NCSA? Anyone have experience?

Parents Forum
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Anyone have experience with NCSA? They keep hounding me and my S about using their services. Since sport is swim and all about times not sure why we would need to use service like this. On the other hand, coaches at D3 level are so inconsistent about communication, starting to think maybe should reconsider.

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IMO their service is not worth their fees, there is nothing secret or special to their offerings.

You and your S can do everything they would do and/or tell you to do:

  • contact coaches via email and phone

  • create video

  • create a twitter page (put content on it, follow coaches and programs)

  • create a resume

  • follow up with coaches

This does assume that you and your S have time to understand the recruiting process (download NCAAā€™s guide for college bound student athletes) and do the activities highlighted above. If you donā€™t have time to do those activities, I still would not hire NCSA, rather I would network in my community and hire a local/regional sports recruiting expert.

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Thanks Mwcan1921. That is what my gut says. I also can see it potentially being a turn off for a coach to get contacted through a recruiting service and not the athlete directly.

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I agree with @Mwfan1921, NCSA completely unnecessary, and in some cases counterproductive. The best source for educating oneself about athletic recruiting are the old threads on CC. Personally I also liked ā€œThe Athletic Scholarship Playbook: a Complete College Recruiting Roadmapā€ because it sets out the process in one clear place (whether you are interested in a scholarship or not ā€“ the process is the same).

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We used the lowest cost membership to get some of the hard to get information and find a talent ā€˜matchā€™ ā€“ we liked that ability.

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My son utilizes their free features but thereā€™s no way Iā€™d pay for a membership.

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We used another service. not NCSA, and like it. Iā€™m sure theyā€™re similar, but our club athetes got a discount with the service and it was the one that the head coach set up. I did like how it presented the athlete with their own bio page, GPA, photo, etc. Guess the splash page you can say? When you clicked on their link it would show all their pertinent stats and info in a clear presentation.

I think they were useful and in the end the coaches also sent emails directly to my athletes email alsoā€¦I thought of it as just a useful tool. I havenā€™t heard anything negative of these services as many recruiting athletes use them.

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@Ctjrparent For swimming the best resource is collegeswimming.com . You donā€™t need the ā€œpremiumā€ membership, but itā€™s so cheap I think itā€™s worth it. From there you can see where your swimmer would fit on the team. Generally top 3 in an event and/or getting points at the conference championship is a good sign of a match. Send out a lot of introductory emails and see who has interest.

Good luck!

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We got the lowest level one. It makes it much easier to keep everything organized and tells you if a coach is opening your emails and stuff. Also it helped identify schools that were a good match and son has like 8 offers.

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Thanks everyone. Iā€™ve been using Swimcloud and itā€™s been very helpful. Iā€™m able to compare my sonā€™s times to the teams he is interested in pursuing (also lists their seniority) and also see where he would finish at the conference championships. Coaches have been responsive and seem interested so think Iā€™m going to pass on NCSA. Just seems duplicative.

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How much does swimcloud cost @ctjrparent?

How much does lowest level NCSA cost @Billb7581?

TIA

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Collegeswimming Swim Cloud is free. You just have to register. My sonā€™s profile was already on it by swimming in sanctioned meets. By registering you can edit the profile and come up with a list of favorite schools which allows you to see how you fit at each school (swim times; academics; and financially). Coaches use it and in some cases have followed my son and have indicated interest.

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80/monthā€¦ so basically 960 dollars. We may have gotten 1 step up from the lowest one, I cannot remember TBH. He went from getting no looks to a couple dozen though with 5-6 coaches texting him daily.

This was for Football, other sports may be different, I have no clue.

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We paid for one of the soccer ID Camps. It was a complete waste of money. They said there would be 15+ colleges represented. There were 8. It was supposed to be an 8 hour camp. It was a little over 5 hours.
If this camp is indicative of the overall service, donā€™t waste your time or money.

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Closing. Old Thread.