Playing the Recruiting Game™
PTRG helps student-athletes and their families understand how to use academic achievement, athletic ability, and informed decision-making to pursue the best possible college opportunity—and prepare for the life that follows it.
The purpose behind PTRG
College recruiting is a process. It is not the final objective. Playing the Recruiting Game™ was created to help young people and their families make intelligent decisions about education, athletics, opportunity, finances, personal development, and life after graduation.
If a student has worked for years to build an outstanding academic record, PTRG does not ask that student to sacrifice an exceptional education simply to continue playing a sport. We determine whether athletics can complement the educational objective rather than compete with it.
Athletic ability may create scholarship opportunities, relationships, access, institutional interest, leadership development, or simply the opportunity to continue competing in something the student loves. The family should understand how to evaluate that asset intelligently.
The best decision considers academics, institutional quality, intended field of study, finances, coaching relationships, athletic fit, campus environment, career objectives, personal development, and what happens after the uniform comes off.
Two powerful learning environments
A demanding college classroom teaches a student to think critically, analyze complex problems, communicate ideas, master difficult material, and develop intellectual discipline.
A competitive collegiate roster teaches preparation, accountability, teamwork, resilience, leadership, time management, how to respond to criticism, how to recover from failure, and how to compete when talented people are pursuing the same limited opportunities.
Those are not merely athletic lessons. They are life lessons—and the competition does not end at graduation.
Because graduation begins another competition
The graduate pursuing law, medicine, economics, finance, engineering, business, technology, entrepreneurship, public service, or another profession enters a marketplace filled with other intelligent and highly educated people.
The objective is not to produce a professional athlete.
The objective is to help develop an educated, disciplined, competitive, resilient, and prepared young adult capable of succeeding long after athletics ends.The PTRG definition of recruiting success
We do not define success by Division I, Division II, or Division III. We do not define it solely by an athletic scholarship. And we certainly do not define it by whether a student eventually becomes a professional athlete.
We define success by whether the student and family ultimately make an informed decision that serves the student's education, development, financial circumstances, and long-term future.
The principle behind Playing the Recruiting Game™
We are determining how athletics can be used intelligently as part of pursuing an exceptional education, an exceptional college experience, and an exceptional future.
The PTRG Academy
PTRG Academy teaches the step-by-step recruiting process so student-athletes can understand their value, organize their effort, communicate effectively, evaluate opportunities, and participate intelligently in decisions about their own future. Scholarship opportunity remains important where applicable, but the larger objective is finding the strongest overall educational, athletic, financial, and personal fit.
The PTRG learning path
Every module will follow the original PTRG flow: lesson content, action steps, and a progress quiz before the student-athlete advances.
Read the lesson and use the supporting materials assigned to the module.
Complete the action step that turns information into a recruiting plan.
Complete the quiz, receive clear feedback, and show what you understand.
