Sunday, September 23, 2007

By Gregg T. Carbone
NJS.com Executive Editor

Tenafly's Matt Miller used CSA Prepstar to help land a scholarship to kick at Monmouth University.

The college recruiting process can be difficult and confusing for high school athletes and their parents. For the serious athlete Collegiate Sports America, a national recruiting service, can help untangle the web of uncertainty in an effort make sure athletes end up finding the best possible fit at the next level; not only athletically but academically as well.

“The easiest way to describe what (CSA) does is we get exposure for high school kids who are looking to play at the next level to college coaches looking for athletes,” said Joe Gersbeck, who is in charge of the state of New Jersey for CSA. “Every student-athlete who goes through our system maximizes his or her college recruiting opportunities.”

Getting the best opportunities is what Gersbeck and CSA are all about. It’s a widely held misconception that if an athlete simply has talent and gets a little local publicity that he or she will have an opportunity to play in college. What CSA does is give each of its athletes great exposure to coaches around the country to best locate where the best opportunities are.

“There is no doubt that you can get some exposure yourself,” Gersbeck admitted. “But with the scholarship money that’s at stake it’s a big chance to take. When you’re done working with us you’re not going to wonder what could have been. You’re going to know that you’ve had the best exposure possible and have received every opportunity you could.”

Gersbeck has worked with countless kids from the NorthJerseySports.com coverage area including Old Tappan’s Kyle Kreitman (boys soccer), who is playing at Rensselaer Poytechnic University, and Mahwah’s Tim Certosimo (boys soccer) now at Elmira. Ramapo’s Jaclyn Rosado (girls soccer) and Maria Drehwing (girls lacrosse) were both in the CSA program with Rosado ending up at the University of Albany and Drehwing deciding on Lafayette College (PA).

A brother-sister tandem from Leonia, Marshal and August Keating, took advantage of the CSA program and both ended up playing sports in college. Marshal is running track at West Point and August plays basketball for Hamilton.

This year Gersbeck is working with a number of area athletes including, Ian Oates (Creskill baseball), Ryan Ott (Waldwick football), Bryce Martin (Bergen Catholic football), Luke Cotugno (Hawthorne), Nick Cassetta (Lodi football), Amy Van Dyk (Ramapo soccer), Juliana Romano (Hasbrouck Heights soccer) and Daniela Gomez (Paramus volleyball). Jim Niland and Joe Wassel (Passaic Valley football) are also both enrolled with CSA.

“Ian Oates just told me the exposure he has gotten has been phenomenal,” Gersbeck said. “(Ryan) Ott learned about us through our combine at Velocity in Parsippany and despite D-I credentials was not hearing from as many schools as he should have been. (Bryce) Martin was a non-starter as a junior at Bergen Catholic last year but is now being recruited by several schools.”

In the past Gersbeck helped Jessica Martin, an outstanding goalie from Northern Valley Demarest’s Class of 2004. Martin was not being recruited at all before her mother contacted Gersbeck and after working with the CSA program she ended getting nearly a full ride to Iona. AHA’s Catilin Colesanti, a standout soccer player from the Class of 2005, got into the prestigious Williams College (MA), where she has been getting significant playing time since she was a freshman. From the Class of 2006, NV/Old Tappan’s star third baseman, Alexandra Rodriguez, ended up playing softball for Columbia University (NYC).

Just last year Tenafly kicker Matt Miller (Class of 2007) signed on with a full ride to play at Monmouth University.

“People are starting to realize that they can really benefit from the services we (CSA) offer,” said Gersbeck. “I work exclusively with New Jersey and some New York students, but because we’re part of a national network our students can get placement anywhere in the country. Most ultimately decide to stay in the Northeast, but not because they have to, because they want to.”

Gersbeck has been involved with CSA since 2001. He started off running several counties in central New Jersey then expanded into Bergen County a year later. Now he is responsible for the entire New Jersey arm of CSA in addition to Rockland County, New York.

CSA has a broad range of services for high school athletes including profile mailings to college coaches, online videos along with a national online database for college coaches to search. For football players there’s also PrepStar Magazine, which lists top football recruits, broken down by position, from around the country. CSA has also recently started holding regional football combines, which culminated in an All-American combine at the Rose Bowl over the summer.

Gersbeck added, “Most families I meet decide they do not want to leave their child’s education and playing careers to chance. Playing club sports or participating in camps and showcases is great. But what are you doing proactively to get year-round exposure? That’s where our student-athletes get a big edge.”

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