Student-athletes get help
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Department of Education yesterday approved a $20,000 contract with a New Jersey company to help public high school student-athletes from Hawai'i market themselves to colleges nationwide.
"We have about 20,000 student-athletes, so it works out to about a dollar a head," said Dwight Toyama, executive secretary of the O'ahu Interscholastic Association and liaison between the state's 44 high school athletic departments and the DOE.
A DOE spokesman did not respond to inquiries, including whether similar programs were in place for non-athletes.
Global Sports Recruiting Agency of New Jersey will use its Web site to match athletes from Hawai'i with colleges offering financial aid for particular sports skills.
The DOE did not seek bids and did not consider a local company that has placed dozens of Hawai'i athletes in colleges nationwide. Toyama said bids are not required for contracts under $25,000.
Global Sports Recruiting will teach high school coaches, college counselors and athletic directors how they and athletes can use its Web site to search for compatible college programs. Once a college demonstrates interest in the athlete, Global will alert all similar colleges in the region that the athlete is being considered. "That creates interest and competition for the athlete," a Global spokesman said.
Toyama said that Superintendent of Schools Pat Hamamoto initiated negotiations after she saw a demonstration by Global at the state athletic directors meeting in June. He said that she approved the deal yesterday.
"It's a vehicle for kids to find a college that best suits them," Toyama said.
Waimea High on Kaua'i paid $750 for the service last year, Toyama said. Waimea athletic director Jim Kitamura could not be reached for comment on how well the program worked for his athletes.
Athletes and authorized school personnel will be given personal log-in codes to the Global Sports Recruiting Web site (www.gspn.net) and can enter an athlete's statistics, academic records and personal information.
Using a tool called College Pathfinder, students can locate schools based on several criteria, including location, sports offered, size and academic offerings. Global's site provides links to Web sites of colleges that meet the criteria.
Global offers additional services for extra fees. It will edit and produce highlight video tapes, which a spokesman called "the key thing" in recruiting, for $200, $300 or $400 per athlete, depending upon how many base tapes are edited and how many features are included. The DOE would not pay for these.
Hawai'i Sports Network's non-profit Athletic Prep Academy (HAPA) also provides a similar service.
HAPA has placed more than 100 of Hawai'i's student-athletes and has helped them get $4.1 million in financial aid at 48 colleges in 26 states the past two years, according to Doris Sullivan, director of student services for Hawai'i Sports Network.
