NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

(Part 1 is here) (Part 2 is here)

There is recruiting help found all over the web.  There are companies who assure everyone that they’ll get your child recruited.  Some are free.  Some are not.  You know the need for help and, as with any service, there are good providers of help and those who aren’t as much help.  To understand the market, it’s best to understand the industry.  The recruiting industry started in the 1980’s when the NCAA started putting restrictions on the number of scholarships available for sports.  These restrictions were caused by 2 main factors:  1) the implementation of Title IX (passed in 1972) that mandated equal opportunities in sports for women.  2)  the NCAA’s desire to create a more level playing field for its member institutions.  To demonstrate the impact consider that in 1972 Coach Johnny Majors at Pitt, in his first year as head football coach, gave full scholarships to over 100 players in that recruiting class.  One of those recruits, Tony Dorsett, led Pitt to the national championship 4 years later.  In order for institutions to be in compliance with Title IX, they had to reduce scholarships in football.  The recruiting impact was that the relationship between HS coaches and college coaches became more distant.  As time went on, the rules restricting contact between college coaches and high school football players became stricter.  (As an aside, trends in football recruiting are duplicated in all other college sports.)  The high school coach had less influence because he couldn’t help as many kids get scholarships – there weren’t that many to be had.  College coaches wanted to feed their families.  In other words, they had to recruit players that would help their program win.  Since they didn’t have as many scholarships, they couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.  Therefore a need developed for college coaches to recruit nationally.  There was an equal need for high school athletes to be introduced to college coaches.  Thus the recruiting service industry was born. 

Those companies evolved as franchise organizations who had a back office that could put recruiting resumes together and mail them to college athletic departments.  They relied on the college athletic department secretary to put the resumes of lots of players from many sports into the correct sport coach’s mail box.  Prior to email and the internet, this was a great way to get a kid’s name in front of a large number of college coaches.  The company found these kids by selling territories or franchises.  A franchise owner qualified because they liked sports and had some money to give to the franchisor or territory salesman.  Some of these owners were really interested in a student-athlete’s success.  Others just wanted to make their investment back and would sign up any kid.  The problem begins when that package put together by the back office is sent to the college athletic department.  To save money in postage, the back office sent hundreds of resumes to every college in the country at one time.  As time wore on, college coaches realized that not all of the resumes they were looking at were of student-athletes qualified for their program.  As such, college coaches began to ignore the resumes.  In time, qualified student-athletes were ignored by colleges because they were packaged with many non-qualified student-athletes.  Still, in spite of this inefficiency, student-athletes received mail in their mailbox from college coaches.  When a student-athlete received a letter from a college coach, parents felt their investment in the recruiting company service was paying off.  But is receiving a letter from a college coach being recruited?

As they still do, in the 1980’s and 90’s, college coaches, depending on the sport, sent out thousands of letters annually.  They are marketing to large numbers in hopes of finding the best few student-athletes for their program.  So even though these student-athletes who used a recruiting service were getting letters, they weren’t getting recruited.  Because of the franchise organization structure, there was no one to advise a student-athlete on what to do with those recruiting letters.  Today, getting letters, emails, contacts from college coaches is an important first step.  A child can’t get recruited without these.  But it’s only 20% of the game.  The other 80% of the game is a child converting those contacts into personal relationships with college coaches, and converting those relationships into scholarship dollars.  And that’s all the responsibility of the student-athlete.  Mom and Dad can’t do that for the child.  The child has to interact with the college coach(es) and convince that coach they are a good fit for that program.  All recruiting services you see on the web will put some letters in your mail box.  But are they from the right schools?  I’ve talked to a kid who used a recruiting company who got letters from Ivy League schools even though he had a 2.4 GPA and an ACT score of 17.  No way that Ivy League school had any interest in that kid.  But the kid thought he was being recruited.  Clearly something had to be done to address what was not being done to help the families.  Among these issues are:  How are parents going to target the right colleges for their child?   How do parents guide their children through this process?  How can parents maximize the scholarship package their child receives?  If parents decide they want help to give their child a competitive advantage, where do they find the best help?

Stay tuned for Part 4 for the answers…..it’s not what you think.

Lacrosse Recruiting continues to expand west as the number of scholarship opportunities grows.  The sport has seen explosive growth over the last 20 years and doesn’t appear to be slowing down.  The Wall Street Journal reports on how the sports interest has grown at the high school and college level.

