Remember the original ‘Friday Night Lights’? High school football in the past…those cold fall football games when we were in school? Popcorn, cheerleaders, the bigger guys lumbering around with shoulder pads, huge helmets, and happy if muddy smiles. Win or lose, we would always get together after the game for hamburgers and our carefree high school life continued. Granted, high school sports in the Midwest were a little more frozen than here in Florida, but they were still fundamentally the same.

Fast forward to 2009, Florida-style high school football. Those carefree memories are a fun novelty for today’s high school jock. Playing football today is a very serious and often expensive business for thousands of young athletes.

According to the online publication ESPN Rise: “Many people clearly believe that Florida is the best state for high school football.” Lake Mary, Florida graduate, USC All-American linebacker and first-round draft pick Keith Rivers of the Cincinnati Bengals is a perfect example of a “local kid making his dream come true” story.

But athletic success isn’t easy or cheap for most kids in high school sports today, even here in Florida. Lake Mary High School athletic director Doug Peters tells me his school alone averages 800 student-athletes a year and only about 15 of them will attend college on athletic scholarships after graduation each year.

Although their parents may not know it yet, these young soccer players already know they need real marketing to the tune of: professionally produced highlight videos, personal trainers, and even a “scout” who contacts multiple schools on the player’s behalf. to play college football. The commitment required for today’s high school athletes is so different because it involves an even greater emotional, personal, and financial investment from the entire family.

Take 16-year-old Trevor Alfredson (full disclosure: my own teenage athlete son), for example, who has been playing soccer and loving it since he was six years old. “He’s wanted to play Division 1 football for as long as I can remember,” says Trevor. And as a sophomore in college, Trev’s season also involved hiring a company to do a highlight video, discussions with two different recruiting service companies, training with former NFL player Dana Sanders, and attending something called “combines”.

For those unfamiliar with today’s “sportsman” lingo: High school football matches official test athletes in a number of physical skills like speed, agility, and strength as various college coaches look on. The pressure to be noticed is incredibly strong for these kids, from the age of 14! The cost of sophomore football alone, with a view to playing “Division 1 football” can range upwards of $5,500.

The pressure and the problems of “achieving” are not unique to football either. Lee Morgan from Lake Mary is a junior who plays both types of soccer (club soccer and varsity soccer) AND soccer, so he will have the best chance of playing a varsity sport at a good school. A super-talented, top-tier football kicker, Lee has already emailed several college coaches (part of his personal marketing plan) and received responses from some of Florida’s college coaches. For a fee, Lee is invited to summer soccer camps so the coaches can get an up close and personal look.

As fiercely competitive as college sports have become for today’s young athletes, Lee tells us, “I’ve been playing soccer since I was 7 years old and now I want to keep all my options open.” Her educator parent, Walt, says that “some of the added pressure today is because the cost of college has also increased, which can put more pressure on athletic scholarships.”

Chip Humble from Florida works for the CSA Prep Stars and is recruiting players for various schools. Chip says that most parents need help understanding how recruiting really works. And with the exception of those very rare “top players” like Keith Rivers, “many good athletes go unnoticed and unseen because they haven’t been marketed properly.”

Professionals in the know say that the main reason many children are not recruited is that no one knows them. As Chip reminds parents of his athletic roster: “Just because your child was good in the minor leagues or excelled in his own school, doesn’t mean he’s a ‘blue chip’ American athlete when it comes to college coaches.” .”

Raising an athlete right now means a personal profile with a website; Twitter coaching following, verified game and combine stats, and that pro-quality video highlight watched by hundreds of college coaches. Dreams don’t come cheap these days, even in high school!