the women's side.

Oh, wow. So you are standing on the sidelines coaching these college soccer players, telling them what to do, how to do it. Was that an interesting experience?

Absolutely. I was a men's assistant coach for a year, and it was quite funny for those who know me. I'm only 5'2" on a good day with heels, and I had some center backs who were 6'5". So that was always quite interesting to be able to work with them and speak with them. But they were great kids, and it was a pleasure to work with them at the college level, as athletes are very driven and wanted to become better. And they didn't care if being a male or female, what it was in terms of a coach.

Must have been hard on your neck though, to constantly be looking up at them like that.

Absolutely.

So I want to go back a little bit because you are not a Polk County native, correct?

I was really originally from about an hour outside Chicago.

How did you get here from there?

Well, I— in the college coaching world, as you move up the ranks, you know, I started out and being on staff at the University of Florida as a grad assistant and working with their program for a couple of years. A year we went to Elite Eight, and Chrissanne, you'll really appreciate that we actually lost to Florida State in order to advance to the— to not advance to the Final Four that year. But, uh, we, uh, went to, um, working through that as being a grad assistant, and which led me to being an assistant, uh, for a men's and women's program back in Illinois. And through the coaching ranks, um, as I went up, I became a D1, uh, head coach as well as a D2 head coach and an AI head coach. I worked at Southeastern for a little bit as well. And so that brought me to Lakeland, but now I do recruiting education full-time in my business and teaching kids how to understand the college recruiting process and really understand what's the best ways to get attention from college coaches, but also the best ways to make sure they set themselves up in terms of their marketing to a college coach. Because so many people think that they watch the movie The Blind Side. I'm sure you guys have watched that movie.

Yes.

And, you know, they all think that that's how the process goes. It's so not how the process goes. And so we always try and teach kids what that looks like. And so for me, really, the idea has been transitioning through the process and teaching kids what it looked like. And so it's been an honor to be able to do some of that here in Lakeland.

For anyone that hasn't watched The Blind Side, which there may be a few people, tell us what kind of— what's that misconception that people are walking around with that something like The Blind Side might plant into people's brains? And then tell us the opposite, like what is it and what isn't it?

Well, you know, in The Blind Side, for those who haven't seen it, this very talented athlete actually has tons and tons of coaches just knocking on his door and promising him the world pretty much if he comes to their school. And that's just not how the process actually works. Most kids actually need to send out emails to college coaches, send out their video links. Maybe their club coaches or their local high school coaches will help them in the process as well in getting seen and getting them to know about them. But many kids think that they just they're just, because they're talented, they're just going to get seen. And especially knowing, understanding, you know, an area like Polk County, it's really important for kids to realize that not everybody knows about them. Even if they're a talented athlete, they need to be able to market themselves. And, you know, it's just like going through the process of a job interview. Yes, there's some times that people are going to know about you and offer you a job, but the fact of the matter is, is most of the time you have to go and seek that out and make sure that people know about you. And so I always encourage families to contact about 30 to 40 colleges when they're starting the process. And I, and I encourage that process to start early on during their freshman, sophomore year of high school.

Awesome. Well, you mentioned emailing coaches and kind of resume kind of building. How does social media play into the brand of these student athletes, and what are some pieces of advice that you can give? Let me lead you in with this quote from your book from Dan Talbot, the senior coordinator of athletics for all of Polk County. He says, "I encourage students to watch what they put on social media. Don't let 140 characters on Twitter cost you $100,000 in scholarship money. It happens all the time.

Absolutely. You know, I included that quote from Dan just because, you know, it's such a reality. So many kids don't even realize they're on a list for coaches. They're very interested in them. College coaches are saying, "Oh yes, we are interested in this player. They're talented." And then they get crossed off that list before they even knew that they were even on the list because of their social media. You wouldn't believe how many kids actually just shoot themselves in their own foot by what they put on there, whether it's pictures that somebody else tags them in, or maybe they're just going off on social media and criticizing their coaches or criticizing the officials. Because the reality is, is college coaches are looking and saying they want to see what you're going to behave like when you are a college athlete for them. And if you are not a positive and uplifting teammate, and also in terms of representing the program well that you currently play for, how are you going to do that at the college level? And so it's really important what kids are doing on their Twitter as well as, you know, any other aspect, whether most of them, you know, on Instagram are posting pictures. And it's like, well, you don't want to post a picture of you with um, alcohol, but you also don't want to post a picture that's actually degrading one of your teammates or the opposing team. But the idea of representing yourself well, and I think it's really important that you understand the best ways to market yourself and utilizing social media as a positive way. And we actually have a blog on my website, um, that actually just demonstrates that on, um, media, uh, and best ways to use social media to be able to get attention from college coaches and the best ways to represent yourself too. So be a great opportunity for you to be able to look into some of that information for those parents who are looking through the process. And also make sure you check up on your student-athlete's media. If it can't be something that can be shown to your principal or to your coaches, probably shouldn't be out there for college coaches to see either.

