NCSA Blog

Typically the trend in lacrosse is that the goalie position is wrapped up and filled as early as possible. Some might say it is due to the growing nature of the sport, as others have expressed that there are just less spots on every team. Either way, athletes are giving their verbal commitments in recruiting earlier and earlier each year–no matter what their position. If you plan on playing at the next level you need to get seen by the college coaches at the big camps and tournaments the summer before your junior year, as well as, the summer months before your senior year.

Do you think the college athletic recruiting process should provide you with the highest number of opportunities? Do you think understanding college athletics recruiting can reveal the perfect college fit for you? How do you go about increasing your opportunities? What system should you employ to make sure you are selecting the right opportunity for you?

College coaches begin by initially contacting 1,000 or 2,000 or even 10,000 (depending on the sport) student athletes by sending them camp brochures, emails, questionnaires, etc. Those same college coaches are clearly not recruiting all of those student-athletes. Why do they start with such a large pool? They are following the advice of Marketing 101: the more kids who they find out about, the better chance they’ll find the really quality student-athlete who will help their program. If that’s a good strategy for college coaches, shouldn’t a student-athlete use the same strategy? Doing so will increase your number of opportunities.

A savvy student-athlete will learn as early as freshman year that they need to develop trust-based relationships with college coaches. This can only happen through communication. Since the NCAA restricts the amount and timing of contacts initiated by college coaches, the student-athlete must be proactive. Unfortunately, the 14 or 15 year old student-athlete doesn’t have the life experiences or the maturity to begin building relationships with adults. The good news is they can be trained in that skill set. It’s like interviewing for a job. 

College recruiting boils down to trust-based relationships between college coaches and student-athletes. What college coach is going to make a significant investment in a student-athlete unless they know a lot more about that student-athlete than her/his performance on the playing field?

If you agree with playing the numbers game and building trust-based relationships with college coaches, have you thought about how you would do that? If you’re a student-athlete reading this, do you think your parents can do this for you? If so, you better forget about playing sports in college. Do you think your coach can do this for you? Again, if so, you better forget about finding the perfect college fit for you. You are the one that needs to take charge. You can only do that if you develop the skill set to do so. Who will teach you that?

Finally, if you do all of the above correctly, how do you determine the right fit? There are many different factors including: academic quality of the school, size of school, location of school, financial aid package, level of competition, opportunity to play early, getting along with the coaching staff and players, receiving tutoring help (if necessary), etc. There is a way to logically sort out all of those factors. If you need help, go here.

Are you a student-athlete who is on a mission to play college sports? Are you a student-athlete who has played your sport for years? Imagine your first sport season after high school and you’re not playing. What would that feel like?

Most student athletes and their families are unaware of how early college recruiting begins. Or the reasons it begins so early. The problem is that 93% of high school students who go on to college are applying through the academic door. They begin researching colleges late in their junior year or early in their senior year. They listen to the high school guidance counselor who advises them to apply to several schools. They place these schools into 3 categories: 1) Reach schools (if I’m lucky, I’ll get in.) 2) Stretch schools (I’m pretty sure I’d get accepted to half of these I apply to.) and 3) safe schools (I’ll get in no matter what.) Make sure you have all of your applications in before Christmas break.

Unfortunately, student-athletes and their families think that college athletic recruiting operates along the same time-line. It doesn’t!  If you wish to apply through the athletic door, you need to understand the different calendars and timelines.

Different sports have different recruiting calendars and time-lines. However, all sports have the following in common:

1. College coaches would love to find out about you early. In some sports that’s as early as 7^th and 8^th grade, other sports it’s by 10^th grade. Waiting until the beginning of junior year begins to reduce your opportunities.
2. A college student athlete has a certain athletic profile. For example, in baseball, a student athlete needs to have a certain 60-yard dash time, a certain overhand throwing velocity, a certain bat-speed, etc. For very competitive schools, those metrics need to be achieved by the end of junior year. If not, many college coaches will refuse to evaluate a student-athlete. It takes time to develop physically and student-athletes need to train to that level early to ensure they reach that level on time.
3. College coaches only give scholarship money to student-athletes they know, like, and trust. Those trust-based relationships take time to build. Because of the recruiting restrictions placed on college coaches, it’s important that a student-athlete begin to build those relationships as a freshman. Most don’t know how to go about that.

If you’re serious about being a college student-athlete, you need to implement that game plan that will get you there. Knowing what to do is as important as doing it. If you don’t know what to do, you should contact an expert for an evaluation. You can do that at NCSA.

I was as stunned as you when I read the above title, and I’m the one who wrote it!

