Have to say I am a bit surprised by your take on this. Jake Reed is by far the #1 recruiting camp there is in the country. In the past he has taken 120 kids that he invites through couches recommendations and performance.
If this is the preferred recruiting method that the community sees as cost-efficient, so be it. Effectively, this camp is acting one step short of being a "national agent" for these 120 student-athletes. With the NCAA Recruiting deregulation, how much further with this reach extend?
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Last year they began to create this "play in" to give others the opportunity to prove themselves and hopefully find some of those players that have been overlooked.
Was the system previously defective? For what need is this expansion into the eighth graders? We can call these youngsters "rising freshmen" if you wish, but we have literally just passed midterms for most students in the New [lacrosse] area.
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Is it a business? Yes. Are they playing on consumers (Parents) insecurity? yes.
See, here is the problem for us at BOTC. We are shining the light on camps, clinics, tournaments, showcases, and programs in order to allow consumers (parents, players) to comparison shop. Allowing fear to drive decision making is not a academic strategy for an eighth grader.
Originally Posted by Anonymous
But if you get into Jake Reed and have a good few days and you will get recruited from the the minute the camp is over. Any and all of your advertisers that have "recruiting" camps are only trying to emulate this camp and it could be argued that money is even more of a waste.
There is a difference here. Our BOTC sponsors are by and large local to the New [lacrosse] metropolitan area which immediately helps control costs. Further, none of our programs are exclusively focused on just being a recruitment camp.
Originally Posted by Anonymous
So a parents chooses to pay the money and have their kid attend. When they come back they will know one of two things, they are a very competitive player and have to keep working hard or they are non-competitive and they really need to start practicing if they want to be good. Last point, do you really think a parent who is spending this amount of money on a camp isn't doing the same thing for academics? Tudors, Prep courses, etc???
Show me a single parent that has already spent $2000.00 this year for academic assistance for an eighth grader's standardized testing or math/science tutors. All evidence is to the contrary that too many parents expect a big athletic payday at the end of the recruitment chase. Often times, parents will expect their student-athletes to be able to "slide" on Board Score results by being a highly sought-after recruit. BOTC believes that the equation is backwards.
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Don't know one parent who says its either camp or the Tudor, its both and many times the camps are rewards for getting good grades.
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