SportsForce held its pre-season Baseball Prospect Video Combine two weeks ago at Westview High School in San Diego. The combine was a success with great weather and some great workouts. The combine was aimed at players specifically looking to play at the next level and was an ideal opportunity for for unsigned seniors or potential MLB draft selections, top juniors looking to get nationwide college exposure and for elite sophomores that want to get on the college recruiting map early.

Fourteen players from several different high schools and club teams from the area attended the combine. The schools represented at the event were: Torrey Pines, TriCity Christian, Westview, Mission Hills, Scripps Ranch, Hoover SouthWest High School (El Centro, CA), and Great Oak (Temecula, CA). A few players had very strong workouts on the day. Southwests High School junior pitcher, Gerardo Cortez, Jr. had a great day with his fastball averaging 84-86mph.

The following players also had impressive workouts at the SportsForce combine:

Jon Putnam – C -Mission Hills High School-2011

Corey Suzukawa – OF – Mission Hills High School-2010

Zack Zehner – OF – Torrey Pines High School-2012

Conner Wilson- 1B- Scripps Ranch High School-2011

Santiago Covarrubias -  LF – Hoover High School-2010

Sports Force will be holding another baseball prospect combine this June.  See below for a highlight video of the combine or visit the SportsForce baseball page.

SportsForce (www.sportsforceonline.com) is hosting a pre-season college baseball prospect video combine for top Southern California players looking to take ownership of their careers and maximize exposure to college coaches around the country. The SportsForce combine is a one day event held on Sunday, February 14^th beginning at 9 AM at Westview High School in San Diego, CA. The SportsForce College Baseball Prospect Video Combine is focused on assisting college level prospects, and is an ideal opportunity for unsigned seniors, top juniors looking to get nationwide college exposure, and elite sophomores and freshman who want to get on the college recruiting map early.

Here’s an example profile of top up and coming player that is getting actively recruited.

Corey Oswalt – 3B / SS – Madison High – 2012

See Corey’s full SportsForce profile at: http://www.sportsforceonline.com/athletes/coswalt

If you have a son that is looking to maximize his exposure to college baseball coaches and need an easy, professional and affordable way to market him to colleges around the country, then the SportsForce athlete profile package and combines can help. The simple truth is that there are over 1,000 college baseball programs across the country, but most college coaches don’t have the time, – or the recruiting budget – to attend many games and evaluate many players in person. SportsForce’s custom online player profiles and professional combine skills videos – which will be offered at a discount for this event – are the solution to the lack of college recruiting exposure that even many quality high school athletes experience.

For a few hundred dollars, the SportsForce packages for 1-Position or 2-Position players include professionally shot baseball skills videos, a custom edited and labeled recruiting highlight DVD, and a one year SportsForce online profile membership.

SportsForce is NOT a recruiting service. We have assisted almost 1,000 student-athletes and families and have had an 80% success rate over the past 3 years. Our staff has over 50 years of combined college and professional baseball experience and clearly understands the needs of today’s student-athletes, sports parents and college coaches.

For more information about SportsForce athlete profile packages or upcoming combines please contact:

Event Director – Andrew Beinbrink

Phone – (858) 350-1786

Email – info@sportsforceonline.com

www.sportsforceonline.com

SportsForce athlete Oscar Sanay has accepted an athletic scholarship to Cal State Bakersfield to continue his baseball career with them. Oscar, who plays short stop and second base for Bonita Vista High School and club for the Bonita Vista Legends, had a few key factors which helped him decide on CSU Bakersfield.  Oscar was able to secure a scholarship that would allow him to play at CSU and move away from home. Oscar was also equally impressed with the level of education CSU Bakersfield can provide as well as the playing time he will see with their baseball team.

Oscar, who was originally leaning towards attending another university became aware that he would have a better chance to grow as a player at CSU Bakersfield. Oscar shared with SportsForce that what he is most looking forward to in college is a chance be around others who love the game as much as he does well as get a great education for whatever the future may hold.

“The most thing I’m looking forward to in playing at CSU Bakersfield is getting better. Not just getting better about baseball, but being more educated,” Oscar told us.

We wish Oscar the best of luck at CSU Bakersfield and hope to be hearing more great things from him in the future. Visit Oscar’s full SportsForce profile and check him out in action below.

