Using Your Scouting Report Website

Please print out this page
and use it as a guide to filling out your website information.

After reading the Guidelines below, click HERE to go to the Data Entry Form.

The intent of your Scouting Report website is to provide a one-stop repository of your Personal, Sports and Scholastic Stats and Data, photos and Highlight Reel to provide an opportunity for your College Recruiter to get to know you on several levels.

What's important here is that scouts (College Recruiting Assistants) are beginning to consider CHARACTER more now than ever. But it is the hardest quality to quantize on paper. So Scouting-Report.com asks you to take several approaches indicating what others and you, yourself, think of your character. All of the Categories (below) that you or someone you know will have to fill in, should be considered as yet another portal through which the Recruiting assistants can gain a better understanding of your Character. So, ask all those who are going to write on your behalf, to be sure to identify your abilities in the context of your good Character. Don't miss this opportunity to be able to have yourself defined adequately on the Big Three: Athletics, Scholastics and Character. 

Unlike the other Sports Stats websites, Scouting-Report.com does not act as your agent. We are only interested in helping you get your message out to Recruiters. As such, when you direct Recruiters to your site, that is all they are going to see. They do not have the option of searching our site for any of your competition!

This is why, as part of the fee you pay us for this service, you get your own unique Domain Name which points only to your website. That is also why we provide you with 250 business cards that link your name, your high school name and your region with your unique domain name that identifies to Recruiters where to look for your Sports, Scholastic and Personal information that you want them to know about you.

You will notice right away that this is no ordinary Statistics site. Recruiters want to get to know about your Sports abilities, but they also need to know about your Scholastic abilities, and they are also interested in your Personal abilities. Recruiters don't want to pry into your personal life, but most know that their most successful players at the College level are also successful students and quality people. They want Student Athletes who will be a good reflection on the College in the ensuing years. You, your parents, your teachers, your coaches and the your media reps get to tell interested Recruiters about yourself on your site, and why you are a great candidate for their school.

Coaching Assistants are under more pressure than ever before to weed out student-athletes who are going to be a 'problem' to the college. Not a year goes by where there isn't another scandal reflecting poorly on college sports, college coaching, college alumni and college administrations, because of poor student-athlete decisions. If you are a good, but not great, athlete, and your grades are good, but not great, you will still be able to raise yourself in the esteem of these coaches (and your chances of being recruited by your college) by clearly defining your good character. Here's the place to do it. 

Remember: Character Does Count!

To that end, your website is made up of several components. Each component has its own block and title. Each of the Blocks is described below. There are three kinds of Blocks.

***

The first are Text Blocks which will be supplied by you, your parents, your teachers, your coaches or media representative by way of an on-line form. Note that near the top of your webpage is a link titled "Click Here to add Data to your Site". Clicking the link opens the form.

Anyone can enter data into the form (you, your parents, your teachers, your coaches, your sports writers/broadcasters), but in order for the data to appear on your webpage, they must know the password for your site (which is given to you when you sign up). You can either have coaches submit their comments directly on the form by giving them your domain name and password, or you can submit their text for them. If you are submitting someone else's comments, be sure that you keep a copy of their original comments and make sure you copy their text exactly, no paraphrasing, be accurate.

Believe us, it is not a good position to be in to have your coach see his name attached to comments on your site that he never made - do not fabricate any comments on your site. If you do, your site will be frozen until the matter is resolved to Scouting-Report.com's satisfaction, and there will be NO refund of any Scouting-Report.com fees! Read the Scouting-Report.com contract agreement here.

You can change you password anytime you want by emailing Scouting-Report.com directly. Further, Text from this form is NOT automatically added to you site - it is reviewed by a human to attempt to ward off any unauthorized data from getting on your website. Review your site regularly and email us immediately if something got on your site without your permission. We are extremely concerned about how you look on your site, and will take steps to immediately rectify a problem. Just let us know.

***

The second kind of blocks are Photo Blocks which contain photographs supplied by you to Scouting-Report.com by snail-mail or email attachment. We only want two photographs - one of yourself and one of you with your family. Unless you are a professional photographer we would dissuade you from taking your own pictures. Certainly you can try it, but we are brutal about critiquing what you submit for publication on your site! This is your College career that we are discussing here - not the best time to miss putting your best foot forward. You can use your Yearbook photo if you have a large enough print (4x5" minimum), but they sometimes can look kinda goofy. Instead have a pro shoot your portraits for you.

You can go to a high-end studio in your area, but getting quality photos can also be done dirt cheap and still look great! Here's how: Plan a hour at Wal-Mart Photo studio (or shop around for a discount photo studio in your mall, etc), and sit for a sample of ten shots. pick the one of yourself and the one of you and your family together that you like the best, and order one 8x10" color glossy print of each. The studio will want you to order a bunch more but it is not necessary - tell them you have to think about it. The cost may be somewhere around $10 or less for each print. Tiny investment for a lifetime of memories. Send Scouting-Report.com the 2 color glossy prints by snail-mail. We will scan them and return the originals to you.

Alternatively, if you can get the studio to provide your prints already scanned on a CD (almost all of them can do this at no extra cost), so much the better. Send Scouting-Report.com the two files as an attachment to an email (we can accept .jpg, .bmp and .gif files). We'll crop and resize them to fit the page and install them on your website.

***

The third kind of block is the Highlight Reel. Obviously, this is a video constructed from clips of game films that you send to Scouting Report by snail mail. You can provide Scouting-Report.com your finished Highlight Reel if you have one already made up on DVD. However, Scouting-Report.com can build your Highlight Reel for you from DVDs you supply (sorry, no video tapes). Here's how it is done.