These days the sport is showing serious growth. Participation in high school lacrosse has about doubled this decade, to a total of 143,946 boys and girls playing on high school lacrosse teams in the 2007-08 school year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, which tracks participation by sport. In 2000-01, there were 74,225 high school lacrosse players.

And the fervor goes beyond high schools. A 2007 survey by the National Sporting Goods Association found an estimated 1.2 million Americans over age 7 had played lacrosse within the previous year — an increase of 40% since 1999.

Johns Hopkins is one of the 56 men’s Division 1 college lacrosse teams, based on NCAA data from the 2007-08 season. Including Divisions II and III, there are some 239 men’s college lacrosse teams nationwide with 8,900 athletes, double the number of participants two decades ago. On the women’s side, there are now more than 300 college lacrosse programs across Division I, II and III, according to the NCAA, triple the number seen two decades ago.

It’s also growing when compared to other sports. In the 2007-08 school year, 17 colleges added women’s lacrosse, more than any other sport. Meanwhile, a dozen men’s teams were added in 2007-08, far more than sports like basketball, which added three teams; football, which added two and baseball, which added just one team.

A number of factors have contributed to the sport’s growth, including an increase in media coverage, the availability of athletic scholarships and the sport’s growing appeal at schools west of the Mississippi.  Indeed, the game has steadily migrated as former players and coaches moved West. Lacrosse Magazine says that of the 2,427 men’s lacrosse players on D-I rosters in 2009, 118 players came from five key Western states: California (55); Colorado (37); Washington (13); (Arizona (9) and Oregon (4.)

“The game has just exploded in the three years that I’ve lived in San Diego,” says Dave Herman, the varsity boys’ lacrosse coach at Francis Parker School in San Diego.

The availability of college scholarships is also a draw. Chuck Cohen, who helped launch a youth league in Orangetown, N.Y., that has grown from 70 boys in grades five through eight to more than 300 boys and girls from first to eighth grades, says, “Many of the D-1 teams are offering college scholarships, and there are tournaments and recruiting camps where college coaches can watch the kids play.”

As the talent base spreads from east to west and more college programs pop up on the map recruiting will become increasingly unpredicatable for college coaches.  In the past a few top prorams could mine the east coast power houses for top talent while everyone else fought for scraps.  With this expansion of talent more and more programs are closing the talent gap by recruiting nationally in areas that would have been unheard of only a few years ago.

Potential lacrosse recruits need to understand the fact there is simultaneously more opportunity and competition than ever before.  Simply playing for a top program or shining in a showcase may not be enough to prove to a college coach that you are worth a scholarship.

This is the second of a 4 part series. Part 1 is here.

There are 3 areas that every parent will have to invest in to make sure you put your child in the best position to be recruited. On the athletic side, you are going to have to spend anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 per year from about 6th grade forward on travel, hotels, team fees, training, and equipment. If you’re not doing this, those other 4 student-athletes looking for the same scholarship your child is looking for is. On the academic side, you’ll want to make sure your child is earning all A’s and B’s in school. The more A’s the better! If they need help to develop the study habits to make that happen, then there could be an investment in tutors, learning centers, etc. Have you priced those lately? Then, to ensure that their test scores reflect their grades, an investment in test preparation will help. Finally there is the recruiting itself. In the vast majority of sports, the college coaches’ recruiting budget is pitifully small. They WILL NOT discover your child. College coaches don’t have a scouting budget like the NY Yankees, which is in the millions of dollars per year. You have to devote time and funds to marketing your child. If you spend $6,000 to $30,000 in athletic development and $5,000 in academic development so that your child can be athletically skilled and academically qualified enough to be recruited and your child doesn’t get recruited, what is the payoff for that investment? Also, if your child doesn’t get a chance to play, will she/he come back to you in 10 years and wonder if they could have played if only they knew how to maximize their recruiting opportunities? So where do you allocate your funds for marketing and how is the most cost effective way of doing this?

Marketing your student athlete is an important skill that 99% of parents I speak with don’t know how to do. If you never attended college or haven’t searched for a job in the age of the internet, you probably don’t know all of the ins and outs of the athletic scholarship acquisition process. Even if you are college educated or an expert at finding a job using the internet, you still are unaware of how college coaches determine who they recruit and how you can make your child part of that coach’s recruiting list. Your child has to take an active role in this process. It’s their life! They must be empowered with the skill set to market themselves to college coaches. Since your child’s college decision will impact her/him for the rest of their lives, don’t you think that it’s important that they have those skills?

