National Scouting Report National Meeting – Success

The 2013 National Scouting Report National Meeting finally arrived last week in Panama City Beach, Florida. NSR scouts from all over the United States and Puerto Rico gathered at the Bay Pointe Resort for this much anticipated event. Every year this National Scouting Report event draws NSR college athletic scouts from all around the country to discuss NCAA recruiting and how to get college athletic scholarships for young high school athletes. The purpose of this amazing gathering of NSR scouts each year is to help further educate them about NCAA and NAIA recruiting guidelines, provide them with more up to date methods of how to help athletes get athletic scholarships and simply get their batteries recharged for the next year!
This year NSR President, Rusty Rigney, started off the meeting with encouraging words. He shared how that NSR is “Changing Kid’s Lives” each day by getting them scholarship offers. He went on to share with the NSR scouts how that NSR is experiencing tremendous growth and shared with each person how that NSR is further expanding on foreign soil in Dubai and in the US territory of Puerto Rico. He shared with the group how that the NSR presence was having a huge impact on young people’s lives all around the world. Rusty went on to talk about the huge amount of “credibility” NSR scouts have in the field and how proud he was to be a part of the “World’s oldest, largest, and most respected scouting organization.”
Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram were all major hot topics during the 3 day meeting. I was tasked with helping each one of our NSR scouts better learn the importance and the proper usage of these very powerful social media outlets. These areas have proven to be great for several different reasons. These outlets allow NSR to share with the world ALL of the athletes signings, successes in high school and their progress in college and beyond. These media outlets allow the kids and the parents the opportunity to realize that NSR is a worldwide scouting organization that only works with qualified student athletes. These outlets give NSR the ability to allow the world to see that NSR is the One and ONLY true scouting and recruiting organization that college coaches depend on and have depended on for over 34 years! NSR is recognized by coaches as the CREDIBLE source for accurate information. Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram are great platforms to further promote our athletes and their successes.
Coach Robert Cagle shared with the group that NSR has experienced record growth. He delivered story, after story, all driving home the idea of the credibility NSR has in the field with our scouts and licensees. He went on to challenge each person to “Get on the Train” because the NSR “Train” was already building up steam and growing faster than ever. He asked each person present, “Are you on the train? If not, it is time to get on or get left behind!” Coach Cagle discussed the true quality of the people NSR had in the field. He mentioned the names of D1 head coaches and D2 coaches that had retired and are now NSR scouts. He talked about retired NFL players and MLB players who are now scouting for NSR and making a difference in the field. The message was strong and powerful concerning how that “NSR scouts literally change the lives of the kids we work with! NSR is the solution.”
The meeting continued on Friday with a powerful message from Coach Melanie Davis. Coach Davis is the retired, 31 year coaching veteran who recently stepped away from D1 Troy University. Coach Davis literally put Troy on the map in softball. This awesome public speaker talked to the NSR scouting staff about a lot of things that she LOVES about NSR! She looks at NSR as “An extra set of eyes and ears in the field.” Coach Davis said that she knows that NSR is the REAL DEAL scouting organization because we actually scout players and evaluate them before we will enroll them. Coach Davis made the most powerful statement when she said, “NSR is CREDIBLE and she always appreciated our help.” Coach Davis went on to give an example of how misdirected parents and athletes are in the recruiting process. She said, “I would receive 300 -500 emails per day from athletes, parents and coaches. These folks don’t understand that a college coach really only has time to look at the emails they know come from a CREDIBLE source.” NSR is recognized as that CREDIBLE source and she acknowledged this with the NSR team. Coach Davis also went on to talk about some of the many myths that parents, high school coaches and travel ball coaches use and believe. She concluded by encouraging our NSR scouts to get out there and show people the TRUTH about recruiting and continue to help young athletes reach their dreams of playing in college on scholarship. Thank you Coach Melanie Davis for taking your time to be a motivating speaker to our group.
In addition to these speakers, the group was inspired by J Brian Bergeron. J Brian shared personal stories of what NSR has done for his family. Both his daughter and nephew are playing in college because of NSR. He had numerous other stories of how he and NSR had “Changed Kid’s Lives”. J Brian explained how rewarding it is to help athletes live out their dreams. He encouraged all the scouts to continue working hard in the field, finding those athletes that have the desire and ability to play at the next level.
The NSR National Meeting was rounded out by Bryan Black and Phillip Sanford speaking about technological updates and enhancements; Alan Parham discussing NCAA changes and compliance guidelines; Mike Ewing explaining improvement in the field; and Cary Nadel, Steve Swain, Dave Johnson, Robby Wilson, Tanya Olson, Brendan Kennedy and Andrew Novelli all assisting in helping scouts with becoming more prepared to help kids with the recruiting process. All in all, the National Meeting was a huge success! Great information was shared while scouts from all over the country bonded and networked to maximize their impact for “Changing Kid’s Lives!”