Go through your DVDs one by one and mark down the timecode shown on the front of your DVD player of the beginning, and of the end, for each segment that you want on your Highlight Reel. Highlight Reels usually last no more than 2-5 minutes. Much longer than that and the video will take forever to load and run on your site. We have a pretty fast server, but it's not designed to run feature-length films!

Further, your Recruiter's staff may not be in a position to watch much more than 2-5 minutes of your Highlight Reel. Most plays are 10-15 seconds long, so you have plenty of opportunity to 'show off your stuff' in 2-5 minutes.

Now, sort your clips in the order of importance, i.e.. clips that the Recruiters MUST see at the beginning, less important clips at the end. The idea here is that even if the Recruiting staff is unable to view more than a couple of minutes of your Highlight Reel, they will have seen your most important work.

If there is accurate, quality play-by-play audio on the DVD during each selected segment, we will include the audio on the Highlight Reel.

Due to significant tape player discrepancies, Scouting-Report.com cannot build Highlight Reels directly from video tape. If you only have video tape, Scouting-Report.com can duplicate your videotape to DVD for $10/DVD (2-hour). Contact Scouting-Report.com for information on this service. You will need to build your timecode sheets from the supplied DVD as described above, not from the videotape.

Once you have all the time codes (legibly) written down and sorted as to importance, send Scouting-Report.com a copy of the timecode list and the DVD(s). We will return your DVD(s) when we have finished capturing your clips. It's probably a good idea that we know what your jersey number is, so we can place that info near your Highlight Reel. on your website.

Here are some guidelines to assist you in completing your website:

Individual Photo:
Your character will come out in selecting what kind of photograph you show here. While a photo of you and your buddies drinking on a Mexican beach might look cool, you probably won't be impressing anyone at the College level (except maybe the Frat houses - and they usually don't offer any sports scholarships).

Family Photo:
Generally this is a formally posed photo. But occasionally, a vacation photo which clearly shows only you and your immediate family can work, especially if it shows the family having fun working together. Vacation photos, however, are normally full of distractions (unless posed), can easily send a confusing message and are difficult to crop. Choose carefully

Highlight Reel:
Should be limited to 2-5 minutes in length, with important clips at the beginning, without music or dramatic transitions, and can include quality play-by-play audio, Make sure we have your jersey number listed on the site.

Student Declaration:
This is where you will make the compelling argument as to why your Recruiter should make you an offer, and why the college should take a risk with you. Are you Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, Reverent (get the idea)? This MUST be a first-person narrative.

Coaches Endorsements:
This is where you should have your Coaches write about what they think of your play abilities, leadership skills, flexibility and overall quality as a player and student. This is where your High School Coach will be able to tell your prospective College Coach how you have worked out as a player. Don't forget to include any endorsement made by your Athletics Director.

Teacher Testimonials:
It is valuable to have teachers write about how well you are doing scholastically. Are you a leader in the classroom, do you volunteer to mentor other students, etc. If your grades are not in a high percentile, have your teacher help you explain why the grades are where they are, and how you have been able to succeed despite the handicap. This is also an opportunity for your Guidance Counselor to comment on your career goals as they relate to your high school game plan and college potential.

Parent Comments:
This is where your parents get an opportunity to assist your Recruiter in recognizing your personal Character, and how your Character relates to your family. They'll want to discuss how you get along with your siblings, what you do around the house to help out, how you get along with your parents and how you react to authority.

Media Evaluation:
This is where any quotable quotes by the media reside. If you can, get a Radio/TV personality who has watched you develop over the season's) to write a paragraph on how well you play your position, how well you have improved over the past season, and your strengths and weaknesses. Include quotes from qualified print-media writers.

Scholastic History:
Here is the place to list your class level (Jr/Sr), grade point average, your major (if declared), how you have done on state and nationwide testing, school service clubs you belong to, student activities that you are involved in, sports programs that you are involved in, student leadership roles you play. Recruiters are looking for how well-rounded you are. Are you involved in a wide range of academic interests.

Personal Statistics:
Here you should list your physical attributes: height, weight, hair and eye color, are you in weight training - list your weight strength goals and accomplishments, are you part of a speed and agility program - list your goals and accomplishments. Did you suffer any injuries over your sports career (who hasn't?) - Give the particulars for each, when you were injured, was it sports-related, what was the rehab process, how long did it take for you to recover, etc. Are you being treated for anything significant? Describe the problem and your doctor's prognosis. What do you do outside of sports that affects your sports ability directly - Do you bicycle a lot, do you swim, is your school located at a high altitude? Briefly mention those things that you like to do outside of sports. Do you read a lot - what kind of stories, your favorite authors.

Sports Statistics:
Here's where you list all of your sports accomplishments, the records you hold, in all the sports programs that you are involved. Pull all of your stats published by your high school sports governing body's official numbers ( AIA for AZ student-athletes). If they are incorrect, contact the that authority and get them fixed. Recruiters will bounce your information against published records and you do not want any question about your veracity. If you format your number to match your sports authority stats web format, you will be making it easier on the recruiter's assistant who has to do the research on you. You do not want to be placed at the bottom of their in-basket because they cannot verify your numbers.

Basically, you will be building a table for each position you have played and have stats to report. Within each table (each position), list the statistical categories across the top and the years you have played down the left side, then fill in the stats.

Contact Information:
Here is where you tell the recruiter how to get in touch with you. This is public information so don't give away any information that you don't want the world to know about. Usually all that is necessary is an email address, or a cell number if you want to receive text messages. You can set up an automatic forwarding email address with us such that you need only list YourName@YourDomainName for an email address and any email will be forwarded right to your private email account without the rest of the world knowing what it is. Tell us you want email forwarding and we'll set it up for you.

***

We have set up a knowledge base site for you to obtain more information on the recruiting process. Please visit: www.Scouting-Report.com/Articles