Video to help future student-athletes prepare for college

When Jim McGrath of Brewer woke up around 2 a.m. one January morning, he had no idea how far his idea would go.

Fortunately for him, and for prospective college students around the country, he rushed to jot down the idea on a pad of paper before he forgot it.

That sudden idea has turned into a unique, innovative video production designed to help aspiring college student-athletes start preparing themselves for college as early as eighth grade.

The final product of McGrath’s idea and his partnership with Ron Hatfield of Brewer is a videotape package entitled “Sports Seminar 1: The College Dream.”

McGrath, the executive producer, and Hatfield, the director, have spent the last 11 months putting this tape package together. Their partnership has evolved to become College Sports Placement Inc.

The tape features tips from Dick McPherson, head football coach of Syracuse University; John Winkin, University of Maine baseball coach; Rudy Keeling, Maine men’s basketball coach; Dick Whitmore, men’s basketball coach at Colby College of Waterville; Tom Lichtenberg, former Maine football coach and head coach at Ohio University; Parker Beverage, dean of admissions at Colby; and Dean Smith, former Maine basketball star and recipient of the 1989-1990 Walter Byers Award for being the top college student-athlete in the nation.

The package also includes a copy of the NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student Athlete.

CSS 1 is geared toward the male athlete. Work has already begun on a female version – CSS 2 – which will be out by January.

The whole idea behind the package, according to the two local businessmen, is to use it to help students find out what they have to do to qualify for college.

“We also wanted to design it as an aid to guidance counselors and other school officials,” said Hatfield.

“It helps kids to know what they need for classes,” said McGrath. “We want to help kids know the NCAA requirements.”

The tape is aimed at eighth-, ninth- and 10-grade students.

Both men had ample motivation to make the film. McGrath has five children – a college graduate, two college students, and two high school students. Hatfield has three children, all girls – one in college, one in high school and one in junior high.

For Hatfield, there was a little extra motivation.

“I had scholarships in baseball and football offered to me by two universities,” Hatfield explained. “But my grades weren’t what they could have been, and they told me to spend a couple years in junior college and they’d get back to me.

“It’s something where I’ve always wondered `What if ….’.”

Now Hatfield is part of a project he hopes “will help catch some kids who may have fallen through the cracks.”

“If this doesn’t do any more than help touch one kid, the time we’ve spent will have been worth it,” McGrath added.

The 25-minute film is structured to answer six major questions facing prospective college student-athletes: What are college coaches looking for in a student-athlete? When does the recruiting process start? What can students expect from a home or campus recruiting visit? What is a partial scholarship, and what is a full scholarship? What does it take to qualify for acceptance to college? When should a student start thinking about college?

Now that they’ve finished making the tape, McGrath and Hatfield are turning their attention toward marketing it.

“At first we wanted to go national, then regional … then statewide,” said McGrath. “Now we’re back to going nationally.”

The two entrepreneurs have already talked to a Brewer ad agency and a distributing company in Boston.

The tape package will probably cost between $70 and $80. Part of the proceeds from the packages’ sales will be donated to the general scholarship fund at Colby, Maine’s Black Bear Fund, and Ohio University’s Paw Club.

“Any money we make on this tape is icing on the cake,” McGrath said. “We want this tape to help student-athletes – and raise their aspirations.”