Illinois benefits from Booker's polished presentation

If you want some advice on how to market yourself in this BROKE-n economy, gather around.

I have to share ... All right, can I have a little breathing room? Please back off. You all are suffocating me. Let me finish.

Thank you.

I have to share an e-mail that I received from Warren junior Alex Booker, who recently gave a verbal commitment to the University of Illinois, where she plans to continue her softball career while majoring in architecture or sports management.

See, after Warren coach Carri McGahan e-mailed the media to tell us about Booker's college commitment, I e-mailed back requesting the speedy outfielder and three-sport varsity athlete to please contact me.

I was hoping for a phone call or phone number.

What I got was a lengthy, well-written, well-articulated response from Alex Booker, essentially answering every question a reporter might ask her. Even got a phone number, to boot, from the kid who never boots a ball.

And I thought her athleticism - including her speed from home to first base - was impressive.

Young Alex Booker explained her decision to verbally commit to the Illini even though she won't graduate from high school until 2010. She provided her softball statistics and other school activities with which she's involved. Like a good reporter, she gave specifics - dates, exact data. Her grammar and punctuation would make an English professor proud.

She gave a time when she could be reached.

She was professional and polite, starting her e-mail by addressing me as "Mr." - and even spelling my last name right - and closing with, "Thank you for your time!"

And, skillfully, she did it all without coming across as a braggart or prima donna.

So, Alex, you for hire?

Truth is, she has a good answer when asked to explained how she was able to craft what essentially could pass for a top-notch cover letter to a potential place of employment.

Practice.

"From e-mailing so many college coaches," she said with a laugh.

According to Booker, during her sophomore softball season, at least five times a week, she would e-mail different college coaches, essentially pitching herself to them. NCAA rules prohibit college coaches from contacting kids until their junior year.

"I was kind of pestering (the coaches)," she said.

"Pester us, PLEASE," I'm guessing those coaches were saying.

After all, what college softball coach wouldn't be interested in Alex Booker?

In her e-mail, she noted the following:

She ranked first out of 393 participants in the 2008 Pennsbury SPARQ Agility Camp in Yardley, Pa., finishing in the top five in all five events, including first in the 20-yard dash.

She was the top SPARQ tester out of any participant in the 2008 NFCA-administered summer camps.

She helped lead her A-level travel team, the 18U Lake County Liberty, to a 56-9 record and a berth at ASA Nationals last summer. In 72 games with the Liberty, she has a career batting average of .448 with a .504 on-base percentage and a .571 slugging average, and has stolen 42 bases in 46 attempts.

At Warren, she's part of President's Council, is a junior mentor and participated in the 2007 North Suburban Leadership Conference.

A Daily Herald All-Area softball player since her freshman year, she batted .422 last season with a .528 on base percentage. Her two-year varsity totals include 82 hits and 41 stolen bases (46 attempts).

As for her reasons for choosing the University of Illinois?

"After I took my unofficial visit to the campus on Oct. 4, I could see how close-knit the campus was," she wrote. "I knew that I wanted to become a part of the Illini family. I knew that I wanted to play a very competitive softball schedule somewhere and the Big Ten is one of the best conferences in the country.

"I liked the energy that Coach (Terri) Sullivan brought to the team," she continued. "I was glad to see this, because she almost resembles me and how I am very vocal and energetic. The players made me feel so at home when I met them at practice on my unofficial visit. They seemed to welcome me with open arms."

Another reason why Booker picked Illinois? The coaches never backed off her after she tore the anterior cruciate ligament and lateral meniscus in her left knee last fall while warming up for a varsity volleyball match. She had reconstructive surgery Oct. 8 and just recently began sprinting again.

"That's like huge for me," Booker said this week from Florida, where she's cheering on her Warren softball teammates. "But I still can't cut yet or run the bases."

She's hoping to make her season debut by the end of the month or early May, and the speed demon isn't worried about her surgically repaired knee potentially slowing her down.

"I don't think I've lost any speed at all," Booker said. "Even if I did, I'm sure I'll get it back."

Her e-mail goes on to thank her Lake County Liberty coaches and teammates for helping her throughout the recruiting process. She's thrilled that the U of I is close to Illinois State, where her brother Gordon attends.

She's equally excited that the Illini just built a brand-new softball stadium.

"Personally," she wrote, "it is the best softball facility that I have seen."

I'm sold.

jaguilar@dailyherald.com