If you’re reading this, you know that NCSA has devoted a lot of time and effort to educate student-athletes and their parents on this marketing. We call this the recruiting process and our goal is for each qualified student-athlete to achieve their maximum recruiting potential. Everyone reading this thinks they can do this on their own. Especially after they read the five things you need to know and the five things you must do. And some parents have been successful doing things themselves. However, understand the effort those parents made. They’ve devoted literally 40 to 50 hours a month to researching colleges, putting together marketing packages, contacting lots of college coaches, following-up, and fighting encouraging their children to do things they need to do, such as calling college coaches on the phone. They’ve had to put up with teen-age kids who aren’t skilled in talking to college coaches and have no desire to do so because they don’t know what to do. Does your teen-ager do everything you ask without question? Do you have 500 hours over the next calendar year to devote to this process? How much of that time will you spend spinning your wheels and targeting the wrong college coaches? How much of that time is spent driving to camps where a child has no chance of being recruited? How frustrating is all of this and does a child give up their dream if no college coaches respond to your marketing efforts?

From a financial standpoint, you will be spending money for marketing. If you aren’t spending money – you’ll be spending time. How much is your time worth? As you know from the five things you need to do, you’ll need to do the following: 1) Get a objective evaluation so that you target the right college programs; 2) Post an online resume that college coaches will look at; 3) Create a winning highlight or skills video; 4) Get in contact with at least 100 college coaches at the right places; and 5) consider all options in a thorough way so your child makes the right decision. The first can be done by comparing your child’s metrics with those of collegiate student-athletes at the various levels.  (See the recruiting guidelines for your sport.)   The next 2 can be done in a variety of ways and you can do it for as little as free – which will net zero results, to hiring professional website and video vendors which can run up to $1000. Contacting college coaches is more problematic. Since college coaches are inundated with emails and letters from a variety of sources, they only rely on trusted sources. How many emails does the typical college football coach get from a mom, dad, or kid that says, “hey, I’m 200 pounds and run a 4.4 forty yard dash…”? What do you think the college coach does with that email? (Hint: if you answered anything else but, “he hit the delete button,” you got the wrong answer.) College coaches rely on trusted sources and verified information. That’s the biggest roadblock to parents doing it themselves. They don’t have the relationships with the college coaching community to generate the kind of response from college coaches needed to maximize opportunities.

Finally, how do you empower your child with the skill set to make a life-changing decision? Most parents do a great job of raising their kids. All parents love their kids and want their kids to be the best and have the best. However, most parents can’t empower their children with the skill set to speak with college coaches. When speaking with college coaches, student-athletes need to ask the right questions in the right way so they don’t get their name crossed off of that college coach’s recruiting list. What parent knows those questions? Do you know the questions college coaches ask student-athletes to see if they should cross your child’s name off of the list? And, if you the parent think you can talk to college coaches for your child, you can’t! I’ve seen more talented student-athletes NOT get recruited because of the parent than I care to list right here. All parents have a deep emotional attachment to this outcome. However, some parents don’t know how to channel their emotions into a positive influence on their children. Would guidance from an expert be of value? Would the peace of mind of knowing you’re doing the right things and your child is getting coached the right way in this process help tone down the emotions when discussing this in your household? So where do you get that help? 

Stay tuned for Part 3 and Part 4.

When I describe how college coaches are willing to travel further than ever before to recruit potential scholarship athletes, most people assume I am describing football and basketball.  Unfortunately, this assumption couldn’t be more false.  Smaller non-revenue sports are recruiting in areas that would have been impossible only a few years ago.  The New York Times chronicles how the University of Notre Dame has slowly built a top college lacrosse team by recruiting nationally.

Notre Dame comes into the tournament as an example of lacrosse’s expanded geography and as a pied piper in terms of promoting the game in nontraditional areas. Notre Dame’s leading point scorer, Neal Hicks, comes from the lacrosse hinterlands of Georgia. He is joined by players from Texas, Washington, Ohio, Michigan and North Carolina.