Nolan Mera is a center fielder for the University City High School baseball team. Nolan also plays for the SoCal Blast. Visit Nolan’s full profile and see his video below.

Nick Sloan is kicker/ punter for Scripps Ranch High School. The 5’11 185lb junior has been a member of the varsity squad since his sophomore year and was named the Special Teams MVP in 2008. Visit his full profile and see him in action below.

Mar Vista High Softball pitcher, Angelica Iacovetti has received much recognition for her talents, named 1st Team All-Southbay League Led league in HRs(6) 2nd Team CIF San Diego Section Div III Union Tribune Athlete of the Week(5-12-09) and San Diego Section III CIF Finalist. Angelica has her sights set on a few schools: St.John’s University; Academy of Art University; Stanford; University of California; Berkeley; Wagner College; San Francisco State; Savannah College of the Arts. Visit her full profile.

Shelby Isley is a midfielder for the Girls Soccer team at Archbishop O’Leary High School in Alberta, Canada. She is also a member of the track and field team. See her video below and visit her full profile.

A senior at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, CA, Thomas Pluschkell plays third base and first base. Thomas received the All Academic Team AZ Fall Classic HS Coaches Award and is looking at MT, UCLA, Stanford, USC, UCSD and Notre Dame to continue his baseball career. See his video below and visit his full profile.

Chelsea Maestas is a junior at Murrieta Valley High School and plays second base and center field for the Nighthawks softball team. She also plays for the San Diego Legacy and was a member of the the 2009 League Champions and recieved the 2009 Golden Glove Award. Check out her full profile.

SportsForce co-founder Tony Garcia a former Park View Little Leaguer helps the Parkview team by getting support from the San Diego Padres and ESPN Radio 710 AM in Los Angeles.

San Diego Padres Players Send Best Wishes to Parkview Little All Stars

ESPN Radio 710 Interview

Park View Little League Coach Ricky Ramirez the father of Little League all-star player Luke Ramirez gets interviewed by ESPN Radio 710 AM.

By Alex Lontayo – SportsForce co-founder

Baseball is an amazing game. For as long as I can remember, it has been an integral part of my life. I’m reminded of all that is has done for me everyday. I have pics of myself holding a ball before I was able to sit up unassisted or pics of myself dragging a bat before I was able to walk. The game was taught to me at an early age and helped me grow as a person. With the buzz about Parkview Little League’s run at the World Series (http://www.parkviewlittleleague.com/), I’ve found myself really looking back at my days back in little league and all the game offered me throughout my life. All of the opportunities I have been blessed with were through baseball. I see the passion that they play with and the camaraderie they have and it really hits home. That’s what you’d expect when they’ve been a TEAM for over 7 years. For most of those kids that’s half of their life. That’s when I really reflect on my life and what baseball brought me.

You see back in the day (no I won’t mention the long walks to school 10 miles away in the snow as most stories seem to go when sentences start that way), we were that team. Our team had been together for years and we were finally coming into our own. The problem with us was we didn’t complete the journey as they did. What we did do, was STAY friends from that time forward. Our group of guys went onto to play Pony, High School, College, Professional, even had a guy reach the big leagues. Those times directed us along the paths that we took. Each of us still live in the same area and, of course, still remain close friends. In fact, most of us would take a friend label as a slap in the face, since we’re all more like brothers.  Having brothers like that because of a game we loved is special. I’m sure there are stories all over the world about the friendships that were created from amateur sports. You never seem to let those times go. With all of the great people that I have been blessed with in my life because of baseball, there’s a deep reflection of what these kids will face in the coming years.

Teammates possibly going to different schools, guys not making the jump to the next level, whatever the circumstances, there will come a time when the next level will not be realistic. That is something that no player who loves the game ever wants to hear. The reality of the game is a tough pill to swallow. I truly believe that is a driving factor in the minds of all the SportsForce team. We’ve all been faced with that reality whether it was the high school to college process or the AA to AAA jump in professional baseball. There are times in your life that having the insight and experience there to help you, can drive your decision making in a manner that will better suit your long term goals. I know looking back; I wish I had more information about the process by friends who had been there. I’m not saying that my career would have turned out any differently, but I know the journey could have.