I, I've had some, some conversations on social media with parents, um, actually have spoken at McKeel, um, just how parents can handle preventing issues from taking place. You know, you still are the parent, so you still can make sure that you have login and passwords and you know who friends are, and you just kind of give them some extra security until they know how to manage their own social media. So that's just not, not related necessarily to this, to this particular topic, but in general, I want parents to know that they have the right to be the parent until the child turns 18. They're still the parent after they turn 18, but then the kid's an adult. So, you know, it goes like that.

Well, that's a topic that I think it bleeds across the employer side as well as the sports side. And I understand what you're saying about, you know, you can police your kids' social media and that's not a bad idea. You should, at the very least, you should be aware of what they're doing on social media. But I've also seen situations where people have multiple social media accounts. They have one that their parents know about and then one that their parents don't know about. But Renee mentioned something earlier I think gets overlooked a lot. I've seen this hurt people where They're on social media and they think, "Okay, I'm not posting stuff, but I'm going to a party and I'm drinking alcohol and I'm smoking marijuana and all of this stuff, and then somebody's tagging me in that photo." Right. And now that has become searchable and linked to me. I didn't put it on social media. I didn't intend for the world to see it, but because it exists and I have a social media profile that is searchable with any connections or references to me, And I know that on Facebook you can prohibit somebody from tagging you in photos. I don't know how that works on Twitter or all the rest of them, but—

Yeah, it's in your security settings. All of them have the ability for you to control what gets shared and what doesn't get shared and how you get tagged.

So that might be a good one that I think would be overlooked, a good setting for people to check that don't, don't tag me in this. I have, I have a lot of opinions on college tuition and the cost of college tuition today. It's a real issue for a lot of people. And I think sports is one of those areas where people are looking to to mitigate some of that cost. And you'd hate to see some stupid decision on social media thwart that. But one of the things you mentioned about sending out like 30 applications or, you know, 30 emails and kind of casting a bigger net. I think sometimes, especially kids today, they have an inflated perception of their own abilities and talents. And they all think that they're going to become professional athletes. And I, you know, I like this whole teach kids to dream big stuff, but you also have to teach them to dream a little bit smart. Because if you can get a full ride at a D2 school versus maybe wishing for a scholarship as you're on the scout team at a D1 school, what has really put you in a better position for life?

Right. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about managing expectations, both the kids' expectations and the parents' expectations. And how do you address sometimes, you know, the reality, bringing them down to reality and not necessarily insulting them, but telling them this might be a better path for you?