“We’re like the United Nations,” the Notre Dame assistant Gerry Byrne said. “We don’t care where you’re from or what your ZIP code says. If you can play, we’ll recruit you.”

The Irish just don’t collect talent from nontraditional areas, they also cultivate it. Coach Kevin Corrigan is in his 21st year, long enough to be around when South Bend was considered a frontier for college lacrosse.

For the past decade or so, Corrigan and his coaches have traveled to places like Portland, Ore.; Seattle; San Diego; San Francisco; Houston; Austin, Tex.; and Salt Lake City to conduct clinics. Corrigan said he could not draw a straight line between those clinics and the recruitment of specific players, but he said there was a different kind of payoff, one linked to a belief that the biggest thing holding back the game’s growth is a lack of qualified coaches and referees to teach it.

“Wherever you go, you’re struck by how they’re thirsting for someone to do something like this,” he said.

Notre Dame’s efforts and other like them have increased the talent pool making it possible to recruit nationally.  Now many schools feel comfortable looking for talent in areas once thought barren of talent.

The national recruiting phenomon is why many athletes and colleges look to NCSA to bring both sides together.

So Mom and Dad, you have visions of your youngster playing sports in college. You got them involved in youth sports when they were 5, 6, or 7 years of age. You noticed that they were a little bit or a lot better than their peers. You noticed that they always wanted to go to practice, had fun in games, in some cases, they hated to lose. At some point in time you started wondering if playing college sports could be a way to help pay for college. If you came to this conclusion your child’s junior year in high school, you already know how late you are in preparing them adequately. However, if you come to this conclusion when they are 6th or 7th graders, then you are wondering what you need to do to prepare your child for playing college sports. Depending on the sport, how does a parent find the best competition for their child so they can develop their athletic skills? How much money is all of this preparation going to cost? How competitive is it and how can I get a return on that investment?

In the following series of articles, I’ll address the following questions: In part one, how competitive is it to play a sport in college? And, what do parents need to do to give their child the biggest competitive advantage over their peers? In part 2: how much of an investment needs to be made in time and scarce resources? What activities should you invest in? In Part 3: a history of the recruiting help industry.  In Part 4: if you decide you need help, what are the best resources for that help?

The numbers are daunting! If you’re a boys high school basketball player in the US, you have a 4% chance of playing in college. Now statistics lie, so let’s dig into this one a little. Last year, there were 552,935 HS basketball players. There are 1733 college basketball programs at all levels – Junior College, NAIA, NCAA D1, D2, & D3. With an average of 12 kids on a roster, you can do the math. (Find out your sport’s numbers here.)  Now obviously not all 552,935 basketball players are going to be good enough to play in college, have the competitive desire to play in college, or have the grades and test scores to be accepted into a college. So the reality is for the one college roster spot that boy’s basketball player is seeking, he’ll be competing with 5 other kids from somewhere else in the world. He’ll have about a 17% chance to play. Depending on the sport, that percentage could be as high as 25% chance. So what will give your child the competitive advantage to be one of those roughly 20% of kids who want to play in college AND actually get to play AND get college funded?

A child must be competing at the highest level possible and sometimes that’s not at the high school. Every sport has outside of the high school programs where the student-athlete can compete. Football has camps, combines, 7 on 7, etc, where elite athletes compete with each other. Girls and boys basketball have “AAU”, basketball camps, like NCSA partner 5-star, etc. Soccer, baseball, softball, lacrosse, volleyball, field hockey, ice hockey, water polo have elite club or travel teams. Golf, tennis, swimming, track and field, cross country, and wrestling have elite tournaments or competitions that student-athletes earn their way to compete in. Some student-athletes don’t play their sport at their high school because of a variety of reasons. Some parents are shocked to learn that these kids who don’t play at their high school are getting recruited and, in some cases, getting drafted by professional sports teams. All of these club, travel, and camp activities that are outside of the high school cost money. So let’s get rid of the myth that you, the parent, don’t have to spend any money to get your child recruited. Even the most elite athletes have personal trainers to give them an edge over the other elite athletes they are competing with. So what should your budget be to get your child recruited? What is the best way to invest your money?  

Part 2, part 3, and part 4 has those answers – stay tuned!

NCSA founder Chris Krause’ first book, Athletes Wanted is now available to pre-order for shipping June 1st! Athletes Wanted is the premise that athletes are indeed wanted in all areas of society. Just look at the record TV contracts for college and professional sports networks, the rise of ESPN and the conference networks, and the growth of collegiate athletics in popularity year in and year out.