I can only hope that these young ballplayers will be guided the right way. I am a firm believer that you “always have a chance, when you put the uniform on.” You just never know. I’ve played against the David Eckstein’s of the world who wouldn’t let their size be a roadblock to their long term goals. I see a lot of that in these kids. I’m actually motivated more in my life because of what they’re doing. I look back at all my brothers, even sisters that I’ve played against and truly thank them for all of the memories. I hope every player in every sport that aspires for something greater gets that opportunity. Watching these kids play the game with passion and without a care in the world is special. I know there’s a great community rallying behind their every pitch and every swing. I know I am. Win or lose, these kids have succeeded. I hope they go on with their lives and keep these friendships to reflect upon when they’re my age, but give back to the game in any way they can. That way someday, the next group will experience it all again, with all of it made possible because baseball is an amazing game…

Sportsforce was at the Aflac All-American Game at Petco Park this last weekend, where the country’s best baseball players showcased there skills before a busy crowd of parents, fans, and professional and college scouts. Broken into two teams, the East team and the West team, the roster was composed of the Top 40 high school baseball players in the country. The competition was fierce and the incredible talent at the event performed impressively.

Some of the event’s top talent included Jameson Taillon, the 6′ 7″ fireballer from Woodlands, Texas, Yordy Cabrera, the powerful slugger from Lakeland, Florida, and Bryce Harper of Las Vegas, Nevada, the most acclaimed prep-level athlete in the country and the player who has been called the future “Lebron James of baseball.” Taillon was dominant, throwing 2 shutout innings with 4 strikeouts, Cabrera won the Aflac Homerun Derby, hitting 8 bombs in the first round, and Harper displayed an impressive all-around skill set and made an amazing defensive play throwing out Chevez Clarke at second base for an inning ending double play.

SportsForce Website Launch Plan in Final Phase

The SportsForce Blog has been a little MIA lately as the team has been putting all of our efforts into getting the main site up and running to increase our reach to athletes everywhere and help drive their sports careers forward.

The SportsForce team has been working around the clock adding athletes to the site. Almost every athlete has a full profile including athletic and academic information, and a video –which is no easy task to add over one hundred athletes in a short period of time, but the team was up for the challenge.

Here’s a recent girls basketball profile we completed for a rising senior that is getting actively recruited a few different colleges on the west coast.

Ariana Elegado – Guard – Class of 2010 – La Jolla Country Day School – San Diego, CA

Here are some more feature athlete profiles per sport to check out:

Boys Basketball- Jvonte Brooks

Baseball – Geoff Rocha

Girls Basketball – Ariana Elegado

Football – John Stephens

Boys Lacrosse – Alex Pardieu

Girls Lacrosse – Tarrah Lynch

Softball – Alex Miller

Girls Volleyball – Laura Plumb

The team has also been working hard making all the pages look the best, be helpful and of course fix some little bugs that may be there. Stay tuned for the site to be fully launched very, very soon!

SportsForce Partners With Premier Classic Soccer Tournament

This past weekend SportsForce partnered with 16^th Annual San Diego Premiere Classic . The tournament was held at several different fields throughout San Diego. Over 200 teams turned out for the tournament which offered play for both Boys and Girls U9-19 in Silver and Gold levels.

SportsForce filmed some of the top Men’s U18 teams including the Del Mar Sharks 92 Premier, Arsenal FC, PQ Premier Red, SE Cosmos (Texas) and the United FC Black. SportsForce also caught the top action out of the Girls Division, where the SoCal Blues Defeated the San Diego United FC 3-0 in the finals of the U16 Gold Division.

For complete results of the tournament, visit https://www.gotsport.com/events/?EventID=5583.

SportsForce Set to Conduct Baseball Combine Workout For Rising Seniors in San Diego

SportsForce will be conducting a baseball combine this coming weekend at East Lake High School in Chula Vista, CA. The combine video workout is ideal for student-athletes that are interested in putting together a skills video to market themselves to colleges around the country.

The SportsForce combine model allows an athlete to be professionally video taped and measure while performing sports specific skills that college coaches require to better evaluate potential prospects .  The SportsForce baseball combine workout includes the 60-yard sprint, pitching, catching, hitting and fielding stations.

Here’s an example of a combine workout video that has been integrated with our new SportsForce athlete profile system.