But this column from the Los Angeles Times, written by Eric Sondheimer, has opened my eyes. In it, he details his recent experience with a series of Las Vegas AAU tournaments. He writes:

Yes, there are benefits to having so many players in one location, but lets stop spreading the false impression to gullible parents that by playing their sons are suddenly going to be on the recruiting radar.Most of the time, college coaches, wearing shirts with school logos and school colors, showed up at games as babysitters, simply letting kids they have been recruiting for months know they support them. Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo watched a game in which Michigan high school players were performing. Louisiana State Coach Trent Johnson watched a game involving a team from New Orleans. Washington Coach Lorenzo Romar watched a team from Seattle. North Carolina Coach Roy Williams watched Tar Heels commit John Henson.As I tell parents every day, serious student-athletes wanting to play in college are going to start contacting coaches their freshman year. Chances are, the coaches who are at your showcase are watching the athletes that have been contacting them. Think about it this way: Would you, as a coach or a recruiter, spend money to travel to a showcase without knowing what kind of talent that’s going to be there? Probably not.Sondheimer details the story of Ray Penn, a guard from Richmond, Texas, who scored more than 35 points in three games during the one of the tournaments. And although he got some phone calls a few days later, they weren’t from the big institutions. As Sondheimer writes:

The problem was, coaches made plans before the tournament about who they would watch, and Penn wasn’t on the agenda.

Here’s another thing. Even if the college notices that you have athletic talent, without contacting them prior:

1. they have no idea who you are
2. they don’t know what kind of person you are
3. they don’t know if your performance that day is consistent or just a fluke
4. they don’t know if you’re even interested in their program

What’s the lesson here? “Showcases” aren’t called “Discoveries.” They provide a good opportunity to showcase your skills, but if you haven’t done anything to warrant a college’s attention before the showcase, don’t expect its attention after one.

 The NCAA is always playing catch up to coaches who are looking for any advantage in recruiting.  They ban text messaging and coaches soon find a new way get their message across to recruits.  In the last few years camps have become an increasingly important evaluation tool for coaches.  ESPN’s Bruce Feldman wrote a piece for the magazine detailing the trend.

In the past, holding camp meant eager high school players could get some tips and college coaches could collect some easy pay on the side. Then a few schools began using camps to evaluate the skills and coachability of recruits. Five years ago, Rutgers set up shop way off campus-in Florida-moving the NCAA to forbid schools from holding camps outside of their state lines. So the Scarlet Knights-along with schools like Oklahoma State, Rice and Southern Miss-put together roving seminars in their states. “It works great because with the rising cost of gas, lots of kids and their coaches can’t make long drives to campus,” says USM coach Tony Hughes.

Another trick: full-pad camps. Many prep governing bodies limit the number of live practices. But coaches noticed that those rules don’t address full-contact college camps. Now prep coaches can cram in extra practice time, while recruiters get a good gander at prospects in pads. “It’s a tremendous draw,” one assistant says.

The NCAA forbids invite-only camps, but some schools stay within the rules by barely advertising certain sessions and relying on word of mouth to attract top talent. Florida stages Friday Night Lights on July 18, an event in which many of the nation’s top recruits will compete on UF’s field. At USC’s Rising Stars Camp in June, Pete Carroll hosted blue-chippers from Arizona, Texas, South Carolina and Tennessee.

And in a copycat industry, that means the stakes have grown to where coaches now have to recruit kids just to come to their camps. Want to bet the NCAA is watching?

That is exactly why athletes need to be proactively contacting schools to find out which camps to attend.  They can not afford to waste valuable time and resources attending the wrong camps.  Trying to catch a coach’s eye at a camp could end up being a huge mistake if you miss attending a camp for a school that is actively recruiting you.  You need to find out where you qualify!

 The Waxahachie Daily Light wrote an article this weekend that illustrates exactly why just playing for your high school team isn’t enough to secure sports scholarship.  These select teams provide several aspiring players with the opportunity to pursue a shot at playing collegiate softball.

Ennis head softball coach Rodney McNeill cited tournaments, such as college lookouts, as an economical resource for recruiting players.“College ball is going on  the same time as high school,” the Lady Lions’ skipper said. “It’s not efficient to recruit high school if you go to watch and there is only two teams playing. During the summer, 40 to 50 teams play at a single tournament.”

Robert Banda knows first hand the impact these tournaments can have on hopeful collegiate softball players.“You have these tournaments,” said Robert, who is the head coach for the Texas Thunder 18U team. “They sometimes guarantee five games at that park. You have to get the coaches to come out and watch.”

NCSA’s works daily to make sure our athletes understand not only the importance of playing in showcases and tournaments, but contacting coaches ahead of time to ensure they get a chance to be evaluated.  NCSA student athletes use their Scouting Reports as a tool to showcase both their skills and grades before attending any event.  The report allows a coach to make sure he is spending his time scouting players that are the right fit for their programs.