The other areas athletes are wanted is on college campuses and in the professional world. Statistics prove that the recruited student athlete is much more likely to be accepted to a better college or university, and receive a better scholarship and/or grant and aid package. After college employers want former athletes as well. Just polling recruiters and CEO’s it is apparent- former college athletes are in demand for leadership position in every career imaginable!

Why? The book digs into the Athletes Wanted world and is designed to shed light upon why, and gives tips and anecdotes into how you can help maximize your student athlete’s athletic scholarship and eventual life potential.

Student athletes are taught life skills that impact them continuously. The former collegiate student athlete brand is something they carry with them always. Since the average person changes jobs over 25 times throughout their lives, this will come in handy in opening doors, building relationships, along with the learned skill set of hard work, leadership, goal setting, team work, time management, and achievement that will help them succeed at whatever they set their minds to. These invaluable tools will continue to help them thrive in a meaningful and rewarding career to provide for their families and be positive role models, spouses, friends and parents long after the cheers and roar of the crowd are over.

If you are a senior and haven’t chosen a school yet, don’t give up just yet. There is still some time, but not a lot. If you want to play at the next level bad enough, you can make it happen if you are willing to put the work in. There are some coaches that are still looking, but your options are going to be limited. You will have to be pretty open in terms of things such as location, size of school and level of play. Realistically, your opportunities will be at the lower level Division III schools because they do their recruiting last. There are always exceptions, but overall, that is where the most opportunities will be.Before you contact a coach, you must take a look at their website to make sure that academically it is a realistic option for you and athletically it is realistic as well. Look at the player bios and see how you measure up to the players on the team and what their experience was like in high school.

You need to contact as many coaches as you can and try to do it sooner rather than later. Send them an email with some background information on yourself as a student and lacrosse player. Be sure to mention major tournaments you have attended and any awards you have received on your high school team. Keep it short, but you want to highlight yourself to spark the coach’s interest. It’s a good idea to ask if they are still recruiting for 2009 as well because if they aren’t, then you will know to cross them off your list.

You will need to get comfortable speaking with coaches on the phone, if you aren’t already. Since time is short, you will need to get to know the coach fast and vice versa; this is best done by phone conversations. Always stress your interest in the school and how much you would like to play at the next level. There are approximately 330 schools offering lacrosse for women and 270 for men; the opportunities are there, you just have to put the work in to make something happen. No one else is going to do it for you.

NCSA: Describe the sort of work that was put into the recruiting process.

Eck: With the help of NCSA the recruiting process was made substantially easier. They helped me with the initial contact of the coach, my highlight video, recruiting page and it was my job to remain in contact with all the coaches that I received interest from. I then had to fill out the correspondence logs to keep my recruiting counselors updated.

NCSA:  What was the most challenging part of the recruiting process to be successful?

Eck: The challenges of the recruiting process was keeping in contact with all the coaches. Keeping constant contact week after week helped ensure that I didn’t count out any options in the collegiate search.

NCSA: What was the best part of the recruiting process?

Eck: The best part of the recruiting process was the actual commitment. It is a great feeling when you find a school that you like both socially, academically and in athletics. I felt that Washington and Jefferson College was a great fit in all of these areas.

NCSA: How did NCSA impact your recruiting process?

Eck: NCSA greatly impacted my recruiting process by making it easier to contact coaches and informing me on the recruiting process. Without NCSA I would have been lost and probably wouldn’t have had as many choices to choose from in the end. If you use NCSA to its fullest then being recruited almost always happen.

NCSA: What advice would you give student athletes going through this process?

Eck: Be proactive in your recruiting. Don’t wait for coaches to go out and contact you. Coaches like it when an athlete takes the initiative to contact them.

Thank you so much for your help throughout the recruiting process.

It takes a mature person to understand the keys to being successful and accomplishing goals. It is especially tough when the task is both physical and mental in nature. The steadfast and focused individuals are able to handle the ups and downs that eventually lead to success. The following is a road map for young athletes to follow if they are truly committed to being the best they possibly can be in their particular sport.