Well, you know, I do a lot of work with consulting with families, and I also do a lot of webinars as well as in-person sessions at high schools and in different different sports organizations, and I think the number one question I get is, how do I get that scholarship? And I always say, well, you need to understand what that scholarship realities really look like, you know. And in most sports, it's about 2 to 5% of high school student athletes actually receive scholarships, and that is not even necessarily meaning that they're going to receive a full scholarship. And so, you know, I try and bring forth the numbers and what that looks like, you know. So just for example, um, depending on what sports you're in, if you look and you say there are different sports, some of the sports are equivalency sports and some of them are headcount sports. So when it comes to headcount sports, let's think of a, of a sport like football where there are a certain number of scholarships that are available at the school in terms of the number of actual heads, hence the word headcount, versus other sports that you may find that are equivalency sports. So let's just give you a perfect example of what that looks like. In Division I women's soccer, they would actually be allowed, if they are a fully funded program, they would be allowed to have 14 full scholarships that would be an equivalency that they can use across the entire team. So let's be honest, most college Division I programs are going to have at least— let's just make the numbers easy here— 28 kids on their roster. Maybe they'll have 30, 35. So if they were actually to use those 14 full scholarships across the entire team, that would only look out to being about a partial half scholarship for each one if they were going to divide them up evenly. Now, that doesn't usually happen. That's not usually the case. A lot of times there are walk-ons in programs. But you look and you say, well, at the NAIA programs or Division II programs, they will have other opportunities to be able to offer scholarships as well, as especially in the junior college level, there's a lot more opportunities. And so if money is really driving your, uh, your decision in terms of what you're going to make of choosing a college, I think it's really, really important that you keep your, your options as open as possible. And so what I always say, and college coaches kind of joke around this idea, is that, oh, we have kids that are just only have D1 on the brain. And it's like, wait a minute, you can actually explore these other options at a Division II school, an NAIA school, as well as junior college options, and say So I would say in that casting that, that net of 30 to 40 colleges, I would say take maybe 5 to 8 of them only being Division I's that you're contacting, as opposed to sending all of them Division I's. Instead, look and see what other options there can be. Also, you'll see depending on what age level you are, the NCAA will restrict in terms of what the NCAA, uh, Division I's and Division II's can respond in terms of their organization of, of how they can communicate with those student athletes. And so it's really, really important, I think, to make sure that the number one thing they're doing is casting a wide net. And I think that's looking at Division IIs, Division IIs as well, of course, but looking at the NAIA schools and junior colleges. If they're really looking for an athletic scholarship, there may be better opportunities to get that just because the sheer numbers of the number of kids who want to play in college. And if we're looking at those percentages, like we said, it's, you know, it, depending what the sport is, it may be 2 to 5%. And so I really try and cast that information out to families during the process. And so they understand the other part is that most college coaches are looking to really stack scholarships in terms of academic scholarships as well as athletic, and then also if they qualify for anything in financial aid. So those test scores do matter, your GPA does matter. Um, college coaches would much rather look and say, okay, I can get you this amount of academic scholarship money, which doesn't hit my budget because they have limits in terms of how much scholarship money they can offer for athletics. But instead they're looking for the academic side of things to be able to stack it academic plus athletic, and if there's any other financial need in terms of the FAFSA or, you know, grants, things like that that are available. And so So I think it's really important to realize it's the bigger picture and look at the whole picture, not just, I'm going to automatically get a full ride because I'm talented. And you know, the reality is also making sure that college coaches know about you. You could be the best athlete that's out there, but if college coaches don't know who you are, and that's important for you to be doing the marketing, don't just sit back and let other people, um, you know, just hope that they come and pray to you. I think it's really, really important in the process to really be open to, um, casting a wide net and marketing yourself to all of them.

Awesome. So you mentioned the process, and I have absolutely no idea how that process even begins, when it begins, how it begins. I have a little bit of experience in, you know, like travel baseball. My ex-husband was a baseball coach. And so I, I know that there was, you know, you're tracking these kids' talent from a very early age and you just have these aspirations and hopes. You know, you want to make sure that you're doing everything you can as a parent to get them on the right teams, to, to encourage them to, to make the right friends. That's the process that I'm familiar with. But what does it look like, and when does a parent need to start looking at this? Like, okay, what are the 30 schools that our kid is going to apply to, and who do we need to talk to to get this process started?

