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Get Scouted Scouting CareersGet Things Rolling, but Head In the Right Direction
Over the next few paragraphs, we’re going to give you some potential recruiting directions you can take with your kid. Check which one you are already on. Then, check out the lowdown on what you’ve chosen to do. Finally, read and follow our recommended course corrections. Perhaps we can save you lots of time, trouble, money and heartache.
Direction #1: You’re doing nothing. “My kid is good enough that college coaches will find him or her.”
The Lowdown: Sorry in advance if this hurts your feelings, but you don’t really know what you’re talking about if you are taking this non-action course. Unless your child is a high DI-caliber athlete, coaches will not find him or her. Two things are in the way. First, coaches no longer use high games as a recruiting source. Second, travel or club tournaments have gotten so massive that unless a coach already knows about your kid prior to arriving at a tournament, chances are remote that he or she will somehow be discovered. Coaches go to tournaments to evaluate kids they already know about.
Your Course Correction: Do something, anything, but don’t sit around and do nothing. Your kid has one chance in a lifetime to be recruited to play college sports. It will be one of the biggest regrets of your life if you waste this opportunity.
Direction #2: You’re following your coach’s advice. “My kid’s high school coach is doing all the work for us.”
The Lowdown: It may be a shocker to you, but high school coaches are all but out of the loop in today’s recruiting environment. They are well-meaning, but the fact is that they are usually severely limited by time and finances. They can only do so much because of their teaching and coaching duties; they can only reach a few colleges because they only know a few; and, they do not have money set aside or allocated for promoting athletes. Sadly, there are some coaches whose egos get in the way, too. They believe that if you enlist outside help in getting info to colleges about your kid that it will cast a poor light back them. It’s as if it’s pointing out what they should have been doing. In reality, promoting your kid to colleges is not their job, nor should you expect it of them. They are coaches, not marketing experts.
Your Course Correction: If you are one of the lucky few people whose coach is actually doing something to promote your kid, thank your lucky stars, but then search for ways do more because what the coach does will not be enough.
Direction #3: You’re depending on your travel or club organization. “Our club team promised to handle all that for us.”
The Lowdown: Well, it may look that way, but look deeper. There’s less to this promise than you might think. For the fortunate few, some club and travel organizations have begun to include a “promotional” element in their presentations to players and their parents. That’s fine and good, but an individual promotional effort for your child will not be included in this plan. Someone who’s doing the work (part time, mind you) may call a few coaches, but actually only a very few will be made on behalf of your child. Be realistic. Club and travel teams are limited in their effectiveness because if they send info out it will be for a group or list of players all at once and then to only a few coaches. Your child will not be given special treatment.
Your Course Correction: Anything is better than nothing, of course, but if you want your kid’s information to reach every coach in the area, region or around the country, you will have to go beyond your club/travel organization’s promises. Do more by finding the very best, experienced promotional company available to properly and effectively market your kid directly to college coaches.
Direction #4: You’re posting your kid’s profile on free recruiting Web sites. “All these sites will promote my kid for free.”
The Lowdown: Oops! You fell for it. Merely posting a profile on a free site is not actually promoting your kid. It may make you feel good and your kid’s profile may look good, but nothing is actually happening, as you will soon see. We call it the Experience of Nothing. Second, college coaches don’t surf the Web for prospects. They aren’t stupid, you know. Anybody can put a profile on a free site. There is no verification whatsoever about your kid’s abilities, grades and character. Do you really expect a college coach to find your kid among all the others and then take your word for what’s been posted? No, so what’s the point?
Your Course Correction: Get real. There are only two ways to promote your kid the right way. You can either spend every minute of your free time sending packages to college coaches with video included, or you can spend your money wisely and enlist a proven, professional promotional company to get the word out about your kid. Choose a company which will give you personal attention with a personal advisor, not somebody you don’t know who’s sitting in a cubicle somewhere in the bowels of a corporate office. Pick a company which will aggressively promote your child in a variety of ways and which can edit and post your kid’s video highlights and game footage online for coaches to evaluate. Select a company which will allow you to make changes to your kid’s profile on the spot, that is, from your home or workplace. In other words, no matter what else is being done for your kid, go through the most thorough route. Get going. Don’t waste this opportunity.
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.