Live with Restream, March 12

Mistaken. Am I live? You're not making this very easy, Mr. Restream. Hello, hello, am I live right now? Damn it. Okay, I think I'm live somewhere. Sending data.

Okay, I guess I'll wait. I'm live on TikTok though.

Is that true right now? Am I live on TikTok? I don't think I'm live. I don't look live. Streaming on TikTok and YouTube. Am I live right now? I don't think I'm live. Dang it.

Recording in progress.

I'm live. Hello, TikTok, can you guys hear me?

Oh yeah, you can.

Hi, um, I'll Okay, perfect. I think TikTok, you can hear me, which is super cool. Instagram, it doesn't seem to be working, so that's annoying. And YouTube seems to be working. I'm live. Cool.

What up, everybody?

I'm live. I'm live everywhere except for Instagram.

All right.

Hello everyone, can you guys hear me okay?

Yeah, I can hear you.

Excellent.

I can hear you as well.

Um, thanks so much for taking the time, everyone, uh, for coming. I really appreciate it. Before we get started, um, could I ask who found me first?

Uh, I don't know if my daughter's on here. Is she in here?

She was.

She just disappeared. She might be coming back.

Yeah, so we, um, we signed up for the Elite Camp in Glendale, and that's where we started to get the emails from you.

Cool. Amazing. Well, thank you very much for— I'm glad that you heard about me, and I'm glad— I hope you enjoyed the camp, which is exciting. I think I would just follow up with—

I don't see your daughter here. Oh yeah, she's back. She's here. She's coming.

Hi, Angela. Can you hear us? Not yet.

I don't know if she can hear us.

Well, I have your dad. There was a slightly longer video that was sent over that kind of talks about how we work with students. Did you see that yet or not yet?

Yes, I did see it.

Okay, thank you for watching that. I really appreciate it. Which brings me to the agenda for today. My job is kind of two things. One, you know, can I help you play college soccer? You know, is that something I can help you with? Number two, do I want to help you? Meaning, can I— do I think I'd be successful? And three, if I can help you, what does that look like? Um, so with all those things, and this is normally when I ask some questions of your daughter, but I don't— I— she doesn't have her microphone available.

I just see her camera.

I don't see any audio. So I can ask Dad these questions, but I think it's usually better if I get to ask the athlete.

Yeah, she was— she's, she's logging in, right? I mean, she's logged in from school, and right now it's like their lunch break. That's why Makes sense. But she was saying there was, uh, like bad Wi-Fi in the classroom she was in.

Got it.

I'm just asking her on the side if she's— if she can hear and all that stuff, but she hasn't replied.

Okay, no worries.

Or I can call her maybe and see, put her on the speaker at least.

Yeah, try that. That'd be great if you don't mind.

Hey, can you— can you hear me? Because I can just put you here on speaker.

I can hear you guys, it's just the Wi-Fi's really bad over here.

Okay, no worries.

I can hear you now, actually. Perfect.

Okay, so he can hear you, Angie, so we'll just leave it like this.

And I know you're at work.

No, just see the phone call.

Yeah, this is good.

I can hear you.

Um, I know, um, you and your dad kind of saw me at the camp. Um, with that in mind, uh, I have a couple questions for you about your recruiting process. Is that okay?

Yeah.

Right now, how many phone calls have you had with college coaches?

Um, I actually haven't had any with a college coach. Okay. Uh-huh. I have had a call like with one of the college recruiters for our club about like where I'm going to ID camps and stuff.

Okay, but no calls with a college coach.

No.

Okay, what is it that you— has anybody mentioned coming on an official visit and like sleeping over with the team?

Um, I'm sorry, can you repeat that?

Yeah, no problem, no problem. I was wondering if anybody's mentioned coming on an official visit.

Um, no, I don't think so either.

Okay, what is it that you think you need the most help with from a recruiting perspective?

I think honestly, just a lot to do with like emails and like finding out, because I know everybody's doing the same thing when it comes to the process, but I like want to know what can I do differently to kind of maybe stand out when it comes to like the recruiting process.

Absolutely. How we can stand out. Yes. Very helpful. From your father's perspective, what do you think your daughter needs the most help with from a recruiting perspective?

