Current Economy, Fall Sports Season Combine for Recruiting Site's Record Growth

PRNewswire/ -- Tough economic times and the fall sports season have collectively contributed to beRecruited's record growth numbers, company executives announced today. In September alone, more than 25,000 new athletes registered with the service, a 211% increase from last September. The site also noted record-growth with newly registered college coaches and parents, as well as connections made between athletes and coaches. beRecruited is the largest free online network connecting high school athletes and collegiate coaches, facilitating thousands of scholarships annually.

"The country's financial turbulence has parents looking for alternatives while facing the high costs of education and the situation with the lending industry," said Jeff Cravens, president of beRecruited.com. "We typically see growth during late summer and fall, with athletes readying themselves for their season. But as families are examining how they are spending their hard-earned money, I believe they are finding beRecruited is by far the most effective recruiting solution available."

"As a parent you can spend thousands of dollars traveling to tournaments and camps trying to get your child noticed by college coaches, in hopes of landing a scholarship," said Liz Houser, a parent of a successfully recruited beRecruited user. "We learned about beRecruited and decided to give it a try. For a one-time investment of $40, our return was Matt's baseball scholarship, which saved us thousands in educational costs. And Matt gets to play the sport he loves. I recommend beRecruited to any parent with a serious athlete."

A snapshot of growth during the month of September:

-- More than 200,000 direct connections were made between high school athletes and college coaches

-- 25,845 new student athletes registered during September, a 211% increase over last September

-- 385 new college coaches registered during September, bringing the total number to more than 12,000

-- 790 new high school coaches registered, bringing the total number of high school coaches to more than 10,000

-- 892 new parents registered, marking the best month ever for parent growth, and bringing the number to more than 7,000

During 2008, the site has experienced record growth across all categories, including new registered athletes, college coaches and parents, as well as generated more than 1.5 million connections. Overall, beRecruited has generated more than 4.3 million connections between athletes and college coaches. beRecruited now has more than 306,000 total registered users, including 275,000 high school athletes, 12,000 college coaches and 10,000 high school coaches.

"Our dynamic growth is attributable to several factors coming together," said Jeff Cravens, president of beRecruited.com. "Creating and maintaining a digital athletic resume is a natural extension to the way high school students are consuming media today. Second, the current economic times provide a strong incentive for parents and students to explore ways to fund a college education. And finally, college coaches are looking for ways to get more out of their recruiting budget and our platform provides a very efficient manner to find athletes that can excel in a particular program."

By creating a profile with beRecruited.com, high school athletes can instantly connect with registered college coaches across America. In this networking community, athletes update their profiles with recent statistics, videos and photos, and college coaches can view the profiles that fit their programs and connect with the athletes.

beRecruited's free service offers athletes from 18 sports the ability to create profiles of athletic and academic information, including uploading stats, photos and video. Athletes also can research collegiate institutions that provide the athletic and academic offerings they are pursuing. College coaches can easily find athletes that fit the athletic and academic profiles for their program and connect with those athletes. For more information, visit www.berecruited.com .

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The ScoutingEdge.com and The Touchdown Club of Atlanta Launch New Internet-Based Coaching & Recruiting Tool

PRNewswire -- The Scouting Edge introduced its patent pending online coaching and recruiting tool, which captures high school sporting events and stores it online for future manipulation and playback. It creates an online community that allows interaction between coaches, players, college recruiters, media and visitors.

"The ScoutingEdge enables rural & inner-city high schools across the nation to have a robust coaching tool at no cost," praised Lee Baker, Executive Director Touchdown Club of Atlanta. "It levels the playing field for undiscovered players who could receive athletic scholarships."

The Touchdown Club of Atlanta was founded in 1938 to promote and support High School and College Football. The ScoutingEdge is a program that fits the club's mission statement to help football programs better themselves.

High School Football Conferences in Michigan and Missouri have rapidly started signing up for the ScoutingEdge service. Many high schools throughout the Midwest have already committed to using the service to assist them in coaching and assist their players' chances in achieving their goals. Players have the luxury of creating their own highlight reels and making them available online to friends, family and most importantly recruiting colleges.

The ScoutingEdge is the only online community that provides this service to help high school athletes market themselves on an equal "playing field." It will house stats, performances and interviews of players in a unique way that other sites do not provide.

With the Scouting Edge, coaches now have online training and strategy tools that help build a better team. The online sharing permits multiple coaches to view, create, and strategize simultaneously. "Never before have high school coaches been offered such a great tool," stated Coach Powell at Warren Cousino High School. "This gets us out of the Stone Age, while helping players, visitors and recruiters. This season should prove very interesting for my opponents!"

Schools are excited about the ScoutingEdge because the "GiveBack" Program donates a large percentage of the subscriptions to the Booster Club to help the schools' sporting programs.

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