February 2007

2006 NATS attendee Corwin Acker to attend Temple University

In June of ’06, Corwin Acker II attended the NATS test conducted at the Baltimore Ravens Practice Facility. In so doing, Acker was determined to measure his skills against his contemporaries and give himself the best opportunity to be viewed by the college coaching community.

Corwin will be attending Temple University on a full athletic scholarship in the fall of 2007 - CONGRATULATIONS CORWIN!

Corwin’s father, Mr. Corwin Acker, Sr. said, “I wish I had something like NATS when I was playing, because I would have been seen by more out-of-state colleges”. Mrs. Shawna Acker said, “NATS was a tremendous tool for Corwin. The program gave him the exposure needed to get his foot in the door at many colleges who may have never known about him. Corwin received many letters and phone calls by colleges who viewed his test results on the NATS website. Having many choices allowed us to make the best decision for Corwin. Corwin is a hardworking young man and NATS gave him the opportunity to showcase those traits!”

Corwin is a student at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he was a standout running back and defensive back on the football team. He also, was a member of the track team.

NCAA, NAIA & High-School Coaches Reps attend NATS Meeting

The Annual NATS Board of Review (BOR) Meeting took place on Jan. 9th, 2007 during the annual AFCA Convention in San Antonio, Texas. The BOR meeting was attended by NCAA Division I, IAA, II, III, NJCAA coaching representatives, along with NAIA and High-School coach representatives.

Coach Tyrone Willingham conducted the meeting as its Chairman. The board is comprised of coaches, administrators, school counselors, and teachers.

Coaches in attendance included:

• Division I: Coach Tyrone Willingham, University of Washington
• Division IAA: Coach Bob Ford, University at Albany
• Division II: Coach Denny Douds, East Stroudsburg University
• Division III: Coach Mike Welch, Ithaca College
• NAIA: Coach Dave Dallas, Kansas Wesleyan University

The NATS-BOR oversees all aspects of the NATS program. Each year at its annual meeting, the board dictates policies and procedures which govern the programmatic activities of this AFCA endeavor.

Additionally, NATS staff made informational presentations at all college and high school coaches business meetings. An overall 2006 progress report was made during the AFCA Convention General Assembly session.

NATS Adds Two to Administrative Staff

NATS, an AFCA program providing standardized athletic testing for high-school student athletes nationwide, has hired two new staff members, LuAnne Elliott as Administrative Assistant and Christopher Howard as IT Manager.

Elliott brings with her many years of administrative and customer service experience, co-owning a small business for 18 years in Washington State prior to relocating to Florida in 2004. LuAnne graduated from the University of Redlands (Redlands, Calif.) majoring in Business Administration/Marketing. She is the proud mother of 3 sons; Aron (23), Kyl (21), and Matt (18). Her oldest is currently serving in the U.S. Army in Germany after an 18 month deployment in Iraq.

LuAnne will be responsible for providing administrative support services to the development, training and testing programs at NATS.

Howard joined NATS after owning and operating several successful business endeavors. Following a 20 year career in the accounting profession, Christopher pursued his passion for computers and graphic design. He and his wife, Diane, reside in Sarasota, FL with their teenage daughter, who continues to be an honor student at a local middle school, and was recently accepted into the Duke University Talent Identification Program.

Christopher will oversee all technology endeavors at NATS, including website development, database management, and multimedia production.