Doing Highlight Video helps get you noticed

Well I have done many highlight video's for athletes around the county and today I got a call from Delano Howard. Senior that is. He asked if I could do a video for him on Delano Howard Jr. I said well of course. I found out he was in North Platte, Nebraska. I am thinking to myself "Wow that is far." I couldn't imagine going that far to a junior college but I see he did very well.
It got me to thinking about some of these stars that didn't go on to success on the next level as far as D-1 schools or pro's. I am wondering what they are doing now.

I had a friend in 7th grade named Mark Thigpen. I thought he'd be a superstar and be playing a sport for money one day. Well I found him on Facebook and he said he got injured and now owns his own company making team apparel and logo's in Augusta. We'll give his company a plug. It's called Custom Images Inc. located in the Augusta and North Augusta, S.C. area.

Then I covered a player in Perry named Ken Sikes. He got drafted and went to the minor leagues for a while and now after 8 years in the minors he works for Blue Bird in Fort Valley. He told me on Facebook that he has gotten into the real world now. Haven't we all. I also noticed that Sy Jones from Perry, who pitched in the state title game in 1991 is now a baseball coach and teacher at FPD in Macon. Anther player I covered in Perry Marvin Stokeling is now in Atlanta and does promotions for a young rapper.

Delano still wants to play D-1 and wants to be closer to home. I think he can do it. He's a quick shooting guard that played alongside Louis Williams from the Philadelphia 76ers in high school. I didn't realize he also played against Ty Lawson of North Carolina fame in a game against Oak Hill and actually helped his team come back to win that game. That was probably one of the best games I have ever seen.

So if you want to find out where one of the stars was when you were a kid, do a search on Facebook and you will probably find out they are in the corporate world. But Delano still young enough to make it and I hope he does.

Doing these video's really help you get seen. These guys made an impact at college and now are in the real world but if you want to really get noticed the highlight video's are a very good way. My company Play-By-Play Adverising has done video's for Chica Okoli from Brookwood who ended up at Samford. We did a video for Rob Wadley from Duluth, John Sizemore of North Gwinnett, who went to Army, Ean Pemberton this past season from Grayson, Donnie Moon from North Gwinnett, Jesse Garcia of Peachtree Ridge, Eric Josovitz, who went to West Georgia and many more.

So if you are not the star of the team but still want to get seen, check us out on our website at www.thecoachescorner.net and then give us a call. You can be seen too.

Umpires usually get it right

Unlike basketball, where the refs miss a ton of calls, baseball umpires are usually pretty close every time. I got to see a great game from Collins Hill and Mill Creek on Wednesday and there were a few plays in the game that I questioned. However, the umpire talked to me later and explained the rules and the calls and now I see where he was right on.
The first play I questioned was a play at the plate. The runner was clearly out but after the umpire was about to call the runner out, he ruled safe. All of us in the press box and the Collins Hill fans were wondering what is going on. Well here it is. The umpire saw the catcher bobble the ball and was in the kids way or what they call obstruction before he had control of the ball. Once he got control of it, yes the runner was out but you have to get control of it beforehand thus that allowed the next base which in this case was home plate. If you are in the line of the plate and get the ball and control it right into the mitt well yes you can block the plate but like I said, there was a slight hesitation or bobble and that allowed the runner to get that next base.

The other close call in the game came on a double play. It looked like a routine 6-4-3 or short to second to first double play but the runner was sliding into second and had his leg above the knee of the secondbaseman. The rule states your feet have to be down below the knees and at the bag. In pro or major league baseball you can slide outside of the base as long as your arm can grab the base. In high school baseball, you have to slide directly at the bag and with your feet down. That meant the runner going to first was safe.

So there are two rules we learned. Barnes and Noble has a ton of books on rules of the game. I think I am going to go check it out...Or I can maybe use google and find some here on the net.