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Question: When do high school athletes become college prospects?
First, it is important to note that we’re not asking when they formally become prospects, according to the NCAA. Instead, we are asking when they personally step over the line to become available to college coaches?
Need a hint? Here are five:
- Athletes are not automatically prospects because they play high school, travel or club sports.
- They are not prospects when they declare to their family and friends that they want to be college athletes.
- They are not prospects when their parents announce to everyone that their kids hope to be recruited.
- They are not prospects when their kid has received a letter from a college coach.
- They are not even prospects when they are invited by a college coach to come for an unofficial visit or to attend Junior Day.
You probably never really gave it much thought. However, if you are the parent of an athlete, you might want to start because it is a key factor in getting on coaches’ radars.
Here’s the thing to know: High school athletes must transition from everyday athletes to prospect status. Frankly, it is not all that hard. Then again, it is not all that easy, either, that is, if prospects and families are serious about it. Otherwise, they are out there in Never Land.
That transition, in most cases, has to be triggered by a singular action from an athlete’s parents. They have to insert their kid into the recruiting process. A high school, travel or club coach cannot do this for the athlete. Being featured in the local news or being named to an All-Conference team will not make it so, either. It is on the parents, period.
Yes, there are exceptions, but they are few.
To be in the recruiting process, an athlete simply can’t sit on the sidelines and hope a college coach finds him or her. Very few college coaches attend high school games. Their seasons coincide with high school seasons. There’s little time for them to traipse around the countryside looking at a chosen few when they can wait until travel or club season and see 50-100 prospects of equal or greater talent. Even then, if the athlete is not in the recruiting process and hasn’t been identified and evaluated by coaches, they more than likely will be overlooked.
At National Scouting Report, we see hundreds of quality, qualified athletes go unnoticed and unrecruited every year. The reason? Usually it is a result of parents not committing to putting their athlete in the process.
That is not to say that a parent should not place their kid on a club or travel team. But the mere fact that their child is on a team doesn’t mean all that much unless parents take the definitive step of inserting him or her in the recruiting process. One is no good without the other.
Travel teams are an integral part of the recruiting structure. Most athletes would not be evaluated otherwise. But these teams are simply platforms for the athletes. They are not typically designed to effectively promote athletes to college coaches on an ongoing basis, a requirement for prospects who want to be noticed.
The bottom line? When a college coach scouts a tournament, showcase or combine, he or she is coming to evaluate an athlete whom the coach already knows about, not miraculously discover an athlete who is not in the recruiting process.
That leaves parents with finding viable alternatives to get their athletes into the recruiting process. There are really only two ways:
- Do It Yourself: Parents can take on the responsibility for connecting with college coaches. This is a labor intensive endeavor, to say the least. The first chore is putting together an attractive profile that coaches will want to open and read. That is not easy because parents generally don’t know what to include. What’s more, most coaches shy away from spending valuable time going through info submitted by parents. Some coaches never bother. Others go through materials when they have a free moment.
- Recruiting Organization: Parents can find a recruiting organization that is respected by college coaches, one that will make their athletes’ information and video available to coaches 24/7 in various digital formats. This is something parents cannot provide, making Option 1 so ineffective. Organizations such as National Scouting Report take the toil out of setting up a profile for an athlete. NSR prospects normally can be online within 48 hours. Then NSR’s on-the-ground scouts will guide them through the recruiting process.
Never Land is a terrible place to exist. Without question, it is a dead-end street. Parents who sincerely want their athletes to have the best chance of being recruited should wake up to the fact that sitting and hoping won’t get the job done.
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.