by Avi - One of the coolest things I've seen in a while came from Hope Spangler, one of our CaptainU athletes. She put together a "Who I am" slideshow of photos, text about herself, and quotes from her friends and coaches.

College coaches love this sort of stuff. Why? Because it's personalized. It's not spam sent to a gazillion coaches. Rather, it's something that Hope clearly spent some time on. College coaches love it when athletes put some imagination into their recruiting. So if you're wondering how to get recruited, know that there are many right ways.

Imagine the boredom of reading through 50 generic emails. Then, suddenly, a breath of fresh air like Hope's slideshow. Or, someone who used green as the font color on their email. Maybe green itself text isn't that interesting, but it's the start of something different. That email goes on to tell a hilarious story about stalling twenty times while learning to drive a stick-shift. Now we're talking! That's good, interesting stuff that's going to bring a smile to the coach's face. It's not even about sports, but it's enjoyable for a coach to read.

Wham! Just like that, the kid with the green text made herself a little different from the 49 other people the coach heard from that day. National Signing Day for the Class of 2009 just passed. Now college coaches are looking for their next recruits. How do you get on their radar? It just requires a little creativity.

This is where recruiting can get really fun. I'm sure Hope had a good time putting that slideshow together. Start with a 5-minute brainstorm. It doesn't matter if the ideas are goofy, just write them down for now and then think about them when you're done brainstorming. Try two of the ideas you come up with and see what happens. In all likelihood, you'll get more of a response from coaches than if you send 25 coaches the exact same email.