Geoff Rocha – Catcher – Class of 2009 – Cathedral Catholic

Albion Cup Championship Games – Monday

The Albion Cup National Soccer Showcase Games extended into Monday, July 20^th and offered the top play of the entire showcase. In the Men’s U19 division, host team Albion narrowly defeated United Futbol Black in an intense meeting on Monday. The story was much of the same for the Women’s U19 as Albion White defeated the San Diego Surf White, 2-1. In the Boys U14 Puma V Elite, San Diego Surf Academy took top honors over Palos Verdes.

Albion Cup – Boys U15 PUMA VElite – Championship Game – 2009 from Sports Force on Vimeo.

Albion SC defeated the Fram CQ Vipers in the U15 Puma V Elite division, though both teams secured a trip to the USA Cup next year. For the girls Puma V Elite finals on Monday, Albion defeated PQ Premiere 1-0 in the U14 division. Close games were omnipresent in the finals and the U15 Girls were no exception as the SoCal Blues Draluck defeated Arsenal FC to take the finals.

For complete results from Monday, visit: http://www.gotsport.com/events/?eventid=4521

Opening Day at the Del Mar Races = ½ Day

With our website launch rapidly approaching, days off for the SportsForce team come few and far between. We took exception this past week for opening day at the horse races in Del Mar. With our office conveniently located very close to the track, we decided to take a half day for this Southern California tradition that has been going on for 70 years.

Testing the Soon to Launch SportsForce Site

The SportsForce team is working hard behind the scenes making sure our site will be the best experience for you when it launches. We are testing everything, making sure everything is in the right place, and most importantly, that it works!

So Cal Cup Features some of Southern CA’s best Baseball Prospects

SportsForce was at the So Cal Cup this past weekend. The event features Southern California’s Top Baseball Prospects. Director, Mike Viera, with San Gabriel Valley Baseball gave SportsForce open access to the event.  SportsForce also had the pleasure of interviewing Mike as part of the event to learn more about some of the top players in the event and what colleges were there.

“The So Cal Cup was created on bringing the best players in Southern California to compete against each other in hopes to see College Coaches and Major League Scouts see the best players we have to offer in all of Southern California. The idea worked, in our first So Cal Cup, rain and more rain, we still had a huge following by Scouts, National Crosscheckers and some staff from the Scouting Bureau. Now we are looking to get the exposure to these players by College Coaches. 2 Days 3 Games, Wood Bat, how will they perform? Are the best players from Orange County, Riverside, Los Angeles or San Diego? Let’s find out in a battle of Southern California’s best talent in the So Cal Cup II. Where the best will play in the best! You will play for the county you live in. We had 11 players get drafted in the 2004 Major League Draft that participated in our inaugural So Cal Cup I.”

Find more info on the So Cal Cup at http://baseballresource.com/socalcup/index.htm

I believe “the dream” for any athlete, started the minute he or she watched a game on tv, or was at a venue, seeing pro athletes for the first time, aware of what was happening. For me, I can point to three incidents.

1982, I was only in 2^nd grade, but I remember watching Paolo Rossi lead Italy to the World Cup title in Spain. I remember the crowd chanting and the Televisa announcer’s high octane call of the action. The majesty of the Copa Mundial got me so hooked on soccer,  I got the rest of the kids in my section of the Imperial Manor apartments in south San Diego (right between Sidro and IB) into soccer. We played “metegol” (shootouts) everyday, wearing the low budget goalie gloves (they were gold to me) that my pops bought me at La Popular sports shop in TJ.

1983, Russ Hall (Dude was awesome, he went out of his way to make a bunch of us little Mexican kids love sports) our coach from the South Bay Rec Center league, took our flag football team to watch the Chargers and Rams scrimmage in Training Camp. The moment I saw Dan Fouts thread one into Kellen Winslow’s hands across the middle, I knew I wanted to be a QB (that thought was cemented after watching a young buck named John Elway with a rifle that left crosses on receiver’s chests).

Of course 1984, the Padres went to their first World Series, and I remember eating a Padres Pack from McDonalds, watching the man who would become my hero, Tony Gwynn, use that sweet cut as he went “oppo”. Padres became Cub-busters and everyone wanted that t-shirt.  By the way, former Dodger Steve Garvey may have been getting more attention, but TG19 was the one batting .350.

From those key moments, the little “guzanito” in me was born. The “guzanito,” is the little fire in the pit of the stomach that motivates you to do whatever it is you were born to do. It’s the feeling of “I can’t wait to pick up a bat, or a football, shoot a 3, or shoot on goal.”

Find the guzanito in you...