Interview with Taylor Twellman of the New England Revolution with His Father Tim Twellman Former Minnesota Kicks Player
Taylor and Tim Twellman
As part of the Schwan’s USA Cup tournament, Taylor Twellman came to Minnesota to speak to high school players concerning a company his father Tim works for that matches student athletes up with colleges for recruiting. I was able to arrange an interview with Taylor and thought it might be fun to included his father in the conversation. Tim Twellman played for the Minnesota Kicks from 1977 to 1982. My hunch was correct as father and son talked all things MLS and NASL, with some good family ribbing thrown in the conversation. It’s a fun and informative conversation about life growing up as a multi-sport athlete and having numerous professional athletes, including his father, as role models.
There’s also some good-natured ribbing about Tim’s North American Soccer League’s scoring record but also some heartfelt talk from Taylor and Tim as to what it was like in the days of the NASL trying to break into the ranks as an American player.
Taylor speaks about the influence his father sometimes had -and didn’t have- on him, particularly when he played for 1860 Munich in Germany.
Taylor explains how he looks at the game a bit differently now that he has struggled with his neck injury and gives us his assessment of the Revolution’s season so far in 2009.
Please join in and listen to this fun but informative interview as father and son talk MLS and NASL.
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Tim Twellman works for NCSA, which matches student athletes with colleges for recruitment. NCSA has a 90% success rate.
Comments are closed.
I am familiar with NSCA. I was not impressed with NSCA. I thought they charged alot of money to send out stuff to not very good D3 school looking for players. None of those colleges had any financial aid available to help us send our son to school, which was something we were very clear to them that we needed. We were way more sucessful sending out our own profile and DVD of highlights on our own then with the help of NSCA. I can honestly say they did not make one contact for us that were were even remotely impressed or interested in. This was one an expensive waste of time that I would strongly recomend against!
Pat, did you guys follow up with the schools that you weren’t interested in? Getting schools to compete over your student athlete by following up with everyone that shows interest was what I thought was the most important part of the process for our son. A little interest turned into moderate then serious more widespread interest in our case.
Not Dan
We were dealing with approximately 20 schools to begin with. We went on five school visits and visited with all five coaches. All five coaches were very interested. In the end, it was between two schools. One offered their max financial aid and was a D2 school in their 2nd year with a new coach. Hastings College where he is playing offered 1/3 scholarship guaranteed for 4-5 years with the opportunity to increase as he performed. Hastings College’s program was much more competitive and established. The school also fit his needs much better. NSCA did not send us any of these schools nor as far as I can tell, contact any of these coaches on our behalf. When we went to Muscatine, they very clearly stated that they did not recommend recruiting services. However, to answer your question, we did not follow up with the NSCA schools, as most of them did not fit our established criteria in academics and program. IMHO we generated plenty of interest but none of it was the result of dealing with NSCA a very expensive recruiting service.
The one thing I would tell everyone is that boy’s soccer is not girl’s soccer when talking about scholorships. There is very few if any scholarship for boys. If your son is offered a scholarship for soccer, you are extremely fortunate. A lot of discussion has gone on about how many athletes this organization or that organization has athletes with signed letters of commitment. A letter of commitment does not guarantee the player a spot on the team nor does it indicate any financial aid.
I do not know Dan nor did we ever deal with Dan. He may do an excellent job, but that was not our experience. The post was in no way a reflection on Dan, but a reflection on the service the company provided us. It may be different for young women, as it seems as if there is a lot more financial aid available to women’s soccer than men’s soccer. For families with young men, I would strongly suggest starting when your child is playing U16, and paying a lot of attention to grades. Most college has much more financial aid available for academics then for men’s soccer in our experience.