So just kind of just to add to a little bit of what she said. So we, we initially earlier this year went to a couple of ID camps. We went to one in San Francisco where it was a— it was somewhat of a smaller camp. There wasn't a whole bunch of girls, but she got an opportunity. It was an all-day camp and she was, she was able to, you know, talk one-on-one with coaches, and there was a couple coaches that she really engaged with and liked and all that. And, and they— this camp was to pick the top players to send them into Florida, but we couldn't make that trip. But one of the coaches that she really talked to, which was the UP coach, had to let her know that they were going to have to keep an eye out for their own camp, which was yesterday. So we went to that one yesterday, and she engaged there a little bit with the coaches.

Um, when you say UP, which school are you referring?

It's, uh, University of the Pacific, which is—

yeah, I know University Pacific.

Okay, got it.

Just making sure.

Um, so that's, that's— and obviously I've, uh, kind of seen with her what she's doing, uh, kind of overseeing only a little bit, but she's sent emails to those coaches ahead of time when she's going to the camps. When she went to the showcase in Phoenix for the ECNL club team, she sent out emails to the coaches, got responses back from some of them, "Hey, well, give us her schedule, we'll have a chance to go and see you," because she sent out highlights and stuff like that. But what I feel is like listening to your conversations and your talks, especially the one with Glenda, which I really appreciate because You, you want to hear the truth, right? You want to hear the people that know about the process or have been through it. You want to hear from them where you're at and, and, um, and what you didn't do or what you, you can do. And so, you know, I hear a lot— we always— my daughter is the first one that, that is actually following sports with the idea of playing in college, so It's all new to us. So we thought that this recruiting process was throughout up until you graduate, right? Up until your senior year. But then we're hearing like from people like you that that window is basically almost closed. So that's where we are like, well, what do, what do we do now? Like we are behind. Is there really that opportunity still out there? I mean, yesterday the camp was for a D1 school. She did. I think she did really well. I think she stood out. But, you know, if the coaches don't— like, we don't know. The coaches let you know right away if they like you, if they don't. Like, what is— so, so, like, we're kind of— I'm kind of in a position where, where is it too late and should we just start focusing on something else, on maybe a, a D2, D3, or other avenues, like, you know, if she really— because she really wants—

totally, that makes a good question, very good question. Um, I can potentially answer that semi-directly, but before I do, um, I want to ask your daughter, why do you want to play called soccer? Why is this important to you?

I lost you here.

Okay, I think I lost her. That's okay.

Oh, she's still here.

Oh, perfect.

Why do you want to— why is it important to you? Why do you want to play college soccer?

I just, I have, I've always had like a really big passion for it. And also I think I've devoted a lot of time and effort into it. And I believe that I have some potential and I have talent and everything. I believe in it. So, I've been doing this sport for a long time. Loving it and passionate for it. I think that's just like really important to me. Also, just the people that I've met from it are also very, very big part of my life now.

So that's very cool.

That's why it's important to me.

No, that's very special. And it's important I ask because, you know, this process is hard. And if you don't have a good why, it can be very difficult. So I want to then follow up with your father. You know, soccer is very important. I can feel that. But I also talk about how I played college and then I played pro soccer and then I went back to school to get my master's. Your daughter has very good grades. Would you agree with me that even as we look for the right school, academics come first?

Yes. Yeah. I mean, we've always said— we've always said that to her. Like, we will— we've been supportive of the sports that she loves, but always reaffirming that her academics is, is the most important because at the end of the day, after soccer, like, she needs to rely and fall back on her academics, right? On her, on her degree or whatever career she pursues.

Yes, well said. And I saw actually she had a, she had an Instagram page that where she shares her photos, and your photos are really cool. Those are very cool photos.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

So I want to then give you guys kind of my diagnosis on your situation. Is that okay?

Yeah.

So the short answer to your question is I, I can't tell you the answer today concretely. Here's what you need to do, um, in terms of D1, etc. I can say this to your daughter. Let's say I said to you Division 1 schools are out of the question, that it's not going to happen. Not because you're not good enough. I saw your video. I'll get into that in a minute. But let's just say I've said to you, you're not going to play Division 1 soccer, but you could play Division 3, Division 2, and maybe transfer one day if you really want to. Would you say, I don't want to play soccer then, or would you still want to play college soccer?

