Charlie's Blog

I am excited to announce that I was recently named Senior National Speaker for National Collegiate Scouting Association of Chicago. A passion of mine is guiding young people to College Athletics scholarships. It can truly be life changing. More than ever, Companies are going after College Athletes because of the fire they bring with them. True student athletes are fiercely competitive, goal oriented, leaders, respectful, on time, and they do not flinch in hard times. Also, as athletes they had to manage their time. I highly suggest you get the new book Athletes Wanted by Chris Krause. It gets into this topic thoroughly.
As senior national speaker, I deliver the presentation College Recruiting Simplified across the country. The Talk makes for a tremendous Breakout Presentation when I deliver the Stoke keynote at conferences. Every organization has people who either have kids capable of playing college sports at some level, or they have nieces, nephews or friends. This presentation provides powerful tools to make it possible. On average, 90% of young people who qualify for NCSA play college sports and this will average getting $18,000 towards their education. Now, when I talk college athlete, I am not only talking about the Purdues, Southern Cal’s, Notre Dames and Mississippi’s. In most cases, I am talking about Ohio Northern, Benedictine, Milsaps and Bethel College - places where young people get tremendous degrees, the college athletics experiences, and where they learn to stoke the fire within. Now, if you have a son or daughter and you would like an evaluation of where they stand as a college prospect, email me now at [email protected] and I will take action to help you. - Charlie

“I heard a quote today that hit home for me: “You have to stoke the fire if you expect it to stay hot”. Throughout life we set goals for ourselves; whether it is in fitness, parenthood, getting college athletics scholarships, spirituality, financial, professional or relational, we have a mental image of what we want all of these areas to look like or feel. I know that once you attain that goal, or even get close to it, it feels GREAT! What I have also learned is that that is when we need to keep pressing on. It’s wonderful to make gains in our fitness lives or to get to a good place with our husbands or partners but that doesn’t mean we stop and say “I’m done”. In order for the fires, the good stuff in our lives, to stay hot and alive in us, there is work to be done. I encourage you all to “stoke the fires” in your lives. Give those areas in your lives which matter to you attention and intent, I bet our lives will be richer for it!”
by Farel Hruska

As one who is always looking for inspirational quotes that make an impact, I came across one today that I believe applies especially well this year:
“If things are tough, remember that every flower that ever bloomed had to go through a whole lot of dirt to get there.”
Barbara Johnson, author
That is a really good quote to help stoke the fire within!

On Memorial Day morning my family and I went to our local fitness center for exercise. As I walked through I noticed a young lady named Kelsey Reynolds. She is a high school senior at Penn High who is graduating. She has earned a full athletic scholarship to play basketball at prestigious Boston College.
Kelsey was there going through a hard workout on a holiday. I watched as she did drill after drill with the goal of reaching excellence in the game of basketball.
Not everyone is wired that way. Plenty of people got up on Memorial Day with a laid back plan for the day. There is nothing wrong with that approach on a holiday. But in all my years of studying peak performers I have seen that they all have that extra gear of work ethic. They are relentless in their determination to reach their potential. For Kelsey, effort like that helped her earn that full ride to B.C.

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Update: After a freshman season at B.C., Kelsey decided to transfer to DePaul University in Chicago. There were two key factors: 1) she wanted to be closer to her South Bend, IN area home and 2) she did not get a lot of playing time as a freshman at B.C.

Although I speak on how athletes can connect college scholarships, schools often call and ask to have a motivational message delivered. This past week I had the opportunity to deliver the keynote at the annual NorthWood High School Academic Teams banquet. It was such an inspiring evening to be around such outstanding young people and supportive parents and educators.

After my keynote, I was sitting there watching the teams be honored. When they called for the Spell Team, one of their members came forward tapping a walking cane. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Her name is Rochelle “Chelli” Schmitt, and she is a longtime Spelling champion and member of the NorthWood High Spell Bowl. Rochelle has been blind since birth, yet has been one of the top spellers in the state for years. She is also on the Fine Arts team. She relies on teammates to describe paintings as they come up on screens in competitions.

Seeing young people like her kindles the fire within me to be more determined. When I see her accomplishing such things in her life, I get inspired.

Thank you, Rochelle, for being such an inspiration!

- Charlie Adams