Well, you know, in interviewing 65 college coaches and athletic directors in my book, we actually interviewed across 19 different sports. And to be very honest with you, my whole idea when I started the book process, I was actually going to interview 100 college coaches. I actually stopped and didn't continue in going to 100 college coaches because they kept saying the exact same thing. Number one thing that we kept finding is that they wanted to make sure that the kids were emailing the college coaches directly. Take notice, I said the kids, not the parent. Very, very important that it's initiated from the kid. And I highly recommend that you start the process during a freshman, sophomore year of high school. Started getting on the college coaches' radars. Now with what the NCAA rules have changed and the idea that they can actually bring juniors onto campus and doing official visits if they want to and if they have the means to be able to do that, not all schools do, that a lot of times they've already figured out who the kids are that they're chasing by the summer between the sophomore and junior year of high school. And so it's important to start that process early to get on the radar of the coaches. That means sending an email. That means sending video links. You know, there's opportunities to be able to upload video links to YouTube, So, what does that mean from a parent's perspective? You should be making sure that there's video that's available, maybe from your coaches, sometimes it's not, but that video's being available during your freshman and sophomore year, sometimes leading into your junior year of high school, and that they can start that process sending academic information, sending those test scores. A lot of kids sit and wait and they think, "Oh, I'll just take my ACTs or my SATs my senior year of high school." That's a really big mistake. That's actually going to hurt you in the process. They also want to make sure that they see your academics and senior year transcripts and seeing that you've been doing well during your freshman, sophomore year. Again, you don't want to wait till your junior, senior year to start getting A's and B's in your classes because college coaches are looking at that to make sure that they can evaluate who you are as an— as a college athlete overall. The other part is obviously looking at your social media, but the idea is that you have to realize that you need to be marketing yourself to these college coaches, sending out those video links and sending them often, and looking in to see if there's ID camps that are available to go to and visit, um, for a college, and that may just be a summer camp. It may be a 1 or 2 day camp that's available. Many colleges offer this, and it's an opportunity for you to get on the radar, to see who the coaches are, how they interact with their players, also talk with some of the current student athletes and really get a feel for what it's like. You can also do this process, and, you know, across all these different sports that we interviewed, and, um, you know, also talking with so many athletic directors, you know, we spoke with University of Florida athletic director and the University of Alabama athletic director, and one of the things they kept saying is we're always looking for leaders. And so we're looking They're looking to find kids that are going to stand out from the crowd. And so, they're looking for that when in the process of looking at emails and such, and also social media, like we mentioned, but also what do they look like in their schools? They're asking the questions about how do they treat their cafeteria workers? How do they act at the school? Are they making good decisions on and off the field or court, whatever it may be, or pool or whatever athletes they are? But the idea is making sure that the student athletes are making the right choices. And so it's really important for them to make sure they're standing out in a positive way, not just on the X's and O's and the stats that they're bringing in for their sport, but the idea that they're standing out in initiating the conversations and initiating it via emails. And, you know, obviously down the road, as NCAA rules allow, that they can actually be on the phone with them and also doing campus visits too.

It's funny that you mentioned the parents. I just saw a video I think it was a South Carolina coach, basketball coach. I don't know if it's men's or women's, but he kind of went on a tirade about the effect that parents have on youth sports. And I think that only gets worse as they go up and up and up. And I think a lot of parents, you know, I pick on the kids having an inflated sense of accomplishments and a unrealistic ceiling of success. But a lot of that comes from the parents who— It's one thing for the coach to manage expectations or for the athlete themselves to manage expectations, but I think there's a fine line between motivating and pushing your children to succeed and excel and having a distorted view of what reality is. I don't remember offhand, but the percentages of kids that play sports in high school that will go on and play sports in college is a tiny percent. And then from there, it's an infinitesimal percent that go from college to professional sports. But yet all of them want this, this sort of thing. And I think— The advice that you have in the book and your program, I think from just what I've gleaned just in skimming through it, the message is I think there's a more holistic approach. I think that if you look at it as if you have one specific goal, that is, I want to go and play for professional football, let's say, there's a lot you can accomplish with collegiate athletics and our free college tuition. When we have politicians everywhere talking about student debt and making this free and young people are graduating with crushing debt. If you have the ability, even with moderate athletic ability, to avoid $100,000 or so in college tuition, student debt coming out of just an undergraduate program, that's a tremendous advantage regardless of whether you play professional sports or not. So I think this is a valuable— strategy, whatever level you're at. This isn't— this isn't, I'm just going to take this and I'm going to— my kid's going to play for the New England Patriots or the Bucs. You know, that FAFSA form is crazy.

Absolutely.

My sister called me and asked me about it the other day and was telling me, I think it's even gotten more complicated than the 25, 30 years ago I did it.

Yes.

You know, they want your grandmother's blood type.

You know, where's your grandfather, great-grandfather, where's your grandfather buried?

So if you don't pay, we can plunder his tomb. They wanna make sure they get their, oh yeah, it's crazy. They want everything. But this is a great tool.

