WARNING: Athletes, Parents Should Not Play Waiting Game (Sponsored by NSR)

The following article is sponsored by National Scouting Report. Visit NSR’s web site at http://www.nsr-inc.com/

WARNING: ATHLETES, PARENTS SHOULD NOT PLAY WAITING GAME

A cardinal sin made by parents of high school athletes hoping to play at the college level is presuming there is no harm in waiting to be recruited.

There is glaring evidence of this each day with announcements across the country of freshman and sophomore athletes committing to colleges or coaches making scholarship offers to youngsters in eighth, ninth or 10th grade.

Those news flashes are not imaginary. They are real indications to parents about the state of college recruiting today.

How did that happen? Simple.

Those were not just good athletes. They were prospects known by coaches. And athletes are not college prospects until they are actually in the recruiting process.

So, how early is too early? When should a child start the process?

It is not too early for a child to begin the recruiting process if scholarships are being offered by coaches in his/her sport and class.

To boil it down to the simplest denominator, here are four key reasons parents should not wait to start their children in the recruiting process:

1. More white boards: Every day you wait, another athlete in your child’s class is getting noticed by a college coach. The sad thing is this: Many times athletes who go on white boards first are not as talented as your athlete. The difference? Those families did not wait and you did, which points to the irrefutable fact that there is no advantage to waiting.
2. More evaluations: The longer your athlete is in the process, the better the chances are that he or she will be noticed and evaluated. Obviously, the more schools that evaluate your athlete, the more chances he or she has of being formally recruited.
3. More relationships: Recruiting is all about relationships. The more time your child has to build trusting relationships with college coaches, the more offers he or she is likely to receive. This gives your athlete leverage with coaches and creates demand for his or her athletic services. So, it make sense that the longer families wait, the fewer opportunities their athletes will have to build solid relationships with coaches.
4. More options: When families choose to wait to start the recruiting process, the fewer options they are likely to have as signing dates approach. Other prospects who started the process early will have filled the roster spots which for which your athlete may have been considered. That is a losing scenario any way you look at it.

National Scouting Report, the world’s oldest and largest college recruiting organization, has received hundreds of requests from college coaches seeking 2017-20 prospects in all sports. More than 95 percent of NSR’s qualified prospects receive scholarship offers. For a free evaluation, contact NSR Area Director Gary Silvers, former Executive Sports Editor of the Bucks County Courier Times, at (215) 480-8764 or gsilvers@nsr-inc.com.