NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

My name is Megan Mayfield and I’m going on a softball scholarship to Lynn University.  Being recruited isn’t something that just happens overnight and you can’t just rely on talent alone, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes.  Between team and individual practices, the hours spent on the practice field are uncountable. If you’re struggling with something, work on it until you get it. Go out with a coach, a parent, or even one of your teammates and practice it until you get it. Playing softball is only part of the process; you can’t be recruited if no one knows about you.  You have to get your letters out, get them out early, and make them personal. No coach wants to get a mass email; if you can’t take enough time out of your day to personally contact them, why do they want to take time out their day and personally come watch you?  When you get to the tournament, you can’t do anything more so relax and just do your best.  Make yourself standout from the rest of the team, my coach will tell you that the only reason she started watching me was because she saw me take off on a dead sprint to my position in outfield. Do something to get yourself noticed, be loud, be focused, hustle, or wear bright crazy sunglasses anything to make them look at you, because they’re looking at you they’re watching you.

There are ups and downs to be recruited.  Being denied is the worst part about the recruiting process and I was denied like there was no tomorrow.  I’ve been told that I was too small to play college ball since I was a kid, but when a college coach says it, it can be discouraging. However, I was determined to get recruited so I shook that stuff off and kept doing my best. The first time a coach waits behind the dugout after your game to talk to you is the most exciting part of being recruited. In your mind you’re thinking I did it, I got recruited and now all those practices, games, batting slumps, everything else pays off. The NCSA did the best they could’ve done for me, they put reality in perspective. They made me realize how competitive being recruited was and they helped me have a chance in that competition by telling me what I needed to do. They gave me an upper hand on all the other athletes that didn’t have someone walking them through the long process.  The only thing I can tell anyone wanting to get recruited is never give up, hustle everywhere you go, be competitive,  challenge yourself, and most importantly have just have fun.

The quest to find the right college for a student-athlete is a challenge that we here at the National Collegiate Scouting Association readily accept with open arms. We understand not only what it means to families to have their student-athlete comfortable and excited to be attending the university of their choice, but we also understand the passion and desire that our student-athletes have to find that particular university. We also understand how important it is for college coaches to be matched up with qualified student-athletes who will help their universities grow both academically and athletically. With this being said, we here at NCSA will do everything we can to match student-athletes with universities that we feel would be a good fit. But when it’s all said and done, it’s up to the student-athletes to visit these schools, meet these coaches and decide for themselves if they truly see themselves being members of that university for the next four years of their lives. So how does a student-athlete go about doing this? How do they put themselves in the best situation possible to meet coaches and visit schools? They should be utilizing a somewhat untapped resource and with this I would like to introduce the unofficial visit.

For those student-athletes who have seen movies like The Program, He Got Game and Blue Chips, the recruiting process might seem like a dream come true. In The Program, Darnell Jefferson is welcomed to Eastern State University by a charter bus filled with cheerleaders. NBA superstar Ray Allen plays the main character in He Got Game and is whisked away from campus to campus for weekends of fun and spoil. Several “blue chip” prospects in Blue Chips receive gifts and frequent visits from the coaching staff. One thing each and every parent, coach and student-athlete needs to know is that these are movies attempting to depict a very long and difficult process. For the majority of high-school athletes, the best way to get a feel for a school and a coach is to take advantage of the unlimited amounts of unofficial visits a recruit can take during their four years of high school.

One might ask, “What is an unofficial visit and what other kinds of visits are there?” Great question. An official visit is one where the cost of part of the visit is incurred by the school. For example, a recruit is invited to visit the campus and during their visit the school will pay for their flight, hotel room and meals. These are less common than unofficial visits and are heavily regulated in terms of how many a school is allowed to give out and how many a student-athlete can attend. The alternative is the unofficial visit, where a student athlete visits the campus on their own and pays for it themselves. Although it may be less glorious than the official visits depicted in films, it is just as effective in terms of finding a school that you would be comfortable and eager to attend. Did I mention that you can take an unlimited amount of unofficial visits? Read on…

So let’s say you are a student-athlete and this blog has inspired you to take some unofficial visits…but you don’t know how to go about it. Here is your crash course to the unofficial visit.

