Getting on the Right Path. Could your school receive accreditation if they taught math classes using the same text books students used ten years ago? Would science teachers utilize the same syllabus they used in 1985? The same comparison can be made with recruiting.

Each year deserving high school student-athletes are left out of the recruiting process because they and their parents follow antiquated ideas of how the process works. Depending on well-intended, but flawed advice from friends, relatives or even uninformed high school or club coaches, kids often presume that because they made All-Conference or play on a travel or club team they will be noticed automatically by college coaches. This is far from accurate.

Recruiting - the Once-in-a-lifetime Opportunity. Some things in life can be attempted, failed at, relearned and tried again. It happens every day. Kids learning to ride bicycles get on and fall off numerous times before eventually one day hopping on and confidently heading down the street. The first time you make the mistake of mixing in a dark shirt with your white clothing in the washing machine is a lesson you learn from and avoid the next time you do laundry. Miss a ground ball, free throw or free kick? Scratch on the long jump, double fault or jump off sides? Not to worry, another chance will happen shortly.

But, in recruiting you get one chance. That's it - high school kids are recruited once in their lives and they only get one chance to get it right or the opportunity is lost forever.

Two Common Mistakes. Perhaps the two most common mistakes aspiring athletes make regarding recruiting is waiting too long to learn how the process works and then not taking action on this knowledge. For example, kids regularly wait until they are seniors in high school before seriously thinking about college recruiting, or doing something about it. This is a huge mistake. If a good student-athlete expects to have a chance to play at the college level he or she needs to prepare, academically and personally, for this opportunity.

If you are involved in a high school athletic booster club, a competitive club team or a local civic group, you probably have parents with a keen interest in college recruiting. Offering educational information to those parents and their kids would be a terrific addition to next month's agenda.

National Scouting Report is the number one company in America when it comes to college recruiting. We work with hundreds of colleges each day. We are represented nationally by over 200 people who are experts in the field of college recruiting at all levels. Some of our people are former college athletes, college coaches and athletic directors.

Free. Because college recruiting and recruiting methods have changed drastically in recent years, old fashion ideas and methods no longer apply. We understand the modern recruiting process and we are more than happy to share this knowledge. In fact, we will conduct a recruiting seminar for your organization, school, club or event for free.

Some of the topics we cover are:

• NCAA recruiting rules that apply to high school student-athletes
• NCAA clearinghouse explained
• Difference in the divisions of college athletics
• What college coaches look for in a student-athlete and when they start looking
• Academics, drugs, alcohol and character are discussed
• Scholarships and institutional funding explained
• The steps of recruiting are explained
• The role of the prospect and parents
• Q&A and open discussion