The path for high school athletes seeking to play at the next level becomes more uncertain every year. The increasing complexity of college sports recruitment is matched only by the uncertainty of every other part of the application process. Amy and Mike invited college advisor Barb Smith to share answers about college admissions for the student athlete.

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

1. What is the primary mistake that student-athletes make when they go through the college selection process?  

2. What are common myths about the college selection process that trap student-athletes and their families? 

3. What changes in college sports have affected the college selection process for student-athletes in high school? How should these be navigated? 

4. How can families support their student-athletes in the college admissions process without adding too much pressure?  

5. What advice do you have for student-athletes and their families just starting the admissions process? 

MEET OUR GUEST

Barb Smith is a former Division I college athlete, a 30-year former Division I college basketball coach, motivational speaker, author, entrepreneur, and advocate for all levels of leadership and teamwork. Having both played and coached at the college level, Barb knows that sports go beyond winning and losing. 

Having experienced the highs and lows and twists and turns both in sport and in life, Barb has learned the meaning of resilience. Her story is one of extreme highs, like winning conference championships and back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances, but also extreme lows, like not winning games or losing a player to spinal meningitis. Barb has shared these stories and others as she speaks on organizational principles, leadership, inclusivity, and team-building.

Barb is the founder of Courtside Leadership, an organization that promotes leadership, teamwork, and team dynamics. She has authored Beyond the Talent: Profile of a Winning Team, which details some of her research in building successful teams. 

Most recently, Barb founded Find My Team, a startup company that partners with aspiring high school student-athletes, parents, and coaches and empowers them with the knowledge necessary to make the college athletic recruiting process a positive, proactive, and successful experience. 

Barb majored in Health Education at The Ohio State University and earned her MBA in Organizational Behavior at Iona College in New York. She coached women’s basketball at Iona, Univ. of Colorado-Boulder, San Diego State, Univ of California-Berkeley, Univ. of Minnesota, Saint Louis University, and Illinois State.

When not working, Barb enjoys family, nature, birding, cycling, traveling, attending sporting events, meeting new people, and playing with her two rescued greyhounds.

Find Barb at [email protected] or findmyteam.com.

LINKS

courtsideleadership.com 

Beyond the Talent: Profile of a Winning Team

RELATED EPISODES

DIVISION III AND IVY LEAGUE ATHLETIC RECRUITMENT

MYTHS ABOUT TESTING AND COLLEGE SPORTS

TEST SCORES AND THE NCAA CLEARINGHOUSE

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright, Roots2Words, and College Eagle. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, get in touch through our contact page.