First, come up with a list of schools and programs that you are interested in learning more about. Basically, you want to narrow down your list to schools you would realistically like to attend and compete for. Next, pick a weekend where you know the coach of your respective sport will be on campus. Football and basketball games are very popular events for coaches to entertain recruits, so pick a weekend where there is a game such as football or basketball. Next, you want to contact the coach to let him or her know that you will be visiting that weekend. Ask if they can give you a few minutes of their time to meet and possibly answer some questions that you may have (hint, hint…come prepared with academic and athletic questions for the coach). Next, contact admissions and also make them aware of your visit. Campuses are constantly giving tours and you want to make sure you see the campus in its entirety because it will be your home for the next four years. You also want to have a main contact in the admissions department to answer any questions you may have before, during and after your unofficial visit.

So now you’ve got your game plan to schedule some unofficial visits, but what is it that coaches are looking for when a recruit comes to campus. Marc Thibeault, head coach of John Carroll University’s baseball team, explains what he is not looking for.

“I can’t tell you how many times a recruit shows up with holes in his jeans, hat backwards, earring in and really has no questions when they visit. “

Coach Thibeault looks for potential student-athletes who can carry themselves well both on and off the field. Making a good first impression when meeting coaches is essential, and your appearance is key. A great point Coach makes is the ability of the recruit to ask meaningful questions during their visit. Think of it as a job interview; when your potential employer asks if you have any questions and you say “Nope, I think we’re all good here,” they are going to take that as a lack of preparation and excitement on your part when it comes to becoming a member of their team. College coaches will view this the same way.

When asked about some good questions for recruits to ask on their visit, Coach Thibeault had a few in mind.

-What did your graduating class end up doing upon diploma?

-How many freshmen ended up playing 4 years?

-What are the years of players playing my position?

-What were the credentials of last years recruiting class?

The above questions are great things to ask coaches and by asking these questions, a recruit shows the coach that they are interested, committed and eager to contribute to the program.

The bottom line is that no one buys a car without test driving it. No one gets married without dating first and no recruit should commit to a school without visiting campus. So instead of waiting by the phone or the computer for a coach to invite you for an official visit, maximize the unlimited amount of unofficial visits you can take and put yourself out there. The recruiting process may seem less glorious than depicted in the movies, but the end result of choosing the right school is all the glory a recruit needs.

Sports Illustrated recently questioned the effectiveness of paper mailing in recruiting techniques.

During his sophomore year at Santa Barbara (Calif.) High, Roberto Nelson placed a cardboard box behind a green recliner in the family room of his home. It was a decent-sized container—it once had been used to ship a microwave—and a sufficient catchall. If he tossed something behind the recliner, it almost always fell safely into the box.

Mail arrived at the apartment complex where Nelson lived at around 2 p.m. each day. Larger envelopes didn’t fit through the slot in the front door, so the mail carrier often dumped the delivery on the doormat. Nelson would leaf through the stack when he got home from school and then toss everything over the green recliner. Sometimes he would mimic a jump shot as he cast that day’s bundle into the box.

The box Roberto Nelson placed behind the green recliner was part of an experiment to see what, if anything, had changed 25 years later. In the era of e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and the like, did coaches still use old-fashioned correspondence to court players? Could recruiting by the post still sway a kid? In short, does recruiting mail still matter?

Nelson would eventually receive scholarship offers from UCLA, Florida, Ohio State and a dozen other top programs. A 6′3″ guard, he was ranked among the top 100 players in the class of 2009. At SI’s request, Nelson saved every piece of mail he received from recruiters. The collection started with that big box but quickly expanded to include another, and then a milk crate, three shoe boxes and two large paper bags. Nelson received 2,161 pieces of mail from 56 programs, a haul so massive that at one point his mother, Roberta, threatened to throw it all in the trash if SI didn’t cart it away. “It can’t stay here anymore,” she said, likening the expanding pile to a giant blob. “It’s taking over my house.”

As the 1984 SI article noted, basketball coaches began embracing the mail as a recruiting technique after the NCAA put restrictions on alternate methods, such as the repeated visits made by Switzer’s assistants. In the 1990s innovation came only in the form of carpet-bombing campaigns such as the one USC basketball assistant David Miller orchestrated in 1996. He twice sent a future Trojan, Kevin Augustine, 500 handwritten letters in a single day.

The only significant change in the last decade has been the targeting of recruits at younger ages. Middle schoolers began receiving handwritten letters from basketball coaches, and some recruiters started sending notes to fifth- and sixth-graders. The NCAA changed the language in its bylaws last year and now prohibits coaches from mailing recruiting materials to a player before June 15 of his sophomore year of high school. But there is a loophole. Coaches are allowed to send camp brochures, questionnaires or NCAA-printed materials, such as eligibility guides, to prospects regardless of their age. Some recruiters inundate a young prospect with those documents so as to get envelopes embossed with their school’s logo into his mailbox. In one instance a basketball program sent one page of the NCAA’s 21-page Guide for College Bound Student-Athletes to a recruit each week over a stretch of more than five months.

Most striking about the correspondence Nelson received was not the volume, not even Kentucky’s whopping total of 295 mailings, but how little of it was personalized. Of the 2,161 pieces of mail that arrived on Nelson’s doorstep, only 200—or 9.3%—featured writing tailored specifically for him. Everything else was a form letter, a media guide, a press release or, most often, a photocopy of a page from a media guide.

With that as the high point it is no wonder that on most days Nelson heaved the latest bundle behind the recliner without even a cursory look. In all, he opened only 387 pieces of mail, or about 18%. (He later permitted SI to open the sealed letters.)

Five other top recruits—three from the class of 2009 and two from the class of 2010—say they also opened only a small percentage of their mail after realizing it was mostly impersonal. Why, then, do schools still send recruiting letters?

“Most coaches, especially the younger ones, know the mail is not the way to build a relationship anymore,” says a recruiter for one Pac-10 school. “But everyone else is doing it, so no one wants to be the one not to.”

In Nelson’s mass of mail it was easier to find an NCAA violation than a well-turned phrase. LSU, for example, sent Nelson four recruiting letters before the NCAA’s first allowable date, then Sept. 1 of the player’s junior year. “That occurred under the previous coaching staff,” says LSU associate AD Michael Bonnette.

“Schools often mistake what year in school a recruit is, or they are just trying to get a jump on everyone else,” says Foti Mellis, an associate athletic director at Cal.

But even those breaking the rules still send mostly form letters and other impersonal correspondence. Thus there would seem to be little separating recruiters from the credit card companies, Pennysaver and Valpak.

They all mail junk.

Noting the environmental cost compared to the number of letters Nelson opened, Gleason asked the obvious question: “If recruits don’t open the letters, why keep sending them? Why waste all that money and paper?”

Some schools might soon ask themselves the same thing. In May, Michigan and Ohio State jointly announced that they would cease printing media guides. Bygones from the pre-Internet age, these publications contain as many as 208 pages (the NCAA-mandated maximum) of records, stats, player biographies and other team information that is now also readily available electronically. Long a recruiting tool, they are no longer of much value on that front either. (Nelson received 44 guides and says he looked at “one or two.”)

Cal, Iowa, Wisconsin and the entire Mid-American Conference quickly followed the Wolverines and the Buckeyes, perhaps signaling the beginning of a trend of athletic departments’ rethinking what they print.

“The environmental issue came up after the decision was made,” says Bruce Madej, Michigan’s associate athletic director. “Mostly it came down to: Why spend $100,000 printing something that is no longer doing what it was meant do be doing?”

Even if coaches continue to recruit via paper mail, the internet has still become the dominant media in the recruiting process. For recruits, the days of paper resumes and mailing film are numbered. Coaches are looking to streamline their recruiting by looking at online profiles and watching streamed highlight videos on the internet.

Q: How do I get noticed by college coaches?

A: There are Five Things You Must Do to get recruited. An athlete has to:

1. Get Evaluated: Coaches don’t have time to look at every player so they have to rely on credible sources to get their information.

2. Post your academic/athletic resume online: This is a fast and easy way to get connected with coaches.

3. Create a winning highlight/skills video: Again, coaches can’t personally look at every recruit so they need a way to see your talents.

4. Contact coaches: They can’t recruit you if they don’t know who you are!

5. Start building relationships and following up with coaches now: The recruiting process started yesterday! With how competitive recruiting has become, athletes need to start building relationships with coaches as early as junior high.

It’s always great to hear from a student-athlete and gain some insight on their perspective during the recruiting process. The NCSA caught up with a softball player from Massachusetts who has recently committed to a top academic NCAA Division III school.This young lady began her recruiting process in January of 2008 and just signed this past May. We asked her what kind of work she had to put into the process in order to be successful. She answered, “The work I put in mostly to respond to inquiries from coaches and providing details on my summer schedule.”

When asked what the most challenging part of the recruiting process was, she mentioned two of her biggest challenges. First, “Time Management in your senior year was much more challenging than I anticipated. I was a starting player in three varsity sports (Soccer, Basketball and Softball). We made the State Tournament in all three and were rated 7th in Eastern Massachusetts in Basketball (highest ever for our school) and 5th in Softball. We were eliminated by the EMASS finalist in hoop by 3 points and The State Champions in Softball (2-1 in extra innings). Going deep into the State playoffs and dealing with local media both newspapers and television required unexpected preparation on top of schoolwork, the powder-puff bowl, the prom, senior night, awards and recognition nights, community service and finally graduation in addition to the recruiting process.” And secondly, “Prioritizing which school among the choices had the best balance of “level of play”, playing time and the best educational opportunity.”
The best part of the recruiting process, according to this softball player was, “The availability and persistence of the NCSA coach helped me stay focused on the goal. The website was an easy reference tool for coaches.”

When asked how the NCSA impacted her recruiting process, she answered, “I think the best part of the NCSA coaching was the reminders both by phone and through email. It forced me to think about what I wanted not just what the school’s assistant coaches wanted.”

Lastly, we asked her to offer some advice to student-athletes who are still in the midst of the recruiting process. She had a lot of great thoughts to share. “Start early. Do as much “prep” work as possible in your “off-season” or in the summer. Do NOT get hung up on DI, DII or DII – that is secondary to your education. Do not procrastinate like I did and then get swamped with multiple schools and coaches all calling at the same time. If the “log” is too cumbersome make a simpler “excel” spreadsheet and then update the “log” after you edit and prioritize your school choices. Visit schools you are interested in while you are in the area playing in “Exposure” Tournaments. Pick the best fit academically and do not be afraid of a “stretch” school. You’ll be surprised the doors that are opened for athletes – especially female athletes strong in math and science.”

Colleges and universities all over the country are feeling the pressure due to our current economy. More specifically, their athletic departments are trying to manage budgets and make decisions that will allow their programs to stay afloat while remaining competitive. Unfortunately, this often leads to having to cut teams and programs. And no one is feeling the effects of those cuts more than the swimming and diving world.

In February, citing the “current economic environment and the need to reduce its budget,” Pepperdine University announced they were dropping women’s swimming & diving, as well as track.

In March, Pennsylvania’s Kutztown University dropped men’s swimming and men’s soccer from their institution. “This move is ultimately a proactive attempt to reduce costs in the current economy based on the anticipated budget,” said University President Dr. F. Javier Cevallos.

In May, the Pac-10 powerhouse University of Washington eliminated their men’s & women’s swimming programs, effective immediately. Athletic Director Scott Woodward stated, “We have a number of serious issues that have arisen out of the recent economic crisis. It is with great regret that we are discontinuing our swimming programs and we will do everything possible to assist the student-athletes and coaches who are affected.”

Earlier this month, Western Illinois University cut their men’s and women’s swimming & diving programs to try and remain economically sound. “We are committed to maintaining a successful broad-based, gender-neutral athletics program, and this move will economically allow us to continue that commitment. As a department we have been working through a very difficult budget situation for some time now, and unfortunately we have been forced to make some hard sacrifices, ” said Director of Athletics Dr. Tim Van Alstine.

This recession has caused everyone to make sacrifices and financial decisions that are not easy. It’s just a shame to see swimming programs nationwide taking such a hard hit. These schools are only a few examples of the eliminations made in 2009. And it proves that no one is safe from the crunch of these economic times, from NAIA to NCAA Division I.

However, tough times can also produce some pretty hopeful stories. On June 29th, only 24 days after announcing they had cut their programs, Western Illinois University re-instated both men’s and women’s swimming & diving.

“We are grateful for the Leatherneck swimming and diving family and the greater swimming community, who have provided input, assistance and financial support during this process,” said Van Alstine. “It is very apparent, now more than ever, that the support for swimming and diving on a national scale is alive and well. Without that support we would not be able to continue our success in the pool and in the classroom.”

Summer is officially upon us!  And for college softball coaches, that means the busiest and most important recruiting time.  They are in the midst of their most active evaluation time and a majority of them will spend this time at college exposure tournaments throughout the country.  Coaches can see a huge number of athletes in one quick weekend, at one major tournament.  For NCAA Division I coaches, rules and regulations limit them to a certain number of dates they can go out and recruit.  

So, what does this all mean for you?  The greatest advantage you can give yourself at this time of year is letting these coaches know who you are BEFORE they leave for tournaments.  Their time is limited and they can only see so many games and so many players in one tournament.  If you desire to be one of those players, then give the coaches a reason to find you and watch you play!  

Have a complete resume of who you are as a student-athlete and get that into the hands of the coaches you would like to play for.  This resume should include your summer tournament schedule, statistics and contact information for you and for your current coaches.  You should also have a sample of skills available in a video format (DVD).  Your academic information should also be included.  Once you have all of that ready to distribute, you need to identify what schools you are most interested in and familiarize yourself with their softball programs.  Look at their roster and see if you would be a good fit.  Check out the background info on current players.  This will help you get a good idea as to whether or not you have the skills and resume to compete in their program.  It’s great to aim high, but being realistic is important so you will have options of schools where you can be a contributing player.

It is vital for you as a student-athlete, to be realistic about your skill level and to seek out schools and coaches you can truly play for.  Keep in mind that by this time, approximately half of NCAA Division I softball coaches/colleges have identified their top recruits of to-be seniors.  If you are a top softball player, the summer going into your junior and even sophomore years of high school are when coaches will be evaluating you.  During those summers, it would be most beneficial to you to be playing on up level teams such as U16 and U18.  If you are a higher level player and can compete at the Division I level, be sure and include all of your awards and accolades in your resume (being one of the top players in your area and state, playing at the varsity level, etc.).   

Have a game plan this summer!  Get your resume set up and be sure to include all of the info listed above.  Identify colleges you can play for.  Let those coaches know of your interest in their programs and be prepared to have a skills DVD for them to view.  Lastly, let them know where and when you are playing so they can get out to see you.  Be proactive.  Out of all of the athletes that coaches will see and hear about, be the one they are going to recognize and remember!

ESPN Rise sat down with some of the best athletes in the country to talk about the state of high school sports.  Jelani Jenkins the #11 Prospect in the Takkle/Sports Illustrated Top 200 Rankings powered by NCSA gave some great advice to future recruits.

ESPN RISE: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing high school sports?

Jenkins: I think a lot of high schools should learn how to deal with the recruiting process. I know at that age, kids aren’t really mature. The way my father taught me was to only say the positives about things. A lot of kids, they don’t exactly think about what they say before they say it. I know that’s a problem because a lot of people in the media are trying to make money. If you say something wrong, they’re going to make it the next front-page article. In terms of recruiting, they should have a recruiting specialist on how to deal with recruiting sites. A lot of kids are too trusting.

ESPN RISE: What is one change you’d like to see made to recruiting?

Jenkins: I think that there should be a lot more programs to help with the recruiting process. They could use different programs at different camps. A lot of people pick teams for their uniforms or somebody who had a good year, like a trendy school, rather than look at the big picture like the academics or how they can help you get to the NFL.

Fantastic advice Jelani.  That is exactly why NCSA works with student athletes to help guide them through the College recruiting process. Our joint mission is to travel to high schools and events across the country to educate coaches, athletic directors and families on how the recruiting process works.  Our College Recruiting Simplified Seminars explain the 5 Things every Recruit Need to Know and the 5 Things every Recruit Needs to do. There is a lot of misinformation out there.  NCSA  hopes to close this education gap for all student-athletes.

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.

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!