Still want it.

Okay, so then my diagnosis is this. When we put students in my world, I put them in two categories. Number one is their personality, and you're lovely, right? You're at school right now and you're still on the call with me, which shows your dedication. And two is their video and how it's put together. So your video, we put it in two categories. One is what will a coach think of your video, and what level can you play? I think you're a D1 player. I saw your video, it's, it's good. The format of your video is beyond atrocious, um, the way you put it together, the lack of video. You will not play Division 1 soccer. And I understand you've been sending emails, and that is a big problem. I would also bluntly tell you that while Division 1 is not technically completely out of the question, we cannot spend any more time there. You do not have that privilege. So then if you don't get recruited in the next 3 months, you will not be playing college soccer. So because of that— now, recruited doesn't mean choose an offer, but if you don't get significant interest, phone calls, visits this spring, Division I soccer is definitely not going to happen. And even Division III and Division II is not going to happen. So, and you have great grades, so unless you want to go to a no-name school in the middle of nowhere, this is the situation we're in, in my opinion. Going back to your dad's point, I'm very frustrated on your behalf. I've been through the pro— this recruiting process a long time. The coaches know if they like your daughter within 5 to 10 seconds. It doesn't take them that long. Now, they do have to measure other people, but if you didn't hear directly after the camp, I'm getting on a call with you. At this stage, that's a bad sign. So if I'm the one to tell you that and I'm wrong, that's great news.

I'm wrong.

If I'm the one to tell you that and now we have to change direction, then great. I'm gonna— I'm gonna still enable you to play college soccer, which doesn't mean you cannot play Division 1 at some point, by the way. But if you don't play college soccer this year and you go to a junior college, which would be ridiculous with your grades, or frankly just go to normal school and don't play soccer and then want to transfer to D1, That's not realistic either. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Okay, so you have to play college soccer this year at some school if at any point in the future you want to play Division I. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Okay, so to both of you, I know to your daughter you can't see my screen, but your dad, I'm going to share my screen here in a minute. Um, and dad saw this in the video. The next steps for you in a way are not really negotiable from my perspective. You guys can choose to do what you want, but this is what has to happen whether you work with me or not. And the way I'm speaking to you is in absolutes because of the time frame we're in. This is not like you still have time. There's like, there's very minimal time. Not now. I don't want to tell you it's too late. And the reason I say that is tomorrow somebody will get injured, the next day the coach could get fired. There's a million things that can happen, but you don't have the quote-unquote delicious appetizer meal that's making their life easy like Rod talked about in the Zoom call prior to the camp. So number 1 is your video and videos. I need to fix all that. I need to make a lot more of them. I can use what I saw on Instagram actually and fix a lot of that up because there's some really good moments, but I also need full games. So you'll send me your video or your Trace or whatever you're using. The email system I have, Dad saw briefly. This is what in many ways will save us. We're going to email a lot of Division 3 and Division 2 schools multiple times over, and then we will be able to go back to Division 1s once you have some form of leverage. But if you don't get a phone call the next 3 months, we're in trouble. Which then says camps— we're not going any more camps now unless there's significant genuine interest and/or you kind of already used up your dream school camp scenario. So pretty much that's it. Now if there's a D3 or D2 school that I have on my list, that's one other option that I'll just tell you. But otherwise, we need confirmation before you go. Which then says, um, you're— I know I, my— I lived— I played at Sacramento Republic, so I went to Fresno area all the time. My— one of my dear friends lives in Fresno. I know the area. I know the club you're at. It's a good club. Which brings us back to the most important part of all of this. I want your daughter to say to me, Zev, what is your number one job?

What did you say?

Will you ask me? Will you say, Zev, what is your number one job?

What's your number one job?

Have you ever had a coach or a teacher you didn't like very much?

I'm sorry, what?

Have you ever had a coach or a teacher you did not like very much?

Oh yeah.

Would you like them to be your teacher or coach for 4 years in a row?

Oh, you got it.

