The event will take place on February 3, 2012 in Saratoga Hills, California at West Valley College.  The co-hosts claim that organizations from many professional leagues will be at the combine, and that scouts, coaches and general managers from both indoor and outdoor football teams/leagues will be in attendance.  Players from all over the country and the Bay Area region are invited to attend the professional football combine.

As part of the combine, the players will be supplied with results of their individual performance, as well as video footage of the drills that the players then can use a part of their football CV (Resume) that is sent to team personnel who are unable to attend.  Players will be tested on their 40-yard time, bench press, broad jump and pro shuttle, with other position-specific drills and one-on-ones and seven on sevens to follow.

Athletes are asked to bring appropriate workout gear and shoes/cleats with them to the combine.  Testing will take place on grass fields.  A trainer will be on hand for emergencies only (not for player taping).

Players and/or agents interested in learning more about the event and registering for it should click here.

The Players 1st & US Canada Free Agents Professional Football Combine from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

The 2012 BSN Collegiate Showcase is a three day event, beginning on Friday, March 9, 2012 and concluding on Sunday, March 11, 2012, taking place inside the Stile Field House on the University of Akron campus.  BSN (Beyond Sports Network) is inviting the best players from around the country at the FCS (formerly Division 1-AA), Division II, Division III and NAIA levels to compete against each other.  The weekend will include a testing combine, position drills, 7-on-7 drills and two fully padded football games.  BSN’s goal is to give these talented athletes as close an experience as possible to the NFL Scouting Combine and the Senior Bowl.  A number of pro teams and scouts have already stated that they will be in attendance.

The events are as follows:

• Friday (March 9): Kicking Showcase & Player HT, WT, Hand, Arm measurements & meet/greet with fans.
• Saturday (March 10): Combine Testing in the morning, Lunch, then position drills, 1 v 1′s and 7 v 7 in the afternoon with the final 10 kickers completing the kicking showcase and competition.
• Sunday (March 11): Two All Star Games will be played and all athletes receive a guaranteed # of reps.

For more information, click here.

2012 BSN Collegiate Showcase from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Bakersfield Jam Tryout Camp Information and Registration

Bakersfield Jam Announces Three Open Tryouts from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

MLB team front office executives are not the only people using statistics and data to help them generate revenue for the entities they represent; many baseball agents are taking advantage of old and new forms of data to position their clients as being more valuable than perhaps originally perceived, and players are using new technologies to take the data available and use it to better themselves on the field.  Outside of the negotiation of better contracts, players have used technological advances to learn more about their performance and what to expect from the competition.  It seems as though almost every big leaguer carries an iPad around with him these days.

Jerry Milani of Baseball Digest recently spoke with Mike Dillon of Reynolds Sports Management, which is one of the agencies that is putting in work to help its players benefit from the usage technology.  Here are a couple of the question and answer exchanges (BBD = Baseball Digest, MR = Mike Dillon).

BBD:  When talking to teams, is the use of technology by players on their own seen as a help or a hindrance in what the coaches are doing? 

MR:  I think it is seen as a help. I don’t think teams frown upon players looking at video on their own.  We encourage an open line of communication between the team and players and this new technology can be integrated into what the team is doing. Just looking at video doesn’t ensure success at the plate — you still have to put the work in on the field and it’s that combination that we encourage.

BBD:  Are there any drawbacks to using the products now available?

MR:  I don’t see any drawbacks necessarily to using new technologies.  Like I said earlier, as technology evolves the way players prepare for games will evolve. Players, agents and teams have to keep up with technology in order to compete these days.  And there is no substitute for hard work and just looking at video doesn’t assure success.  Who knows what knew advancement we will be talking about in a year.

I’m not sure what new advancement we will be talking about a year from now, but I have no doubt that the early adopter Logan Morrison will be using it (Logan Morrison is an Octagon Baseball client and I absolutely love his activity on Twitter).

How Technology Is Assisting Baseball Players & Agents from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

The same thing is likely to occur in professional basketball.  As Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated writes,

Some agents with a longer list of clients have partnerships that will come in handy now, such as Mark Bartelstein with trainer Don Maclean at the 360 Health Club outside Los Angeles and Arn Tellem with trainer Rob McClanahan in Santa Monica. But numerous front-office sources who spoke to SI.com for this story were skeptical that players would be disciplined enough to stay in shape throughout a prolonged lockout.

Certainly agents and agencies with large client lists and expansive bank accounts will be able to front the costs for their rookie clients who need help paying for their training expenses.  However, will these agents and agencies provide any assistance for their veteran clients who have already amassed millions of dollars throughout their careers?  As we know with the NFL, veterans are not immune to poor spending habits and a need to take out lockout loans.  If the same exists for NBA players, expect players to come running to their agents for assistance.  If agents are unable or unwilling to help, perhaps we see basketball players start switching agents with the same time of frequency that NFL players have switched this offseason.  However, the National Basketball Players Association still exists as a formal union (for the time being) and will certainly be keeping an eye on any agent recruiting of represented players during the lockout.

