NCSA - Athlete recruitment. Anybody have info on them? I smell scam.

[Tio Pancho]

My daughter plays field hockey. My ex-wife has been talking to this company and we had a conference call today. Ex-wife is all roses and sunshine. I'm the asshole who wants to actually think about things.
I smell a lot of fast talk and bullshit.
Daughter is a decent player - goalie. Academically she struggles. Passing but it is very hard for her. I want to do whatever I can that will benefit her. What little research we have done shows that there are very few scholarships in Div 2. None in Div 3. Div 1 is not a reasonable expectation.

I have a one on one call with this guy tomorrow at 1:00. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[JB in so cal]

Go with your initial feelings. Especially in today's environment

 

[JB in so cal]

And please post about you and your ex's exchanges regarding same!!

 

[Tio Pancho]

JB - you ever watch all in the family? Envision Archie with a tan. Then you've seen it already.

 

[monkeyswrench]

I don't have any info, my oldest is just starting to school shop, and I never went. My wife was a Div1 athlete, with a full ride, but that was 20+ years ago.
My suggestion, Google everything about them. The first few hits will be perfect, no matter what. If they are a good setup, the last hits will be truthful. The way of the world seems to be people know how to hide their intent. Ask if there are any other student athletes (any sport) in your area already enrolled with them. Then do some digging as to those athletes. Hopefully you can make contact with them, or their parents.

 

[Tio Pancho]

Monkey, I am doing that and have been. Everything I have read strengthens my case. I will be sending my ex the websites I have researched. My kids think I am money hungry. I put it this way. If someone offered me 1 Million dollars to slam dunk a ball should I go? Sure. What if I had to pay 5K for the attempt? ( I am 5'6" and fat). Not such a good value now is it?

I am thinking of making this deal with my ex: Dollar for dollar match. You pay this scholarship company, and I will invest. Lets see who comes out ahead.

 

[sirbob]

When my kids were playing in HS I talked to a few of those companies.

The short answer is that they can’t do anything you can’t.

Have the calls - ask them exactly what they will / can do to help your kid get exposure... then do it yourself.

Everything they do and send to schools will come from you anyway.

Also - field hockey may not have full rides - certainly not in D2 D3 NIAA etc. I would guess the best you could hope for is “preferred walk on”. Which means the coach can get you accepted to the school...

IE the girls as USC that were rowers (mom and dad being prosecuted for the bribe to coach). They got into USC but still had to pay tuition etc.

 

[parker guy]

My daughter plays field hockey. My ex-wife has been talking to this company and we had a conference call today. Ex-wife is all roses and sunshine. I'm the asshole who wants to actually think about things.
I smell a lot of fast talk and bullshit.
Daughter is a decent player - goalie. Academically she struggles. Passing but it is very hard for her. I want to do whatever I can that will benefit her. What little research we have done shows that there are very few scholarships in Div 2. None in Div 3. Div 1 is not a reasonable expectation.

I have a one on one call with this guy tomorrow at 1:00. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

We signed up, the software they have on looking up schools/coach plus degree’s, seeing how many kids graduate etc. It helped our daughter get committed for Soccer ( goal keeper as well) You still have to do lots of work your self but its very helpful tool, she will need to do better in school to be able to get a schools really to look at her. GPA and SAT helped my daughter with getting part of her scholarship....if you want to know more DM me...

 

[HBCraig]

TP,
I have plenty of info on this kind of stuff. I have an 18U girls softball team and we play nationally. We are also responsible for getting all of them into college depending on their skill level. I have sent girls to power 5 schools, mid major schools, D2 and D3.

Pm me and I can give you my number. Just so you are aware, none of my parents have participated in the NCSA.

 

[wallnutz]

TP,
I have plenty of info on this kind of stuff. I have an 18U girls softball team and we play nationally. We are also responsible for getting all of them into college depending on their skill level. I have sent girls to power 5 schools, mid major schools, D2 and D3.

Pm me and I can give you my number. Just so you are aware, none of my parents have participated in the NCSA.

This. My daughter played D1 softball. We were approached several times by NCSA, but never signed up. Her coaches and my wife and daughter did a lot of footwork to get what she was looking for for an education. Full ride sports scholarships are hard to come by. Most kids get some sports and some academic money. She applied for every scholarship she could find online even if they were just for a couple hundred bucks. But you have to be careful with this because of NCAA rules. After her freshman year, more money became available for her from academics and athletic scholarships. The schools and coaches will help with this.

 

[Moabifam5]

I have gone through it with all 3 of mine, dont get caught up in this crap. 2 of the 3 were good college athletes, one baseball and one soccer. Both started the JC route, grew mentally and physically and went on to 4 year after there 2nd season. Really consider JC as a starting point. Good programs, great coaches and gives your kid the honest assessment on if college athletics is what they really want. Good luck!

