Community Champions: Tovar family making waves in recruiting

Getting a look from a college sports program isn’t the easiest thing in the world.

But Jesse Tovar is making it a little more manageable for local athletes.

Jesse, father of Del Valle soccer star Love’ Tovar, founded “Prep 1” to assist athletes in connecting with college coaches, boosting their chances of playing at the next level.

He does most of his work reaching out to coaches on Twitter, and you can follow him by searching for his Twitter handle, @Prep1USA.

“In the course of helping my daughter get recruited, I learned a couple of things,” said Jesse. “And yes, Division I is going to get their athletes. But what about the little guys? What about the other guys?”

Jesse helped his daughter secure 13 scholarship offers to play soccer (as of January 2nd). That’s in spite of the fact that Love’ recently suffered a serious injury that could have derailed her chances otherwise.

“My first few offers, I got so excited,” said Love’, who was also a kicker on the Del Valle football team in 2017. “At first I lost hope because of my injury. I was very nervous that I was not going to come back. But now I feel, you know, better than ever, even before I got injured.”

Prep 1 has now amassed a following of more than 5,000 people on Twitter in the year since Jesse first floated the idea by friends.

And what started as an attempt to help his daughter get noticed has now turned into a way to help numerous athletes across the Borderland.

“I’ve had messages from multiple athletes that said, ‘Mr. Tovar, thank you so much. I was offered by this Division II school, this Division III school because of the shout out you gave me on Twitter.'”