Three ways athlete portraits can boost your confidence during the college recruiting process

What's that stat? The one about how many high school student-athletes actually play at the collegiate level?

Out of nearly 8 million high school student-athletes, only about 6.6 percent go on to play sports in the NCAA.

Those numbers gets even smaller, downright minuscule, when you look at the number of high school student-athletes who make Division 1.

Getting recruited to play college, semi-pro, even professional sports is no joke, not when you have millions vying for such a small amount of placements.

Can elite-level athlete portraits help a student-athlete in the college recruiting process? Oh definitely, yes.

A lot goes into the recruiting process. Your son or daughter needs skill, achievements, game highlights, the backing of coaches and teammates, grades, and so much more.

Can professional portraits of a student-athlete help? Are they worth the investment?

Yes! Absolutely.

Let's look at three ways athlete portraits like the kind provided by Creative Sports Photography can help your student-athlete during the college recruiting process.

Making a strong first impression

Don't overlook the power of the first impression, especially in college recruiting.

College coaches are inundated with inquiries (emails, social media direct messaging) from across the country, high school hopefuls looking to grab the attention of the ultimate decision maker, who will go a long way in determining a high school student-athlete's future path.

You want to leave that first impression to a bad selfie or a mediocre team picture day photo?

First impressions go a long way toward helping a student-athlete stand out among the millions vying for a small number of placements.

Imagine your son or daughter reaches out to a coach at the university of their dreams. Imagine their email hooks their interest, and so they click on a link to their Instagram or TikTok.

That moment, that very moment, is when you want someone to get curious about your student-athlete. You want that coach to want to know more.

Now imagine your son or daughter had three elite-level portraits running across the top of their Instagram feed, something the vast majority of other student-athletes don't have because they didn't make an investment in professional, elite-level portrait photography.

Stand out. Go strong on making that first impression.

Highlighting personality and character

Stats are great. Highlight videos are even better.

But you know what? Every high school student-athlete who is serious about getting recruiting to play at the collegiate level has stats and highlights.

And stats, while often impressive, do not reveal the true personality and character of the player behind them.

Other high school student-athletes don't have professional images from a portrait artist who knows how to create portraits with heart and soul.

But you do.

Find a photographer who knows how to create portraits that reflect an athlete's persona.

Part of my mission at CSP isn't just to make pretty pictures. A lot of photographers can make pretty pictures.

I want to draw out a student-athlete's persona, to hear about their athletic journey, to understand who they are as people on and off the field. Then, I want to channel all of that into creating your student-athlete's portraits.

That's how your son or daughter can stand out from the crowd. Combine their stats and highlights with portraits that showcase their personality, and you've given your student-athlete an edge.

Boosting self-confidence in social media and in interviews

You've heard me say it before, but it's worth repeating because it's true.

Professional, elite-level portraits can boost a student-athlete's self-confidence, especially when they see themselves represented in an image as heroic, as someone to respect, as someone who has achieved so much.

And that sense of self-confidence and self-worth can carry over into other parts of the recruiting process, like interviews with potential coaches.

Self-confidence is a gift every parent would want to give their student-athlete.

Let's face it. Engaging in the college recruiting world is frickin' scary for your average 16 or 17 year old.

We as parents can give them everything they need to feel confident as they journey through it.

And that includes high-quality athlete portraits. Imagine if your student-athlete has a bad day on the recruiting trail, and you're able to point to their elite-level portraits. You can in that moment say, "This is you. This is the strong, heroic person who has come so far and can go even further, even if today is a setback."

I'm a parent of a young athlete who's had a setback in his journey. I can tell you images are powerful ways to remind them of how they can pick themselves back up.

Ready to add elite-level athlete portraits as part of your student-athlete's journey on the college recruiting trail? Click here to get started and to learn all the details of what Creative Sports Photography has to offer.

Dave Pidgeon is the owner of and chief image maker at Creative Sports Photography, an elite portrait service for athletes and teams. He's based in Lancaster, Pa., and available anywhere. You can contact him at dave@creativesportsphotography.com.