So my number 1 job is to make sure you find a coach you love. And I'm showing your dad a photo right now of me playing college soccer, loving every minute of it. My college coach being a great guy, and my brother playing college soccer and having a miserable experience. So at this stage, it's less about the divisions, more about your happiness. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Okay, which brings me to the questions about working with us. So there are other companies out there. I'm not saying they can't help you. They have different models. Like, have you guys heard of NCSA?

Yeah, we have.

Okay, so NCSA, the biggest difference between me and them is it's mandatory you meet with us every week, you have to let me edit your videos, and we do not email from any company. That does not work, especially this late on. So the coaches will message me, do you work with this girl? She plays ECNL, in this case. I love her Every Touch video, I love her interview, it makes my life easier. And you guys, I think, heard in the Zoom video with Rod, making the coach's life easier is basically how you get recruited. If they like your information, they will watch it and recruit you. This is a coach, a girls coach saying, 'When do you plan to send me your ballers?' This is the women's coach at DePaul. Already done with the 26th and 27th schools. Done. This is another coach texting me, 'We still need these positions: goalkeeper, center backs, etc.' So that is key. Then I post on social media, and college coaches do watch it, so that's a bonus. And then the coaches will text me, like you saw me talking to all the coaches at the camp, you know, 'Thanks so much for your help,' because I'm the one who's kind of navigating. I'm the bridge. I don't connect you, but I can tell you what to say and how to say it. And that enables us to move forward. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Okay. So then the final thing for your daughter is when we work together, this is what it will look like. You will get a CallTalker gal coach plus myself. You're in what we call DEFCON 5 mode. So you're going to meet with us each week, mandatory, and we're going to take you through the process to get basically recruited, what emails to send, who to follow up with. We need to do what's called an audit. You've told me you've already communicated with many schools via email, I'm sure. I need to see all of those and see where we stand and how we're going to follow up. You will get a Google Drive. This is for dad, but dad, I can share this with your daughter later. This girl played Easton LRL and went on to play Division I. She's the same age as your daughter, so she committed this year a month ago. This is what her document looked like. Basically every week we have a to-do list with what we need to do. And emails that we need to send out and who we're going to send it to. And then every meeting is recorded so you have a copy of it so you can see what we're up to each week. And then of course I'd like to know your dream schools. I'm going to give you a list of schools at the D3 level, at the D2 level that still need your daughter and her position, and at the Division 1 level also. Now it could change the next day, but the point is to say that we need to email them in this order: Division 3, Division 2, Division 1 today because we need offers to go to the Division I. So you can't talk to UP anyways unless you can say I have other offers, otherwise they'll just keep dragging you along. So all of that is to say, finally, if in the next 3 months— and this, your situation is a little different— I write in here, if you're not being genuinely recruited, I will refund you. In your case, I'm telling you, if you don't get a phone call in the next 3 months, then I'll refund you. That's where we're at at this stage. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Okay.

Now, because of your grades you can still get a lot of money. You can get $60,000 to $300,000 that is separate from athletic, that's just academic. And the reason for that is for every student that, for every athlete that gets $1, a student athlete gets 3 times that. So that means in your case, if you get $5,000 or $10,000, let's say, in academic, as an athlete, you will get $10,000, which for, or $30,000 rather, which is still on the table for you. That's still realistic. Here's Division III, $300,000. Division III, $100,000. The money is in Division III, typically speaking. Now this, I just want to show you quickly. This girl was in a very similar situation to you, started with us really late as a junior, and when she got her submission letter, she sent us this, which is super cool.

I don't think your daughter will be able to see it here, but Dad will see here. There you go.

And that did happen in August, so it's still possible. This particular moment happened in August of her junior year, Division III, but it's still possible. It was a lot of heartache though. Because we didn't know we were being dragged left and right, etc. So I just wanted to that end say, that's where our, you know, my emphasis comes. So I want to ask your daughter, in terms of what I do, help you with videos, emails, so we can connect you to schools. Does that sound like the help you want?

Yeah.

Okay, from your father's perspective, that's the help you're looking for, for your daughter?

Yeah, I mean, that's, that's, I think that's the That's the minimum that we, that we would need to be able to, uh, get her on their radar.

What, as you mentioned, the minimum, I agree. Is there anything else in there that you're like, oh, this is also what we want help with?