Agents Bare Burden For Offseason Training During Lockout from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

The initial set of blogs brought both praise and backlash from varying fields.  “Trainer” can have so many definitions.  Just as I had provoked thought, the feedback had provided great challenge and conversation.  That is the thing I have loved about my career as a basketball “skills trainer and career consultant” and mostly about working at IMG Academies.  Learning from and meshing disciplines for more results.  This takes me to my topic for this week:  Does extended time off from normal seasonal activities increase a 1%er’s ability to perform?

While grinding it out on the court with our players, I have had the professional pleasure of watching the IMG Madden Football Academy Director Coach Chris Weinke prepare Cam Newton for the upcoming rigors of his rookie campaign.  Weinke is the best; just like I love being in the gym all day and night, this guy will doesn’t sleep when his clients have a bad day on the field.

Cam is a 1%er, and not because he was the 1^st pick or won a national championship.  He has bigger than prototypical size, athleticism, and skill at his position.  Another major factor in the 1%er theory is early identification.  This is where a kid 13-18 does not lead a normal teenage life, because of his success on a national level in his sport and constant long term potential conversations.

Cam is a beast with his workout routine and I am not impressed by anyone who considers 50 hours a week work.  I have seen Kobe and KG put in work, and that look in Cam’s eye is the same (of course my favorite part was watching him shoot around with our international campers in the night time).  This dedication to the classroom, field, and performance training is one thing, but getting the tag team expertise of different disciplines is fun to watch and learn from.

Last summer I had two 1%er projects that we used similar systems to develop.  Shawne Williams, who had been out of the NBA for over a year and Derek Caracter, whose high school phenom straight to the NBA plans were curtailed by David Stern’s “one and done” mandate.  We were lucky enough to have them for nearly 5 straight months.  On court skill training, performance work, film study, vision training, motivation work and number one priority, nutritional education.  The results were great.  Shawne had a great year with the New York Knicks and Derek was drafted by the repeating champ Los Angeles Lakers.  More importantly, it was a change from the norm and a time for them to focus on exactly what they needed.

This school year we had the pleasure of working with another 1%er, Deandre Daniels, a highly ranked academically qualified player who decided not to enter college and work on his game and body.  This prep year was much different than the Brandon Jennings and Jeremy Tyler overseas experiments.  The two-a-day skills and weightlifting sessions were much more than the 20 hours per week he would have got had he gone to school this year.

His recent commitment UCONN is a great fit and Coach Loren Jackson and Stephen Visk did an unbelievable job of getting Deandre’s mind and body ready to be an impact player for the National Champs.  Another example of a 1%er taking time off from the norms to work at different disciplines to come out way ahead before entering his next challenge.

As I think about Terrell Pryor’s next move, I think he should take a step back to take a step forward.  My Pittsburgh roots have me rooting for him to overcome all this adversity.  Not work on his off-field issues, but with his skills, mind and body.  Improve and learn what it takes to be the best at the next level.  The best at reading defensive schemes, 5 step drops, and working with personnel 3-10 years older.

Though college can help immensely, a personal “pro plan” might have you more ready for impact regardless of where you land and what your bonuses are.  Pryor has flaws as a quarterback, and 6 months of working with a dedicated develop program, watching film, enhancing his body and footwork is a lot better than being a 4^th string QB that they are talking about moving positions after the supplemental draft.  Worst case, his transition to the NFL is much easier.

Time off, mixing disciplines with experts, and personal attention with a plan might be what every 1%er athlete needs to make that next step a sure thing.  I would love to hear other stories and thoughts about this.

Trainer Take: Time Off To Take Off from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Stories about elite athlete training are everywhere.  The importance of the NFL Combine Testing and where guys prepared, Barry Bonds “trainer” Greg Anderson not testifying, and finishing the week with the Oregon Football program coming under attack for paying for recruiting services by “trainer” Willie Lyles begs the question: What role does a trainer play?

In the 80’s and 90’s, players in just a few sports had trainers in the off-season, and in other sports, a coach who may help them with their tactics and mental approach.  Two of the most famous trainers were David Leadbetter and Nick Bollettieri, whose innovative swing techniques helped accelerate phenom players through the ranks.  Individual sports were the pioneers for the paid “trainer”.

Trainers have now become influential pieces to major sports agencies growth like Wasserman Media Group and Boras Corporation, as well as “family” to many elite amateur athletes, the talented ones and the rich ones.  Facilities are opening in every city and town bearing the names of those with impressive client lists, as sponsorship dollars are following.

In the basketball industry, players are sometimes more loyal to their trainers than their agents.  In many cases basketball players are using “trainers” for skill, physical development, psychology, and in-season mentorship.  As we look into the future of shortened contracts, less signing bonuses money, bigger player pools, and performance based pay, what will the word “trainer” mean?  How will professional teams who employee these players handle “trainers”?  How will “trainers” be judged for their ideas, methodology and return on investment?

The players see value and like the consistency of someone that knows their body, abilities, learning style, and dreams.  The only money conversations are weekly or yearly fees. Training players is now a desired position with a healthy, sometimes enormous salary.  We also have a generation of young athletes that begin individual training at very early ages creating a near co-dependency on the concept.

