NCSA

[bakahump]

Anyone ever heard of it?

My daughter is a decent thrower. My wife got called by someone from NCSA basically about "Recruiting her" or "Getting her recruited".

We have a meeting tomorrow but figured I would ask if anyone had ever heard or dealt with them.

They seem to be "Pay us and we will get her name out there". Not sure about that though. And Not sure if its worth it for my daughter.

She went to states (Maine) as a freshman and Soph but injuries have derailed her quite a bit and at states she finished bottom 1/3. Still I guess I can see where a "Program" (Div II or III) might see enough promise to be interested.

 

[SumnerH]

I'm familiar with NCSA, but I'm guessing this one is different from the organization largely responsible for creating the modern web browser.

Google points to Next College Student Athlete, which reddit is skeptical about.

 

[jezza1918]

I'm familiar with NCSA, but I'm guessing this one is different from the organization largely responsible for creating the modern web browser.

Google points to Next College Student Athlete, which reddit is skeptical about.

As they should be. Paying to get yourself in front of coaches via some kind of recruiting showcase or clinic is one thing, paying to get an online profile with an iPhone by dad highlight video is another. With the caveat I havent coached since 2018 so things may have changed, and I coached Mens/Womens tennis at a smallish D3 school...NCSA wasnt taken very seriously by any coaches I worked with (except for maybe Football, but that's such a different recruiting wagon altogether it's hard to compare). If I was getting pressed by admissions to carry a bit bigger of a roster I tapped into NCSA a few times, but no one from that site every played a meaningful match for either team.
My personal advice @bakahump - if you're daughter is interested in competing in college, have her start reaching out to coaches and/or looking into clinics on college campuses where other coaches are instructors, and recruiting showcases. All that said, this was just my personal experience and others may rave about it?

 

[bakahump]

Thanks guys. Seemed like a too good to be situation and it sounds like it. And I am certainly not interested in paying. She is a good enough student (and athlete) to get some (perhaps minor) consideration all on her own.

 

[8slim]

To chime in, NCSA hounded me relentlessly (emails, calls) for much of the past 2+ years. My son is a serious lacrosse player and has spent much of his high school career (he's a senior now) working through the college recruitment process. He was motivated to do it himself -- scheduled prospect days, reached out to coaches, cut his own highlights, etc., and never needed to pay NCSA for any help.

@bakahump If your daughter is really into it, having her manage her own recruitment is a great thing to build maturity, character, responsibility, and the like. My son really benefited from it, and he's headed to a D3 school in the fall to play.

 

[jezza1918]

To chime in, NCSA hounded me relentlessly (emails, calls) for much of the past 2+ years. My son is a serious lacrosse player and has spent much of his high school career (he's a senior now) working through the college recruitment process. He was motivated to do it himself -- scheduled prospect days, reached out to coaches, cut his own highlights, etc., and never needed to pay NCSA for any help.

@bakahump If your daughter is really into it, having her manage her own recruitment is a great thing to build maturity, character, responsibility, and the like. My son really benefited from it, and he's headed to a D3 school in the fall to play.

Great advice, and congrats! Unless he's playing the next 4 years for Western New England...then we've got some beef.

 

[Coachster]

FWIW, I have used NCSA as a coach, but there was a reason. Our college was in the middle of nowhere, nobody had ever heard of us and most importantly, New England’s the weakest volleyball region in the country (and there are hundreds of colleges). Every decent local athlete was getting recruited like she was Misty May.

I needed to recruit midwest and west coast kids who had never heard of us. NCSA allowed me to go to the shopping mall of volleyball girls.

if your kid wants to go out of region, or maybe has some niche major, it could be worth it. Otherwise you can easily build a video and send out emails to coaches at places she’s interested in.

 

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

Just seeing this.

The Dinnerette got a call from NCSA about a month ago. My son is a pretty good squash player. He's in 8th grade so at least they are pretty thorough.

We didn't do anything with that since in squash, it's pretty clear who can play and who can't but the other places we've gotten a few inquiries from - which are not the same as NCSA but roughly falls into the same categories - are virtual high schools that include sports performance component.

Kind of like the Payton Pritchard way of doing things.

 

[DJnVa]

About 10 years ago my son, who played soccer, was listed on this site (at least I *think* it was this site) and we didn't pay a dime--just listed some vitals.

We got a few emails from D3 and JUCO coaches, including from start-up programs, asking some questions. My son got injured and transitioned away from soccer, but it appeared he might have had the chance to go play for Eastern West Virginia A&M Tech and see if they could improve on their 0-14-1 record from the previous season.