Jim Plappert is acutely aware of the needs and concerns of the up-and-coming student-athlete. As the founder of Max-StARS, a college selection consulting firm (www.maxstars4u.com), he works with student-athletes every day. He has seen firsthand how overwhelming the process can be to those who are completely new to it and the missteps taken by those who did not have the guidance and the tools to balance the emotional side of the decision with the facts of the situation.

Jim has written a companion book, So, You Want to be a College Athlete, which details how to work through the college selection process itself. It provides the guidance and tools for developing a game plan to assist student-athletes in choosing that right-fit university - one where they'll thrive athletically, academically, and socially.

A former student-athlete himself, Jim has stayed actively involved over the last thirty years with his four children, starting in community recreational sports with coaching and then in various booster clubs. Jim is also involved with regional and national tournament management as the Tournament Director for EventHockey.

Jim received his secondary schooling at the Mercersburg Academy, has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University, and earned an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. He spent twenty years in industrial sales and marketing. Following that, Jim founded an executive recruiting and consulting firm and spent another twenty years helping people maximize their potential as candidates for the business world and helping his client companies find the best possible employees to meet their ongoing needs.

As a recruiter, Jim developed excellent networking skills and used that talent to meet with and talk to the "brightest and the best" coaches, players, and parents with regard to the college student-athlete selection process and, ultimately, how to best counsel the student-athlete to succeed in those efforts.