Absolutely. And I think the bigger picture is looking and saying, I refer to it in my book and talks about the idea of the broken leg test and thinking about that. If you're to tear your ACL or you break your leg, on, you know, let's just say on day 1 of preseason, is this still the right fit for you as a school? You know, I think that's important to really manage that in terms of academics and making sure it's a good fit for you in terms of what your major is going to be, as well as the class sizes. Also social environment, you know, is it looking at a Christian college? You know, we actually have a little bit of information about that in my book. And, you know, is it looking at a smaller school versus a large school like, like Chrissanne and I were talking about, Florida or Florida State? And, and, uh, you know, looking at something like that, but also looking at the financial aspects of things and realizing that, you know, Not all of you are going to go on a full ride, and so how can you afford that school, and is it a good fit for you long-term that's going to help you to your career aspirations? And many of you are not going to go on to play in college, as you know, as after college and play professionally. So the idea of is that degree going to help you with your career, whether it's going on to graduate school or getting a job in the real world, but the idea is really having that broken leg test and thinking through, are we making the right decisions of the right school for us overall and not just letting the sports drive the decision, but the idea of the bigger picture and really realizing it. Is it a good fit for you overall? Because we don't want to see if you do, you know, tear your ACL or get injured or, or don't love the sport anymore, or maybe you're not getting a lot of playing time at the school you're at. You know, we don't want to see a lot of kids transferring out. And you're— unfortunately, we're seeing that a lot with the transfer portal now going on. And it's quite a bit of things going on. And I think as parents, we have to make sure that we help our kids thinking through this whole bigger picture. And we really do cover that in my book. I'm talking about the broken leg test and thinking about the academic side of things, the financial side of things, and the social environment too, that's going to be where kids are the most successful and being able to go on and, you know, get that degree and go into the real world. And, you know, being a student athlete is something that actually takes you quite far in life. And because it can help you in getting job interviews and things like that. And, you know, it's so funny, here I am in my 40s and, you know, I still, if I'm talking with somebody new, they always want to talk about my college playing days. And I look at them and go, that's 20 years ago. Why are we even talking about that as opposed to, you know, and that happens. I talk with some of my former athletes, you know, who played 10, you know, 12 years ago. And they say people bring it up in job interviews all the time. And it's amazing that, that even if they didn't go on to play, you know, beyond college, that it was still a topic of conversation because people realize that college student athlete learned how to balance their time. They learned how to have good teamwork. They also learned how to be competitive. And so that obviously drives in, especially in the business world. And, you know, I think it's important that we actually teach all of the bigger skills and looking at all of that Overall, when we're looking at the opportunity to be able to play in college is what's going to help us 10 years from now, not just what's the, the good decision right now in the next 2 years or 4 years.

Awesome. Well, you know, you talked about— you've talked about a lot of things. I, I really feel like what I want the listeners to take away from this show specifically is the reality is there are people in Polk County like Renee who have this wealth of knowledge. You right here in our own backyard, conversations like this are happening with parents and families with someone with this expert wealth of knowledge. And I want to talk to you a little bit about that at this point in the game. You've been in Polk County since you were in college?

No, only for about 4 years.

You were in Polk County for 4 years, then you left?

No, I actually just been here for the past 4 years.

Oh, okay. So you got the job. So, so walk me back through the process because I, I really don't know that. And I think it's important for for the listeners to know kind of where you've been since you left Chicago or outside of Chicago and what your goals are here. Like, we just did the episode, What the F Are We Doing Here? Why are we in Polk County? Why do we choose to be here? Yeah, but I think it's important for people to know that you are this person here in Polk County.

Well, you know, I spent 14 years as a college coach, so you move all across the country. That's how it happens when you're doing, you know, having As you go up the coaching ranks, that you just move. I've lived in North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado, and, and Illinois, and, and obviously here in Florida. I love the warm weather. That's part of my reason for staying down here. Um, and, uh, you know, for me, a bigger picture though is looking and saying the reason I am here is because I look and I say I believe that building a business here in Polk County is something that needs to happen, and because we need to educate our families on the college recruiting process. I do obviously work work with, with people all across the country. I, I do a lot of webcasting and, and a lot of different, um, opportunities in terms of live events. I fly different places and, and be able to help with different organizations. But the fact is, I look and I say, Polk County needs this, and be able to help, um, families understand what the process actually is, as opposed to the misconception of, you know, how big that they think that they are just because they're doing well in Polk County, as opposed to the bigger scale of things. And so, you know, it's important As why did I choose to come and build my business here in Polk County? I love having the access to, you know, within 45 minutes of Tampa and Orlando. That's great for my business. But, you know, I think it's also important that we have a lot of kids right here that are talented in Polk County who are very talented student athletes and who can be successful and go on. We've seen evidence of that, you know, with the Pounceys, twins, and, you know, things like that and looking around here. But the fact is, is we need to make sure that we're educating families on the college recruiting process. And, you know, we are looking for businesses to join in that process and, and help us and as well as youth organizations to help us, um, teach these families what they need to know because so many people don't know the process. And so that's one of my goals is to really help grow in Polk County and really teach families what is the best ways to be able to get seen. Um, and that may be a, a school in California to know about you or a school in Maryland. You don't know where it's gonna land, but the fact is we wanna have kids understanding what the process is and educate them. What to do and what not to do in understanding the whole bigger picture.

