Mr. Personality

RT Staff Note: The following is from Carmen Bucci, President of The Complete Athlete. Carmen teaches high school athletes how to communicate better with their current coaches, college coaches and/or professional scouts. Since our theme for the past several weeks has been about recruiting, colleges and such, we welcome Carmen's contribution to help you with communicating to the scouts that recruit you.

By Carmen Bucci, The Complete Athlete

Talking on the phone, or meeting face to face with a college coach is an important step in the college recruiting process. If you receive a phone call or are offered a visit by a college coach, it means that a coach likes your ability as a player, and is interested in learning more about you as a person. Believe it or not, there’s more to you than just being a baseball player. You all have things about you that are interesting…things that make you unique. You may not think certain things about you are interesting, but others (college coach or professional scout) just might.

The more coaches or scouts know about you, your character, your background, your hobbies & interests, and your personality, the better they know you. In turn, the better they know you, the more they like you. And, finally, the more they like you, the better the chance you have to get recruited or drafted. Remember, when a college coach offers a scholarship or a chance to play at their school, and a professional team considers drafting you, they are making an investment in you.

Another reason to allow others to get to know you is that you just might find you have things in common. Finding things in common makes both of you more comfortable around each other and it makes a conversation go a little smoother. You’ll always have something to talk about with that person. Finally, if you don’t let people get to know you, they’re going to draw their own conclusions. And, those conclusions may not be right.

In my workshops, at the multiple Perfect Game Showcases, I had the pleasure of working with a number of dedicated baseball players. Before the workshop, they were each just 1 of the hundreds of players in attendance. While working together for only an hour, I was able to get to know them as more than just baseball players. I found out that one of the players speaks Italian, another is interested in physiology, a few of them have traveled overseas, another lived in 6 different cities growing up, another had a great sense of humor, and another was cut from his freshman team, only to come home and begin to work on his hitting in the basement 2 hours later. Not only did he make the team his sophomore year, he started. Most of the players didn’t think that what they were telling me was interesting. However, by the end of the workshop, each player left some type of impression on me.

I had a chance to really get to know the players, and each left an impression on me. Getting to know their personalities, and getting to know each of them as people, led to me wanting to see them succeed. You can have the same effect on a coach or scout.

How do you do that? How do you show your character, your personality, or your confidence without bragging? Stay tuned for next weeks article. We’ll cover how to show vs. tell.