Founded in 1999, Headfirst has become a very popular niche baseball showcase event organizer. They operate events across the nation and break their offerings out into three categories. These include honor roll camps, summer camps, and professional camps. (active voice)
To give you an idea of the size of their operations, Headfirst employs 35 full time workers and about 700 seasonal workers, who help out with event operations. Headfirst honor roll camps are their most popular event, which provide players with an academic focused baseball showcase experience.
High academic student-athletes have a unique set of circumstances, which differ from the average prospective college baseball player. Headfirst tailors a showcase experience to the academic and athletic needs of these players.
High Academic Recruiting Efforts
Baseball recruiting efforts at high academic institutions are a little more challenging. Due to the academic requirements at these institutions, coaches have a smaller pool of players to recruit. At a standard showcase, ten percent of the players in attendance might be a good fit from an academic standpoint for these programs. Coaches at high academic institutions have to be more strategic when pursuing players.
Over the years, Headfirst has been able to cultivate relationships with coaches from a number of high academic schools like Duke, Princeton, and Johns Hopkins. Coaches at these institutions have come to trust their showcase events, and regularly attend them to support their recruiting efforts.
Headfirst is led by Brendan Sullivan, who founded the organization after a very successful baseball career. After playing at Stanford, Brendan was selected in the MLB draft, which led to a 5 year professional career within the San Diego Padres minor league system. With a college baseball experience at one of the top academic schools in the country and an immense amount of baseball knowledge, Sullivan brings the perfect skill set for the job.
Headfirst strives to inspire the personal best in kids and young adults. Through their events, they also assist players with college placement. In 2020, nearly 1,400 honor roll camp alumni were on high academic college rosters.
Headfirst Honor Roll Baseball Camps
Attending a Headfirst Honor Roll camp guarantees a player exposure to a high concentration of some of the top academic schools in the nation. At these events, players will have opportunities to interact face-to-face with these college coaches.
Headfirst also prides themselves on providing players with the right tools to have success before, during, and after their events. Prior to the showcase, all attendees receive guidance on how to navigate the recruiting process, connect with the right college coaches, and ultimately make the most of showcase style events. Players who have these resources are better prepared to take advantage of the time and money that they invest in attending showcases and camps.
Headfirst tailors a showcase format specifically for high academic players. For Ivy league schools and other high academic schools alike, a player’s academic abilities are a key piece of the recruiting process. Through Headfirst honor roll camps, college coaches are provided with the academic data they need to make recruiting decisions.
The honor roll camps are also staffed with several former and current high academic student athletes, who will be able to provide attendees with valuable insight.
Honor Roll Camps also include:
- Showcase style workouts to demonstrate defensive and offensive abilities
- 21 innings of live games
- Performance measurements in the 60 yard dash, batting exit velocity, throwing velocity, and agility shuttle times
- Advanced analytics collected through Blast Motion technology
- Face-to-face interaction with college coaches
- Game play video footage through Nextpro
Headfirst Verification Series
With college coaches unable to recruit in person for several months, Headfirst recently introduced their verification series. This service enables players to continue their recruiting efforts even during NCAA dead and quiet periods.
Headfirst captures data, analytics, and video footage through a verification series event. Over 200 college baseball coaches who regularly attend Headfirst honor roll showcase events in person receive this information.
Attendees also receive a digital player profile that contains verified data, video footage, and the player’s academic and personal information. Players have the ability to share the profile directly with college coaches.
The verification series workouts follow a similar schedule as an honor roll camp. By partnering with Blast Motion, Rhapsodo, and Nextpro, college coaches have everything they need to make accurate recruiting decisions virtually, from performance data to video footage.