Recruiting business

Updated: May 9, 2012 9:54AM

Over the course of an itinerant college football career that included stops at four schools, Elliott Ivory learned how to sell himself to prospective coaches.

Now he's turned that talent into a thriving business that helps local prep athletes connect with colleges that have scholarship money to hand out. Ivory, a 29-year-old Proviso West grad and North Riverside resident, runs GameTime Productions, which had a modest start.

"It was hard my first year," said Ivory, who learned video production skills at Benedictine University, where his college football career ended with a torn ACL. "I was walking up to schools with a portable DVD player and a demo CD. The feedback wasn't [good] at all."

Then, Ivory was selling highlight videos that he thought players and their families would want as keepsakes. "I didn't even think of recruiting," he said.

He started with four schools: Wheaton North, Proviso East, Proviso West and Glenbard North. But word of mouth helped the business grow, and one of his first successes on the recruiting side was when a tape he produced for Bolingbrook's Camille Ramsey that helped earn her a basketball scholarship to Central Michigan.

Now, Ivory has more work than he can handle on his own and he has hired several more video editors to help out. He works with basketball, football and baseball teams, from the NCAA Division I level down to Little League. And he has a vision for his business that involves much more than shooting game highlights.

"I want high school parents to know they can come to me for everything: consultation on the recruiting process, tips on editing videos, [advice on] academics," he said.

For more info, go to: gametimepros.com

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