4 years building a business. This is a community that we, we can speak honestly about. There are some, there are some challenges. So has it been a walk in the park growing this business here in our amazing community?

Well, definitely not a walk in the park. I can tell you that anyone who's written a book will tell you it is, um, it's like birthing a baby and it's, uh, it's quite a process. Um, again, I I interviewed 65 college coaches and athletic directors.

Is it really that messy?

There's many times you are sitting at Starbucks typing and going, "Why am I doing this?" But the fact of the matter is, I think it's important for people to know that it's something that we're looking to grow this area. One of the things means is that we need to make sure that we're sending kids to go off to college and maybe go off to college somewhere close by or go to college farther away.

Way.

We need to make sure that we're helping kids who do have the talent and ability to get an athletic scholarship, that they know the process. And, and a lot of times they will come back here into Polk County, and I think that's a very, very important part of the process. But, you know, in terms of building a business here, it is challenging at times because not everybody sees the vision and not everybody understands what the bigger picture will be. As well as, you know, when it comes to writing a book, you know, I've written over 40 blogs on the college recruiting process, and I do a lot of business across the country, but I don't always do business in Polk County. And we We want people to realize that we have the resources here and we can help. But there are some challenges in terms of media outlets, in terms of, you know, being able to do things like, you know, obviously I've been on ESPN Radio and done SiriusXM and things like that. But we want to also get in, in connection with the local media and also being able to do things and be able to reach the local student athletes and their families, as well as get connected with other coaches, as well as athletic directors. And other youth sports organizations.

Do you have any thoughts on how it could be easier for the next Renee Lopez coming into the community and starting a business? What, what could you specifically speak to? Maybe you can't speak to anything specifically, but what would've made the process of building a business and getting known in Polk County and beyond? Because you, you hear the story, you hear the quote, you can't be a prophet in your own backyard, you know, so you, you might be known in other communities, communities better, better than you're known in your own. But what could some— what could change in Polk County to make it easier for the next person coming in?

Well, you know, I think being able to connect with other local businesses who see the vision of what we're trying to do. We're not just trying to, you know, build this next great stadium. We're actually trying to help kids and empower kids to dictate their future and make choices, make a choice that's going to help them for their future to be able to move on in their careers. And again, hopefully they'll give back to Polk County. You know, I think one of the challenges that I have seen and I encourage anyone is to sit down earlier in the process with other local authors as well as other writers and also local businesses who can partner with you in the process and helping in funding in that process as well. Because research takes time and it takes a lot of resources and also takes a lot of blood and sweat. But the fact is, you know, I want to help us, uh, continue to have those mentorship programs that can happen. And reaching out to local businesses, I think, who can get on board and understand the mission. Maybe they may not have the exact same, um, topics that they're working with in terms of their community, but being open to the ideas that we can actually help each other in ways that we may not have thought about. And, uh, keep an open mind. And again, I've lived in multiple states, and I think, uh, resources that are out there, I think we need to continue to grow and develop, and especially in connecting with local school systems as well as local businesses.

Awesome. Well, I'm going to tell everybody how to find Renee online as we wrap up. I don't know, did you have anything else you wanted to add, Rob? Any other final questions?

I have one question because I want to— one burning question because I have not had the opportunity to ask this of a professional college coach. There is, um, there's a lot of buzz about the athletes being paid And for those who are unaware, 'cause the topic itself is totally distorted. They're not actually being paid for playing. They're being paid for money generated by the use of their name, like on a jersey. And they don't even get that until they graduate. And most of the ones, especially football, they graduate, but a lot of, like, basketball, they'll never see the money because they're gonna leave before they ever graduate. And you're not gonna forego draft money for that. But all of that aside, From a game perspective, because I'm a big college fan. I like college sports way more than professional sports. I watch pro sports, but I love collegiate sports. It's a different feeling. And I wonder if— What do you think as a coach? Because I've never been in that mix. What are your thoughts on it?

