We love to hear about success stories involving athletes who get the recognition they deserve and receive a scholarship to play their sport of choice in colllege. Here’s a great story that basketball player Thomas Robinson wrote about the attention he received after participating in the Reebok Headliner Camp:

“My name is Thomas Robinson, I am currently a 17 year old upcoming senior combo forward at Brewster Academy. This past school year I finished at Riverdale Baptist in Upper Marlboro Maryland. Going into the 2008 circuit I was not considered a top player in my class, actually, I was unknown. I have been around AAU ball since I was 9 years old and in my opinion I was better than most of these players that were consider top players, all I needed was a chance to prove it and that chance came this summer.  Here’s my story:

Going into the circuit I had only 1 single division one scholarship on the table for me at the time that was big, but I wanted more; I wanted to be respected. Before it all started I explained to my coach that I was tired of being underrated and he said “I will put you in the right events to showcase your talents but the rest is up to you”. So I started to prepare for this summer, I took any chance I had to play against top players.  We made it happen and I played well showing that I am able to compete with them. Still I felt that I had more work to do.  I was told that the best way to get noticed was by attending these camps. That’s when my coach told me to go the PrepChamps.com website and read this:

Reebok Headliner Tryout Camp gives you the chance to create your own path, make your own destiny, and take the exposure game into your own hands. It’s time for the undiscovered to be discovered.

I attended the Reebok Headliner camp in Chantilly, VA.  I was told that the top players would receive an invitation to the Reebok All-American Camp in Philly. So I figured if I wanted to be recognized as one of the top players in the country, I had to at least be considered one of the best in my area. I went into the Reebok Headliner Try Out Camp and out played every opponent I matched up with and not only did I make top 5, I left the camp as the best player there, which meant I was on my way to Philadelphia.

Attending the Headliner helped boost my confidence and now I felt like I could play with anybody.  When July finally arrived, I never thought  this month was going to change my life. The first big thing for me in July was of course the Reebok All-American Camp which was my first big camp and thanks to the staff they made it the best camp around all summer. They treated us like kings. So day 1 of the camp is here and I’m in total shock I am actually playing with these guys that are considered the best in the country and I realize that chance I have been looking for all these years is right here in my face and is up for grabs. So I went out and played hard and my hard play began to get noticed by the coaches, the staff and most importantly the players.

As the week went on my name was hot as fire around the camp I was now being ranked among the best of the best.  After camp was over I was exhausted so the next day I slept until at least 2 o’clock.  I check my phone and I had missed calls from all types of area codes, so as I began to check my messages it sounded like this “Hi my name is so and so and I love your game and I would like to offer you a scholarship to my school”.  I heard that about 20 times and that’s not me hyping it for real. I went into major shock that I was getting calls from schools I only dreamed about going to. So now the next big thing is Vegas and thanks to the camp my name is in every coach and reporter’s list to see. By me knowing that since I had performed so well so far, there’s a bulls eye on my back and there will be people coming at me trying to make a name for themselves as I did this summer but I didn’t worry, the playing is the easy part.  What got me is the first game in Vegas, I walked down the hallway into the gym and I see almost every school in the stands.  I mean the whole sweet 16 was there lol!! So my nerves began to bother me but I just balled and didn’t look twice at the stands again. My team finished 4-1 in Vegas so we got to play longer which meant more looks for everybody. Now Vegas is over, July is gone, AAU is done and I went into the summer as Thomas and came out THOMAS ROBINSON.

I have recently committed to coach Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks and I want to thank Mr. Rivers and the staff at Reebok and my AAU coach Dwight Redd.  Tune in to see what happens next and believe I will be in the gym getting better.  Signing out, T-ROB”

At PrepChamps, our mission is to help athletes get noticed and get recruited. We’re happy that Thomas was able to get the recognition he deserved and showcase his skills this past summer at Reebok’s events. We’re involved in these camps because we understand that much of recruiting takes place offline. But even if athletes can’t attend our events, we invite them to create a free profile on our website so coaches and fans can see their stats, pictures and highlights. Every bit of exposure helps, and you never know who might find you on PrepChamps.com.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 2:51 pm and is filed under Athlete's Corner. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.