{"id":8020,"date":"2015-09-29T17:14:59","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T22:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/?p=8020"},"modified":"2015-09-29T17:42:09","modified_gmt":"2015-09-29T22:42:09","slug":"parents-taking-on-recruiting-alone-often-leave-their-athletes-without-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/parents-taking-on-recruiting-alone-often-leave-their-athletes-without-options\/","title":{"rendered":"College recruiting is more than a family affair"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sheila<\/a>
Sheila Thiery\u00a0assists prep athletes with recruiting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The recruiting process has become a complex\u00a0process.\u00a0 And it is a nagging problem for families\u00a0that cannot be solved by joining a club or travel squad, making all-whatever or relying on coaches to get their athlete exposed to college coaches.\u00a0 This Generation\u00a0Z recruiting environment is tough and parents should prepare for it to be a long, bumpy ride.\u00a0 The immortal Yogi Berra famously said, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”\u00a0 But in recruiting, when parents go solo, it really can be over before it’s over.<\/p>\n

It happens every day – the really good high school athlete who doesn’t go on to play college sports.\u00a0 It’s a shame.\u00a0 Chances are that you know a number of local athletes who had the talent to advance to the college level, but were instead ignored or overlooked altogether.\u00a0\u00a0It could have been avoided if parents had taken a broader view of the problem,\u00a0sought out reliable information\u00a0and taken steps to put their child in the position of having coaches clamoring for their services upon graduation.<\/p>\n

Sheila Thiery\u00a0is a highly successful high school scout\u00a0in\u00a0Southwest Ohio for National Scouting Report.\u00a0 She says, “The downside to parents handling the recruiting process is that it is very time consuming.\u00a0 In most families, both parents work, so someone must take on the\u00a0second job of being the (person who promotes the athlete).\u00a0 Another big downside is that it can cause feuds between the athlete and the parents. We as parents know what they should be doing, so we hound them to do it, because we know we\u2019d like them to get a scholarship and give us a return on investment.”\u00a0 Somewhere along the line the ball inevitably gets dropped.<\/p>\n

Think of it as job hunting in a very congested but selective hiring market —\u00a0 like what your child will have to do after earning a college degree.\u00a0 Companies today are searching for specialists with a relatively flat learning curve that can join their ranks, get up to speed quickly and contribute to their operation.\u00a0 And they start their search for new hires months, if not years, in advance.\u00a0 Same goes with college recruiting.\u00a0 You wouldn’t expect your graduate to start looking for a job once their diploma is in hand.\u00a0 That would be totally unrealistic.<\/p>\n

\"Larry<\/a>
Coach\u00a0Perrin has been schooled on the NCAA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yet, parents frequently wait far too late to start promoting their athlete to coaches.\u00a0 Stacey Harris has\u00a0scouted the Bay Area of California for NSR for nearly ten years.\u00a0 “Most parents think the recruiting process starts between their kid’s junior and senior year, so in most cases it’s too late for the schools they are considering.\u00a0 And who are\u00a0they sending the correspondence to?\u00a0 Most parents use a general email they find on the school’s website and not the assistant coach (recruiting) their area.”<\/p>\n

Added Northwest Georgia NSR scout Mike Ewing: “The main downside to parents electing to go it alone is that they end up calling me last minute asking for help. Parents have a difficult time because they don’t have the relationships with coaches that we do. Coaches don’t want to talk to the parents. Parents also underestimate the amount of time it takes to promote kids.”<\/p>\n

College coaches are on the line every day.\u00a0 Their job is to be successful, not just sit behind a desk and look good in a logo polo shirt.\u00a0 To be successful, they are constantly on the lookout for prospects who will upgrade their team, fill holes in their roster, and quickly develop into players they can call on to make a difference — a positive difference.\u00a0 And\u00a0coaches are definitely starting the process earlier than parents realize.\u00a0 It’s not just D-I programs scouting freshmen.\u00a0\u00a0That’s shocking to many parents.<\/p>\n

So to understand the situation better, it’s important for parents to understand that\u00a0college coaches are handcuffed to a degree.\u00a0 They can only be successful in the recruiting war with competing coaches if they have as many\u00a0prospects as possible from which to evaluate, develop relationships and recruit.\u00a0 When parents pick the path of contacting a few coaches on their own when there are\u00a0literally thousands\u00a0of coaches\u00a0out there in need of recruits, not only are they limiting their child’s opportunities, but they are also\u00a0cutting off the coaches from learning about their athlete.\u00a0 Nobody wins in that scenario.<\/p>\n

We connected with an on-the-ground high school scout and college recruiter, Larry Perrin, who\u00a0scours the southwest corner of Tennessee and Northern Mississippi for NSR looking for quality high school athletes.\u00a0 His take?\u00a0 “When parents send emails to coaches, the fact is,\u00a0(the emails)\u00a0do not get looked at,” he said. ” Many staffs have recruiting analysts who spend all day cleaning out the inboxes of recruiting coordinators and position coaches so that they only\u00a0see the emails from trusted sources.”\u00a0 Unlike, say, 10 years ago, parents are no longer in that group.<\/p>\n

So beware.\u00a0 Do your research.\u00a0 Take in the larger picture.\u00a0 Accept your limitations.\u00a0 Then give your child the very best shot at being seen and recruited.<\/p>\n

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The recruiting process has become a complex\u00a0process.\u00a0 And it is a nagging problem for families\u00a0that cannot be solved by joining a club or travel squad, making all-whatever or relying on coaches to get their athlete exposed to college coaches.\u00a0 This Generation\u00a0Z recruiting environment is tough and parents should prepare for it to be a long, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[225,224,242,56,240,239,241],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8020"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8020"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8034,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8020\/revisions\/8034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}