 

[Tio Pancho]

Moab I have had this mindset from the beginning. I spoke to the recruiter today and asked some pointed questions based on my research last night. He will speak with my ex tonight. I am curious to see how this goes.

 

[Cobalt232]

JC, then to 4 year. If she is struggling academically in HS, being on a college sports team will be tough. She needs to develop college-level study habits right away.

During high school my daughter's club soccer manager (not coach) tried to sell us a similar program. She was an above-average player, but not outstanding and had gone through 2 foot surgeries. A D-1 school was out of the question. I got a BS feeling during the sales pitch. Never pursued a sports deal. She did one semester at University of Colorado and hated it. Her oldest brother loved it there - go figure. So, she did 1.5 years at a JC (Saddleback in Mission Viejo) and is now a senior at University of San Francisco. We don't know if she will graduate due to not being able to finish some fieldwork (student teaching). She is staying for a 5th year to get her masters anyway.

Looking back, the key was going to junior college and learning how to learn at a college level.

 

[Havasu blue label]

What state are you in . My son went to school on a scholarship and grant to play lacrosse we live in calif he would definitely know don't pay anybody

 

[JDKRXW]

I've got a daughter that played top level Canadian college basketball (probably your div 2 level).
There's 3 kinds of players
- stars (1 or maybe 2 per team). They can have whatever marks. The coaches will make sure they get enough class instruction they need to stay in school if they aren't academically strong.
- journeymen. 80% of the team. Some are smart and some aren't. A good coaching crew makes these players better and better people. Most are very driven in life and don't need much help with anything.
- academic all-stars. There's one or 2 on every team ......and they're there for the coach to collect some academic scholarship money so the coach can work on finding another 'all star' with the athletic scholarship money they're saving.

If your daughter is serious about a college sport, you both need to get onto a bunch of coaches radar (highlight tapes etc) and pester all of them to try and get one or 2 to pay attention.

 

[Moabifam5]

Tio, best of luck to you and the kids. It is truly an exciting time for the family. TB

 

[Dirtbag]

as someone who went through this process personally. As someone who has helped parents and players through this process over the last 11 years let me give you my 2 cents.

First if your grades arent good enough most schools dont give you the time of the day. A few a very few dont care about grades.
D1 offers full scholarships. the number of scholarships depends on the team mandated by the ncaa and the budget mandated by the school
D2 offers partial scholarships.
d3 offers no athletic scholarships.

As for recruiting. This saying will always ring true. If you can play they will find you. This is the case for every single level d1 2 or 3 and naia.

Has your kid had any contact from college coaches? This is a sign of whats to come. What year is your athlete? How much time do we have.
What do recruiting sites do for you? basically they share information. Most coaches are members of all the recruiting platforms because it is free for them. The prospective student athletes pay the fees. So what happens is you upload a video of highlights. You enter all your information including transcripts sat scores act scores. If a coach sees your video and they like what they see they look at the rest of the info to see if you can hack it at college in class and are a good fit for their team. What NCSA and other recruit sites like fieldlevel do is share the coaches information with you. Meaning you can email the coach a video tell him about you and if he likes you he can then contact you for more info and so the recruiting process begins.

All of this can be done by yourself. you dont need to pay anyone. NCSA Basically blasts your info out to everyone in their database hoping for a nibble and a connection. Thats all they do. Sure they will guide you in the video process and how to select schools that would be a good fit but thats something you can do.

Im not going to say its a waste of money cause its not. they offer valuable information and times savings. I dont know the levels of which ncsa charges because we do it ourselves for our players and families. You can however waste a ton of money. D1 2 3 and naia is not for everyone right out of hs. especially if they struggle in the class room. Id say JC is a better start and can get you better prepared for actual college life.

Your daughter is probably succombing to pear pressure that players on her team are using ncsa and they have been contacted by coaches and all that. Thats all bullshit. As soon as you get in a schools database they recruit the shit out of everyone to come to their team camp so they can earn money to pay their assistant coaches. Its all a big racket and tons of money....

We pride ourselves on saving families money. We also have pride that our kids move on to the next level. If anyone tells you they can get your kid a scholarship, turn and run.

 

[pixrthis]

I had two kids play college soccer and the best advice we got was go to the school you’d be happy to stay at if you blow your knee out the first week and will never play again. My daughter was recruited by a few high profile D1 schools but didn’t like the coaches telling her she wouldn’t be allowed to snowboard for four years so she went to a NAIA school in Oregon that had a resort one exit away, she told us “there isn’t really a future in women’s soccer”. She was right and it’s her life.