Sudden Panic Syndrome – A Frightening Recruiting Norm Parents Can Avoid

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NSR scouts see it in the eyes of nearly every prospect’s parents.

We call it Sudden Panic Syndrome, or SPS, and it’s not pretty. And when it slams into parents like a 40-mile-an-hour head-on collision, everything in their world comes to an abrupt halt.

Sudden Panic Syndrome is that moment when parents are suddenly, without warning, taken aback when discovering that their athlete is in real recruiting trouble. To say panic ensues is an understatement. It’s more like seeing the first scene in the movie Jaws for the first time. And how high did you jump out of your theater seat? Thought so.

You may have already experienced it. If so, you know what it is like to go from your comfort zone to the oh-what-have-I-done position in a matter of seconds.

For the uninitiated, get ready. Here’s how it happens: You’ve relied on sources you believed knew college recruiting. That was your first mistake.

Then one day, perhaps at a tournament, an NSR scout shows up, approaches and, after exchanged pleasantries, asks you a few simple questions. You look at the scout as if he or she was an alien you want to launch back into outer space. (You’d been told that scouting organizations were a scam or at the very least not worth your time and money.) But those questions? They begin to sink in and, despite your unfounded prejudice, suddenly, shockingly you get it.

Then…

• There’s the realization that all the things they were told aren’t factual or coming to fruition.
• Even though your kid has attended camps, joined a club or travel team, gathered a boatload full of trophies, and even selected for all-this or -that honors, very few if any college coaches are taking notice.
• The few recruiting facts the NSR scout brings into the light literally give you shivers.
• The confidence you had enjoyed has instantly evaporated and you find yourself in recruiting wilderness.

Typically, parents have never been asked these things. No one they know, most importantly those offering counsel, has asked them. And so, when parents are faced with the bare truth, they are at a complete loss. That’s when SPS expressions replace those I’ll-give-this-guy-one-minute smirks.

Here’s the thing: recruiting has become such a specialized science that well-meaning advisors easily miss regularly changing rules and nuances. These are important changes and often impact every high school prospect. The pseudo counselors mean well, but they aren’t regularly and systematically in touch with college coaches, the NCAA or NAIA. This means they are removed from the influential basics of how recruiting works.

So, when faced with questions about those fundamentals, parents freeze, realizing the bad place they have put their athlete by following archaic, inaccurate info.

It does not have to be that way.

That said, for NSR scouts, as twisted as it may seem, we want to see those SPS expressions. We search for families that not only have qualified, un-recruited athletes but who have a genuine need for our highly effective, individualized, promotional and marketing machine, as well as up-to-date, personal guidance. Those things mixed with the NSR scouts personal emails, texts and phone calls with college coaches is simply a game-changer. NSR scouts talk with college coaches on a daily basis. It is what they do!

When we find that combination, we know that NSR can catapult that athlete and family into the recruiting process quicker than they could have ever imagined would come about.

Sudden Panic Syndrome is not something any parent wants to experience, but it can, and will, happen unless you act ASAP to avoid it.

National Scouting Report has the know-how, passion and essential mechanisms to help your child succeed in the competitive college recruiting process. The sooner you reach out to the NSR scout near you the better because every day counts when competing for college coaches’ attention and the scholarships they could offer.

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