Well, you know, that's probably a whole different show. We could probably have a good 45 minutes on that. But, you know, I think I'll chime in. You've heard it from Nick Saban, you've heard it from Urban Meyer, Kier, many of the most prolific college coaches out there, many of us do not think that it is the best of ideas to equip 18 to 22-year-olds with a lot of money and utilizing that from a team perspective. It may not be the most effective way to build a team because if you have someone who is a walk-on athlete and then now you have somebody who is already on scholarship being able to make millions of dollars and maybe together in a situation, well, uh, it's just probably not going to do great for team dynamics. And, um, you know, watching and really working with college athletes for 18 to 22-year-olds, and I've done that for 14 years, and I can tell you they don't always make the best decisions when they're 18. Really? And, uh, so, you know, I, I think that college should be a time that they're learning, um, and understanding and opportunities to be able to make mistakes. But I'm very concerned, and again, we could do a whole other topic for this, um, and a whole other show, but, you know, I'm very concerned of what that's going to look like of the people surrounding those student athletes and what decisions they're going to be making. And, uh, are the people that are going to be trustworthy? And, uh, you know, there's a lot of college coaches who are very concerned about that process and where does this whole agency come in. And again, that's a whole other topic. But I think, uh, we're, we're in a situation where, um, you know, there's gonna be a lot of things that are going to change before it actually goes and becomes formal. It isn't going to come out till 2023 that this actually gets put into place. So we do have a few more years here NCAA to figure out exactly how they're going to do this, but I think it's something that's going to, to damage college sports, and I'm very concerned about it, what it's going to look like. But I think there's a lot of things to be ironed out over the next few years.

Absolutely. Yeah, I'm, I'm just waiting to see what happens. I'm taking the wait-and-see approach.

Yeah, me too.

So you, you have a special offer for our listeners. Do you want to talk about your, the special report that they can get?

Absolutely. You know, I have on my website at rlopezcoaching.com, you can find a special report. It's Strategies to Emailing College Coach. You can get completely for free. Again, it's at rlopezcoaching.com. You also want— interested in picking up my book, um, it is, uh, Looking for a Full Ride. You can purchase that through my website, lookingforafullride.com. And again, we have, uh, covered information from not only my experiences being a D1, D2, and NAIA head coach, but also the, uh, 65 college coaches, athletic directors across 19 different sports. You'd be surprised in the schools that we have, every single different level. We have the Virginia head women's soccer coach who was also the assistant U.S. women's national team coach when they won, uh, the World Cup the past few years, as well as we have a rifle coach from NC State, and we have a gymnastics coach from Nebraska, and also a lot of schools that you've never heard of, uh, that are Division IIs and Division IIIs and NAIs and junior colleges, and across all different sports in order to present a true insider's perspective. So we encourage you guys to pick up our free special report as well as look at our over 40 blogs on the college recruiting process, such as how to contact a college coach in sending videos, as well as what you should do on social media, what is an unofficial visit versus an official visit, and, you know, 13 questions to ask a college coach. So hopefully you can get a lot of information from our blogs as well as purchasing our book. And we'll also put in the show notes today a coupon code for free shipping if you are just outside of Lakeland area. We we can get that out to you guys if that's something you guys are interested too. We'll give you a coupon code for the first 15 people that purchase our book too.

Awesome, that is fantastic. So one last time, just so that you guys know how to get in touch with Renee, there's a couple of different places you can go. rlopezcoaching.com. You can also go to lookingforafullride.com specifically if you want to order the book. And if you're just wanting to maybe set up an interview or a conversation or an appointment meeting with Renee, you can email her at info@lookingforafullride.com.

And if you're driving right now listening to this, don't— please don't write any of those things down. They'll all be in the, uh, the show notes. So we'll put all those links and all that information in there.

Perfect. Well, that's all the time we have for our episode today. So thank you for listening. Thank you, Renee, for being our very first guest on the Elevate Podcast. I hope you had a time.

Great to have you— me being here with you guys and share the information. Thank you so much for having me.

And so to our listeners, don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and leave us a review. You can find all of our episodes at elevatepolk.com. And if there's something you want to hear about, or if you'd like to be a guest on an upcoming episode, reach out to us on Facebook at Elevate Polk.