Should I Attend This Prospect Camp?
One of the most important yet murkiest areas in college athletic recruiting is the idea of camps. They can be an incredibly valuable part of the process, but they can also be a massive waste of time and money for families who have already heavily invested in both.
The problem is that the word “camps” encompasses an incredibly wide array of services, experiences and outcomes. The term can refer to anything from a small group training session to a massive national showcase with major media outlets and hundreds of young athletes. They can range in price from free to thousands of dollars. And they can range in value from completely worthless to the most important step an aspiring athlete can take in their recruiting journey.
HOW IMPORTANT ARE CAMPS?
The short answer is that they are sometimes very important, while at the same time, they can be completely counterproductive and a waste of time and money. It comes down to who the student-athlete is, what their goals are, and where they stand in the recruiting process.
Different camps exist for different stages of the process. Some are designed for skill development and establishing a strong competitive foundation. Others are designed to give a student maximum exposure to a large number of colleges, while some are specifically targeted toward one school.
All of these can be valuable to a student-athlete at the right time in their recruiting journey but can be relatively useless at the wrong time.
AN EXAMPLE OF THIS DICHOTOMY
A soccer player who has just ended her first season on the freshman high school team and goes to a 40-college showcase with all grade levels is going to be completely overshadowed by older and stronger players who are years ahead in physical development and skills. The freshman won't stand out to the coaches in attendance and will have wasted the time and money it took to attend.
A junior who just finished her varsity season and has communicated with a number of coaches in attendance at that same camp might find it to be the most valuable thing she does throughout the recruitment process.
So at the same camp, two different players have wildly different experiences and come away with completely different values.
There are different types of camps, but the two we will focus on most are the most prevalent:
#1 - Mass exposure: Getting the most eyes as possible on the student-athlete in the smallest amount of time
#2 - Targeted exposure: Where the student-athlete can place themselves in the right position at the right time and be seen by exactly the right people by whom they want to be seen.
MASS EXPOSURE CAMPS
Mass exposure camps can be most valuable for the student-athlete who is ready for prime time. At a typical camp, only around the top 5% of athletes will show well enough for college coaches to take notice and follow up. Therefore, the student-athlete should make sure they are at their performance peak before attending.
These camps are valuable in getting a student-athlete’s name out to as many coaches as possible in as little time as possible. These camps will have 30 to 50 coaches from all around the country, spanning a number of divisions, regions, and conferences. Making a good showing in front of coaches and introducing themselves afterward, followed up by a strong email is a great way to strike up a relationship.
Most high school sports have some type of mass exposure camp system that can be easily researched online. While it might seem tough to determine which camps are legitimate and worthwhile, there is a pretty simple rule for whether a student should attend.
If the coaches attending the camp are from schools the student-athlete is interested in attending then it’s probably a good use of time and money.
TARGETED EXPOSURE CAMPS
The second type of camp for students is a targeted exposure camp. These can be of two varieties, single-college and multi-college.
A single-college camp occurs on the college’s campus and is focused solely on that school. These camps can have certain benefits:
Exposure to the coaches from that specific school
A smaller environment with less competition, usually a max of 40-60 players
More time to showcase abilities
Direct contact with recruiting coaches
A serious demonstration of interest by the student-athlete in that specific school
If these camps are so valuable, why not attend dozens of them? The most obvious reason is it would become a logistical nightmare. Camps often take place on the same weekends, separated by hundreds of miles, and are fairly expensive. A student using these camps as their main recruiting activity would spend a lot of time and money. But then, because they’re expensive and hard to get to, attending displays a level of demonstrated interest which is very attractive to schools.
To get more bang for the buck, students can also look for multi-college camps. One example is camps offered by Ivy League schools. Most Ivy League schools host prospect camps, which other elite Division-3 colleges know will be attended by talented academic students who hope to get into a school like Princeton. Therefore, the camps are run not only by the host school but by coaches from dozens of smaller programs in the surrounding area. This can be a great opportunity to be seen by a group of similar but less prestigious programs.
WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN THINKING ABOUT ATTENDING A CAMP
The three most important questions that need to be asked when deciding on a camp are:
What are the financial costs?
What are the opportunity costs?
What is the value added?
These three considerations can help families balance the questions surrounding whether or not to attend a camp.
The easiest to understand is the financial cost. These range from free to thousands of dollars, but multiple types of expenses can also come into play. A development camp at a local college can be of great value because the student-athlete can drive there and sleep in their own beds that night. On the other end of the spectrum is a high-cost camp.
Students often get emails from programs on the other side of the country. California baseball players get personalized emails from schools, like the University of Miami, stating that the coach believes the player would be a good fit and how important their camp is in their recruiting process. This email is sent to hundreds of athletes around the country. It most likely will not lead to an offer from the University of Miami, but the cost of attending the camp will be high.
Hundreds of dollars for the athlete and a parent to fly to Florida. Hundreds for multiple hotel nights in one of the most expensive cities in America. Plus camp fees and rental car costs. The final bill at the end of the trip could be in the $3,000-4,000 range.
The opportunity costs of attending a camp must also be factored in. The California student-athlete who flies across the country for a 2-day Miami camp is losing four full days of their summer. What else could they have done with that time? Did they miss a club tournament? Could they have been completing their college application essays? Or volunteer hours in an internship program? Could the family have gone on vacation to enjoy their final year under the same roof?
On the other side of the scale is the potential value that comes with this camp opportunity. Using the Miami example, how important is that school to the student? If they’ve been dreaming of attending, have family in the area, or have two alumni parents, then maybe the $4,000 is well spent. A lifelong dream could be fulfilled by attending this camp. They could budget $4,000 every year of high school to attend a Miami camp. But, if the school isn’t important to them, is throwing away all that money worth it?
In the right circumstances, camps have immense potential value to student-athletes. They can put a student-athlete on a coach’s radar. They can demonstrate interest or commitment to a team in another region of the country. They can seal the deal with a coach to whom they have been previously speaking. And they can guarantee an in-person evaluation from a school at the top of their list.
Camps and showcases can be a tricky business. They fluctuate in value from completely useless to immensely important. They fluctuate in cost from free to very expensive and there are few parts of the recruiting process that cause families more consternation. A knowledgeable consultant can be of immense value in helping navigate the world of camps and showcases.
Each situation needs to be individually evaluated for the athlete by considering where they are in the process. The same camp can provide wildly different results for student-athletes in different situations. Make sure to evaluate each camp on three main criteria: Cost, Opportunity, and Value. If the value is higher than the cost and opportunity, it’s probably a good idea. If it isn’t, it’s probably not worth the effort.
