I’m often asked by parents how to decide what camps and clinics to send their kids to. Well I’ll give you my take on this sticky subject. In most sports you can find many valuable camps and clinics to attend that will increase the athlete’s talent level and pit them against some of the best competition out there. This can be a great way to evaluate their talent and compare them physically to others in their sport that will be competing against them for those scholarship offers.
Many football and baseball parents ask my opinion about sending their kids to expensive showcases. In my opinion, most of these EXPENSIVE showcases are simply money-makers for the coaches or organizers of the events. Keep in mind that after their seasons end college coaches make extra income by participating or putting on such events. With that in mind, I would recommend that as long as the cost of the event is under $200 it may be worthwhile attending so long as the schedule includes a good amount of high quality instruction. I strongly recommend choosing camps and clinics hosted by a college where your son or daughter would consider attending. Then you could make the trip an “unofficial visit” of sorts. In our “Student-Athlete & College Recruiting” handbook you will find a complete section on unofficial visits and what to do while you are there. Now you just turned a camp into an economical college visit.
I allowed our son Coy to choose one (1) camp per summer to attend and we did make each one a family visit. They were very productive and helped our son to decide what type of college and setting he would be most happy attending. Be very selective in choosing camps and look very carefully at what they have to offer. Then ask yourself, would my son/daughter benefit from attending? As long as the cost is reasonable and you don’t have to travel very far then maybe it would be a good fit. Best of luck to you.
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