One general comment first, most that have gone through this don't realize their mistakes until after their kids get into college and they see how things play out at that level. It never ceases to amaze me how people who clearly have never gone through the process or are just starting it want to shout over people who have gone through it all and are reporting back their observations. Everyone is entitled to play the game the way they see it but some of you are foolish to just blindly accept what clubs feed you,
1. This is pretty spot on accept for the part about baseball and not needing academic fit. Its no different in any sport, low level D1 prospects are not going to turn pro. The scholarship is merely a way to pay the tuition bill, so education should be given some weight. It's how you are getting paid. Get a million dollar education.
2. The part about most families not having a clue and doing what the club tells them is right on the money. Before the ECNL came along most teams in this state didn't even get accepted into the big showcases and it was generally only the top 1-2 teams that travelled out of state, yet other kids still found their way onto college D1 rosters. The whole "one stop shopping for college coaches" ECNL pitch was all about capturing a market segment not about helping families get their kid recruited. Showcase tournaments are big business. That is where the big money is in club sports. No one ever bothered to ask those ECNL folks about them getting appearance fees for sending all their teams to a specific tournament or whether they were getting a share of the millions of dollars in revenue the host clubs typically generated during one. Some of you need to realize that the big club owners are all business men. A true businessman would never give a competitor an exclusive to right to earn something from their club without getting something monetary in return. That's just human nature. Now think about why it seems only certain clubs push the need to attend showcases.
3. It's all relative to the specific talent band (ie the top P5 or bottom D1 programs) not the specific schools. Whether you target and reach out to the school or not, the coaches in a specific talent band are all going to have the same general (level specific) group of players on their radar. That is why targeting is so important. If you get it right you pretty much know who is going to be interested in your kid. That's your shopping list.
4. I have a top level kid playing in the ACC and will tell you that we went to roughly 2-3 showcases before they committed. I can honestly tell you that we never got more than 1, maybe 2 contacts from college coaches at any single event so the idea that the average kid is getting contact from 5-6 coaches after every single event is simply not real and your calculations are a complete fantasy. They don't generate anywhere near the amount of interest you are alleging. I suspect you just don't know that yet.
5. I have had two kids play D1 soccer. Both of their deals were a direct result of summer id camps. With the first one, I didn't figure the game out until after we had spent a small fortune going to showcases. The second one we just went right to the schools that were in her talent band and sent her to one their id camps in the 8th grade. Though she didn't commit for another 2 years that's all it took. The rest of the time was just the courting dance.
Originally posted by Unregistered
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2. The part about most families not having a clue and doing what the club tells them is right on the money. Before the ECNL came along most teams in this state didn't even get accepted into the big showcases and it was generally only the top 1-2 teams that travelled out of state, yet other kids still found their way onto college D1 rosters. The whole "one stop shopping for college coaches" ECNL pitch was all about capturing a market segment not about helping families get their kid recruited. Showcase tournaments are big business. That is where the big money is in club sports. No one ever bothered to ask those ECNL folks about them getting appearance fees for sending all their teams to a specific tournament or whether they were getting a share of the millions of dollars in revenue the host clubs typically generated during one. Some of you need to realize that the big club owners are all business men. A true businessman would never give a competitor an exclusive to right to earn something from their club without getting something monetary in return. That's just human nature. Now think about why it seems only certain clubs push the need to attend showcases.
Originally posted by Unregistered
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Originally posted by Unregistered
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5. I have had two kids play D1 soccer. Both of their deals were a direct result of summer id camps. With the first one, I didn't figure the game out until after we had spent a small fortune going to showcases. The second one we just went right to the schools that were in her talent band and sent her to one their id camps in the 8th grade. Though she didn't commit for another 2 years that's all it took. The rest of the time was just the courting dance.
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