Keep All Doors Open

As an athlete, you need to give yourself every opportunity to succeed. The better you are in the classroom the more opportunities you will have in the future. Everyone would like to play at the top level of collegiate competition but we all know those opportunities are limited. If you are talented enough and dedicated, those chances may indeed come to fruition. The ultimate goal, however, is to end up at a school that is the best match for you. The better you are in the classroom, the more choices you will have from which to pick.

Be Committed

Once you have decided to make college athletics your goal, you need to set your game plan and be rigid in keeping your every action toward accomplishing that end result. It’s easy to stray from the disciplines it takes to be successful; only the strong-willed reach their goal.

Let Others Know Your Intentions

As an athlete, don’t be afraid to communicate your intentions. There are a lot of people who can be instrumental in the process. Relatives, coaches, administrators, and friends are just a limited example of those who can be important as you work to accomplish your goal.

Ask For Help

Even though the bulk of your success rests within tour attitude and your efforts, it’s smart to learn from those who have been where you want to go. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about physical training, improving technical skills, or mental maturity; seek help from those who know what it takes to max out ones’ potential.

Work to Improve

As you go up the athletic ladder the competition gets tougher and tougher. Everybody you will face at the next level will be as good as or better than the best of the best you have already faced. The great athletes thrive on competition and know if you don’t get better you are doomed for failure.

Ignore Naysayers

Remember that not everyone you come in contact with is as dedicated and committed as you. There will be those who try to deter you along the way; even though sometimes not purposefully. Others will be jealous of your successes. It is crucial to keep your eye on the target and not get off track.

Be a Leader

Just as others have done for you, you have an obligation to pay back and pay forward. The examples you set may well be the standard other athletes will use as their guidelines in the future. Remember, the best leaders are those who lead by example.

Learn from Failure

The road to success is a rocky one. There will be ups and downs along the way and it’s important to not dwell on the shortcomings but use them as motivators. Every failure is learning and growing experience. Getting knocked down is going to happen, the key is to get back up and go again.

Share Your Successes

Great teams celebrate together. As an athlete, never forget your success is a team success even if the sport is considered an individual success. Your team is comprised of may who have and continually helped out. Let them know your success is a direct reflection of their help and support.

Believe in Yourself

Confidence in yourself and your convictions is the self-motivator to finish the job. Never waiver from your belief in your own abilities. Others can help but you have to have the grit and determination to do it yourself. The long hours of physical and mental preparation fall solely on your shoulders; be proud.

The athletic department arms race has really heated up in the last decade.  New stadiums with luxurious new locker rooms and training facilities became the norm rather than the exception.  Coaches and administrators sold alumni that these new facilities were vital if they were to compete in the emerging landscape.  Along with the rising buildings being erected on campus, coaching salaries exploded as well.  Men’s football and basketball coaching salaries naturally led the way since their sports funded the rest of the athletic department.  Just as interesting though, is the rise in coaching salaries across non-revenue sports.  The Columbus Dispatch took a closer look at the Ohio State Athletic Department and their rising pay scale.

In the decade following 1998, salaries for some coaches and department administrators doubled and, for others, tripled, in inflation-adjusted terms. The pay raises were funded not by tax dollars, but largely by revenue surpluses in the football and men’s basketball programs.

Names such as Jim Tressel and Thad Matta might come to mind when you think of increasing salaries for coaches, but you could just as easily throw in the names of Bluem, Joe Breschi, Linda Kalafatis, Bob Todd, Anne Wilkinson and many other lower-profile coaches and assistant coaches.

All have benefited from the rising tide of college sports pay.
One way that Athletic Departments have funded these huge raises is by allowing and assisting coaches in earning supplemental income.

Breschi, the men’s lacrosse coach until he left the university last year, made the equivalent of $63,100 in 1998. Last year, Breschi made $232,500, fueled largely by a camp that pushed his bonus to almost $140,000. Overall, his pay increased 268 percent over the decade. Nationally, the average total pay for a lacrosse coach is about $197,000.

The eye-popping statistic isn’t his total salary, its the $140,000 he made through bonuses like his camp.  Keep in mind the Ohio State team only had 9 freshman last year!  Just imagine how many hopeful recruits attended camp with little to no chance of being recruited!

Large camps like this are proof that athletes need to be in contact with college coaches before they commit to attending a camp.  Once they have been identified as a bona fide recruit attending a large camp can be beneficial.  Until, you are sure that you are more than just a $dollar sign$ I recommend contacting college coaches.