by Ellen Sawin, NCSA College Relations
The world of athletic recruiting is evolving faster than ever. With technology constantly growing, coaches from all across the country can recruit nationwide, whether they have a large recruiting budget or not. However, there are some new challenges that accompany digital recruiting, things that coaches did not have to worry about in the past.
Whether you’re a football coach looking at a player’s height and weight, a volleyball coach looking at height and reach, or a swimming coach looking at arm span, you need athletes that meet specific standards. But as you meet less recruits in person, and more via email and pictures, I’m sure you’ve crossed athletes that have exaggerated by 3 inches or 20 lbs. I’m sure you’ve also run into athletes whose stats fit your standards, and they’re telling the truth. But once you see them in person, they’re nothing like you had imagined. And as you run into this problem more and more often, you’re getting frustrated with digital recruiting – but don’t!
As the first digital recruiting network, NCSA Athletic Recruiting is working on solving this problem for you! Over the past couple months the football world has been introduced to Verified-ID. As one of the largest high school and collegiate sports, football coaches face athletes with stretched stats on a regular basis. However, with Verified-ID football coaches are gaining access to identical photos of football players across the nation, which make comparing the size and build of athletes much easier and more efficient. In these photos, the athletes are standing next to a flat screen, which displays their name, position, graduation year, and 3rd party verified height and weight.
With the buzz that Verified-ID has created in the football community, we’re getting ready to launch it into the volleyball world in the next month! With national qualifiers coming up, athletes from across the nation will be able to get their photo taken next to a flat screen with their name, position, graduation year, and 3rd party verified height and standing reach! Soon, volleyball coaches won’t have to worry about signing a lanky 6’3” player. And the muscular 5’9” libero will be seen for fit, instead of possibly overweight.
NCSA is taking the recruiting world by storm, and Verified-ID is just one of the many things that’s about to change the game of recruiting! They’re keeping the simplicity and ease of digital recruiting, but adding the accuracy and imagery that used to only exist in live recruiting.