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METRO DETROIT — A dream scenario for a high school athlete is to play on the collegiate level and to continue playing the sport they fell in love with when they were a child.
Unfortunately for some sports, there’s just not enough eyes at each game or meet to help a student-athlete garner collegiate attention, and State Champs! Sports Network social media manager Danielle Seaman said she faced the same adversity when bowling at New Baltimore Anchor Bay High School.
“As a bowler, you don’t have many options to get recruited or be seen,” Seaman said. “There was one national tournament that I was lucky enough to go to and my family could afford to, so that’s how I got recruited. Some families can’t afford to go to this national tournament because it’s in a different location every year, and you have to qualify for it, which is more money to pay for other tournaments you have to go to qualify.”
Seaman went on to bowl collegiately at Monmouth University from 2018-2022. Now — nine months in at State Champs! W, a women-only branch of State Champs! Sports Network — Seaman and a team of all women have created the nation’s first recruiting hub, which launched Sept. 1, made for women by women.
Along with Seaman, Kara Liles, Elizabeth Coon, Amanda Mooradian, Madison Hool and Riley Spurgess, who all played sports in some capacity, helped build the recruiting platform for female athletes in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.
State Champs! W, which started in 2021, will offer female athletes the opportunity to create an account on the recruiting platform, with multiple membership options available.
Recruitment can be difficult for any coach or athlete to handle, so Seaman said the team felt the platform was an essential tool for athletes.
“A lot of programs don’t have funding to go and travel around the country and see athletes, so this makes it easy for them,” Seaman said. “Some athletes just don’t have experience or their coaches don’t know how to get them recruited, so this is a place where they can go, make a profile and possibly get recruited.”
Membership packages range from $9.99-$49.99 a month, with the starter package allowing an athlete to make a profile, insert their stats and add contact information to their profile. Higher price points include the starter items while also notifying athletes when a coach views their profile and allowing athletes the ability to add social media handles and highlight videos, an interview with the State Champs! W team and social media video posts to be sent to coaches’ emails directly. Coaches receive free registration to the recruiting platform.
High school athletics is at its peak with social media usage and allowing athletes to have the ability to brand themselves, and the recruiting platform is another step forward.
The recruiting platform is available for athletes in any sport, with fencing, volleyball, soccer, softball, bowling and others included.
State Champs! W is currently working on another avenue to enhance its website by allowing athletes the ability to see the coaches that have signed up, their team, their school and where the school is located, but it’s only in the developmental stages.
For more information on State Champs! W and the recruiting platform, visit https://statechampsw.com.
