Recruiting Scams
The idea of guaranteeing recruiting
exposure for your child sounds great, doesn’t it? Just as you are
getting stressed out about your child not getting any scholarship
offers, you receive news of a recruiting service. Sadly, the company
that’s promising increased exposure for your child might only be
interested in increasing the size of its bank account.
With more high school students competing for the hundreds of millions of
dollars that colleges devote to athletic scholarships each year, the
number of recruiting services promising everything from a guaranteed
scholarship to maximum exposure has increased. And many local athletes
and their families are being lured by these services.
Parents should use caution and educate themselves on the recruiting
process. Recruiting services have become a big business and have
attracted people who are only interested in making money.
Student-athletes who are not the top 100 prospects or labeled as
superstars often tend to be more vulnerable to recruiting scams.
Dan Spainhour is a high school coach and athletic director in the Triad.
He has also worked with the University of Miami men’s basketball program
and is the author of "How to Get Your Child an Athletic Scholarship: The
Parent’s Ultimate Guide to Recruiting." Spainhour says, "Parents need to
take control of their child’s recruiting. Many parents are completely
unaware of the recruiting process and this lack of knowledge can lead to
being taken advantage of."
There are thousands of recruiting services that can be found with just a
simple Internet search. Most charge $30 to $2,500, depending upon the
services requested. Some companies create a personal Web page for
colleges to access. Others act as a liaison between the athlete and the
college coach by sending a portfolio of achievements and pertinent
information to schools nationwide. The services often produce statements
to make parents believe a scholarship offer is just around the corner
once they subscribe to their services.
Parents often think of the recruiting services as scouts, but most are
willing to accept anyone willing to pay the fee. "I am sure there are
some reputable services out there, but why should a parent or student
pay for a service they can provide themselves? The students and parents
don’t need expensive marketing packages, they simply need to understand
the process and know what coaches are looking for," says Spainhour.
All of the college coaches I talk to say the same thing. They don’t use
the services and they would much rather receive information and have
contact with the student-athlete directly instead of through a third
party. "Coaches discount student-paid recruiting services for two basic
reasons — they’re not qualified to assess the athletic talents of their
prospects and they’re sending too much useless information to them,"
said Spainhour.
As the recruiting-service business increases, so does news about parents
being scammed. "Dateline NBC" exposed a recruiting service for charging
Jake Lively’s family $1,500 for services to help get their son a
baseball scholarship. The service told the family that the University of
North Carolina had expressed interest in Jake, but no one from the
school acknowledges using the service. Scott Lively, Jake’s father,
said, "It’s just not fair. It’s not fair to the kids, it’s not fair to
the families. And these guys are making money off of it."
Spainhour has seen the frustration from both sides of the recruiting
game — high school parents who felt their child could get a scholarship
if they only got noticed and the college coaches who searched for the
right prospect. "My experience at both the high school and college level
convinced me there is a tremendous need for the guidebook that I wrote.
It is designed specifically for parents to help them avoid being duped
by people who pretend to be acting in their best interest," said
Spainhour.
"How to Get Your Child an Athletic Scholarship: The Parent’s Ultimate
Guide to Recruiting" is published by Educational Coaching & Business
Communications. For more information, visit
www.ecbcommunications.com
or call (239) 287-8027