In the coming weeks, I will be covering this emerging topic to help agents, families, and trainers with the history of the industry.  I look forward to your comments and questions.

Trainer: Scumbag or Savior? from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Bloomberg L.P.

Every agent has his method of preparing for contract negotiations, but many come down to stats, and the agent showing a club why his client deserves a certain contract.  A few months back we looked at RayRubin Sports Analysts, just one firm that agents go to for their statistical analysis.  Some agents and baseball professionals use Sabermetrics, a method discussed on SAB in its early days.  Whatever program or consultant an agent may choose, one thing is for sure, agents always need to do their due diligence in preparing for negotiations, and a lot of this rests on being prepared to showcase their clients’ stats in the most helpful way possibly.  Maybe Bloomberg Sports will be the next big thing in performance analysis for teams and agents.  For agents that are perhaps more hands on, this may streamline other processes which they’ve used in the past to prepare.  Bloomberg has done things so well in the financial industry, maybe those who specialize in preparing these types of analyses should be scared.  If I was an agent, I would certainly want to be on the exact same page as those 17 clubs that are working with Bloomberg now, knowing that at some point in the hopefully near future I would be sitting down with them to negotiate a new contract for my client.

For the GM in all of us, Bloomberg has also created a “Consumer” version of their services to aid the Fantasy player, available for Football and Baseball.  I don’t know how much these programs cost for the average-joe, but there are plenty of hardcore fantasy sports players out there pissed about losing their league by a point this season.

Bloomberg Helps Teams, Agents, Fantasy Players from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

• 46 WRs
• 35 DCs
• 34 OHs
• 33 OTs
• 30 DEs
• 27 DTs
• 20 OBs
• 18 QBs
• 16 TEs
• 14 OGs
• 14 IBs
• 10 SS
• 9 FS
• 8 OCs
• 5 FBs
• 5 PKs
• 4 PTs
• 1 LS

7 of the players invited are from my alma mater, the University of Florida.  National Champion Auburn has a total of 5 players invited to the NFL Combine, while National Championship runner-up Oregon has 3 players invited to Indianapolis.  12 players from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill have been invited.  Just imagine how good UNC could have been in 2010 had it been able to focus on its games and not have any off-the-field issues and player suspensions.

Breakdown Of The 329 Players Invited To The 2011 NFL Combine from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Darren Heitner: In five sentences or less, what is SportsMeasures TestPrep?

Patrick Fisher: SportsMeasures TestPrep mentally prepares athletes for the next level. We help create an athletes mental resume. Initially, we will be preparing NFL draft-eligible athletes for the Wonderlic Test at the NFL Combine in February. In future expansion, we will include other assessments to help create a deeper picture of the athlete for high school, college and the professional ranks.

Heitner: How did you come up with the idea to create this company?

Fisher: It occurred during a phone conversation with a connection made on LinkedIn. We were talking about data analysis for football players when I told him I’m a psychometrician. After I explained what a psychometrician does (examination data analysis), he asked me if I could “do something” with some items from the Wonderlic Test. I told him yes I could and the business concept was born.

Heitner: What is your experience in the world of psychometrics prior to starting SportsMeasures TestPrep?

Fisher: I have over eight years experience as a psychometrician developing and analyzing high-stakes examinations for medical and dental certification boards. I have also been conducting objective measurement research into sports performance for over 20 years.

Heitner: I’m most interested in learning more about your SportsMeasures TestPrep’s Wonderlic Personnel Test prep class. What does that entail?

Fisher: We start with the athletes taking the first half of our practice exam containing items very similar to those on the Wonderlic. They are given 25 items and asked to answer as many as possible in six minutes – similar criteria as at the NFL Combine. After that we go over each of the 25 items in great detail. The concept within each question is explained and the best method to come up with the correct answer is shown. We then follow up with the second half of the practice exam with 25 more questions for which the athletes will again have six minutes to answer as many questions as possible, allowing them to utilize the newly learned methods.

Heitner: Why is there a need for such a class?

Fisher: While this isn’t the athlete’s 40 yard dash time or vertical leaping ability, intelligence is quickly becoming a more important factor when choosing athletes for your program – be it college or professional. A higher score on the Wonderlic can translate into being a higher draft pick and thus a larger contract.

Heitner: What kind of results have your past clients attained?

Fisher: While being a start-up company, we’re still seeking our first clients, which is why we’ve structured the class as we have. We also want to have the athletes see immediate results.

Heitner: Are you currently working with any agents or trainers, or are you mostly selling your service to individual athletes?

Fisher: My target audience is agents and trainers, especially agents. I am being mentored and assisted by an NFLPA certified agent currently.

Heitner: What is your elevator pitch to an NFL Contract Advisor reading this interview?

Fisher: I’m here to help pro prospects maximize their mental and character grades, realizing that today you can leave no stone unturned because the NFL clubs certainly do not.

Preparing For The Wonderlic Test At The NFL Combine from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules