National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.
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Get Scouted Scouting CareersParents of high school athletes too frequently don’t know they need recruiting help.
The simple reason? They misinterpret coaches. This is a key error and can lead to embarrassment and lost dreams for the entire family. It can be avoided if parents learn how college recruiting really works.
The signs for when families need recruiting help are clear and they are big red flags. If your high school athlete falls under any or all of the following four serious recruiting problems, regroup and go in another direction. And do it ASAP:
College coaches aren’t “on” your kid
Want to know what is really meant by a coach being “on” your athlete? Let’s say this – it’s not when your kid gets a letter to attend a camp or clinic; it’s not when your kid gets an email or letter asking him or her to fill out and return a profile form; and, it’s not when an email arrives which says the coach will follow your kid during the year.
A college coach will be direct when he or she is actually “on” your kid. There will be no gray area, no ambiguity.
Understand this: Coaches have to really know about your athlete for you to have any genuine expectations that he or she will be seen, evaluated and followed. Vague, form letters are not the vehicle they use to communicate that they are recruiting your kid. There are highly effective ways to get your kid in front of coaches and the recruiting help you seriously need. Talk to an expert who can accurately interpret what coaches are saying if you have any questions.
No one is contacting college coaches for you
Initial recruiting has evolved into direct marketing. Playing in club or travel events is simply not enough to generate recruiting help. It’s your athlete’s future, so get involved without delay. Self-marketing is all but useless. Only a small percent of college coaches pay attention to info they get from parents. Dropping a few pamphlets on a tournament table? Get serious. If you were a coach, would that do it for you?
There is too much riding on this for you as a parent to sit on the sidelines and let things happen serendipitously to your kid’s dreams. The only approach that actually works? Continual promotions which send the right info and the right message directly to coaches. A few texts, emails or calls won’t cut it. These offer no substantial recruiting help for your athlete.
Find someone who promotes athletes to college coaches for a living and who can quickly reach out to those specific coaches whose needs fit your kid’s unique qualifications, athletically and academically. Only those inside the recruiting process can accomplish this for you. Any other course and your athlete will likely miss out on some fabulous, life-altering opportunities and options.
College coaches don’t have access to your athlete
Free online Web sites? Coaches don’t use them. Services that have not scouted your kid? Dead end. Lone wolf scouts? No pull. Your coaches? No time.
Bluntly, align your kid with an organization that has the reputation of enrolling only legitimate prospects and that encourages college coaches to evaluate your athlete with personalized scouting reports and verifiable stats. Find an experienced, effective group with a large network that works the recruiting process from the inside out, not the outside in.
These organizations are represented by real college scouts that college coaches respect and know. True college scouts and their organization connect with college programs every day. They offer coaches a wide variety of ways to find your kid. And they have the experience to advise your family on all the recruiting steps: unofficial visits, combines, official visits, NCAA and NAIA rules, communicating with coaches, evaluating athletic scholarship offers, and how to handle the National Letter of Intent procedures.
You wouldn’t go to an auto mechanic to treat a heart ailment, right?
Your athlete does not noticeably stand out
Look around. Your kid is competing with hundreds upon hundreds of athletes, but is he or she really standing out among the crowd? In recruiting you don’t stand out to college coaches by wearing neon-colored shoes or using the latest equipment, playing year round or making an all-conference team. None of that catapults your athlete to the front of the line. And it is a very long line.
You only have this one shot to put your kid in the position to capture a college scholarship offer. When was the last time you really wanted something, say, at work and you got it? You had to make a plan and then work as hard as you could to see it materialize, right? Recruiting for your athlete is no different. Doing what everybody else is doing? Oops, won’t work.
Providing true recruiting help
Landing an athletic scholarship requires a solid recruiting plan, hard work to see it through, and the unwavering willingness and fortitude to make sacrifices when other parents and prospects aren’t. College recruiting can be a rewarding experience, but it can also be ruthless. For your student-athlete to win in the end, and for you to enjoy seeing he or she live out their dream, while saving thousands of dollars in college tuition and expenses, every extended effort you make, every ounce of recruiting help you get, is worth it.
Get recruiting help from the people who work with coaches every day – people in recruiting. Then, you will stand out. Why do you think that over 90% of NSR athletes receive offers? It’s because we do the essential things that parents can’t possibly do – make your athlete stand out.
National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.