How soccer showcase events are really Pyramid Schemes with clubs and companies getting rich off you!
Yep, I said it.
I’ve been in the college soccer recruiting game for almost 30 years. It used to be pretty local and pretty homegrown. When you go to a showcase, the event works with clubs to make spreadsheets with player information so college coaches know the jersey number, contact info and even academic information of the prospects they are watching. Showcases were pretty regional and travel wasn’t excessive.
Nowadays it’s changed. NCSA and Sports Recruits, two of the biggest scams in the recruiting world, have gotten involved. I have written about these companies before and suggest you don’t fall for it. They can’t keep out of it and they really now “own” college soccer recruiting, although they are just self-help web-based platforms that really just host your profiles and college coaches don’t go looking at profiles on their website except to get names to attend their camps.
So what do I mean?
If you go to a showcase or tournament, the event now says you have to fill out a profile on either the NCSA or Sports Recruits platform so that coaches can see your jersey number, contact info and academic information. They both use other names to make it seem legit. NCSA calls it “Coach Packet” and Sports Recruits calls it “Event Beacon”. College coaches then have to get these apps on their phones to see the team and player profiles when they attend an event.
HERE IS THE DEAL!
NCSA and Sports Recruits pay the events and leagues (ECNL, GA, etc.) a crazy amount of money to be the host of these team/individual profiles. Why? They get every kid that attends the events contact information and data. They are essentially buying the names of all the kids AND PARENTS attending the events. They then will use high-pressure sales tactics and prey on what folks don’t know to get them to buy a subscription to their crappy service. These two companies are predatory in my eyes. I help so many clients that have an NCSA account and even got one in 8th grade, only to find out that it is a huge waste of money.
It gets worse.
What I hear from college coaches all the time is that these apps have incomplete team rosters and missing information. I blame both the clubs and these companies for this. The companies promise to take the creation of these rosters off the hands of the clubs, so the clubs wash their hands of it. Then it is up to each kid to fill out yet another profile and if you don’t check your email or do it, your info may not be on the roster. Additionally, clubs still do crazy things like let two kids wear the same jersey number in a showcase game.
Believe it or not, I just heard about this today. Back in the day, the best showcase I attended year after year mandated that rosters were filled out and if there were changes, college coaches needed to know about them. Those days are long gone. These companies control it and send a few mass emails trying to fetch your info. It frustrates college coaches, recruits and their parents alike when rosters aren’t complete. To be honest, parents and recruits don’t know this is happening.
Let’s say a coach is watching a game and likes #3, for example, and they want to see who that is and add them to their recruiting list. They then go into the app and see that there is no #3 listed or they’re missing important information so they simply move on. As the saying goes, there are always more fish in the sea.
On top of that all, NCSA and Sports Recruits sell your name to camps companies and even college coaches that are looking to increase the size of their camps and make money. This is another money grab that I have written about previously too. Yes, even college coaches are in on this scam.
These are pyramid schemes, plain and simple. Your OWN clubs and directors, the leagues your teams belong to and even your sports governing bodies have “SOLD YOU OUT” for a paycheck from NCSA or Sports Recruits. They get paid big money in exchange for getting your contact information and selling those with a dream to be recruited to play in college on their bogus subscriptions. These companies are crazy big and do this same thing for all sports, not just soccer. These companies pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to be the “official recruiting partners” of some of the biggest youth sports organizations in the country. Last year alone, the NCSA recorded $130 million in revenue.
Don’t fall for it. Yes, you have to fill out the NCSA and Sports Recruits bios for the showcases and tournaments if you want college coaches to possibly contact you. However, once you start getting the emails and texts from these companies that you need to use them and that you’re missing out on recruiting. Just tell them you are not interested and to stop contacting you.
It’s all about money. Clubs, leagues, governing bodies and tournament/showcase hosts get PAID and on top of the fees, travel and all the other things you are paying to go to these events, you are now being thrust into high-pressure sales from companies that bought your name from the organization that you trust! It is crazy! A lot of folks are paying $20,000 or more a year to play on club teams that travel the country in the hopes of getting a soccer scholarship.
Another thing to remember is soccer scholarships are RARE and even when they do happen they are almost always partial and the kid has to pay quite a bit to go play in college. So often, the reward for going to all these showcases is no scholarship, some high pressure sales tactics from bad recruiting services and a bunch of camp invites from camp companies and college coaches that bought your name and also make it seem like you have to go to these camps to get recruited!
If you are looking for REAL help, find someone with experience and success in doing this.
I do think professional help in this arena can assist recruits and families to find great fits that meet their priorities, save money on college by knowing how the system works and to reduce stress of the process and not chase things that aren’t real.
Dan Rothert, founder of TSA Recruiting, has helped almost 200 prospects and their families land opportunities at right fit colleges at all levels. Each prospect has different priorities in what they are looking for in a college and has different qualities that a coach may or may not be looking for. TSA Recruiting leverages Dan’s almost 30 years of college coaching experience and connections to help those they work with find great opportunities that fit their needs.