Well, I just don't know. Um, like, for example, like, like D3, you mentioned D3 schools, right? She, one of the schools that she emailed back and forth was with one of the coaches that was at the camp that you, that you guys had, uh, which was from Chapman University. Um, we didn't know I thought she was a goalie coach until she— until that day, because her emails, it was more— it was— they had a good communication back and forth, a little, like, personal and, and how you doing and all that stuff, which I thought was pretty cool for, for a coach. Um, but, um, so that was kind of one of the main reasons we went to that one, because she was going to be there. Um, but like, for D3 school, I know that there's no, um, sports scholarships.

So that's what I was showing you though. That's not true. There are huge academic scholarships that are bigger than the athletic scholarships, 10 times that, but you can't get them unless you're an athlete or unless the coach really wants you. So there's— if your scholarship is of importance to you, Division III is the way to go. There's way more money in Division III than there is Division I or Division II.

I— well, I thought that she liked that school because of the program. The program has a good program that towards what she wants.

And, um, yeah, Chapman is a good school. Chapman's a great school. Okay, super helpful. So Dad, this is— I'm going to show this to you, but your daughter obviously can weigh in as well. This is, um, one question I have to ask actually. Can your daughter— can you still hear me?

Yeah.

Excellent. So Angela, we don't work with that many students, and part of the reason for that is because it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work for me, it's a lot of work for you, it's a lot of work for your father. Why do you think you're the right fit to work with us?

Hello?

Hello?

Why do you think, why do you think you're the right fit to work with them? Because they get a lot of calls, a lot of people that they, that they have to decide to work with.

Um, I say I have kind of started late, honestly, but I still feel like I have a chance in, you know, being spotted. And I just really, really want it. I really need the help too, because just starting late is obviously being in a tough situation. I still don't think it's like impossible.

Very good example. Um, I like what you're saying, and I'll have your dad ask you this question just so you can hear me. You're being— you're telling me you really want it, which I can feel that from you. You're telling me that you, you know, feel like there's still a chance, and I agree with you. But you're gonna be told it's too late. That will happen. You'll be told they're full. You'll be told you're good enough. You'll be told you're not good enough. That is going to happen, especially if we do this my way, because we're going to ask them pretty directly for their answers. How do I know you're not going to quit when things start getting even tougher? Do you have an example that you could share with me that you might use one day for a college coach even that would prove to me even when things are difficult, you won't quit?

Well, the first thing that comes to the top of my head, or like the very first thing I think of is Cause I'm sorry, my Wi-Fi is bad right now.

That's okay.

But I first think of school shopping because I don't get— like, I work very hard in it and I do the best that I can, but I don't get any, like, screen time, like, at all. But I still go to, um, like practice every day. Like, I try my hardest at practice every single day, there for the games whether or not I play or not. Um, I work through like, like, like injuries or whatever. And like, obviously it's hard like mentally when like a coach is like not giving you like full faith in you as a player, but like So that, that kind of like hurts like mentally, obviously, like with confidence-wise too. But I try to keep myself going knowing like, oh, even if a coach thinks like maybe I'm not like that good or a good of a player, like I know the type of player that I am. I know the abilities and skills that I have. And so like that just keeps me wanting to try and make it harder. It motivates me to keep going and to prove like like, but most importantly, to work for myself. So that's an example, I guess.

Yeah, it's a great example.

Excellent.

Um, thank you very much. That was a beautiful— beautifully said. Um, thank you for that. Genuinely, I really appreciate it. Which then brings me kind of to your father. I love your daughter's passion. She's not going to give up, which is why we want to give her the best chance. Uh, why do you think she's the right fit to work with us? You've known her longer than my 15, 20 minutes here.

Yeah, so I, um, I know as parents we, you know, we always think our, our daughters or sons are the best, um, but I, I've, she knows because I'm, I'm like her hardest critic. Like, I will, I will tell her as I see it, you know. I don't— and I, I genuinely think that she is a good enough player for any, any level. If she gets the opportunity. So, you know, we've supported her this long, we're going to continue to support her. And that example she gave is the perfect example. She has gone through so much through the school, in school ball. Like, she, in her club, she starts every game, she plays every game, she is recognized as one of the top players on her team. But this coach, for some reason, like many coaches in different situations,