NCSA recruiting service?

Anyone have any dealings with or knowledge of NCSA Scouting? Apparently DD made a profile on their website (partially). She didn't add much information to it. I didn't think she has much desire to actually play in college, so it kind of surprised me. I think she was just bored more or less.

Today, I got a phone call from them. I didn't answer because I am at work and didn't recognize the number. I then got a text message from one of their "scouts" that wants me to call and give them info on DD to complete her profile. Just wondering if anyone here has any knowledge they could share.

thanks.

I can't tell you much other than I signed my oldest daughter up about 4 years ago and get hundreds of emails a month because of it. We got no value, but she ultimately decided not to pursue college ball for other reasons.

I think there is value if she really wants to play college ball and isn't in a great geographic area or high profile team (CA, TX, FL). My daughter's recruiting coach with them did help her craft emails and guide through recruiting. Also its nice to have one place for all of the recruiting and I like their website profiles of colleges. Spring sophomore/Fall junior she had a requirement of so many emails she had to send a week and this way we could track it. It was one piece of the puzzle but it did help her get to a verbal by the end of her junior year which was really nice. Also I recommend just the basic version.

CoachPete said:

I think there is value if she really wants to play college ball and isn't in a great geographic area or high profile team (CA, TX, FL). My daughter's recruiting coach with them did help her craft emails and guide through recruiting. Also its nice to have one place for all of the recruiting and I like their website profiles of colleges. Spring sophomore/Fall junior she had a requirement of so many emails she had to send a week and this way we could track it. It was one piece of the puzzle but it did help her get to a verbal by the end of her junior year which was really nice. Also I recommend just the basic version.

Click to expand...

Did the college she verbal too verbal her based on NCSA? Or did she do her job and send the emails, attend camps etc?

I've been told by several coaches at camps that anything that doesn't come from the player gets deleted. Basically they don't read CaptainU/NCSA and the rest of them they delete those. This is not every school but it's about 20 so far.

NCSA offers a good amount of services for free and some of their emails are fairly informative. DD has a profile on there so when (or should I say" If she ever were to...") she emails a college coach, she can provide a link that has her profile with lots of info. NCSA is not a shortcut to college ball or a silver bullet, but they do have experience with the recruiting process and can help ( or function as a consultant would).

Many families hire a consultant to help their kid find the right college. they do not get the kid into the school, they help the kid/family with the process and presenting themselves in the best light and connecting with the best schools for the student. From what they have told me, NCSA functions much the same way only coming at it from a sports angle.

DD and I spoke with one of them on a "Family conference call" which is the step where they try to sell you on subscribing to their service. It was a very good experience and A very good experience for DD-speaking with a real college coach who was interested in speaking with her. At the end we didn't sign up, but they were understanding and kept the door open. (I have other things going on and am financially strapped, so they understood and didn't force the issue).

I think its a great place to start. Also, I do not expect ANY colleges to find us because we are there, and I believe they even told us as much- it is up to the player to get the college's attention.

Jquick823 said:

Did the college she verbal too verbal her based on NCSA? Or did she do her job and send the emails, attend camps etc?

I've been told by several coaches at camps that anything that doesn't come from the player gets deleted. Basically they don't read CaptainU/NCSA and the rest of them they delete those. This is not every school but it's about 20 so far.

Click to expand...

Sorry but you are wrong from our experience. What I like about the site it shows you when and who opens your emails and when. Some coaches have opened 12 of 12 emails from NCSA, 4/7, 10/13, 6/6, etc. Yes they open the emails. Every single one? No, but every coach has opened multiple emails from the NCSA site. The money that I paid (2 car payments) is well worth getting the statistical feedback vs not knowing if the emails go into a black hole. Does NCSA get your kid recruited...NO! You still have to put in the work. If you send a video...coaches are way more likely to read the email. You still have to do the camps, showcases, on campus visits,etc.

On the other hand, if you are spam blasting every program in the country with the same template with nothing personal or relate-able...they will be deleted. I mentioned in an earlier thread that a kid on our team got an offer solely based on her video on her NCSA site. We also have a kid on our team that is committed to a WCWS team and the mom swears by NCSA. She said it was very helpful in their recruiting process.

By the way, we just got back from our two games at the Ronald McDonald Exposure today and our games were being watched by at least 20 coaches from all levels. DD is on an 18U Gold team.

Orange Socks said:

Sorry but you are wrong from our experience. What I like about the site it shows you when and who opens your emails and when. Some coaches have opened 12 of 12 emails from NCSA, 4/7, 10/13, 6/6, etc. Yes they open the emails. Every single one? No, but every coach has opened multiple emails from the NCSA site. The money that I paid (2 car payments) is well worth getting the statistical feedback vs not knowing if the emails go into a black hole. Does NCSA get your kid recruited...NO! You still have to put in the work. If you send a video...coaches are way more likely to read the email. You still have to do the camps, showcases, on campus visits,etc.

On the other hand, if you are spam blasting every program in the country with the same template with nothing personal or relate-able...they will be deleted. I mentioned in an earlier thread that a kid on our team got an offer solely based on her video on her NCSA site. We also have a kid on our team that is committed to a WCWS team and the mom swears by NCSA. She said it was very helpful in their recruiting process.

By the way, we just got back from our two games at the Ronald McDonald Exposure today and our games were being watched by at least 20 coaches from all levels. DD is on an 18U Gold team.

Click to expand...

I'm not wrong but I get what you're saying. CaptainU does similar things with the alerts and it's helpful.

What my point is, you can do it without paying money. DD has a YouTube channel that she puts the link to in her emails, she has a facebook page that she links and then she sends all the emails. It's all free. I also stated that around 20 college coaches told me in person they don't read emails that come from anything that says CaptainU or NCSA or the various others. That's 20 out of 1000. We played in a showcase last week and had 20 coaches watch also. My DD is not on a gold team or a team you've probably ever heard of.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

DFP doesn't work on my darn computer anymore - so I'm stuck using my phone - but I'm trying to link to a thread that might help you a little.

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/showthread.php?t=29766

If you're thinking of using a recruiting service I would highly recommend contacting Cathi Aradi. Cathi is well respected in the college fastpitch circles. She has a service called Collegiate Softball Connection and it is generally cheaper than the other services plus she provides a personalized touch with her service.

My daughter played D1 softball and used NCSA to find her college home. Quite simply, it's the best thing I did so that my daughter could achieve her dream of playing college softball. You should definitely talk to the scout. With that being said, if your daughter isn't committed to playing at the college level, let the scout know. Playing college softball requires a LOT of hard work: academically, athletically, and in recruiting. I hope this helps. Good luck to you and your daughter.