The Pac-10 Conference is called the “Conference of Champions” for a good reason.  In 2007-2008 the conference captured 13 NCAA Team Championships far more then its runner up, Big Ten (5).  These 13 championships is one shy of the record 14 set in 1996-1997.  The Pac-10 has lead the nation in NCAA Championships 41 of the last 47 years.  They also finished second five times in that span.

The college recruiting experience has many twists and turns.  There are many factors that play into recruiting for a student-athlete but one they have control over is doing the research.  Every student-athlete’s process is completely unique and different.  Doing research on the colleges and the process should be one of the top priorities!

Not only is the Stanford University one of the top academics schools in the country but it is also one of the best athletic programs (Stanford has won 14 consecutive Directors’ Cup).  The Stanford baseball program is a regulaly in the College World Series and is a two time National Champion. 

The Baseball Assistant Coach Dean Stotz at Stanford talks about the importance of research and choosing a college; “I have been doing this a long time, and if I may be so bold, I would like to help you simplify the process of selecting what college you will attend. First of all, please have respect for the magnitude of this college decision. You will live with this decision THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! This is not a “four year” decision, but a “FORTY YEAR DECISION”. There are no “mulligans”, no “do-overs”. Consider the task as if you are doing the most important research paper of your young life. The title of your research paper is: Where will I attend college? Now, how do you do well on a research paper?–RESEARCH!!!

There are three broad areas of risk in your college decision. You must decide what type of “academic challenge”, what type of “baseball challenge”, and what type of what I call “social challenge” you wish to take on.  In Coach Marquess’s and my 31 years we have not graduated 9 people who attended Stanford for four years.” What do you think?  Please post a comment on this topic!!

For most Americans July Fourth symbolizes hot dogs, fireworks and star spangled parades. For many of NCSA’s student-athletes, however, July Fourth equals recruiting season. Every summer thousands of college prospects travel to camps and showcases to better their skills and network with college coaches. If you are traveling near a college campus, the summer is a perfect time to take an unofficial visit.

Unofficial visits give student-athletes a perfect opportunity to meet college coaches on their turf and get a close-up perspective of the campus. Visiting a campus before senior year will help you get a sense for what you like or dislike about a school, coach or team.

Here are a few tips to help you prepare for your unofficial visits:

1) Remember that “unofficial” means the school can not pay for your trip.

2) Unofficial visits can be taken as early as freshman year of high school!

3) Contact the coach! Do not show up on campus unexpected and expect the coach to be accommodating. Call him/her in advance to schedule the visit.

4) When you talk to the coach, use the term “unofficial visit”. By using proper recruiting terms you will demonstrate that you are serious and informed about your college search.

5) Ask questions!

6) Pay attention. This is your insider glimpse into the school so be sure to keep your eyes wide open.

7) Send a thank you note. Always say “thank you” to the coach and any other member of the staff or admissions department who took the time to introduce you to their college or university.

8) Have fun!

It’s July 2, meaning summer is official in full-swing. Chances are, student-athletes are doing one of four things to occupy their time off:

1. Lying around the house (this is a no-no)
2. Taking summer school classes
3. Working at a seasonal job
4. Going to various camps for your sport

Hats off to you if you’re doing No. 2 and No. 3. But if you’re doing No. 4, you get an extra tip of the cap.

The University of North Alabama, located in Florence, just wrapped up its three-day Offensive/Defensive Line and Offensive Skills camps, where more than 600 high-school players attended and participated. While these camps allow high school players the opportunity to improve their game, they also give serious student-athletes the opportunity to showcase their on-field talent and potential.

And you might ask, “600 players? How am I going to get noticed with that many participants?”

I’ll let UNA coach Mark Hudspeth take care of that one.

“Every position coach has a group of 14 players he is responsible for,” Hudspeth said. “They let me know who to watch, and that allows me to walk around and see each prospect.

And you might gripe, “But  it’s only a camp! I don’t need to go to a camp to prove I’m scholarship worthy!”

True, you can get offered a scholarship from a school without attending its camp. But in some cases, like UNA’s … well, I’m going to throw it back to Coach Hudspeth.

Hudspeth said it is not unusual for a player to impress the coaches so much in camp that the kid heads back home with a scholarship offer.

“We do offer some that we haven’t seen before camp,” he said. “On Sunday night, we visit with a select few, and have them fill out a questionnaire. We’ll either offer them a scholarship there or let them know that we will be recruiting them.”

There you go. Right from the horse’s mouth. Now of course, this is not to say that every camp offers scholarships to stand-outs (or s’mores and songs for that matter). But if you never go, you’ll never know.